The Galaxy A5 Duos looks a lot like the Galaxy Alpha which is definitely not a bad thing. We got the gold variant for review and it looks premium for its price. On picking up the phone for the first time you will notice that it is very light, at 123g. Moreover, it also feels really comfortable to hold and use with one hand thanks to its compact dimensions of 139.3x69.7x6.7mm.
The chamfered edges are especially nice to touch. We must say we are impressed with what Samsung has achieved with the construction quality of the Galaxy A5 Duos. However, the phone is not going to really grab attention with its looks.
The power button is placed on the right edge of the phone. It has decent tactile feedback but we would really have liked a bit more click. Additionally, there are two SIM trays on the right edge - one of which doubles up as a microSD card tray. This means that you can't use a memory card if you intend to use two SIM cards at a time. The left edge houses the volume rocker which feels the same as the power button.
The 3.5mm audio port, Micro-USB port, and a microphone lie on the bottom of the phone. Below the display, one can find Samsung's trademark oblong 'Home' button, which is flanked by the 'Recents' and the 'Back' button. The earpiece, ambient light sensor, and the front camera are present on top of the display along with Samsung's logo. The primary camera is placed on a bump in the rear, which makes it susceptible to scratches. To the left of the lens is the flash module, and interestingly the speaker is a symmetrical cutout to its right.
Specifications and software
Samsung has fitted the Galaxy A5 Duos with a decidedly low-end 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC with Adreno 306 GPU, though at least it has 2GB of RAM. This is the same hardware that powers the Lenovo A6000 Plus( Review | Photos) and the Yu Yureka( Review | Photos) - both of which are a whole lot less expensive than the Galaxy A5 Duos. The Galaxy A5 Duos has 16GB of ROM plus of course the microSD card slot for increasing the storage space by up to 64GB.
One of the SIM cards supports 4G networks even on the Indian 2300MHz band. Airtel loaned us a 4G SIM card to test its recently launched network in Mumbai, and we found that both the phone and the network worked great. We experienced intermittent switches to 3G which were more likely attributable to the network rollout than to the phone.
The Galaxy A5 Duos can connect to Wi-Fi a/b/g/n networks and also features Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. The primary camera can capture 13-megapixel images while the secondary one can shoot 5-megapixel selfies. The phone has a 2, 300Ah battery.
The 5-inch Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 720x1280 is vibrant and colourful as usual. You would be hard pressed to discern individual pixels and the crisp display is a delight to use. The display is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 4. The viewing angles and sunlight legibility are pretty good. There is only one big 'but' - the screen is not full-HD and many potential buyers might not be happy considering the phone's price.
