The last time Samsung released a newly designed smartphone that turned heads was in 2010—which we believe amounts to roughly 28 years ago in smartphone years. The debut Galaxy S, unlike most Android sets at the time, was noticeably clean and sleek. Users often compared its looks to the iPhone 4. But that comparison didn't hold much muster, especially when considering Samsung's love for cheap, plastic phone bodies. You only had to spin the first Galaxy around your palm once to be sure you hadn't mistakenly grabbed an iPhone.

Subsequent Galaxy S upgrades stubbornly stuck to the line's original design tenets, particularly an adherence to plastic shells. Most everyone else in the Android space upped their design game since, and while Samsung's jump from the S4 to the S5 would have benefited hugely from an aesthetic overhaul, it didn't receive one. As such, the April 2014 phone otherwise produced a collective yawn.

Finally, this fall, Samsung ticked the checkbox that drove Galaxy critics nuts for the past couple of years: a phone that looks good. The metal frame of the company's newest model, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, is distinct and different enough from its Galaxy S peers to make people wonder: Is this a new statement device from the Korean phone giant, or is it merely a redesign slapped onto the usual Galaxy experience? Does it belong among the rest of the $199-on-contract competition?

Not-so-heavy metal

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but we're happy to elaborate a little further about the Galaxy Alpha's updated design.























Almost every time we pulled the Alpha out from a pocket or a messenger bag, friends were quick to say it looked like an iPhone. That's mostly thanks to the silver, all-metal framing. From either the phone's front or back, this looks like a super-thin metal protrusion, which catches light nicely without adding an extreme bezel. On the top and the bottom, the metal frame juts out with a visible bulge for the microphone jack and the USB port, respectively. Yet, running your finger over these juts doesn't feel all that bumpy, because the phone's plastic, textured backing meets these juts to smooth them out.

Specs at a glance: Samsung Galaxy Alpha Screen 1280×720 4.7"(312 ppi) AMOLED OS Android KitKat 4.4.4 with Touchwiz CPU 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 RAM 2GB GPU Adreno 330 Storage 32GB, no MicroSD slot Networking Dual Band 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS Ports Micro USB 3.0, headphones Camera 12MP rear camera with AF, 2MP front camera Size 132.4mm x 65.5mm x 6.7mm Weight 115g Battery 1860 mAh Starting price $200 on contract, $613 unlocked Other perks RBG notification LED, NFC

The phone's four corners have their own slight, rounded bulges, and these stick out about as far as the left side's volume rocker and the right side's power button. Overall, there's no sense of bulge or protrusion when the phone sits in your pocket. In your hand, the bulges give your fingers a place to grip while holding the Galaxy with one hand. We liked that feeling, and we liked that the bulges looked distinctive without actually adding any unnecessary bulk.

Tiny plus signs have been etched into the plastic backing, and we liked the slate-gray color of our review model, along with the just-barely-there feeling of texture as our fingers ran across its back. The backing stays firm unless you peel it from the top-left corner, revealing a SIM card slot and a thin, removable 1840 mAH battery. However, there's no SD card slot for additional storage. Currently, the Alpha maxes out at 32GB.

The volume rocker was a little longer than we're used to, but it wasn't too big for us to reach its up and down buttons in normal use, and we liked the way its long, recessed middle portion looked. The power button, on the opposite side, was thin and unremarkable. We couldn't say the same about the giant camera lens sensor, which protrudes more than anything else on the phone's backside and will scrape against any surface it rests on. That's a problem with phones like the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note III as well, but it feels especially out-of-place on an otherwise sleek phone.

The phone weighs just a hair above four ounces and is 0.26 inches thick. All the way around, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a smaller, thinner, and lighter offering than Apple's iPhone 6—just barely so in each category, but it's still a victory for Samsung's camp.













The same can't be said in comparing the Galaxy Alpha's screen to that of the iPhone 6, even though both measure 4.7 inches. Rather than follow the Galaxy S line's continued screen growth in size and density, Samsung scaled down for this model. It has a 720p resolution compared to the iPhone 6's tiny bit denser resolution of 1334x750. However, we're not concerned about it. Just as with the iPhone 6, the Galaxy Alpha's pixel density—around 312 ppi—is fine for day-to-day phone use. Android apps generally have no qualms with 720p.

Our biggest beef was with the Galaxy Alpha's Super AMOLED display, which gives you deep blacks in exchange for off-whites. The bluish tint seen on white space in messaging apps and white webpages made surrounding text and images look weird, an effect we never really got used to. High-end 1080p AMOLED screens like the one in the Galaxy S5 are less susceptible to this effect, but that's not the case here.

Otherwise, the screen's performance held up in general use, whether looking at the screen on a cloudless day—full brightness compared favorably to the Nexus 5 in our other hand—or turning brightness all the way down while browsing in bed—minimum brightness was even dimmer than on the Galaxy S5. Still, this phone's price at launch is in premium, $199-with-contract territory, and its peers have noticeably better 1080p displays. Display hounds should consider where their phone dollar goes with this one.

The reduction in resolution wasn't matched with a noticeable change in specs, as the Alpha employs the same quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset as the S5, along with the return of the Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB in system RAM. As a result, performance tests see the Galaxy Alpha stand toe-to-toe with the fastest Android offerings on the market—which can feel even snappier on a system that maxes out at 720p.



















This phone's smaller screen and high-end specs have been met with a wimpier battery, specced at 1860 mAh compared to the S5's 2800 mAh. As a result, the Galaxy Alpha didn't hold up nearly as well in our standard phone battery test, in which we set brightness to 200 nits (roughly about 70 percent on the Alpha's brightness dial) and let the device load endless webpages over Wi-Fi while periodically syncing a Google account in the background.

In day-to-day use, though, we think most people will be fine. We'd consistently crawl into bed after a workday full of Web, message, and map use with at least 15 percent remaining, which compared pretty well to other Android devices.