Android By Russell Holly Oct. 2, 2014 12:01 pm
Despite a lot of initial noise comparing the aluminum body to Apple’s hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is an attractive combination of performance and style. If you’re wondering whether or not Samsung had to shake things up on the inside in order to make the switch from plastic to aluminum, the folks at iFixit have you covered.
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Alpha aren’t meant to be the same phone, but there are a lot of similarities. Much like the new Galaxy Note 4, the Alpha has an aluminum band around the edge that gives the phone a dramatically different look and feel. It’s a welcomed departure from the all-plastic experience we’ve come to know from Samsung, but typically with a design change like this you can expect some compromises. Samsung opted to include the removable backplate, which means the battery and SD card are still available to users. The 720p display in the Galaxy Alpha is a step down from the 1080p display in the S5, but the overall experience with this metal makeover is an impressive one.
The big question is how Samsung managed to change things on the inside, and there’s much to see now that iFixit has delicately pulled the device apart. Despite the metal frame, the Galaxy Alpha has a lot of adhesive on the inside still, especially around the display. Repairing just about anything means getting to the other side of the glass front, which in this case is roughly half the thickness of the glass on the iPhone 6. There’s an implied fragility with that razor thin design, which means you’ll*need to be extra careful if you’re going to attempt to repair things on your own.
Ultimately, there aren’t many other significant changes about the way Samsung has laid out the inside of the Galaxy Alpha, which is good news for anyone familiar with repairing Samsung phones already. This updated design deserves to be the standard with Samsung phones in the future, and with any luck that’s exactly what we’ll see over the next year.
Now read:*iPhone 6 Plus teardown reveals a surprisingly repairable smartphone
More...
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Alpha aren’t meant to be the same phone, but there are a lot of similarities. Much like the new Galaxy Note 4, the Alpha has an aluminum band around the edge that gives the phone a dramatically different look and feel. It’s a welcomed departure from the all-plastic experience we’ve come to know from Samsung, but typically with a design change like this you can expect some compromises. Samsung opted to include the removable backplate, which means the battery and SD card are still available to users. The 720p display in the Galaxy Alpha is a step down from the 1080p display in the S5, but the overall experience with this metal makeover is an impressive one.
The big question is how Samsung managed to change things on the inside, and there’s much to see now that iFixit has delicately pulled the device apart. Despite the metal frame, the Galaxy Alpha has a lot of adhesive on the inside still, especially around the display. Repairing just about anything means getting to the other side of the glass front, which in this case is roughly half the thickness of the glass on the iPhone 6. There’s an implied fragility with that razor thin design, which means you’ll*need to be extra careful if you’re going to attempt to repair things on your own.
Ultimately, there aren’t many other significant changes about the way Samsung has laid out the inside of the Galaxy Alpha, which is good news for anyone familiar with repairing Samsung phones already. This updated design deserves to be the standard with Samsung phones in the future, and with any luck that’s exactly what we’ll see over the next year.
Now read:*iPhone 6 Plus teardown reveals a surprisingly repairable smartphone
More...
