Samsung Made Its Prettiest Phone Yet, But Boy Does It Look Familiar.

https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-made-prettiest-phone-yet-151042664.html

Business Insider The Galaxy Alpha is Samsung's first Galaxy phone to use metal. Samsung consistently pumps out phones with big, beautiful screens, powerful processors, and high-quality cameras. On paper, that seems amazing. These are best-in-class phones. Supercomputers in your pocket.

But for design snoots like me, it's hard to see past all the plastic. Samsung phones may have those gorgeous displays — the best in the world, according to some experts — but they're encased in cheap-feeling, creaky plastic. If the iPhone is a well-designed tool, then Samsung phones are plastic playthings.

Samsung's newest phone, the Galaxy Alpha, is a response to all that design criticism. It's Samsung's first Galaxy phone to incorporate metal — an aluminum band with chamfered edges wrapped around the case.

Oh, and it looks eerily similar to the iPhone 5/5S.

Business Insider Even the antenna cutouts are similar. AT&T is the only US carrier selling the Galaxy Alpha right now . It costs $200 with a two-year contract, or $613 off-contract.

Feature-wise, the Galaxy Alpha can do pretty much the same stuff as the Galaxy S5, so I'm not going to waste time going over all that. Here's a quick recap: It has a fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button that lets you unlock the phone without entering a passcode, but it doesn't work as well as the iPhone's fingerprint sensor. I often have to try multiple times to get it to work. The Alpha also runs the same version of Android. The screen is a bit smaller at 4.7 inches. It's also not water resistant like the Galaxy S5 is.  Still, to make it easy, just think of the Alpha as a slightly smaller Galaxy S5.

The Alpha is all about Samsung testing its design chops. The phone looks good, but it's disappointing to see Samsung using the iPhone 5 design from two years ago for inspiration instead of pushing forward on its own. HTC has been able make phones that are just as beautiful as anything Apple can build without copying the iPhone style. The Alpha looks like Samsung took the iPhone 5, made the screen slightly larger, and added a flimsy, removable plastic back cover.

The Galaxy Alpha.