The first signs: new smartphones of the beginning of 2017

The junior representative of the Samsung fashion series - Galaxy A3 2017 opens the hit parade of new products. Its screen has a now rare small diagonal of 4.7" and a resolution of 1280x720 pixels. But due to the use of a SuperAMOLED matrix with a specific PenTile pixel structure technology, the image looks grainy than on IPS displays of similar density.

But what you can't take away from SuperAMOLED is low power consumption: when forming an image, black pixels are completely turned off. This allows the Galaxy A3 2017 to work without recharging for a whole day from a seemingly low-capacity 2350 mAh battery even with the Always On Display function active, showing notifications on the screen in sleep mode.

The processor of the Galaxy A3 2017 is an eight-core Exynos 7870 with a frequency of 1.6 GHz and integrated Mali-T830 graphics (not suitable for demanding games), and RAM is only 2 GB, most of which is constantly occupied by Android 6.0 OS with a Grace UX graphical shell (the new name TouchWiz).

The hardware filling, taking into account the price, is unenviable, but the smartphone takes not it, but a body kit. Metal frame, tempered glass front and back, IP68 dust and water protection (withstands prolonged immersion in water), fingerprint scanner, double-sided USB Type-C connector – all these are attributes of a modern mid-price smartphone. As a result, the compact glass Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 is perhaps the best smartphone for girls with small palms. Unless the quality of the camera is not bad, but also not outstanding – girls may not like it.

 

Excellent camera, fast fingerprint scanner.

 

 

No oleophobic screen surface, no USB Type-C.

 

Huawei P8 Lite 2017 is one of the most balanced smartphones in terms of price and functionality currently available on the market, and therefore a potential bestseller of the year. The diagonal of its IPS screen with FullHD resolution is 5.2", but thanks to on-screen buttons instead of on-screen, the case dimensions are comparable to compact 5-inch models.

The fingerprint scanner has been moved to the back panel next to the camera and works very quickly and without misses. In addition to quickly unlocking the smartphone, it is used, for example, to quickly scroll through notifications. By the way, P8 Lite 2017 is one of the first smartphones on the market with the latest version of Android 7.0 preinstalled out of the box (even newer 7.1 is still a privilege exclusively for Google Nexus and Pixel devices).

The processor of the P8 Lite 2017 is not a flagship, but an eight-core and high-frequency Kirin 655 of its own design. The integrated graphics of the Mali-T830 MP2, thanks to the doubled number of microkernels, can already be called more or less gaming. RAM is sufficient 3 GB, but the permanent memory is meager 16 GB, but, fortunately, there is a slot for a microSD card. The strength of the smartphone is a 12-MP camera with a large Sony IMX 286 matrix (1/2.9").

But for some reason Huawei engineers skimped on the fat-repellent oleophobic coating of the screen: it is either very weak, or it is absent altogether. They were also greedy for the USB Type-C that has become a habit – instead of it, the archaic microUSB. But if these two disadvantages do not bother you, Huawei P8 Lite 2017 will be the best purchase for your money.

 

Excellent dual camera, fast fingerprint scanner.

 

 

No oleophobic screen surface, no USB Type-C.

 

If you prefer metal smartphones instead of glass ones, then take a closer look at Huawei GR5 2017. With a processor (Kirin 655), a volume of RAM (3 GB) and the absence of an oleophobic screen surface (yes, what an attack), it resembles a glass counterpart of the P8 Lite 2017. But the diagonal of the display is slightly larger (5.5"), the built-in flash memory is slightly larger (32 GB) and the battery lasts longer (3340 mAh).

The main trump card of GR5 2017 is a dual rear camera. If we take into account only smartphones of world-famous brands, then among them GR5 2017 is the most affordable "two-eyed". The first camera has a resolution of 12 MP and is based on the Sony IMX 286 (1/2.9") matrix, beloved by Huawei engineers. Fortunately, they brought it to the perfect programmatically. The second camera is only 2 MP, but its only task is to measure the depth of field of the frame in order to then blur the background of the photographs (it turns out a kind of software bokeh). The front-facing selfie camera at 8 MP gives clear pictures only in good light.

GR5 2017 is for sale for some reason with not the latest Android 6.0 OS, while its younger brother P8 Lite 2017 has already received an update to 7.0. However, behind the proprietary Emotion UI shell, it is difficult to see the differences between different Android versions. The target audience of Huawei GR5 2017 is mobile photography enthusiasts who are able to fully appreciate the advantages of a dual camera.

 

4 GB of RAM, a good camera, clean Android OS without shells.

 

 

There are no significant drawbacks.

 

The brand new Moto M smartphone is very different from previous Motorola solutions. Firstly, this is the first and so far the only metal smartphone in the Moto line. Before that, plastic, rubber and even ballistic nylon were used, but metal – never. Secondly, for the first time, Motorola engineers trusted the processor from MediaTek. There used to be Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and even such exotics in the mobile segment as NVIDIA, but MediaTek – never before.

The eight-core Helio P10 chip with Mali-T830 MP2 graphics, of course, pulls three-dimensional mobile games at low or even medium graphics settings, but it cannot be called a gamer's dream for sure. But for active work with a smartphone in multitasking mode with frequent switching between several applications, it fits perfectly. Multitasking is also facilitated by as much as 4 GB of RAM: applications will remain running in memory for a long time, and not close automatically, as often happens on smartphones with a small amount of RAM.

The 16-MP camera migrated straight from the previous Moto G4 Plus model. She had previously given out good pictures, and with the modified software, the photo quality has become even better. The main reason to buy a Motorola smartphone, as before, remains the dual Android OS without any weighting graphical shells. It's just a pity that the Android version is still an old 6.0 (probably a firmware update will be released over time).

 

It is well suited for games, excellent photo and video camera, dust and water protection.

 

 

There are no significant drawbacks.

 

Galaxy A7 2017 is the senior model of Samsung's fashion line, which should become a replacement for the current flagship S7 after the release of the new S8. Simply put, almost all the best that the S7 has inherited the A7 2017 and it costs significantly cheaper at the same time. And it's also practically a phablet with a SuperAMOLED FullHD display with a diagonal of not much, not little, 5.7". To whom it seems too much, take a closer look at the reduced to 5.2" Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 32 GB / 3 GB with similar characteristics.

Compared to the Galaxy A3 2017, the A7 2017 processor is overclocked to 1.9 GHz, and the Mali-T830 MP3 graphics received a tripled number of microkernels. That is, it is already a full-fledged game chip on which WoT Blitz, Asphalt 8 and Modern Kombat 5 are launched at high graphics settings.

Very rarely, non-flagship smartphones get a camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) function, but the Galaxy A7 2017 just has it. Optstab is useful both for video recording to neutralize frame shaking while walking, and for photographing, as it allows you to get clear pictures even with relatively long exposures. As a result, we get a modern and clearly worth the money smartphone: beautiful (a combination of glass and metal), performant, with an excellent camera and optical stabilizer.