The A9 Pro isn't for everybody. It is primarily for someone who is looking for a large phablet form factor and a big battery
Specification:
- Display 6.00-inch
- Processor
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 Processor
- Front Camera 8-megapixel
- 4 GB RAM | 32 GB ROM |
- OSAndroid 6.0.1
- Storage 64GB
- Rear Camera16-megapixel
- Battery 5000 mAh Li-Ion Battery
Design and Built :
Samsung's A-series phones were all about stone-cold metal. Meanwhile, its J-series phones had all-plastic bodies. In 2016, things are different. The lines between Samsung's high-end S-range, its mid-level A-range and its affordable J-range are blurring by the day. On a regular day, the Galaxy A9 Pro would pass of as Samsung's S-series phone. You know, with all that glass and metal, it's really hard to tell the difference. But, that is precisely what has happened. Samsung's premium A-range just became more premium. Not that I am complaining.
The phone essentially consists of two slabs of bevelled Corning Gorilla Glass 4 joined together by a metal frame with chamfered edges (and bumpy corners). The design is trademark Samsung, so is the button alignment. It looks a lot like the Galaxy A5 and A7 2016 which in turn looked a lot like the Galaxy S6 from last year. And therein lies the A9 Pro's biggest problem. The A9 Pro, because it has chamfered edges and sizeable weight (210 gram), ends up becoming a lot boxier in comparison to the A5 and A7 2016. The effect being, the phone ends up becoming an ergonomic nightmare in actual usage. Don't mind me, it looks really nice. But, looks are not what will drive this thing alone. It has to be ergonomic. Agreed, the A9 Pro is a 6-inch phone, but so is the Mi Max. In fact Xiaomi's phone is bigger (6.4-inch) and has an almost similar sized (4,850mAh) battery. But, because Xiaomi's phone is a lot curvier and has a more even distribution of weight, the Mi Max is literally a giant that's surprisingly super light on its feet and a pleasure to work around with. Moreover, all that glass upon the A9 Pro is prone to smudges and fingerprints. Not to mention, it is super glossy as well.
In Samsung's defense, the A9 Pro has every ingredient, design per se, that sort of justifies its price. The phone is exceptionally well-built and screams out premium from every corner. The power button (on the right) and the volume-rocker (on the left) are well-placed and offer good feedback. The phone has a dual slot for two separate SIM cards and a separate slot for microSD. The physical home button on the front houses a fingerprint scanner, that works well (and is surprisingly accurate), and is flanked by physical capacitive keys that are backlit. Sadly, there's no USB Type-C
Display:
The A9 Pro's 6-inch 1080p display may not inspire a great deal of confidence on paper, but, at least it gets the job done. There are a couple of things that really stand out in Samsung's new phone. One that it is using a Super AMOLED panel, which is without a doubt a force to reckon with in the smartphone word and secondly, is the phone's excellent screen-to-body-ratio. While the Super AMOLED solution ensures you get well-saturated and eye-popping colours with deep blacks, the phone's excellent screen-to-body-ratio ensures you get more real-estate to feast your eyes on all those colours. It gets really bright too and adaptive brightness works as it should.
Even though a phone like the OnePlus 3 has an AMOLED screen (5.5-inch) colours on it can be a bit oversaturated. At the same time, the Xiaomi Mi Max suffers in overall brightness, which is on the lower side. Samsung's phone, meanwhile, balances colours and brightness well.
But there's a catch. The screen isn't as sharp as Samsung's top-tier phones like S7 and the S7 Edge, because well, it has a lower screen resolution. Secondly, the phone's viewing angles could have been a little better.
Performance:
The A9 Pro is a large phone with a 6-inch screen, it towers over many others. Just a year or two ago, 5.5-inches would have been considered larger but is now mainstream. The 6-inch is obviously bigger but not by a lot, because Samsung has reduced the size of the bezels and the chin. Bezel size is just 2.7mm which helps keep overall size manageable. It has a very premium design with the typical glass-metal sandwich. You can get it in a choice of gold, black or white. The frame is aluminium with chamfers and a flattened mid section to make it easy to hold. Otherwise, it is typically Samsung with the oval home button (incorporates a fingerprint scanner), backlit recent/back buttons and metallic power/ volume buttons.
Samsung really knows how to make good amoled screens and their expertise shines through on the A9 Pro as well although a relatively low 1080p resolution, the screen looks sharp, offers superb contrast, viewing angles and brightness. The screen will serve you well for everything except VR, for which a quad HD screen is needed to get the best experience. If you find the colours not to your liking, you can always switch modes from the display settings (adaptive, cinema photo and basic modes are available).
Coming to performance, the A9 Pro is powered by a very powerful (octa core) Snapdragon 652 processor paired with a generous 4GB RAM. This processor offers the same class of performance as previous generation flagships, which is to say, it’s plenty fast. The only hitch is, you can get actual flagship processor devices powered by Snapdragon 820 for cheaper now with phones like LeMax 2 and Mi5. If you want a really large screen smartphone from one of the top brands, A9 Pro is the best deal. Flipkart
For the camera, the A9 Pro has a 16MP primary snapper with f1.9 aperture and optical image stabilisation. It offers good quality results but it would still be easily outclassed by something like the OnePlus 3 (which is cheaper at Rs 28k, has a Snapdragon 820, 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage). But coming to one of the highlights and the main reason why the phone is so large the massive 5,000mAh battery. This is larger than many power banks you can get in the market and combined with the efficient Snapdragon 652, delivers two full days of battery life. Even though it has a really large battery, you can charge it up fast. A fast charger and cable is included in the box: 30 minutes of charging will give you about a 30per cent charge while it will go from 0 to 100 per cent in about 2 and half hours. Overall, this is a formidable phone in the mid-range and a great option if you want a really large screen from one of the top brands. If you’re OK about going with smaller brands, you can do a lot better by getting better performance, more RAM, storage and better cameras at a cheaper price.
The phone isn't to very prone to overheating, however. There is some heating when you're pushing it to the edge but nothing that is alarming. Also, it is pretty quick to cool down so that's a plus. The mono speaker on board the A9 Pro gets pleasantly loud with little or no distortion at peak volume. Voice quality during calls made with the phone was also excellent.
Camera:
The A9 Pro comes with a 16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture, autofocus, Optical Image Stabilisation and LED flash. There's also an 8-megapixel camera on the front.
It's tough being a camera phone these days, even more so if you cost around Rs 30,000. I really feel for Samsung. The A9 Pro isn't a bad camera phone, but, when you keep it next to the OnePlus 3, the ZenFone 3, the iPhone 6S and the Nexus 6P, well, Samsung's phone has a lot of catching to do. It's just about mediocre. The A9 Pro clicks good looking photos in good light, but, every now and then there are metering -- over exposure -- issues. Dynamic range is good, but overexposure sometimes tends to blow out highlights. Low light photos often tend to be washed out and have noise or grain. Shutter speed and autofocus are in line with what you'd expect from a phone in this price range
The selfie camera meanwhile, because it has a 1.9 aperture, can capture pretty detailed selfies even in low light scenarios.
Battery:
The USP of the A9 Pro, however, is its massive 5,000mAh battery which is claimed to offer a standby time of up to 22.5 days, a talk time of up to 32.5 hours and a video playback time of up to 26 hours, according to Samsung. Battery life, in a word, is fantastic. The Mi Max had literally blown me away with its long-lasting battery life. I have a new favourite now. It's called the Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro. The battery just won't die on this one. Extreme usage saw me getting close to a full day, without any hiccups, while moderate to low usage got me way beyond one and a half days with ease. Most users, with more generalised usage will easily be able to squeeze out at least two days out of the phone. The A9 Pro, surprisingly, remains unperturbed when on standby losing almost negligible charge when kept untouched overnight. Samsung also has a bevy of power-saving modes that work well to squeeze out more out of the battery, and then some more. The phone also supports fast charging which is claimed to charge the battery from 0 to 100 per cent in 160
minutes, and a mere 30 minutes can give you up to 32 per cent charge, as per Samsung. Real-world statistics are, surprisingly, very close to these numbers.
Pros and Cons:
Verdict:
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The Galaxy A9 is the first of the new Galaxy A (2016) series that I managed to play around with, and it did not disappoint. I thought the size of this phone would give me headaches, yet I got used to its pretty quick. I can see people’s affection for such large screens, as this 6-inch display is fantastic, especially when you use it like I do. I watched numerous TV shows on it and a lot of YouTube; yes, the screen is only Full HD but that isn’t something you will notice.
Combine this screen with a 4,000 mAh battery, and you’re all set, as the battery can last forever. Samsung hasn’t gotten any real competition in this segment of the market of 6-inch smartphones. The specs are great, battery life is stellar, and you get the feel of a premium device with the feature-packed experience of Samsung’s software.
The fingerprint sensor and the range of apps work well, and you don’t find any issues in day-to-day usage. But the question is, do we really need to spend that amount for this specs? If you are ready for a brand drop, a lot of Chinese phones are in the market for you.The smartphones--Galaxy A9 and Galaxy A9 Pro--were launched within a year from each other so there’s no telling whether there will be a new device coming out in a couple of months. Samsung also has not included Samsung VR compatibility like other premium Samsung smartphones. However, if you choose to purchase the device you will get a premium device with great Audio/Video quality and unique features like S Bike Mode, Ultra Data Saving Mode and Ultra Power Saving Saving mode. All in all, at Rs.32,490, the device is a good buy.
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