Samsung

The one long-standing criticism of Samsung's powerhouse smartphone line has been about the plasticky, cheap build quality. Whilst the likes of the Apple iPhone and HTC's One series have set the standard in this regard with some premium finishes, the Galaxy roster has been the subject of much debate. Sure, most power users are nonplussed about the outer shell, particularly when the likes of Apple and HTC are forced to cut corners and remove perceived necessities like a removable battery, but in recent times, the Korean company has expanded its horizons by offering handsets with metallic finishes. The Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 are both products of this new initiative, but like many other metal-housed devices before them, the new duo is apparently afflicted with signal issues.

Samsung will admit that it has a lot of work to do in order to halt declining smartphone sales in what has been described as "an extremely competitive mobile market". It's highly likely that we will see the company introduce a number of new devices into the market in the coming months in an attempt to find something that sticks and resonates with consumers in the same way that its 'S Series' of devices have in recent years. The first of those new devices, the A3 and A5, fall under the speculated 'A' family of hardware and has now officially been introduced by the Korean giant, and takes a lot of design cues from the Galaxy Alpha.