Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines Price is Php 24,990 : Complete Specs and Key Features Rundown

Released in the Philippines just a couple of days ago with a price tag of Php 24,990, Samsung Galaxy A8 is the biggest and most expensive member of the Korean company's metal-clad, midrange A-Series smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines, Samsung Galaxy A8

This new phablet has several cool features that are sure to delight users. But its strongest suit would definitely be in the aesthetics department.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

For one, it flaunts a real metal - anodized aluminum - side frame that makes it look both durable and elegant while highlighting the device's ultra-slim 5.9 mm construction. With such measurement, the Galaxy A8 is - notably - the thinnest smartphone that Samsung has released so far.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

On its face, it sports super narrow 2.5mm side bezels framing its massive 5.7 inch Full HD SuperAMOLED display. These ultra-thin bezels and well as this stunning screen type are a real treat to get on an upper midrange Galaxy release as the company usually reverses these for its flagship level models.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

Equipped with an extra-large display (that puts it well within the phablet category), Samsung Galaxy A8 is an ideal device for media consumption like viewing photos and watching videos, for fast thumb-typing, as well as for browsing websites and reading e-books.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

As for the phone's imaging capabilities, Galaxy A8 has 13 MegaPixel autofocus main camera at the back with LED flash and Quick Launch support, which lets you fire up the camera anytime simply by double clicking the home button.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

The main cam is complemented by a 5MP snapper in front with wide angle lens that's perfect for taking selfies whether on your own or with friends. If you wish so, you may also use the main camera to take self-portraits with a downloadable camera plug-in from Samsung that automatically detects you and your friends' faces and enhances your facial features and skin-tone for more attractive shots of yourself that are ready for sharing on social networking sites.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

At its heart, Samsung Galaxy A8 runs its TouchWiz-flavored Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system with a powerful 64-Bit Octa-Core Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset, handles multitasking with 2GB of RAM, and has 32GB of internal storage that you can beef using the phablet's secondary Hybrid nanoSIM slot that also doubles as a microSD card expansion slot.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

While these aren't particularly the best set of internal hardware that you can get on a smartphone in this price category (in fact, there are sub-Php 20,000 smartphones like the Lenovo Vibe Shot and Xiaomi Mi4i that have similar innards), they should be good enough to make sure that Samsung Galaxy A8 will be free from constant stuttering and lags.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

And the same thing can be said about Galaxy A8's non-removable 3,050 mAh battery. It's just alright. I mean, it's not the biggest pack powering a phablet but it's certainly good enough to provide decent uptime; Around 17 hours talk time or 51 hours of music playback, according to early reviewers.

Samsung Galaxy A8, Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines

Now, should you check this release? If you're a big Samsung fan and you're dreaming of owning a phablet made by the company but you're not yet ready spend more than Php 35,000 to get either the Samsung Galaxy Note5 or the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, then you'd do well to consider this model. At Php 24,990, Galaxy A8 is far more expensive than some smartphones from international sellers having the same internal hardware -- but it does have that massive SuperAMOLED dislay - complemented by the opulent build and design of its shell - to more than make up for it.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Samsung Galaxy A8 Philippines
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Upper Midrange
Dimensions158 x 76.8 x 5.9 mm
Weight 151 grams
Available Colors Pearl White, Midnight Black, Champagne Gold
Operating System Android 5.1 Lollipop with TouchWiz UI
Display 5.7 inches (~73.8% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 1920 pixels (~386 ppi pixel density), Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Corning Gorilla Glass 4 (TBC)
Processor 64-Bit Octa Core = Quad Core 1.7 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 + Quad Core 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, Adreno 405 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset
RAM 2 GB RAM
Internal Storage 32 GB, expandable via microSD card slot supporting up to 128GB
Camera Main: 16 MegaPixels, 2997 x 5328 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Front: 5 MegaPixels, Wide-Angle
Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frames per second for main camera (TBC), HD for front camera (TBC)
Audio and Video Playback MP4, WMV, H.264, MP3, WAV, WMA, eAAC+, FLAC
Ports microUSB v2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, 4G LTE Cat4 (150/50Mbps), 3G HSPA+ 42.2Mbps HSDPA, 5.76Mbps HSUPA, NFC
GPS Yes, with GLONASS and A-GPS
FM Radio Yes
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity, Fingerprint Scanner
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100, 4G LTE (TBD)
SIM Card Type Single nanoSIM + Hybrid nanoSIM (doubling as microSD card expansion slot)
Battery Non-removable 3,050 mAh Li-Ion battery
Uptime 17 Hours of Talk Time, 51 Hours of Music Play
Value-Added Features Ultra Power Saving Mode, Changeable Theme (Natural, Classic, Casual, Romantic), Ultra-Thin Design, Metal Frame, TouchWiz Interface, Large Display
Announcement August 2015
Availability August 2015
Price Official: Php 24,990