Samsung Galaxy A9 2016 Price in the Philippines, Specs, Antutu Benchmark Score, Features

Korean Giant Samsung Mobile kicked off 2016 by releasing a slew of gorgeous, powerful, and feature-packed affordable Galaxy A-Series smartphones that are sure to capture the fancy of consumers who are finally ready to upgrade their entry-level Android smartphones into something slightly more expensive but far more amazing.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

The biggest, most-powerful handset in this new bunch is Samsung Galaxy A9 2016, which is even larger than beastly Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus from 2015.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

Just like last year's flagship smartphone model, Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy A9 2016 flaunts a gorgeous design language highlighted by the svelte aluminum mid-frame and front-and-back scratch-resistant glass panels. It still benefits from the company's recent efforts to improve the look and feel of its pricey handset releases.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

This Dual SIM Dual Standby, LTE-Cat7-enabled phablet sports a massive 6-inch HD SuperAMOLED display panel that's sure to deliver an enjoyable movie-viewing, 3D gaming, and E-Book reading experience. Although not as pixel-dense as the screens of Samsung's top-of-the-line S-Series handsets, the sheer size of the panel as well as the brilliant colors of this particular screen type - I believe - well compensate for it.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016
Below the display, you'll the home button with Samsung's Finger Scanner on top that lets you unlock the phone or make supported online store purchases with but a touch of a finger.

Apart from its build, design, and display, another highlight of this model is its extra-large non-removable 4,000 mAh Li-Ion battery pack that supports fast charging and delivers more than 430 hours of standby time.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016
All photos that I used in this entry are courtesy of the amazing people at Android Authority.

You can fully charge it in just two hours and 10 minutes and it can give you more than a whole day of uptime with regular use. This is great improvement from previous midrange and high-end Galaxy models that the Korean Giant has released in the past.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

As for the smartphone's imaging capabilities, Galaxy A9 2016 is equipped with a 13 MegaPixel f/1.9 aperture camera at the back that you can easily launch by double clicking the home button. The main shooter is complemented by an 8 MegaPixel front-facing cam, which is easily the highest resolution selfie camera on a Galaxy model ever.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

Galaxy A9 2016's main snapper also features Optical Image Stabilization - previously found only on recent S-Series releases - that compensates for hand movement or shaking when taking photos or recording videos resulting in crisp images and steady clips.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

In terms of internal hardware, the device runs is TouchWiz-flavored Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system (with planned Android 6.0 Marshmallow upgrade) using its Octa Core Qualcomm MSM8976 Snapdragon 652 chipset that incorporates four 1.8 GHz Cortex ARM A72 CPUs, four 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A53 cores and and Adreno 510 GPU, has 3GB of RAM for multitasking, and comes with 32GB of ROM that you can easily augment using the secondary SIM slot that also supports microSD card memory expansion, a consumer-friendly feature absent on A-Series and S-Series models from 2015.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016
The combination of the above-mentioned innards give Samsung Galaxy A9 2016 an Antutu Benchmark Score of 67,650, reflecting its above average 3D gaming, multitasking, and overall performance for a device in its price echelon.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016

Are there any cons or points for improvement? Well, given the size of this phablet's display as well as of its battery, its footprint is also rather big and - as you would expect - it's one of the heaviest smartphones currently. To be specific, the device has dimensions of 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.4 mm and weights 200 grams. But yeah, given the benefits of the 6-inch screen and the great uptime provided by the extra-large battery, those limitations can certainly be forgiven.

Samsung Galaxy A9 2016 is now available at all Samsung Concept Stores and authorized retailers nationwide. It's out in four colors, namely, Champagne Gold, Pink, Pearl White, Midnight Black. As for its price, Kimstore - my trusted online store - sells the phablet for only Php 22,400 -- and at that amount, I think it's already a steal.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Samsung Galaxy A9 2016
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Upper Midrange to High-End
Dimensions161.7 x 80.9 x 7.4 mm
Weight 200 grams
Available Colors Champagne Gold, Pink, Pearl White, Midnight Black
Operating System Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with TouchWiz UI, planned upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display 6.0 inches (~75.9% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 1920 pixels (~367 ppi pixel density), Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Gorilla Glass 4
Processor Octa Core = Quad Core 1.8 GHz Cortex ARM A72 + Quad Core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A53, Adreno 510 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8976 Snapdragon 652 chipset
RAM 3 GB RAM
Internal Storage 32 GB, expandable via hybrid microSD card slot (secondary nanoSIM) supporting up to 128GB
Camera Main: 13 MegaPixels, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, f/1.9, 28mm, OIS, 1/3" sensor size, LED flash
Front: 8 MegaPixels, f/1.9, 24mm wide angle
Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frames per second for main camera, Full HD for front camera
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 v4.1, A2DP, EDR, LE, 4G LTE Cat4 (150/50Mbps), 3G HSPA+, LTE Cat7, NFC
GPS Yes, with GLONASS and A-GPS
FM Radio Yes
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Gyroscope, Finger Scanner
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100, 4G FDD-LTE: B1(2100),B3(1800),B5(850),B7(2600),B8(900), 4G TDD-LTE: B38(2600),B39(1900),B40(2300),B41(2500)
SIM Card Type Dual SIM = microSIM (TBC) + Hybrid nanoSIM
Battery Non-removable 4,000 mAh Li-Ion battery, Fast Charging (Full Charge in 2 Hours, 10 Minutes)
Uptime 436 Hours of Standby
Value-Added Features Metal Frame, TouchWiz Interface, OIS, Extra-Large Display, Big Battery Pack
Announcement January 2016
Availability January 2016
Price Kimstore (February 2016) - Php 22,400