Samsung Officially Announces Galaxy Alpha Smartphone

And all the rumors appear to have been accurate. Metal frame, but a dimpled plastic removable back. Lot's of storage, but no SD card. Reasonably fast processor, but a 4.7", 720P display. It is the thinnest phone in Samsung's lineup, at 6.7mm, which is even thinner than the rumor industry pegs the iPhone 6. And a weight of only 115g shows the advantage of using plastic for much of it's construction, but some will claim the light weight makes it feel "cheap." The rear facing camera is 12MP, compared to the Galaxy 5's 16MP version, which could actually improve low-light performance, and it comes with the latest version of KitKat. Battery capacity may seem at bit low, but with the smaller, lower resolution screen should be adequate. The phone is expected to be available for purchase in early September.This phone seems to be a bit of a confused product. Rumors were that this is intended to compete with the iPhone 6, but it is still mostly plastic, and early reports are that it doesn't have the premium feel the iPhone offers, and that people expect in a premium device. No official word from Samsung on price, but one UK retailer is accepting pre-orders at 500 pounds ($850 US).  That seems extreme, and if it turns out to be the actual price I think Samsung has an epic fail on its hands.Anyway, the phone's specs are as follows, straight from Samsung:

• 4.7" Super AMOLED display, 1280 x 720 pixels
• Exynos Octacore processor, four 1.8GHz cores, four 1.3 GHz cores
• 12MP rear, 2.1MP front cameras
• Android 4.4.4 KitKat
• 2 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM Storage (no micro SD)
• LTE Cat 6, for higher data speeds if your network supports it
• 1860 mAh battery
• 132.4 x 65.5 x 6.7mm, 115 grams
• Available in Charcoal black, "Dazzling" white, Frosted Gold, "Sleek" silver, and "Scuba" blue.

And, of course, it comes with the full range of Samsung's hardware and software features, including a fingerprint scanner and ultra-power-saving mode.I find myself wondering if this phone will make it to the U.S. at all. Usually, Samsung ships devices with the Exynos processor in overseas markets, and uses Qualcomm chips in it's North American phones, and there's no mention of a Qualcomm equipped version of the device. And the rumored price point makes a bit more sense in markets where iPhones are vastly more expensive than they are in the U.S.