Highscreen Alpha R review: Full HD, two batteries and other animals
Full HD screens in smartphones are not so rare, and the B-brands began to produce their models equipped with a Full HD screen. And the first on the Russian market budget smartphone announced the Highscreen brand. And, of course, I did not miss the opportunity to get acquainted with the new product. It is called, by the way, Highscreen Alpha R.
I’ll start, perhaps, from a meeting on clothes, because you can’t immediately look at the screen without looking at the smartphone and its surroundings :)
By the way, I like to watch the evolution of the gadgets of a single brand. Bearing in mind that “the devil is in the details”, manufacturers pay a lot of attention to little things. For example, before the boxes of Highscreen smartphones were so deliberately “cardboard”, interspersed with different shades of brown and beige. Alpha R received a emasculated plain light box with a signature “anatomical” analysis on the facade.
The smartphone matches it completely: it looks ... um ... completed both on the outside and inside.
The case is not just black, but two-tone. The front panel remains black, and the edges and the back are white. Against this background, fingerprints are almost invisible, and the Alpha R looks decent even after active use. “Wow, wow!” The girl-girl screamed and opened the back cover to insert a SIM card.
The slots were partially hidden under the battery, but you still do not need to remove it to install the SIM card. As usual, one slot is only for the GSM range, the second is for 3G.
There is a microSD card slot nearby, but it is not included, but I didn’t get it from my smartphone. Why, if this has 4 GB of its own memory? For me, so little, but for someone, maybe enough. Time has shown that I was mistaken. Highscreen Alpha R does not record photos from the camera and screenshots in the internal storage, but requires a card. You can’t choose anything in the settings: according to the manufacturer, this was done specifically so that more applications can be installed in the internal memory.
Anyway, I’d like to put the card in order to record all kinds of films and TV shows there, this is understandable. But it’s strange that you can’t check one of the important functions - shooting - right in the store.
The smartphone has successfully located buttons and connectors: power, charging and headphones on top, volume on the left.
Touch elements are placed under the display. And he, by the way, deserves all praise, and not only because he has a fashionable high resolution.
So, what has the display earned praise for? Firstly, the IPS-matrix gives out saturated and at the same time realistic colors. Secondly, the display has large viewing angles, for which another technology is indirectly responsible - OGS (One Glass Solution). As it is clear from the decryption, there is no air gap between the glass and the sensor elements, as in other smartphones, due to this the display becomes thinner. As for the viewing angles, I will not answer thoroughly: in those couple of days that Alpha R was visiting me, there was no way to compare with the usual IPS-matrix. But subjectively, everything is fine with them :)
Well and thirdly - permission. I can safely say that now you do not need to convert the video to “special for smartphones” - 480x274 or something like that. You can safely watch anything in Full HD resolution. Another thing is that the smartphone does not pull the movie “weighing” 20 gigabytes, it slows down, but not all computers can handle it. And why rape it: on 5 inches I didn’t even notice the many nuances of the quality of “lite” converted videos of 2-3 GB with an original resolution of 1920x1080! And the smartphone shows such files without any problems.
And this is not surprising: it has a decent 4-core processor at 1.5 GHz and a gigabyte of RAM. Not enough? In words, maybe, in fact, enough is enough: for multitasking, and for loading demanding games. Tests also rate performance quite high:
Alpha R differs from most devices not only in high screen resolution, but also in unusual equipment.
For all the power of modern smartphones, they have a drawback - gluttony. There are, of course, models with advanced batteries, like the same Highscreen Boost, which got as many as 4,160 mAh with a standard 2-2.5 thousand. But it is quite thick and I personally like the girl less than the two-color Alpha R.
And for Alpha, they came up with another tricky move, not a new one, but very rarely used: a second battery in the kit. And not the same “two thousandth” as the first, but by 4,000 mAh, which increases the operating time by about half. That is, instead of a day or two (depending on how many hours you spend on your smartphone), it will last 3-4, or even more. A capacious battery comes with a larger rear panel, and the smartphone becomes almost 50 grams heavier and a couple of millimeters thicker. But at the same time it does not lose its charm, and it is even more convenient to hold it. Yes, and no one forces to put the batteries in turn: you throw a spare in a bag, if you need it - take it out and use it. It seems a trifle, but how it helps!
Finally, a few more important things.
The main camera received a resolution of 8 megapixels, autofocus and flash. Why not 13? Yes, because the number of megapixels is pure marketing, which has little to do with the quality of photos. And it is very good for a smartphone that is not positioned as a camera phone.
Alpha R also shoots quite decent videos that are nice to watch on the display before posting on YouTube and Instagram (yes, if you’re not already in the know, square photos have been added to square photos!).
I haven’t decided to write about the telephone part recently, but I’ll mention it: the interlocutor’s voice is heard well, the proximity sensor works as it should (you can’t press the cheek to mute the microphone), the radio module is powerful enough and does not lose the network from scratch.
Pros: excellent Full HD display, second battery included, affordable price, high performance.
Cons: for photos and videos, you need a memory card, not the best camera, not enough RAM, cheap-mediocre complete headphones.
It is surprising, of course, to immediately buy a memory card and the fact that the flagship wasn’t given more RAM - well, that's the price it has much lower analogues, less than 13 thousand at the start of sales. Therefore, the fact that Highscreen Alpha R is a very modern fast smartphone with an amazing screen is difficult to argue.
I’ll start, perhaps, from a meeting on clothes, because you can’t immediately look at the screen without looking at the smartphone and its surroundings :)
By the way, I like to watch the evolution of the gadgets of a single brand. Bearing in mind that “the devil is in the details”, manufacturers pay a lot of attention to little things. For example, before the boxes of Highscreen smartphones were so deliberately “cardboard”, interspersed with different shades of brown and beige. Alpha R received a emasculated plain light box with a signature “anatomical” analysis on the facade.
The smartphone matches it completely: it looks ... um ... completed both on the outside and inside.
Appearance
The case is not just black, but two-tone. The front panel remains black, and the edges and the back are white. Against this background, fingerprints are almost invisible, and the Alpha R looks decent even after active use. “Wow, wow!” The girl-girl screamed and opened the back cover to insert a SIM card.
The slots were partially hidden under the battery, but you still do not need to remove it to install the SIM card. As usual, one slot is only for the GSM range, the second is for 3G.
There is a microSD card slot nearby, but it is not included, but I didn’t get it from my smartphone. Why, if this has 4 GB of its own memory? For me, so little, but for someone, maybe enough. Time has shown that I was mistaken. Highscreen Alpha R does not record photos from the camera and screenshots in the internal storage, but requires a card. You can’t choose anything in the settings: according to the manufacturer, this was done specifically so that more applications can be installed in the internal memory.
Anyway, I’d like to put the card in order to record all kinds of films and TV shows there, this is understandable. But it’s strange that you can’t check one of the important functions - shooting - right in the store.
The smartphone has successfully located buttons and connectors: power, charging and headphones on top, volume on the left.
Touch elements are placed under the display. And he, by the way, deserves all praise, and not only because he has a fashionable high resolution.
Display and performance
So, what has the display earned praise for? Firstly, the IPS-matrix gives out saturated and at the same time realistic colors. Secondly, the display has large viewing angles, for which another technology is indirectly responsible - OGS (One Glass Solution). As it is clear from the decryption, there is no air gap between the glass and the sensor elements, as in other smartphones, due to this the display becomes thinner. As for the viewing angles, I will not answer thoroughly: in those couple of days that Alpha R was visiting me, there was no way to compare with the usual IPS-matrix. But subjectively, everything is fine with them :)
Well and thirdly - permission. I can safely say that now you do not need to convert the video to “special for smartphones” - 480x274 or something like that. You can safely watch anything in Full HD resolution. Another thing is that the smartphone does not pull the movie “weighing” 20 gigabytes, it slows down, but not all computers can handle it. And why rape it: on 5 inches I didn’t even notice the many nuances of the quality of “lite” converted videos of 2-3 GB with an original resolution of 1920x1080! And the smartphone shows such files without any problems.
And this is not surprising: it has a decent 4-core processor at 1.5 GHz and a gigabyte of RAM. Not enough? In words, maybe, in fact, enough is enough: for multitasking, and for loading demanding games. Tests also rate performance quite high:
Power Features
Alpha R differs from most devices not only in high screen resolution, but also in unusual equipment.
For all the power of modern smartphones, they have a drawback - gluttony. There are, of course, models with advanced batteries, like the same Highscreen Boost, which got as many as 4,160 mAh with a standard 2-2.5 thousand. But it is quite thick and I personally like the girl less than the two-color Alpha R.
And for Alpha, they came up with another tricky move, not a new one, but very rarely used: a second battery in the kit. And not the same “two thousandth” as the first, but by 4,000 mAh, which increases the operating time by about half. That is, instead of a day or two (depending on how many hours you spend on your smartphone), it will last 3-4, or even more. A capacious battery comes with a larger rear panel, and the smartphone becomes almost 50 grams heavier and a couple of millimeters thicker. But at the same time it does not lose its charm, and it is even more convenient to hold it. Yes, and no one forces to put the batteries in turn: you throw a spare in a bag, if you need it - take it out and use it. It seems a trifle, but how it helps!
Camera and Communication
Finally, a few more important things.
The main camera received a resolution of 8 megapixels, autofocus and flash. Why not 13? Yes, because the number of megapixels is pure marketing, which has little to do with the quality of photos. And it is very good for a smartphone that is not positioned as a camera phone.
Alpha R also shoots quite decent videos that are nice to watch on the display before posting on YouTube and Instagram (yes, if you’re not already in the know, square photos have been added to square photos!).
I haven’t decided to write about the telephone part recently, but I’ll mention it: the interlocutor’s voice is heard well, the proximity sensor works as it should (you can’t press the cheek to mute the microphone), the radio module is powerful enough and does not lose the network from scratch.
Pros: excellent Full HD display, second battery included, affordable price, high performance.
Cons: for photos and videos, you need a memory card, not the best camera, not enough RAM, cheap-mediocre complete headphones.
Summary
Two body colors, elegant design, excellent display - the Alpha R has everything a woman needs from a smartphone. But at the same time, he, excuse me, is not only “girlish”! My missus was extremely interested in what kind of “shovel” came to me - despite the fact that he sincerely despises sensor devices. And on the last day I put my SIM card in there, talked a couple of times and even started watching football in a place where there is no television :)It is surprising, of course, to immediately buy a memory card and the fact that the flagship wasn’t given more RAM - well, that's the price it has much lower analogues, less than 13 thousand at the start of sales. Therefore, the fact that Highscreen Alpha R is a very modern fast smartphone with an amazing screen is difficult to argue.