Samsung’s A7 smartphone leaked, and it’s the slimmest Galaxy model yet

A new, super-slim Samsung smartphone has been leaked. It’s likely to be called the Galaxy A7, and it’s a continuation of the desirable Galaxy Alpha line. The phone has shown up on China’s mobile hardware certification website, along with an almost complete list of specifications, and some less than flattering pictures.
According to the specs, the Galaxy A7 will measure a mere 6.3mm thick, which is slimmer than the 6.7mm Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy A5 – making it Samsung’s thinnest Galaxy phone to date. The list continues, and shows the A7 to be technically superior to the recently announced Galaxy Alpha, A3 and A5.

Related: Samsung launches the stylish, selfie-obsessed Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 smartphones
The 5.5-inch, 1080p screen is a surprise, particularly stuffed inside such a sleek body, and is larger and higher resolution than the Galaxy Alpha. A new octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 2GB of RAM is listed, making the A7 fit and ready for Android 5.0 Lollipop, but initially it’s expected to come with Android 4.4.4 KitKat installed. A 13-megapixel rear camera should be joined by a 5-megapixel front camera, which matches the Galaxy A5’s photographic capabilities. Other specs include 4G LTE and 16GB of internal memory.
Samsung looks to have extended the shape, styling, and premium feel of the Alpha range to the A7. The design appears to be almost identical to the A3 and the A5, just on a larger scale, and it’s almost certain the phone will have another metal chassis. The rear panel will probably still be made from polycarbonate.
The Galaxy A7 seen here is being produced for China, much like the first examples of the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5; but Samsung has promised those two phones will get a wider release in the future, so there’s no reason not to expect the same for the Galaxy A7. An official announcement hasn’t been made yet, but now certification is complete, we won’t have to wait long.

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Samsung shows iTunes-like social, reading, music, media, business ‘Hubs’ for Galaxy Tabs

In addition to announcing new tablets at CTIA, Samsung also showed off a whole suite of apps, services, and business features for its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S devices.
In addition to unveiling a new 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab and redesigning its upcoming 10.1-inch offering a few moments ago, Samsung showed off a whole suite of software and services aimed at turning its line of touch tablets into a premium offering, much like Apple has done with its iTunes ecosystem on the iPad. The company rolled out the announcements at lightning speed and was loose on details, so bear with us if there are any inaccuracies.
Samsung’s entire Galaxy Tab line will come with its newest Android UI modification, TouchWiz 4.0. Upon first glance (we’ll have more detailed impressions soon), the new UI appears to smooth out a few of Android Honeycomb’s graphical shortcomings. Its biggest features are “Live Panels,” a new widget system, and a new “Mini App Tray.”
Live Panels: Samsung has created a new set of new, large widgets for Android 3.0 and an easy way to resize and reorganize them on your homescreen. Many of these widgets are “Hub” apps that I will describe in a bit.
Mini Apps Tray: Similar to the iPad, this is a row of large shortcuts at the bottom of the homescreen. It looks very similar to OSX and iOS.
In addition to its user experience enhancements to Android Honeycomb, Samsung users on Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab devices will soon get access to a new suite of apps that Samsung is calling “Hubs.” These were first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, but will now be on tablets as well.
Social Hub: This hub hopes to be a unified inbox for all your communication needs. Email, calendar, contacts, social networks, and messaging will all be condensed into one location. Facebook hopes to accomplish this as well. Organizing all of this data is always harder than it appears.
Readers Hub: This app will have a full e-book library, 2300 magazines, newspapers, and other reading material for sale or subscription.
Music Hub: Samsung is getting into the ring with iTunes. It plans to sell music on its own service (we assume MP3s as no streaming feature was announced). Sony recently announced its own media store as well.
Media Hub: This app will have “first-run movies and next day TV shows” available. We don’t know exactly how the rental/purchasing will work or how much it will cost. No details were announced.
A boatload of business features were announced for the Galaxy Tabs as well. In an attempt to make IT departments happier, the Galaxy Tabs will have data encryption, a BusinessObjects Explorer that lets you take business documents on the go, Exchange ActiveSync support, Sybase support, Cisco AnyConnect, and productivity software similar to Microsoft’s Office suite which will allow users to create PowerPoint slideshows, Word documents, and Excel documents.
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