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Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro First Impressions - Meet The Big Battery Beast!

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First launched in the Philippines few days back, Samsung's newest upper midrange offering impressed us with its flagship-grade design, metal / glass build, and HUGE 6 inch FHD 2.5D curved screen.
Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro First Impressions - Meet The Big Battery Beast!
The nice to look at 6 inch FHD screen of A9 Pro
Also notice its selfie cam on top, slim screen bezels on all sides, and home button with fingerprint scanner below

Apart from being the biggest modern Samsung phone, the A9 Pro is also the most powerful among all the A series with the use of a 1.8 GHz 64 Bit Snapdragon 652 octa core processor paired with Adreno 510 GPU and 4 GB of RAM. That setup alone even by just looking at it on paper nearly guarantees good multitasking, can run heavy apps, and play up to heavy games pretty well.

To make things sweeter, Samsung equipped this device with 5,000 mAh of battery capacity (another biggest for a Samsung phone) to ensure up to 2 days of battery life!

Anyway, During its launch, we were able to grasp a quick hold of it so we'll share with you what we initially think of it. Let's start!

Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro Specs

Display: 6 Inch FHD Super AMOLED 1920 x 1080 resolution w/ 2.5D curved glass w/ Gorilla Glass 4 protection at 367ppi
CPU: 1.8 GHz 64 Bit Snapdragon 652 octa core processor
GPU: Adreno 510
RAM: 4 GB
ROM: 32 GB expandable via micro SD card slot up to 128 GB
Back Camera: 16 MP f/1.9 w/ OIS and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8 MP f/1.9
Battery: 5,000 mAh
OS: Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow w/ TouchWiz UI
Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, OTG, GPS, A GPS, GLONASS, dual SIM (dedicated)
Others: Fingerprint sensor, Colors: pearl white, midnight black, champagne gold, pink
Dimensions: 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.9 mm
Weight: 210 g
Price: 25,990 Pesos

Build Quality / Design

Gorilla Glass 4 2.5D protected back, protruding main camera, and single bright LED flash behind
Gorilla Glass 4 2.5D protected back, protruding main camera, and single bright LED flash behind
Also visible in this image is the volume rocker at the left side of the phone when facing front

The Galaxy A9 Pro is solid and stylish at the same time. Just like the rest of the Galaxy A series, the A9 Pro used a familiar S6 like tough metal chamfered unibody and 2.5 curved glass protected with Corning's Gorilla Glass 4.

Given that type of material, its frame should hold up to the test of time. In front and back the Gorilla Glass 4 protected glass material can hold up to not that high drops and prevent scratches most of the time. However, the screen and glass  back may still shatter when dropped hard.
3.5 mm audio port, micro USB port, speaker grilles, and microphone below
Another microphone and a dedicated micro SD card on top
Another microphone and a dedicated micro SD card on top
Dual nano SIM card tray and power button at right
The A9 Pro, just like the rest of the A series looks stunning and well engineered!
Design-wise, it is beautiful! We love the way it looks, it has well engineered curves, appealing 2.5D curved glass in front and back, and not that thick frame. As usual, this A series phone reminds us of a slightly improved Galaxy S6 aesthetics.

Ergonomically, it is the same with the rest of the nice hold and feel A series. Due to its huge size, this handset is great for big people such as basketball players and anyone who has big hands. For normal users, 2 handed use is a must to get proper grip and hold.

However, not everyone will be pleased with a large screen. It may not be that comfortable in your shorts or pants if you are a small guy. It may also be too big for some. But, if you prefer to watch and view things on a larger screen on the go, this is a nice device.

In terms of button and ports, it goes with the usual Samsung placements except for one thing, this device has a dedicated micro SD 

As of the moment

I'm mostly thrilled with what Galaxy A9 Pro offered with its premium grade design and build. We also liked its huge screen that's sharp looking even with the use of just an FHD resolution.

As a multimedia phablet, I'm intrigued to see what this phone can do in actual gaming, watching movies, and viewing images on a larger phone screen. I'd also like to see how its titanic 5,000 mAh battery will perform as that appears to be the killer feature of this handsetMaybe it is even great enough to use as a data hotspot due to that perceived long battery life.

It's camera could also be a major selling point of this device. At the back, it has a Samsung ISOCELL 16 MP main camera w/ large f/1.9 aperture, OIS and LED flash. In front, there's an 8 MP f/1.9 selfie sensor. Given those camera specs and our quick test, it is a capable camera for stills and videos that seems to be competitive for its price.

On our initial benchmarks, we found out that it can score over 68K at Antutu and has nice 10 points of multitouch. It also has a fingerprint scanner in front for security and most of the basic sensors intact. However, I find it quite weird to find out that it doesn't have a gyroscope on board for VR users.

Anyway, initially, we think that this is one of the better higher-end phablets in the country today. If ever, stay tuned for our full review and report.

The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro will be available nationwide starting this August 12, 2016 with an SRP of 25,990 Pesos.

What do you think guys?
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