Samsung Galaxy Alpha Release Date, Price, Specs News: Thinnest Android Phone Falls Short of iPhone 6?

With iPhone 6's impressive appeal to the public, avid Android users stand by to see what Samsung has to offer. Samsung Galaxy Alpha is expected to live up to its hype, as being the thinnest, while still powerful, smartphone ever produced by the Korean tech giant so far.

With its official release date of September 26 drawing near, some critics say the new device has fallen short in the wake of iPhone 6 hype.

But before a direct comparison is made, experts will look at Galaxy Alpha's specs and features. First off, Samsung's newest flagship is branded as "sleek" and is a handset with "great power." The device has a 4.7-inch metallic casing, one of the firsts since the debut of its Galaxy series.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha runs on a 1.8GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 processor with 32GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM. Unfortunately, the smartphone does not bear the upcoming Android L, rather Android KitKat as the operating system. It also boasts a 12-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, and image check quality. This is a slight a downgrade from Galaxy S5's 16-megapixel shooter.

Other features include geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection as well as panorama HD capability. Notably, Samsung Galaxy Alpha falls short in terms of graphics capacity with an AMOLED 720 x 1280 pixels against iPhone 6 Plus' 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

AT&T is the exclusive distributor of Samsung Galaxy Alpha with an individual plan starting at $199 within a two-year contract period. Installment options are priced at $25.55 for 18 months and $30.65 for 12 months while the standard retail price is at $612.99.

Senior Vice President for Devices at AT&T Jeff Bradley shares his enthusiasm in the upcoming release of Samsung Galaxy Alpha, he said, "We are excited to offer you yet another industry leading smartphone with the announcement of the Galaxy Alpha on the nation's most reliable 4G LTE network, covering more than 300 million Americans," he said.