The Galaxy Alpha's dalliance with metal extends only to its outer rim. The rear of the device is the same kind of soft-touch polycarbonate as we've seen before.
It's one of the least objectionable uses for the material yet, though. Perhaps it's the fact that Samsung has done away with that awful faux-stitching effect, or the fact that it's framed by elegant metal rather than ugly shiny plastic. I don't know, but in this case Samsung's use of plastic is as notable and restrained as its use of metal.
Design
Let's get the obvious comment out of the way early doors. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha looks a lot like an iPhone.While it's clearly been released to pre-empt the launch of the iPhone 6, though, the Alpha's design is pure iPhone 4. It's got a very familiar flat-edged aluminium rim with that same nick-inviting chamfered edge. Even the machined speaker grid on the bottom edge is reminiscent of Apple's seminal phone
That's facilitated by a nice thin bezel and the Galaxy Alpha's super-thin body. At 6.7mm, it's not the thinnest phone in the world, but it's up there. It's also 0.2mm thinner than the similarly proportioned iPhone 6.
