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IT ONLY ARRIVED a few months ago, but Samsung is planning to scrap the Galaxy Alpha in favour of cheaper devices.
The device will be succeeded by the Galaxy A5, a mid-range smartphone with a 5-inch screen. The device follows the same metal design as the Alpha but has lower specs.
According to etNews, the A5 went on sale in China and Taiwan in November and it’s expected to arrive in Samsung’s home country, South Korea, in January or February.
The reduced specs means it will have a lower price, and is expected to cost 400,000 won (€299) in South Korea. Another model, the A3, was released alongside the A5 in China but has a 4.5-inch screen.
The Galaxy Alpha opted for a premium look after the S5′s plastic design drew criticism. It went for a metal design, as well as a thin and light feel, but its specs and high price meant it had to compete against high-end rivals such as the iPhone 6 and HTC One M8.
The change is part of Samsung’s aim to shake up its smartphone range after a dip in net profit in 2014. Back in November, it announced its plans to cut the number of smartphone models it issues next year by up to a third as competition from Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo increases.
The Galaxy Alpha is still being produced but will be phased out once the current inventory of materials is used up.
Should be in that place for the rest of their lives instead of going back into towns and villages, terrorising shop keepers and home owners.
@Negan: all for the want of a wooden spoon.
@Brendan Hughes: True, many years ago a local “Bad Boy” with a history of burglary broke in to the wrong house. One of the mad sons began to assault this criminal every time he saw him. After months of looking over his shoulder he changed his ways. I’d personally prefer to bring back the lash on the bare back and fuk this shyte of dancing around the problem.
Why not provide the therapy/counselling in prison and save the rest of us from being exposed to them?
Are the innocent victims going to be compensated by this minister
@Chris Mcdonnell: are the victims going to get the care and attention they may need after they are robbed or beaten and terrorised by some of these ” lost souls “
Their parents should have to pay something towards it and if on the dole a percentage of it. If they re-offend. The dole should go to the victim.
How is it appropriate to have aggressive youngsters considered suitable for this program. These kids are rarely aggressive with people their own age instead they like to intimidate elderly and vulnerable people. I think country has a problem with not keeping offenders detained for long enough and here we have an active program of release for prolific offenders . Where’s the logic in all this ??
@Catherine Sims: drugs is there main crime. seems normal nowadays,,
These delightful young members of our society are college educations, Holidays and nice cars for the the families of defence lawyers all over the country for the next 20/30 years via free legal aid,if they are inside they can’t re-offend.hence the let them home plan.
This is just more airy fairy BS. When these young thugs come from a family dynasty of criminality no amount of councilling, therapy or touchy feely drivel is going to achieve anything other than make those running the programme feel better about themselves. These guys will be laughing at this entire exercise. They only understand two things, strenght and weakness. Those stronger are to be feared and respected. And weakness is to be exploited. And to them this entire dog and pony show will be the state being weak.
This has all the hallmarks of Thatchers “Care in the Community” scheme, which was nothing else than an excuse to cut funding to essential publicservices.
Have known elderly people who were terrorised by the teenage and younger offspring of parents in the same estate.The thugs often broke windows , robbed their neighbours ,many elderly,sometimes burned their bins to witness and enjoy the arrival of The fire brigade.No recompense or court action ensued.It was absolute intimidation and a dare to their Victims to pursue legal action and /or redress.Some of the miscreants matured,moved on, but most got away with making life miserable for the law abiding residents.Where were the Gardai? Chasing older criminals and under pressure.
So, when one of these pillars of the community has, say upwards of 50 previous convictions, and gets caught again, an occupation hazard one would imagine, this new initiative will make it easier to return them to their community where they will be able to return to a life of crime and reckless abandon.
What feckless ejit dreamt this up in an afternoon when the boss was on holidays, has anyone actually read this or seriously thought it through. Where are all these additional therapists who are going to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
I’m all for a carrot and stick approach but someone has this the wrong way around, this is like rewarding the worst young offenders to offend again, but instead of increasing their sentence they get to go home and see a therapist for 3 – 5 months maximum. What could possibly go wrong…???
No jail space=no jail time. Now it’s official.
As much as I agree that parents need to be more involved and given tools to deal with them I can’t see how this would be successful. Most young people who are criminals usually have a group of mates involved in the same stuff from the same locality. They will still be around them. Secondly the only way to change a kids/anybodys behaviour is if THEY want to change, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped and lastly even if they want to sort themselves out and start afresh how can they whilst living in an area that people know their past, this is Ireland, it’s incredibly small and if you f*** up people always remember!!
Probably cheaper to put them up in The Shelbourne….then again probably not as comfortable as “prison”?!!
Keeping them in thier community sounds great for them, but in some instances not for victims of thier crimes. Who will balance needs of both?
Funny article . It belongs in the comedy section at the library . It really does .
It’s an interesting idea, worth exploring. The horsesh~t comments above are more of the same tried and failed “solutions”. When will the hang em and flog em brigade realize they’re living back in the 19th century
@Chad Chad: I was wondering if anyone would have a sane, compassionate response. Thanks for restoring some of my faith.
@Chad Chad: Having lived the majority of their lives in the 20th century,contributing positively to their community,most on medium to low income, the Victims of these young tearaways have spent their last years in 21st century,living in fear of the next break in, of the next violation of their right to live in peace,having never received an apology from their persecutors.Yes they did receive the official letter of sympathy from their local Garda station.
I was interested in the negativity from most commentators, which I would have agreed with initially, but there are circumstances where it could help a young person with the help and support of concerned parents or family members so the more I read about it the more I think it might help in some circumstances but fully accept that in others it is inappropriate and people (parents and kids) need to be held responsible for their actions
A lot of these out of control young criminals were allowed to run wild and do whatever they liked and got away with it. In New York they adopted a zero tolerance approach . In the past I knew of young offenders who were identified early, the local Garda worked with the parents to curb their behaviour while they were still quite young , and by building up trust many a parent came to thank the local Garda for putting their son on the straight and narrow . Some of these juveniles do come from criminal families but others get into bad company and destroy their futures and cause major disruption to the community and their families.
Absolute disgrace. Keep the little gouriers locked up.
More hug a thug crap . Should be in a prison ,as they were previously ie St Patricks . But an idiot retired judge and a government that wants to save money ,said shut it and house the 6ft violent criminal Kids in an unsuitable environment of oberstown .
Good
MST worked well in Northern Ireland until funding was withdrawn a couple of years ago. Inclusive and realistic solutions that support young people and their families.
Utterly disgusting, Zappone should be ashamed, but then again, liberal idiots have no shame
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