Check out the Samsung Galaxy Alpha's metal frame (pictures)

The Galaxy Alpha is the first Galaxy phone to sport an external metal frame. It's a really good-looking phone -- click through to check it out.

The Alpha is adorned with glinting metal, lovingly hewn and polished. The build quality felt very good during my hands-on time, and I thought the metal frame gave the phone a touch of class.

Sadly only the frame around the outside of the phone is metal.

The back of the Alpha remains the same flexible plastic that Samsung's been using for ages. On the plus side, that means the back cover is removable.

The metal frame makes the Alpha very pleasing to hold. It feels a lot sturdier, but not heavy.

Slightly cold to the touch, the Alpha is actually rather small for a Samsung Galaxy phone. Its screen is a mere 4.7 inches.

The Alpha is powered by Android 4.4 KitKat.

That's a 12-megapixel camera. There's a heart rate scanner and a fingerprint scanner on board too.

Its hardware and size mean the Galaxy Alpha isn't as high-tech as, say, the Galaxy S5. I think the pleasing look of the metal frame make up for a slight specs drop, however.