The Samsung Galaxy A70 raises the bar within the new A series – a completely reimagined lineup to lead a full-scale war in the midrange kingdom. And the rule of the Chinese makers is very much threatened, having already seen what the A40 and A50 are capable of.

The Galaxy A series are not what they used to be, thank whoever is in charge. Now they are not only affordable AMOLED-bearers, they are also jam-packed with trendy features and come priced very competitively. In fact, it’s been quite a while since we could recommend a Galaxy amidst midrangers, but now we can easily name a few.

The Galaxy A70 builds on the very balanced tri-eyed mid-ranger Galaxy A50 by enlarging its AMOLED screen and employing a higher-end chipset with a better processor. Then the camera setup on the back might be keeping its logic (wide/ultra-wide/depth) but the main snapper is now a 32MP one and it can capture 4K videos.

Finally, the Galaxy A70 has one beefy 4,500 mAh battery capable of up to 25W fast charging courtesy of USB-PD technology – a departure from the Samsung‘s Adaptive Charging that’s been around since the Galaxy S5.

Indeed, there are a ton of interesting bits within the Galaxy A70, but here are the most important ones.

Samsung Galaxy A70 specs

• Body: 164.3 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm, 3D Glasstic back, plastic frame.
• Screen: 6.7″ Super AMOLED, 1080x2400px resolution, 393 ppi.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 675 chipset: octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Kryo 460 Gold & 6×1.7 GHz Kryo 460 Silver); Adreno 612 GPU.
• Memory: 6/8GB RAM, 128GB built-in storage; microSD slot
• OS: Android 9 Pie; Samsung One UI
• Main camera: Primary: 32MP, f/1.7, PDAF; Secondary: 8MP, f/2.2, 12mm ultra-wide, fixed focus; Depth camera: 5MP f/2.2; LED flash; 1080p@30 video recording.
• Selfie camera: 32MP f/2.0, 1080p video
• Battery: 4,500mAh; 25W fast charging
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE Cat.12 (600Mbps) download / Cat.6 upload (50Mbps), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, GPS; Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, USB-C 2.0.
• Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader, down-firing loudspeaker, 3.5mm audio port

The most prominent omission is the ingress protection that was present on all older Galaxy A phones. The new A series has neither dust nor water protection. This is the price for all those cool specs, including the high-end OLEDs. And we will gladly pay it.

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy A70

The retail box contains everything your new Galaxy A70 may need but a case. Inside, you will find a 25W-rated USB-PD charger and a USB-C to C cable – this is the first time Samsung uses this combo, but we get the feeling we will continue seeing it onwards.

Finally, Samsung is also bundling an in-ear headset ending on a 3.5mm plug.

Design

The Galaxy A70 is one of the biggest Galaxies we’ve seen so far, as large as the notch-less Galaxy A80 that’s about to come any day now. The A70 has been built around a 6.7″ Super AMOLED screen with a dewdrop-shaped notch – same size as the behemoth screens on the Galaxy S10+ 5G and the Galaxy A80.

But we’re dealing with an A series device here so the choice of materials is not so premium. Instead of glass, the back is made of shiny plastic which Samsung likes to call ‘3D Glasstic’. The frame is also plastic and not metal. But hey, at least both pieces look that part and you would have a hard time recognizing them for what they are. As the name suggests, the Glasstic material can easily be mistaken for glass, especially with its shifting hues, which are very attractive.

Back to the front. Obviously, it’s mostly screen with bezels as thin as those on the iPhone XS. Inside the notch are a 32MP selfie camera and one barely noticeable earpiece grille just above it. There is no notification LED on the A70.

The front glass doesn’t have the edge curves the recent Galaxy S phones have, and we are glad for that. We are not fans of those, call us old-fashioned, but too many curves completely ruin the grip and don’t let us start on the ghost touch issues. So, yes, the A70 has a flat front, and we like it as it is.

Just like the Galaxy A50 and A80, the A70 has an under-display fingerprint scanner – an optical one. The sensor is around the bottom, making it easy to reach. Its setup is straightforward, and from what we experienced, the thing is mostly reliable. Its accuracy is good and while it takes a second to recognize your finger – it’s not a sluggish process.

You don’t need to wake up the phone, just place your finger around the spot (you will get used to this within minutes) and the sensor will light up immediately and will take you to the homescreen upon a successful recognition. Sure, the experience is not as fast as with the conventional scanners, but it’s acceptable – that is as long as you are applying a proper pressure. Gentle touches won’t do it, and it will take a few tries to get used to it.

The back of the Galaxy A70 looks stunning thanks to the color-shifting paint job. Depending on the viewing angle, you will see purple, blue, green, or gradients of those three. Samsung calls this chameleon hue Black, but the only time you can see it black-ish is when you are looking at the back at nearly 180-degree angle.

While many other makers are using such gradient paint jobs, Samsung‘s still feels unique and easily recognizable. You can never pinpoint an exact color, and that’s probably the reason why the Koreans called it Black in the end.

The rear glass is bent towards the long edges as we’ve seen it on many smartphones, which makes the A70 look thinner and prettier. There is no sharp transition to the frame, which has some curves too, and the overall grip isn’t that good.

But while the plastic frame is glossy, Samsung has added something to the paint that makes it sticky, and the grip is quite okay.

The triple-camera setup on the back is humping by just 1mm or less, and it won’t make the phone wobble on a flat surface. The top snapper is the 5MP depth sensor, followed by the 32MP main camera, and the final one is the 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter. Outside of the setup sits the single-LED flash.

The Galaxy A70 has all the necessities on its sides – there is a tri-card slot on the left, the volume and power keys on the right side, while the audio jack and the speaker grille are at the bottom.

Samsung Galaxy A70 measures 164.3 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm – that’s 6mm taller and 2mm wider than the Galaxy A50. It weighs 183g – that’s 17g heavier than the A50, but the phone does have a larger screen and battery, so nobody should be thinking of it as overweight.

The Galaxy A70 is big and one-handed use is almost impossible, despite the One UI optimizations. But it was never intended to be pocket-friendly but immersive-friendly. And with that 6.7″ AMOLED it sure is shaping to be. On top of that, the A70 is enjoyable when handled as it’s not as slippery as it looks. Plus, the curved sides make it feel somehow smaller in hand, and that’s something.

Display

The Galaxy A lineup has been known for its AMOLEDs (A for AMOLED, get it?) and the Galaxy A70 is no different. But the A70 not only has the cool panel, but it’s also impressively large with a 6.7″ diagonal – the biggest screens on a Galaxy this year and the same size as A80’s and S10+ 5G’s.

The A70 packs the so-called Infinity-U panel, meaning it has a U-shaped cutout at the top for the selfie camera. But notch or not, the Super AMOLED screen is of the usual high-quality we’ve grown to like. We measured about 407 nits of maximum brightness in manual mode, and 607nits in Auto brightness with the ambient light sensor is exposed to bright light.

We also measured a minimum brightness of 1.8nits – a pretty great result.

As we’ve come to expect from Samsung Super AMOLEDs, the display on the Galaxy A70 is capable of accurately reproducing different color spaces depending on content and selected display mode. The Natural mode stays accurate to sRGB with an average DeltaE of 1.8, while Vivid adheres to the DCI-P3 color space with an average DeltaE of 3.9. There is no Adaptive mode as before, nor are there the AMOLED Photo and Cinema. The Vivid option do offer manual control over the red, green, and blue hues.

Battery life

The Galaxy A70 has a large 4,500mAh battery inside, an increase over the 4,000mAh cell inside the A50. It supports 25W fast charging thanks to USB Power Delivery, and the provided charger replenishes 42% of the depleted battery in 30 mins.

In our testing, the Galaxy A70 achieved excellent results. We clocked 13+ hours on our Wi-Fi web browsing script and 17+ hours of looping videos in airplane mode. The 3G talk time is over a day and a half – an excellent score as well.

Adding to the mix the very good standby performance the Galaxy A70 posted an overall Endurance rating of 103h.

Speaker

The Galaxy A70 has a single loudspeaker located on the bottom. It scored a ‘Very Good’ mark in our three-pronged test when it comes to loudness, but it’s sound quality is rather average – not as poor as A50’s, but not as rich and clean as the best in the class.

Audio quality

The Samsung Galaxy A70 delivered an output of perfect accuracy when hooked to an active external amplifier test as is to be expected from any half decent phone these days. When headphones came into play, we got some intermodulation distortion and an average amount of stereo crosstalk.

Loudness was just above average in both cases so all in all we’d say the audio output won’t win the Galaxy A70 many new fans, but it won’t be held against it either.

If you’ve used Samsung UX over the past few years, you will probably work your way around easily. However, there are a couple of major revamps that may seem strange or even uncomfortable at first, but we think it’s for the best.

Aside from the colorful new icons that might not be to everyone’s taste (you can swap the default ones with another icon pack), Samsung has implemented numerous changes towards more effective and comfortable one-handed use. Now all system menus, including the drop-down menu with all the quick toggles, are located on the bottom half of the screen, so they are within reach of your thumb. It takes some time getting used to, but we think it’s a pretty smart solution.

Speaking of one-handed use, there are still some small tidbits that Samsung forgot about. For example, the app folders still open in full-screen with the icons placed on the upper half of the display, which means you’ll have to use your other hand to reach them.

And just like everyone else, Samsung has its own way of implementing Google’s new gesture-based navigation. They work as conventional buttons – swiping from the bottom-left brings out the recent apps menu by default and swiping from the bottom-right takes you a step back. You can swap them in the settings menu, but the home button remains as a single swipe from the bottom-center. If you swipe and hold, it will summon Google’s Assistant.

In the end, Samsung saved a couple of pixels on the bottom, but the gestures still feel half-baked.

What doesn’t feel half-baked, however, is the Always On Display feature. It gives you plenty of options although not as many as on the Galaxy S10 phones (there is no brightness setting or wallpaper option here). You can choose different clock styles and font colors, what notifications to be displayed, and when the AOD to be shown – on tap, always, or scheduled.

In line with the rest of the UI changes, the general Settings menu has been revamped too. It’s pretty compact, and some of the settings you might be looking for have ended up elsewhere. For example, the Device care sub-menu now accommodates the Battery settings and information, storage and memory management and the security features. Tapping on the Battery icon will open up the familiar battery menu full of settings and adjustments. Aside from the usual info and features which you’d find on pretty much every other Android handset, Samsung has added a couple of additional options.

You have three power modes – Optimized, Medium-power saving and Maximum power saving. Optimized is the default one with performance cranked up to the maximum. In the upper right corner of the battery menu sits another sub-menu giving you more granular control over your power consumption.

Speaking of granularity, the Advanced menu gives you the option to set notifications to pop-up in a small view with which you can interact.

Google’s push for the so-called Digital well-being has reached Samsung‘s One UI too. If you were ever wondering how much time you spend on your phone and which apps you mostly used, the Digital well-being sub-menu would give you the details. It’s cool, but it will probably stay unused by most users.

As before, Samsung‘s own take on the custom Android is full of features and pre-installed apps. We are overwhelmed, and it’s hard to go over every one of them. And besides, there are plenty of carry-overs from the previous software versions. Some users may be annoyed with the heavy customization and set of pre-installed apps, especially if you are coming from a vanilla Android.

For multimedia you have the new Gallery app by Samsung for browsing photos and videos, while Play Music handles well, your music. There is also an FM radio app on board, a proprietary My Files file manager app, Bixby assistant, among others.

And although not perfect, we kind of like where Samsung is going with this. It’s addressing an issue that’s been overlooked for quite some time since the new wave of huge smartphone displays. One-handed operation on the One UI is much more pleasant and comfortable. Oh, and the inclusion of the Night mode was a long-awaited feature for more than just a few users. Only using the phone’s UI as a daily driver will help establish a more objective opinion but we like what we see so far.

Performance and benchmarks

The Samsung Galaxy A70 is only the third smartphone we meet powered by the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 675 chipset. The SoC has an octa-core CPU with 2x Kryo 460 Gold cores (Cortex-A76 derivative) clocked at 2.0 GHz and 6x Kryo 460 Silver cores (Cortex-A55 derivative) ticking at 1.7 GHz. The GPU inside is Adreno 612.

The SoC is manufactured on the cost-efficient 11nm node but more advanced than most chips from the previous gen 14nm Snapdragon 600-series. The 11nm (11LPP) process has been developed by Samsung as a mixture between the company’s 14nm and 10nm nodes and that may be one of the reasons for opting for this Snapdragon instead of some of the in-house Exynos chips.

The Snapdragon 675 may have just two high-performance A76-derived cores, but those were enough to put it well ahead of the competition that uses A73 cores. The single-core score is amazing, as is the multi-core performance. The Snapdragon 675 offers enough processing superiority over the Galaxy A50’s Exynos 9610 to make a difference.

The GPU scores aren’t that impressive though. The Adreno 612 GPU isn’t bad, not at all, it’s just about 15% less capable than the Exynos 9610’s Mali GPU meaning the cheaper Galaxy A50 is actually better suited for games, at least in theory. Then again 15% or less of a difference won’t be felt in real life scenarios at all, so there is no cause for concern.

Finally, the one-number-to-rule-them-all AnTuTu 7 puts the Galaxy A70 ahead of the competition, but a little bit behind its S675 peers – the vivo V15 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro.

The Galaxy A70 has more than enough power punch for its price. It is a very dependable performer thanks to the Snapdragon 675 chip. It’s as great for gaming as it is for daily operations and browsing the social media. The Android OS and One UI are fast and fluid on this hardware, although once you populate apps with personal content you may notice some prolonged loading times.

We didn’t notice any hot points around the Galaxy A70 even when running those benchmarks for longer duration and there was no throttling at all. Overall, the A70 offers great performance for the class and nobody should be experiencing major hiccups.

Another tri-eyed camera

Just like the Galaxy A50, the A70 has a triple camera on its back featuring a larger main sensor. The primary cam is now a 32MP f/1.7 snapper with PDAF, joined by a familiar 8MP fixed-focus, f/2.2 ultra-wide and a 5MP, fixed-focus, f/2.2 depth sensor. There is also a single LED flash around.

The 5MP isn’t a standalone module that you can take actual pictures with – instead, it’s a ‘Depth Camera’, to be used for ‘Live Focus’, in Samsung‘s own terms.

So, the primary shooter has a 32MP resolution sensor behind a fast f/1.7 lens with a focal length that’s reported as 26mm. Then, there is the 8MP sensor behind an f/2.2 aperture lens that delivers a 120-degree field of view. The EXIF data reports 12mm equivalent focal length for this one.

The camera app is very much the same as on any current Samsung, only with more icons in the viewfinder to control which camera is being used. The icon with 3 trees means ultra-wide-angle cam, while 2 trees denote the regular camera.

Basic operation is business as usual with side swipes for cycling through modes and an up/down action for toggling between the rear and front cameras. There’s an AI-powered Scene optimizer mode that should recognize certain types of scenes and adjust parameters accordingly. We kept it off, as it doesn’t make that much of a difference, plus we tend to prefer to add the effects after. The shown modes, as well as their arrangement, can be tweaked in settings.

Live focus mode is present, naturally, with all so many cameras and a dedicated depth sensor. There’s also a Pro mode, but there’s hardly anything pro about it – you can only choose ISO (in the 100-800 range), exposure compensation (-2/+2EV in 0.1EV steps), and white balance (presets, but no light temperature).

Image quality

The Galaxy A70 by default shoots in 12MP, but this can be changed from the aspect settings – 3:4 corresponds to 12MP, while 3:4H means 32MP. When shooting in 32MP you can’t use Auto HDR or any HDR for that matter, and capturing photos takes a second or two, but those are pretty much the only caveats.

Let’s start with the high-res images – this is NOT the default mode, and it takes a couple of seconds for a shot. The detail levels aren’t what you’d expect from the 32MP number though they are not necassarily bad. We already observed a similar thing in previous Samsung mid-rangers such as the last Galaxy A9 and A50.

So, the photos are a bit soft but the processing tries to compensate for that with sharpening. This works to some extent for the foliage but you can notice sharpening halos and jaggies elsewhere.

Still, the colors turned out pretty accurate, the contrast is very good, and the dynamic range rather high even though no HDR was involved.

The A70 camera saves 12MP photos by default using pixel binning, and those shots are much faster to capture. The images aren’t that impressive though – sure, those look sharp and have enough detail, but we’ve seen other midrangers do better with fewer pixels to work with. The colors and contrast are pretty good, though, while the dynamic range is consistently excellent.

The thing is we were able to get slightly better images by just downsizing the 32MP shots on a computer. Maybe the processing algorithm makes a few compromises on the way caused by insufficient hardware resources, or maybe it is something else.

So, while the 12MP default photos excel in colors and dynamic range, but they are just average in detail.

The A70 has the Auto HDR turned on by default. If HDR is involved, the photos often look a bit better with even exposure, and some of the blown highlights get rescued.

The ultra-wide camera produces heavily distorted 8MP images as there is no distortion correction applied. This is hardly an issue as the purpose of the wide-angle snapper is to fit as much as possible into a 4:3 image and that’s the price to pay. Pixel level quality isn’t great, but the colors and contrast are excellent, and the dynamic range is often improved by the Auto HDR without hurting the color presentation of detail levels. Overall, those images should be enjoyed for what they are – exaggerated perspective shots or trick shots on the cheap.

Moving on to low-light performance. The 32MP low-light photos are hardly worth showing. The 12MP shots have a good color saturation, but all highlights are clipped due to the camera’s tendency of overexposing dark scenes. On closer inspection, the level of detail is poor, and the images are way softer than we’d have liked them. We’ve seen much better low-light photos from budget phones, so Samsung must improve in this field for sure.

Using HDR will restore most of the blown highlights and balance the exposure – these at the expense of one extra second needed to snap the photo. The result is far from ideal, but still better than the regular non-HDR photos. We’d say the extra wait is worth it if the closer inspection didn’t reveal rather uneven sharpness across the frame and even extra softness possibly due to the imperfect photo stacking.

There is no Night Mode on the Galaxy A70, so you can’t get anything close to Huawei’s low-light shots. And this is mostly felt in the ultra-wide-angle photos, which are unusable without any software enhancements.

And once you’re done looking at real-life samples, don’t forget to head over to our Photo compare tool to check out how the Galaxy A70 deals with our studio charts.

Portraits

The Galaxy A70 has a standalone 5MP camera to capture depth information and should be producing some good portrait shots. Those are saved in 12MP, and indeed they turned out impressive, especially when coming from a low-tier mid-ranger. The separation is excellent – there are no abrupt transitions. Sure, the photos aren’t perfect, but we’ve seen flagships do way worse and we got more than we hoped for from a budget mid-ranger.

The bad news is that when the light isn’t perfect, the portraits become blurry and the focus is often inaccurate.

Selfies

The Galaxy A70 comes with a high-res 32MP selfie camera, which may or may not be the same as the main 32MP one. If you get the distance right, and if there’s plenty of light – you can get some detailed shots. Colors are spot on too.

Just like the main 32MP snapper, the selfie one shoots in 12MP by default, unless you opt for 32MP. The Auto HDR is available only in the 12MP mode. And if it fires, it rescues blown highlights. Other than that – the images are very detailed and have excellent colors.

By the way, the selfie camera offers normal (wide) and close (zoomed) mode, though with just one front camera, the “zoom” is achieved by cropping the center from the 12MP shot and the result is a “zoomed” 8MP photo. That’s a neat trick we first saw Samsung do with the Galaxy S10 series.

Portrait mode is available on the selfie camera as well, with just the one camera. The portraits are softer than regular selfies, while the subject separation is s mostly good unless you have a pair of headphones on your head, or a cap or if your hair is curly like our Angie’s. Auto HDR works here when needed, too, and does an excellent job.

Video recording

The Galaxy A70 records video up to 4K at 30fps, while both 30 and 60 fps are available at 1080p mode. You can also use the ultra-wide-angle snapper for videos, but it supports only one resolution – 1080p at 30fps. The audio is always recorded in stereo at 256kbps.

Electronic stabilization is not available, though.

The Galaxy A70 captured nicely detailed 4K videos for a mid-ranger, with excellent contrast and dynamic range. The color presentation is accurate and overall – we are happy with what we got.

The A70 excels on 1080p video capture both at 30 and 60 fps – the clips are highly detailed, sharp and with little noise. Dynamic range is good too, and the colors are spot on.

The footage from the ultra-wide-camera doesn’t have award-winning detail, but it’s decent as ultra-wide videos go.

Here’s a glimpse of how the Galaxy A70 compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

The competition

The Galaxy A70 has the largest AMOLED screen on the market right now. Combine that with the very attractive sub €400 price in most markets, and you have a real winner here. Users who value large displays and the immersive experience they offer have scarce options outside Samsung‘s camp.

Xiaomi Mi Max 3 is probably the only offer to beat the Galaxy A70 in terms of screen estate and price, but it’s already a year old, it has a feeble chipset and can’t match the overall camera experience. Still, it’s at least €120 cheaper and doesn’t have a notch (or OLED screen for what’s worth), so maybe you want to check this one out.

Then there is the Galaxy A80, which offers same the size of AMOLED but notch-free. The primary camera is on a motorized pop-up, which also rotates to serve as a selfie shooter. Another upgraded bit is the new Snapdragon 730 chipset, which should be offering flagship-grade performance. Those are some costly features though as the price hikes north of €600, and that’s almost within flagship territory.

Then there is the vivo V15 pro, which has an uninterrupted 6.4″ AMOLED thanks to a pop-up selfie camera and the same Snapdragon 675 chipset. The phone is limited to a couple of markets but has some very nice looks and capable snappers.

Then there is the Galaxy A50, which is about €90 cheaper and yet offers the same experience on a slightly smaller 6.4″ Super AMOLED. If the 6.7″ diagonal isn’t a must, then the A50 is an even better offer altogether.

The Huawei P30 Lite is another exciting proposition with a lower price. It has a smaller 6.15″ LCD screen but offers similar gaming experience and battery longevity. The P30 Lite’s main camera is similar to A70‘s, but it has Huawei’s excellent Night Mode, and that’s a massive advantage camera-wise. Huawei ongoing turmoil shouldn’t affect the P30 Lite much aside from the absence of a future Android Q upgrade.

If Realme X is available in your country, it’s probably the phone you should try before going for the A70. The Realme X has a notch-less 6.53″ AMOLED, the Snapdragon 710 chipset, and similarly capable snappers on both ends (the selfie is a pop-up), though there is no ultra-wide-angle cam. The Realme X is much cheaper, and that’s another reason we are excited about the X.

The verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A70 is a very balanced mid-ranger, and we enjoyed using it. But it all boils down to the fact that A70 is more or less a stretched Galaxy A50. And if 0.3″ difference in the screen diagonal aren’t that of a big deal for you, you can easily save yourself about €100 by going for the A50.

But if every single millimeter of screen estate counts, and you want the biggest Super AMOLED on the cheap, then the Galaxy A70 is your go-to phone. It’s one very capable mid-ranger (we guess we’ve already said that a bunch of times), and its only weakness is the night-time photography.

Pros

• Bright, vivid, and large Super AMOLED
• Triple card slot, audio jack, FM radio
• Excellent battery life, USB-PD fast charging
• Dependable performance
• Consistently good camera experience in daylight
• Very nice selfies
• One UI is great

Cons

• No ingress protection
• Unimpressive low-light camera performance, no Night mode
• No electronic video stabilization