Galaxy S21 Ultra just won a global award for being the best smartphone
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is a great device. It has the top position in our list of best Samsung phones. It’s certainly the Android flagship to beat for all OEMs this year. The handset has now picked up a new award that further highlights its exceptional nature.
Samsung certainly knows a thing or two about making award-winning phones. Many of the company’s flagship handsets have been similarly praised in the past as well.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G has won the Best Smartphone category at the Global Mobile Awards during the Mobile World Congress 2021. The annual GLOMO awards highlight the hardware, software and services that enable innovation in the global mobile industry.
Having been named the Best Smartphone of the past year, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G was regarded by the category judges as the “best Android smartphone Samsung has ever made.” The device delivers exceptional performance backed by innovation across the board. It features a professional grade camera system, a brilliant display and a gorgeous contour cut design. The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is also the first Galaxy S series smartphone to support the S Pen.
While the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G won the coveted award, another Samsung device was also shortlisted for this category. The Galaxy S20 FE was shortlisted because of its incredible value for money. The handset offers flagship-level functionality in a more affordable package.
Samsung fans are now looking forward to the Galaxy S22 which is expected to kick things up a notch. Before it arrives, the Galaxy S21 FE is also on the horizon. Samsung is likely going to unveil the Galaxy S21 FE towards the end of this year.
The Galaxy Note 20 series is finally official. Samsung introduced the Note 20 and Note20 Ultra last night and now we’re going hands-on with the ultimate S-Pen-packing Galaxy for 2020.
Similarly to the S20 family from the spring, the Ultra comes with exclusive all-out hardware not available on the vanilla model. In a somewhat bizarre turn of events that includes the 120Hz 1440p+ display, while the Note 20 has a plain 60Hz 1080p panel. Earlier this year even the smaller S20 had the high refresh rate and the extra pixels.
The Galaxy Note20 Ultra retains exclusivity on some of the camera bits too. The periscope telephoto, is something you won’t be able to get on the Note 20, though it’s a different module than the one on the S20 Ultra. For zooming in, the Note 20 has the same 64MP non-telephoto telephoto that stirred some controversy on the S20 and S20+ for the way it was marketed.
The 108MP Nonacell primary cam is also an Ultra-only feature and this appears to have been carried over from the S20 Ultra. Same thing with the smaller Note’s 12MP main shooter that you can find on the S20 and S20+.
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G specs
Body: 164.8×77.2×8.1mm, 208g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus), stainless steel frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins); Colors: Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black, Mystic White.
Front camera: 10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3.2″, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF; Dual video call, Auto-HDR.
Video capture:Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS & OIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 4500mAh; Fast charging 25W, USB Power Delivery 3.0, Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging, Reverse wireless charging 9W.
Misc: Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer; NFC; FM radio (Snapdragon model only; market/operator dependent); Samsung Wireless DeX (desktop experience support), ANT+, Bixby natural language commands and dictation; Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified); S Pen Stylus, 9ms latency (Bluetooth integration, accelerometer, gyro).
The Ultra is protected by the brand new Gorilla Glass Victus front and back and both phones get a stainless steel frame – that’s a first on a Samsung smartphone. Oddly enough, the Note 20 comes with a plastic back – that one we hadn’t seen in a while on a high-end Samsung handset.
Both Notes get the S Pen too, at least this much is still guaranteed. It’s been moved to the left of the phone now, a major change from all previous generations. It comes with added gestures and it’s got improved latency for an even more pen-on-paper-like feel – on the Ultra, that is, the vanilla model doesn’t get that either.
Galaxy Note20 Ultra hands-on
The Note20 Ultra and Note 20 sit atop the Galaxy lineup and as such offer premium build quality and design. Having said that, even here the Ultra has an edge on the vanilla model.
Both phones get a stainless steel frame, a new development for Samsung high-end phones after sticking with aluminum for their skeleton needs until now. Apple has had steel on iPhones since the X, now Samsung joins in too.
Where the two differ is in the material of both front and back. The Note20 Ultra is where Gorilla Glass Victus debuts and Corning’s latest should be safer than GG6 in the event of impact while also offering improved scratch resistance. It’s two sheets of Victus on the Ultra – both front and back, while the camera is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
Gorilla Glass 5 is what your Note 20‘s display is covered by, but that’s not what’s raising eyebrows quite as much as the choice of material for the back – the Note 20‘s rear panel is plastic. Reinforced polycarbonate, as Samsung calls it, and while we’re not entirely opposed to plastic-backed phones, it does sound out of place on a $1000 phone.
Victus or polycarbonate, both phones have this satin matte finish so they ward off fingerprints nicely. We welcome that decision, glossy Galaxies are practically impossible to keep clean. Thankfully, the IP68 rating for dust and water protection is a common feature too as plastic is able to keep the elements out just as well as glass.
At launch, the handsets will be available in three colors each, the Mystic Bronze hero colorway shared between them. The Note 20 also gets Gray and Green, while the Ultra will be available in Black and White – all of them Mystic, as the official naming will have it. Mind you, color options will vary by region with most markets getting two of the three available at launch.
The camera assembly of the Note20 Ultra is quite the chunky one, though having seen the S20 Ultra, we knew it was coming. It feels like this one sticks out even more and that would make sense – after all, the Note20 Ultra is a good 0.7mm thinner than the S20 Ultra at 8.1mm vs. 8.8mm so the camera island gets more prominence. If anything, it’ll be even easier to support the handset by propping your index finger against the camera bump’s edge than it was on the S20U, thus saving your pinky some heavy lifting.
The Note 20 proper has a sizeable camera cluster too, but it’s simply not of the same scale. Both phones wobble on a flat surface, for what that’s worth.
Looking at the front, Galaxy Note20 Ultra follows in the footsteps of the Note10 Plus from last year – a large rectangular slab of a phone with sharp corners and a very technical, no-nonsense look. It’s, in fact, precisely as wide as the Note10 Plus, though a couple of millimeters taller. The S20 Ultra, in contrast, is two further millimeters taller, but a millimeter narrower – so the Note20 Ultra is more squarish.
The Ultra’s display is curved to the sides – ever so slightly, and only at the absolute edges, but it’s curved nonetheless. It’s got almost nonexistent bezels too and the tiniest of punch holes and that’s certainly the closest Samsung has come to a ‘full-screen display’. It will probably pose issues for handling, if you’re one to need extra space to rest your fingers and/or hate curved screens. That’ll be a task for the review to examine, but even in a quick hands-on session it’s clear that for sheer ‘wow’ factor the Note20 Ultra’s display is only bested by foldables.
The Note20 non-Ultra, meanwhile, has more ordinary appeal, to put it this way. Its display is flat, so there’s that, and it’s got a somewhat thicker black border all around. The punch hole in the display is also that extra bit bigger. It’s not bad-looking by any stretch, but it’s no Ultra.
We were particularly vocal last year when the Note10 and Note10 Plus arrived with the power button on the left side, as opposed to the right where it had always been. It was a one-off type of thing, never to be seen on other Galaxies since.
Starting with late 2019 models and continuing into 2020, the volume rocker got relocated to the right, joining the power button on those non-Note10 models – a decision much easier to live with. All of this is to serve as context for us to say that the Note20s have the power button on the right, where it should be, and we’re happy. Of course, our outrage last year was a bit overdramatic as you get used to where a button is in no time, but it’s nice that you won’t need to this time around.
But hear this – the S Pen slot on the Note 20 generation is on the left side of the phone when looking at the display – it’s either that or the Power button it seems.
The S Pen has always been on the right, and it’s a natural position for pulling the stylus out with the right hand, which you’ll then use for writing or drawing, or camera remote, or Air actions (unlikely as that last bit may be). On the other hand, if you’re left-handed, it may very well be the best Galaxy Note to date.
In all fairness, however, we didn’t experience any notable difficulties getting at the S Pen on the Note20 Ultra with either hand. We had a minor argument at the office whether the left-side button placement on the Note10 was related to the S Pen’s position inside the phone and if the internal design was unable to accommodate both on the same side. By the looks of it, that must have been the case.
Ambidextrous Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra
The S Pen itself is virtually identical to the one we got last year. It’s got the clicky top, the button on the side, and the capacitor, gyro, and accelerometer within to enable the remote actions. The stylus also matches the paintjob of the phone it comes out of, though we did enjoy the contrast of the blue S Pen on the Aura Glow Note10s – or as we call that one ‘motor oil in a puddle’ for its rainbow light effects.
Circling back to the Ultra vs. non-Ultra differences, only the ultimate S Pen-wielding Galaxy supports storage expansion via microSD, while the vanilla Note 20 has to make do with what it has from the box. It’s one of the easier downgrades to swallow given that it was the case with the smaller Note10 last year too – so in way, it was expected. Then there’s the matter that the Note 20 comes with decent 128GB storage in its base 5G version and you can bump that to 256GB, while the LTE variant is 256GB only. Still, if all three S20s could have expandable storage, maybe both Note20s could?
One difference on last year’s models that was also seen on the S20 family but is now gone is fast charging support. The Note10+ and the S20 Ultra could be charged faster with optional 45W bricks, while the plainer models only went as high as 25W. Well, the Note20 Ultra and the Note 20 both only go as high as 25 watts. It’s hardly a big deal since the 45W adapter had to be purchased separately and it didn’t bring the kind of speed advantage the numbers would suggest.
The charging situation may be a welcome bit of parity between the Note20s.
Display and S Pen
Displays have always been among the key selling points of Samsung phones – after all, it is a leading manufacturer of OLED panels in these sizes. The Galaxy Note20 pair is no different in this respect. Well, sort of.
Both panels boast a crazy high peak brightness of 1,500nits, a 25% increase over the S20s from just six months ago. That’s useful for displaying HDR10+ content, which they support, but will also be helpful for outdoor visibility – not that the previous ones weren’t great at that, it’s just that the Note20s will be better.
Of course, don’t expect to light up the entire screen with pure white and get all those nits – OLEDs scale brightness depending on the number of pixels being lit. We’ll certainly be doing our own testing, when we get a review unit in our office.
And that’s where the common traits of the two Notes’ displays end. You see, it’s only the Ultra that supports the 120Hz rate, and it’s only the Ultra that has a QHD resolution. Meanwhile, the vanilla Note 20‘s specsheet reads 60Hz and FullHD, and that’s… disappointing.
The Galaxy Note20 Ultra’s 6.9-inch display has a 1440x3088px resolution with 496ppi density in the somewhat unorthodox 19.3:9 aspect ratio. It’s branded as Dynamic AMOLED 2X, Samsung’s marketing speak for high refresh rate and the Note20 Ultra does go all the way up to 120Hz, complete with 240Hz touch sampling.
The HRR is done differently this time around than it was on the S20s, where you could pick between 60Hz and 120Hz and the phone would stay locked at those refresh rates regardless of what you’re doing on it.
Here, you get two options – Standard (60Hz) and Adaptive, and that Adaptive mode is what’s having us all excited. The Note20 Ultra will be able to dynamically adjust the refresh rate based on the activity you’re in and the content being displayed, thus striking an optimal balance between smoothness and battery life. We’ll be sure to examine it in more detail come review time.
What’s abundantly clear already, however, is that you still don’t get to the run the Note20 Ultra in its full resolution at its maximum refresh rate. Adaptive mode only works in 1080p, 1440p only works in 60Hz.
In more uplifting developments, the Note20 Ultra adopting a 120Hz screen enhances the S Pen experience. Samsung says it’s improved the latency with which the phone recognizes and displays your S Pen input and it’s now down to 9ms from the old Note’s 42ms, making for an even more paper-like feel.
The Note 20 doesn’t match that number, however – its latency stands at 26ms. It’s still an improvement over the outgoing model, but in what we feel is becoming a theme, it’s no Ultra. Samsung talked about ‘AI-based point prediction’ which aims to anticipate the trajectory in which you’ll be moving the S Pen, and that could be more at play here.
Both phones do get more Air actions, an S Pen functionality introduced with the ‘active’ stylus on the Note9. These are called Anywhere actions and work across the UI as opposed to the limited availability in the ones we had until now. Five new actions are introduced, and you’ll able to launch Smart Select and Screen write with two of them, while the other three serve for basic navigation – Back, Home, and Recent tasks. We’re not entirely sure someone would really use those, and in the limited time we had with the phones, we couldn’t get them to work reliably. Maybe we’ll give them another chance in the in-depth review. Solid maybe.
On a related topic to the S Pen, Samsung Notes has gotten an overhaul for this Note generation. It comes with improved handwriting recognition, straightening of already written text, new background colors and templates, PDF imports, audio-synced annotations, PowerPoint integration and syncing between different devices and platforms. If you do actually use your Note for keeping handwritten notes, this could offer a nice boost to your workflow.
The Note 20 pair comes with Android 10 and OneUI 2.5 out of the box. That’s a newer version of Samsung’s Android overlay than we’ve seen on previous Galaxies, and while there’s little immediately recognizable as new, we’re certain there will be small bits we notice when we delve deeper. Perhaps more importantly, the Notes are promised to get three major OS updates – so expect to see Android 13 on the Note 20 in 2022.
Wrap-up
The Galaxy Note 20 and Note20 Ultra have finally arrived after much anticipation and the usual months-long stream of leaks. The S Pen flagships don’t bring massive surprises and will remain high on shortlists for Samsung fans, there’s no doubt about that.
What’s taking us longer to wrap our heads around is the significant segmentation between the Ultra and the non-Ultra – it wasn’t quite so prominent last year with the Note10 and Note10 Plus, and even the S20s from the spring had less of a gap in features. Is it Samsung trying to nudge you into buying the more expensive Ultra or is a way of getting the S Pen into more hands by offering two products that differ in more than just size?
We’ll try to answer this and many other questions once we get to properly review the two phones. For the time being, we can say that pre-orders will be made in this office, though seemingly not quite as many as last year.
In Sydney CBD Repair Centre, we fix all kinds of devices from smartphones (Android or iOS), tablets, smartwatches, to fitness wristbands. We curated to you the most common device repairs that we do in our shop in Sydney.
Repair #5: Back Cover Glass Replacement
The back of the smartphone is oftentimes the most overlooked part of any device. But have you noticed that lately, these components are coming in glass material? In the early days of the smartphone, these are made out of good ol’ plastic. Now, if you drop your smartphone without a case, you’ll break the back cover. Sometimes, you can patch it with a case even if it’s too late but the beauty derived from these exotic glass material cannot be denied.
You also have to replace it if you still want to use wireless charging that only comes with an all glass smartphone.
Repair #4: Battery Replacement
This repair are for those who owned their smartphones for a very long time. Oftentimes, people go into the shop with their well-used smartphone. It’s scratched up and had other repairs done to it. However, the battery is not cutting it anymore. Dying before sunset. That’s not good for a workhorse of a smartphone. You can’t rely on a battery that needs recharging every six hours. Oh, no no no. So customers come into the shop to revitalise their old device with a brand new lithium pack. This works all the time. Imagine an old companion having a renewed strength in life. Another productive year ahead just by installing a brand new power source. If that’s not practical, I don’t know what is.
Repair #3: Charging Port Replacement
Here’s a tricky repair to diagnose but pretty easy to fix, a broken charging port. Believe me, this part of your smartphone can be worn out. How? The pulling out of the charger in an awkward angle or the plugging in of a contaminated charging cord? Yes, it can ruin this part and as a result, you can’t recharge your smartphone. Sounds bad? Certainly. But some people mistakenly take this problem as a battery issue or a dead motherboard. No. You just need to get rid of that faulty charging port out of your device, install a new assembly, and you’re good to go. Do you have problems like this? Maybe you just needed a charging port replacement right now.
Repair #2: Camera Outer Glass Replacement
You probably get the jist of this now. All glass parts of a smartphone are vulnerable to breakage. Yes, even the smallest glass portion – the camera glass. If you have a smartphone with a bump for the camera glass, then it can break when you drop the phone at a certain angle. If you have a smartphone with a huge camera patch at the back, it can break. If you have four cameras, then you better have a thick camera case to protect it from impact. The good news is, this is the easiest part to replace. No need to disassemble the entire phone. Just remove the broken glass, pop in a new one and viola, you have a fixed camera outer glass.
Repair #1: Screen Replacement
Our in-demand screen replacement repair service is the most common fix that we do in the shop. Most clients dropped their smartphone with partial, usable screens. Some dropped it and the screen is total-ed. This is the most prominent component of the smartphone and it’s made out of glass. A huge hunk of glass. Once it’s broken, there’s only two things you can do: live with the cracked screen or replace it to restart a new life with a brand new looking smartphone.
Call us at 8011 4119 if you have these problems, Sydney CBD Repair Centre will fix it for you.
Samsung’s Find My Mobile app is designed to help you remotely locate your device, back up data to Samsung Cloud, delete local data, and block access to Samsung Pay in case of loss or theft. However, the app requires a working network connection to perform all of the aforementioned functions. This means that if your device loses network coverage, there’s no way for you to locate it using the app. Thankfully, Samsung is now rolling out an update for the Find My Mobile app which addresses this issue.
The latest update for the Find My Mobile app (version 7.2.05.44) adds a new ‘Offline finding’ feature that will let you find your phone using someone else’s Galaxy device, even when your device isn’t connected to a network. The feature will also let other users use your phone to scan for lost Galaxy devices that may be nearby. Additionally, the feature will let you find Galaxy Watches and earbuds if they were connected to your device.
The feature was recently spotted by Max Weinbach from our team, who shared the above screenshots. As you can see in the screenshots, your phone will display a notification for the new feature as soon as you receive the latest Find My Mobile update on your Samsung Galaxy device. Tapping on the notification will instantly open up the respective settings page, where you’ll be able to enable the feature by tapping on the toggle in the top right corner. You’ll also be able to encrypt your offline location from the same settings page. Once the feature is turned on, you’ll be able to find your phone even if it’s not connected to a network.
While we can’t confirm how this feature works just yet, it appears that it’s only available in the U.S. and South Korea, according to one user who dug through the SmartThings app.
You can download version 7.2.05.44 of the Find My Mobile app from the Samsung Galaxy Store or from APKMirror. Once we confirm how this feature works, we’ll update this article with those details.
At this point, Samsung has already established that its 2019 A-series of smartphones will represent its entry-level and mid-range offerings. One of them is the Galaxy A20. Priced at under $200, is this worth considering given the competition. Find out in our full review.
Design and Construction
As stated in my hand-on and first impressions, the Galaxy A20 shares the design language of its other A-series siblings. The glossy polycarbonate material which Samsung calls Glastic (a plastic material which looks like glass) looks premium and classy, especially with its black color. If you don’t like black, it comes in red and blue as well.
At the front, we get a notch design that the company calls the Infinity-V display. This component houses the 8MP front camera while on top is the call speaker. Unfortunately, there’s no LED notification light here so you’ll have to check your phone now and then manually. Looking at the 6.4-inch screen, we get a pretty slim top and side bezels which look sexy; however, any thinner than that will not allow us to hold the phone more securely.
The right side houses the typical volume rocker and power button which are both clicky. Its placement is also just proper for my thumb to reach which is a plus.
Looking to the left will show you the lone tray that houses the Dual-SIM card slots and a dedicated micro SD card slot.
On top is the noise-canceling microphone while at the bottom are the 3.5mm audio port, primary microphone, loudspeaker, and a USB Type-C port. Props to Samsung for equipping the Galaxy A20 with a Type-C port as this delivers faster file transfer speeds than micro USB ones.
At the back are the dual 13MP and 5MP shooters with LED notification light. Right on the middle is an oblong-shaped fingerprint scanner with silver accents which always looks premium.
Holding the Galaxy A20 feels like you’re carrying any other Galaxy A-series smartphones thanks to its design, weight, and thickness. Just as any Glastic designs, it is always a problem for me when a phone has a glossy back since it is prone to fingerprint marks and smudges. Overall, it feels premium and durable, even for an entry-level device.
Display and Multimedia
This phone, despite its big size and Super AMOLED panel, only has an HD+ resolution which made me quite disappointed. I’m pretty used to the 1080p displays, so I know that looking at it is not the same as with other phones. Add to the fact that it only has a 269-pixel density which is relatively low.
Regardless, the viewing experience is still lovely with punchy colors, decent viewing angles, and slim bezels. I can also use the Galaxy A20 even under direct sunlight even at 80% brightness, so that’s a plus. Playing videos on Youtube and Netflix can only go up to 720p, so that’s a bummer.
Its audio is substandard which is pretty standard for smartphones given that it doesn’t have any bass. Don’t get me wrong though, it has loud and crisp sounds, but the main problem is the whole listening experience, so I suggest that you use earphones or any Bluetooth speakers as this device has a built-in Dolby Atmos feature.
OS, UI, and Apps
Running the Galaxy A20’s OS department is the Samsung OneUI based on Android 9 Pie. I like this interface more than the discontinued Samsung Experience UI mainly due to its simplicity. By default, it would look like that it has no app drawer; however, swiping up or down the home screen will reveal it. Pre-installed apps include the Samsung apps like the Galaxy Store, Samsung Notes, and Samsung Health. The device also has Spotify, Netflix, Office Mobile, OneDrive, LinkedIn, Samsung Members, Samsung 321, Smart Tutor, Facebook, and the default Google applications.
Out of its 32GB storage, this phone gets 23.1GB of free space which is plenty if you are an average user that regularly stores files like videos, music, documents, photos, and even games.
Camera
Running the camera department are the 13MP + 5MP dual rear cameras and a single 8MP front shooter. The interface is simple and pretty straightforward with the Settings, Flash, Timer, Resolution, and Effects located at the top while the modes such as Panorama, Pro, Live Focus, Photo, and Video (for the rear) placed below the display. You can also see that under Photo and Video, you can shoot with a great wide-angle lens.
First, the rear shooter provides an excellent quality of photos with decent sharpness and good color accuracy under sufficient natural lighting. For low-light shots, I find the images usable as the lights were not blown out with minimal noise. I advise that you shouldn’t use the wide-angle lens at night time as photos will be grainy and muddy.
For the selfie shooter, I can’t help but feel like the photos are too artificial in terms of the highlights even on right lighting conditions. At night time, the front lens finds it hard to recognize the details on my face like the redness of my nose and pimples.
The Galaxy A20 can record videos up to 1080p 30fps. I’m quite satisfied with the details and color accuracy of the video; however, it doesn’t have stabilization, so I suggest using a tripod when you want to shoot using this phone.
Performance and Benchmarks
Running the performance department is a Samsung Exynos 7884 chipset with a Mali-G71 MP2 GPU and 3GB of RAM. At first, I thought it was just a typo for the Exynos 7885 in which the Galaxy A8 (2018) series used, but it’s not. The performance is not that bad, but not great either. It’s smooth on basic navigations and quick when loading apps. However, I felt some delays and lags with its performance especially when I’m trying to search for something in its settings or the Google PlayStore. There are no significant issues like the phone stalling, so overall, it’s still decent. I also noticed that the fingerprint scanner is slow to unlock if the Galaxy A20’s display isn’t turned on. It would take approximately 1 to 2 seconds before it recognizes my fingerprint whereas when you press the power button first and do a scan, it will unlock at around 0.5 seconds.
Here are its benchmark scores:
Antutu v7 – 95,945
3D Mark – 520 (SSE – OpenGL ES 3.1), 599 (SSE – Vulkan)
Playing games such as Mobile Legends or PUBG Mobile are a breeze as it runs smoothly even at the highest settings. My problem with the former; however, is that it doesn’t have a high fps mode, so that’s quite a bummer. The phone builds up temperature around the camera area as you play for longer durations, but it won’t reach to uncomfortable levels.
Connectivity and Battery Life
The Galaxy A20 has the basic connectivity features such as 4G LTE, dual-SIM support, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC. Checking out it sensors, though, shows that it doesn’t have a Light Sensor which helps in adapting the brightness level of the screen according to the external environment.
The phone carries a 4,000mAh battery with a 15W fast charging which is significant given that most of the smartphones under this price point don’t have this technology. Testing its battery life on PC Mark’s battery test yielded a time of 12 Hours and 16 Minutes while our video loop test (1080p movie, 50% sound, 50% brightness, airplane mode, w/ earphones) got around 23 Hours of playback which is excellent. When it comes to charging, it reached 100% in 1 Hour and 45 Minutes from 20% which is faster than other smartphones with the same or higher battery capacity.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy A20 is a capable entry-level smartphone overall. It has a large display with decent performance, large RAM, great cameras, long battery life, and it also comes with a USB Type-C port with fast charging technology. In the end, I don’t like its fingerprint and smudge magnet design and HD+ resolution. It also has a weird fingerprint unlocking when the display is turned off, but, if you don’t mind these cons, then you can opt for this phone.
One big problem is that Samsung may have a hard time selling this device especially in terms of overall performance. Phones like the Realme 3 and Redmi Note 7 already dominates the below $200 price segment. With the Galaxy A20 sitting at under $200, the only fighting chance that it will have is its cameras and battery life. In the end, I won’t be suggesting this phone unless you are picky on the brand or if you are more into longer battery life and viewing experience.
Samsung Galaxy A20 specs :
6.4-inch HD+ (1560 x 720) Super AMOLED Infinity-V display, 268ppi
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.
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.
Display test
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy A70
0
407
∞
Samsung Galaxy A70 (Max Auto)
0
607
∞
Samsung Galaxy A50
0
424
∞
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Max Auto)
0
551
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40
0
410
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40 (Max Auto)
0
548
∞
Realme X
0
448
∞
Realme 3 Pro
0.285
508
1782
vivo V15 Pro
0
429
∞
vivo V15 Pro (Max Auto)
0
435
∞
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
0.358
479
1338
Motorola One Vision
0.39
464
1190
Motorola One Vision (Max Auto)
0.446
486
1090
Huawei P30 Lite
0.39
480
1231
Realme 3 Pro
0.285
508
1782
Nokia 7.1
0.377
490
1300
Nokia 7.1 (Max Auto)
0.465
600
1290
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.
Speakerphone test
Voice, dB
Pink noise/ Music, dB
Ringing phone, dB
Overall score
Samsung Galaxy A40
66.2
68.3
73.6
Good
Realme 3
66.0
71.8
81.2
Good
Samsung Galaxy A70
68.5
69.5
81.7
Very Good
Realme X
67.9
73.5
80.4
Very Good
vivo V15 Pro
65.0
74.1
83.6
Very Good
Samsung Galaxy A50
68.9
71.3
82.7
Very Good
Huawei P30 Lite
71.5
73.8
83.1
Excellent
Motorola One Vision
73.5
71.3
85.8
Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
69.8
71.5
90.5
Excellent
Realme 3 Pro
67.5
73.8
90.5
Excellent
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.
Test
Frequency response
Noise level
Dynamic range
THD
IMD + Noise
Stereo crosstalk
Samsung Galaxy A70
+0.03, -0.07
-93.5
93.3
0.0020
0.0079
-92.4
Samsung Galaxy A70 (headphones)
+0.04, -0.40
-88.1
89.0
0.094
0.239
-56.6
Samsung Galaxy A50
+0.03, -0.06
-93.4
93.2
0.0009
0.0082
-92.3
Samsung Galaxy A50 (headphones)
+0.30, -0.12
-92.0
91.9
0.102
0.231
-47.0
Huawei P30 lite
+0.03, -0.01
-94.4
94.2
0.0015
0.0076
-71.2
Huawei P30 lite (headphones)
+0.12, -0.06
-93.6
93.4
0.0032
0.097
-56.8
Sony Xperia 10
+0.04, -0.04
-92.2
91.9
0.0032
0.015
-97.1
Sony Xperia 10 (headphones)
+0.05, -0.03
-96.1
91.6
0.0033
0.024
-56.4
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
One UI is the way forward
The Galaxy A70 boots the brand new One UI based on Google’s Android Pie. It premiered on the Galaxy S10 phones a couple of months ago and is shaping as a promising replacement of the previous Samsung Experience UX. Just as expected, it packs heavy customizations and tons of old and new features but presented in a cleaner and simplistic way.
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
The Galaxy A series has become even more diversified this year. Samsung has already introduced the Galaxy A10, A20, A30, A40, A50, A70, and A80 smartphones with the focus being on new AMOLED screens and premium camera skills. And our guest of honor – the Galaxy A50 – has plenty to show of both.
The Galaxy A series has always been comprised of premium midrangers. But Samsung’s strategy for it has come through several transformations. From all-metal phones and water-resistant designs, through a couple of odd experiments, and lately – pioneering trendy features like notched AMOLEDs and ultra-wide-angle snappers.
The Galaxy A50 is a well-rounded smartphone packing as many cool specs as possible. Start with the slim design with the gradient paint job, move to 6.4″ the Infinity-U Super AMOLED screen with a premium fingerprint scanner underneath, then there is a powerful Exynos chip, and a triple camera on the back. The large battery and the latest Android Pie with the clean One UI are hard to miss, too.
The Galaxy A50 is obviously positioned between the lower-tier of As with HD AMOLEDs and less-impressive snappers, and the higher-tier A70 and A80 with larger screens, more powerful chips, and even more premium snappers. And that’s exactly what makes it so special – having the best from both worlds – cool specs on a lower price.
Samsung Galaxy A50 specs
Body: Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic frame and back;
Screen: 6.4″ Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080 x 2340 px)
Memory: 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage / 6GB of RAM + 128GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support
OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Ion; 15W quick charge
Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available; LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC
Misc: Single bottom-firing speaker, Under-display fingerprint reader
One notable omission of the 2019 Galaxy A phones is the lack of water-protection. Samsung has changed its mind yet again, and this mid-range lineup won’t feature any ingress protection. Giving something and then taking it away isn’t the best move for sure, but we, and probably Samsung too, hope to the A50 will have enough of niceties to make up for that.
Design
Samsung has invented a whole new word for the design of the new Galaxy A phones – 3D Glasstic. While it may sound pretentious, it’s actually a clever combination of words as the A50 has both glass and plastic on its body and the latter looks more like glass than plastic.
But what’s also important is that the Galaxy A50 looks stunning courtesy of its dazzling paint job. In fact, the back is so shiny and has so much light reflection and refraction that it was almost impossible to get a proper shot of it. All color options – Black, White, Blue (ours), and Coral – display massive flares when exposed to a bit of light.
And this is for what the whole 3D Glasstic term was invented for. It’s not Gorilla Glass, sure, but it made us talk about it, so we can consider it a success.
And while we are at the back, the Galaxy A50 has a triple-camera setup here. Don’t get too excited yet, as it’s far away from Huawei’s trifecta. The A50 has a main 25MP camera, a secondary 8MP snapper with fixed-focus and 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5MP sensor for depth information. There is also a LED flash around. The camera is humping just a tiny little bit and thankfully, it doesn’t wobble when put on a flat surface.
The whole front of the A50 is taken by the large 6.4″ Infinity-U Super AMOLED screen. It has a U-shaped notch at the top for the 25MP selfie camera, while the earpiece so thin that’s it is almost invisible above it.
The screen has minimal bezels on its top and longer sides, but there is a noticeable chin at the bottom for the screen controller. The flagship models are currently the only ones not having that chin but the jury is still out whether this is good in usability terms or not.
There is an under-display fingerprint scanner on the A50 and the experience is similar to what we saw on the Galaxy S10 phones. It is positioned around the bottom and is easy to set up, but the experience is equally unreliable. One day it works just fine, the next day it’s a hit and miss between considering our presses too short or too light, or just the opposite. Hopefully, a software fix is on the way for the A50 as well.
Update: June, 2019:Samsung has already released a firmware update that improves the fingerprint scanner experience. Indeed, the sensor is now more responsive and accurate. The while unlocking routine seems to be quicker, as well. And this is also the reason, why the fingerprint scanner was removed from the Cons list at the end of this review.
With a diagonal of 6.4 inches, the screen is a pretty close match to the one on the S10+ size-wise, of course. It also supports HDR10+ and has fancy curved sides. It is 1080p in resolution and has a different aspect with 19.5:9 ratio.
The Galaxy A50 measures 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm, which makes it almost identical to the S10+ footprint. It weighs 9g less though at 166g.
The frame is made if plastic, just like the back of the A50, and is as glossy and shiny. It’s also very thin on its longer sides. There is a triple-card slot on the left, while power and volume keys are on the right. The essentials are at the bottom – the USB-C and audio ports, as well as the single loudspeaker.
At the end of the day we didn’t really mind the plastic frame on the Galaxy A50. As long as it is reasonably durable, it’s a perfectly fine alternative to the popular “glass sandwich” design.
Handling the Galaxy A50 is a pretty familiar feeling if you have any experience with a recent Samsung phone. The sides taper in a very familiar way and make for a fairly slim edge. It is super prone to fingerprints and smudges, but in spite of all that glossiness, the phone didn’t feel as slippery as it looks and that’s probably a first.
Display
All Galaxy A phones have always had one thing in common and that’s the Super AMOLED screen. The A50 isn’t a combo breaker either and it also packs a large 6.4″ Super AMOLED screen of 1080p+ resolution. The actual pixel count is 2,340 x 1,080 making the aspect ratio quite wide at 19.5:9 and the pixel density is more than enough at 403ppi.
The A50 features the so-called Infinity-U panel, meaning it has a U-shaped notch at the top for the selfie camera. Samsung was one of the few makers to stay away as long as possible from the screen cutouts but eventually it caved in. We guess this makes Sony the last defender of the notch-free screens.
Anyway, notch or not, the Super AMOLED screen is of the usual high-quality we’ve grown to like. We measured about 420 nits of maximum brightness in manual mode and 550nits in auto with the ambient light sensor is exposed to bright light. We measured a minimum brightness of 1.8nits – pretty great result.
Display test
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy A50
0
424
∞
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Max Auto)
0
551
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40
0
410
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40 (Max Auto)
0
548
∞
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
0
399
∞
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) (Max Auto)
0
606
∞
Samsung Galaxy S10+
0
385
∞
Samsung Galaxy S10+ (Max Auto)
0
793
∞
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
0.358
479
1338
Huawei Honor 10 Lite
0.344
441
1282
Oppo F11 Pro
0.316
440
1392
Nokia 7.1
0.377
490
1300
Nokia 7.1 (Max Auto)
0.465
600
1290
Motorola Moto G7 Plus
0.332
473
1425
Motorola Moto G7 Plus (Max Auto)
0.469
590
1258
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
0
390
∞
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) (Max Auto)
0
590
∞
Sony Xperia 10
0.362
549
1517
Sony Xperia 10 Plus
0.381
583
1530
Xiaomi Mi 9
0
428
∞
Xiaomi Mi 9 (Max Auto)
0
620
∞
As we’ve come to expect from Samsung Super AMOLEDs, the display on the Galaxy A50 is capable of accurately reproducing different color spaces depending on content and selected display mode. The Basic mode stays true to sRGB (average DeltaE of 1.7), AMOLED Photo is for Adobe RGB applications (average DeltaE of 1.8), while AMOLED Cinema adheres to the DCI-P3 color space (average DeltaE of 2.0). Of course, the default Adaptive mode makes no claims for accuracy and posts an average DeltaE of 3.3 against a DCI-P3 target with a maximum deviation of 8.8.
Battery life
The Galaxy A50 has a large 4,000mAh battery inside, quite like them Redmi Notes. It supports 15W charging but we didn’t get a retail box so we can’t provide you with any charging stats.
In our testing, the Galaxy A50 achieved more than respectable results. We clocked north of 12 hours on our Wi-Fi web browsing script and almost 16 hours of looping videos in airplane mode. The 3G talk time is over a day – an excellent score as well.
Adding to the mix the excellent standby performance the Galaxy A50 posted an overall Endurance rating of 98h. And we now know what to expect from any future Exynos 9610-powered smartphone.
Speaker
The Galaxy A50 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 the good news stops here. The output is rather poor and lacks big time in the high frequency. So, as far as quality is concerned – the A50 has a loud sound, but not that clean or rich.
Speakerphone test
Voice, dB
Pink noise/ Music, dB
Ringing phone, dB
Overall score
Realme 3
66.0
71.8
81.2
Good
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
69.5
72.4
77.8
Very Good
Oppo F11 Pro
67.6
72.3
80.5
Very Good
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
69.2
70.6
81.6
Very Good
Moto G7 Plus (Music)
70.5
73.6
78.4
Very Good
Samsung Galaxy A50
68.9
71.3
82.7
Very Good
Xiaomi Mi 9
70.1
74.2
81.6
Very Good
Sony Xperia 10
68.7
73.0
87.8
Excellent
Huawei Honor 10 Lite
70.0
73.8
87.0
Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
69.8
71.5
90.5
Excellent
Samsung Galaxy S10+
74.4
74.2
83.6
Excellent
Sony Xperia 10 Plus
68.5
73.2
90.7
Excellent
Nokia 7.1
75.6
76.0
81.1
Excellent
Audio quality
The Samsung Galaxy A50 delivered a stellar performance when tested with an external amplifier with high volume levels and perfect clarity marks.
Hеadphones markedly degraded the reproduction accuracy – some intermodulation distortion crept in while stereo crosstalk shot up markedly. The harmonic distortion reading was also a bit worse than usual, adding up to output that’s average at best. On the upside the loudness was just as high as in the first part of the test and certainly among the best in the mid-range market.
One UI and Android Pie
The Galaxy A50 is among the first mid-rangers to come with the brand new One UI based on Google’s latest Android Pie. It premiered on the Galaxy S10 phones a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a promising replacement of the previous Samsung Experience UX. Just as expected, it packs heavy customizations and tons of old and new features but presented in a cleaner and simplistic way.
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, Samsung Health 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 Galaxy A50 is the first smartphone we meet powered by the Exynos 9610 chip designed by Samsung. Contrary on what the model number suggests, the 9610 SoC is part of the mid-range Exynos 7 Series, so you shouldn’t hope for flagship-grade speeds.
Still, the Exynos 9610 seems rather well-packed with processing punch. There is an octa-core processor with four A73 cores running at 2.3GHz and four A53 ones ticking at 1.7GHz. Those should be more than enough to handle even the most demanding tasks today.
Then there is the Mali-G72 MP3 (read tri-core). We’ve already seen three G72 cores in action as part of the Helio P60 and P70 chips, and those turned out to be enough for a balanced gaming experience on a budget.
Finally, the A50 comes with either 4GB or 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM depending on the market and base storage.
And now let’s run some benchmarks, shall we?
As usual, we’ll start our benchmark tests with Geekbench. In single-core performance the Cortex-A73 cores matche the Kryo 260 Gold in the Snapdragon 660 (Redmi Note 7), and beat everything but the Kryo 360 Gold within the Snapdragon 710 (Xiaomi Mi 8 SE).
Multi-core operations are an easy task for the Galaxy A50. It does as well as the S660 chip, close to the S710 performance, while the Helio P70 that has the same CPU configuration is a bit faster because its CPU cores have a higher clock.
The tri-core Mali-G72 is a solid performer – and in this price range it’s among the best GPUs you can get in a 1080p smartphone. It is only beaten by the Adreno 616 within the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 710 (Mi 8 SE).
The Galaxy A50 is plenty fast for its asking price. It is a very dependable performer thanks to its Exynos 9610 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 spots around the Galaxy A50 even when running those benchmarks for longer duration and there was no throttling at all. Overall, the A50 offers great performance for the class and nobody should be experiencing major hiccups whatever the tasks at hand.
A triple-camera on the back
The Samsung Galaxy A50 has a triple camera on its back – the main 25MP PDAF f/1.7 snapper is joined by an 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 camera has a 25MP resolution sensor behind a fast f/1.7 lens with a focal length that’s reported as 27mm. Then the 8MP sensor behind an f/2.2 aperture lens that delivers a 120-degree field of view. The EXIF data reports 13mm focal length.
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 A50 by default shoots in 12MP, but this can be changed from the aspect settings – 3:4 corresponds to 12MP, while 3:4H means 25MP. When shooting in 25MP you can’t use Auto HDR or any HDR for that matter, but that’s pretty much the only caveat.
Let’s start with the high-res images. The detail levels aren’t what you’d expect from the 25MP number but that wasn’t a surprise. We already observed similar lack in detail in previous Samsung mid-rangers such as the last Galaxy A9.
So, the photos are overall soft, but you can notice the processing tried to compensate for that with sharpening, but it is often too aggressive and there are noticeable sharpening halos in the pictures.
And now the good news – the colors turned out pretty accurate, the contrast is excellent, while the dynamic range is about the average – quite expected given no HDR mode was involved.
If HDR is involved, the photos often look a bit better with even exposure and some of the blown highlights get rescued. But there are times where the colors are presented unrealistic with a noticeable greenish tint.
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 on the cheap.
The 25MP low-light photos from the Galaxy A50 are a huge mess, lacking in detail, noisy, soft, and a bit blurry. We suspect the 25MP wasn’t intended for low-light at all. This is where the 12MP default option actually comes in handy. We suspect the camera does some pixel-binning but only in low-light, and thus produces much better 12MP low-light images. Far from impressive or even competitive, though.
The 12MP shots have very good color saturation although, highlights will get clipped. On closer inspection, the level of detail is underwhelming and there’s prominent noise across the board even for this price range.
There is no Night Mode on the Galaxy A50, 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 rather abysmal 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 A50 deals with our studio charts.
Portraits
The Galaxy A50 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, and the algorithm is smart enough not to get fooled by objects close to the face. Sure, the photos aren’t perfect, but we’ve seen flagships do way worse and we really got more than we hoped for from a budget mid-ranger.
Selfies
The Galaxy A50 comes with a high-res 25MP selfie camera, which may or may not be the same as the main 25MP 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 25MP snapper, the selfie one shoots in 12MP by default unless you opt for 25MP. 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.
Portrait mode is available on the selfie camera as well, with just the one camera. The portraits are softer than regular selfies, but surprisingly – with the same meticulous subject separation as seen on the regular portrait photos. And HDR works here when needed, too, and does an excellent job.
Video recording
The Galaxy A50 records video up to 1080p at 30fps – no 4K, and no 1080/60 either. Electronic stabilization is available though and it’s always-on – there is no option to turn it off. The bit rate of 1080p videos is average at 17Mbps while audio is recorded in stereo at 256kbps.
Taking in consideration the very windy weather around here that is felt in both picture and sound, the A50 still excels om 1080p video capture – the clips are highly detailed and with little noise. Dynamic range is good too and the colors are spot on. We’d rank the A50‘s 1080p clips among the better ones we’ve seen, not just in its class, but overall.
The footage from the ultra-wide-camera doesn’t have award-winning detail, but it’s decent as ultra-wide videos go.
Electronic stabilization is available on both regular and wide-angle camera and it does a stellar job.
In theory the Exynos 9610’s ISO should support 4K video recording, which however is not available on the A50. We’ve encountered similar oddities with some cheap Redmis, so we suspected we could get 4K clips with a third-party app since Samsung is using a standard camera APIs. So, we just downloaded the OpenCamera app from the PlayStore and bingo! 4K@30fps. So, if you want 4K on the A50, you can have it, in pretty good quality at that.
Competition
This year Samsung has completely revamped its Galaxy A-series and once again shifted their position on the market. The Galaxy A50 is a rather obvious offer meant to keep the budget low yet bring some cool features from the higher-tier devices – like a large Super AMOLED, snappy chip and a multi-camera setup.
And things did turn out for the better – the Galaxy A50 has the looks to impress, a very colorful AMOLED screen with an under-screen fingerprint scanner, a very capable camera on both ends, a gaming-friendly chipset, and a beefy battery that will keep the lights on for quite some time. But the best part – the price of €280 is quite reasonable and competitive.
Compromises had to be made for making such a good deal – the A50 isn’t water-resistant – something the old Galaxy A series has been known for. But that’s probably the only beef a long-time Samsung fan may have with the A50.
Let’s take a peek at the competition. Motorola is selling the Moto G7 Plus at about the same price, but it’s an inferior phone in every way – the screen is an LCD, the chipset is feeble, the camera – less impressive although it can do 4K, and the battery life was disappointing.
The Redmi Note 7 is at least €60 cheaper, and it is ready to fight back big time. The Xiaomi’s most popular mid-ranger is as stunning and as fast as the A50, while it’s 6.3″ display is of the same resolution, but it’s the IPS LCD kind. It has no wide-angle camera, but it can still excel in photos, and it even offers a Night Mode. If you aren’t all about OLEDs and One UI, you may want to give it a try.
The Honor 10 Lite also impresses with a dazzling body and a large IPS LCD screen, while its Kirin 710 chip is of the same league as the Exynos 9610. The Honor omits a wide-angle snapper but makes up for that with a Night Mode by Huawei. Finally, the Honor 10 Lite costs about €80 less than the Galaxy A50 – probably the biggest reason to check this one out.
And back to Samsung – if the A50 is too large for you, then the A40 is a very good option. It is a very compact and lightweight smartphone, with a 5.9″ nearly bezel-less 1080p AMOLED, a good enough Exynos 7885 chip, and a solid 3,100 mAh battery for that size. The A40 has a dual-camera on the back with a 16MP main snapper and a 5MP ultra-wide cam, it lacks a depth sensor and thus the not-so-accurate portraits. The A40 is a bit cheaper (€40), so there is that.
The Verdict
Samsung got a lot of things right in the Galaxy A50 – the design and color options, the screen, the performance, and the battery life. The still images, while not impressive in detail, are of high-resolution and dependable as long as there’s sufficient light. Nighttime photos turn out with poor dynamic range, fuzzy and noisy. Most of the competitors perform much better in low-light situations. The 1080p videos, on the other hand, are impressive.
The addition of the One UI is welcome on a midranger, and we like the direction where it is going. Yes, the Galaxy A50 isn’t water-resistant as its predecessors, but it excels elsewhere and makes up for all omissions with a very competitive price. We liked it for sure, and we’d recommend checking it out if it fits your budget bracket.
Pros
Solid build and stunning paintjob
Excellent 6.4″ AMOLED
Gaming-friendly Exynos 9610 chip
Versatile camera that does the job well during the day
Great portraits, nice selfies, excellent 1080p videos with stabilization
Dependable battery life
Cons
Lacks water-resistance
The speaker quality is poor
Unsatisfactory low-light camera performance
The detail in the daylight photos could have been higher
The new Samsung Galaxy A series has proven to be an excellent lineup of offers starting from the budget A10 and going all the way to the upper-midrange A80. We already reviewed a bunch of those As, but we are far from done yet – there are still so many of them left. And today it’s the Galaxy A30‘s turn – an intriguing mixture of A40’s internals and A50’s display.
The Galaxy A (2019) smartphones have a couple of common features, and the A30 is no different – it has a glasstic body, a Super AMOLED screen, and a multi-camera setup on the back that includes an ultra-wide-angle snapper. But this phone is sort of an oddball.
We guess at some point Samsung had this plan to arrange those models by price, but the Galaxy A30 does not fall into the ranks so well as it is more expensive than the A40 model. And it makes sense to be that way since the Galaxy A30 packs a larger AMOLED and a beefier battery compared to the A40.
So, the Galaxy A30 is jam-packed with nice hardware – the 6.4″ Infinity-U AMOLED is among the best screens in the entire midrange class, there is a snappy enough Exynos chipset, a dual-camera on the back, a huge 4,000 mAh battery, and Samsung‘s latest One UI on top of Pie OS.
Samsung Galaxy A30 specs
Body: Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic frame and back;
Screen: 6.4″ Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080 x 2340 px)
Memory: 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage / 3GB of RAM + 32GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card
OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Ion; 15W quick charge
Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available; LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio
Misc: Single bottom-firing speaker, rear-mounted fingerprint reader
What’s missing? Just water-resistance. Indeed, water-resistance was the cornerstone for the Galaxy A series, but not anymore. None of the latest A phones comes with ingress protection, but they are not losing any slots or jacks, so it’s a silver lining of a sorts.
Unboxing the Galaxy A30
The Galaxy A30 retail box contains the usual bunch – a USB-C cable, a rather cheap-looking pair of headphones with a mic, and a charger.
The A30 supports 15W fast charging, Samsung‘s Adaptive Fast Charging to be specific, and get the corresponding charger bundled with each A30.
Finally, there is a factory-applied screen protector on the Galaxy A30. It’s a very thin and rather easy to peel off, but it’s still useful, and we appreciate it.
Design
Samsung came up with the Glasstic term to best describe the material used for the backs of its new Galaxy A series, and it contains the rather obvious answer – glass and plastic. Indeed, the Galaxy A30, just like the A40 and the A50, has a body made of those two materials.
Both the frame and back are made of plastic but one that looks more like glass than plastic. If you’ve seen one Glasstic phone, then you’ve seen them all. But if not, then you probably have no idea what exactly Glasstic is, have you?
The screen is covered by a piece of Gorilla Glass 3 by Corning. The A30 has a proper Super AMOLED at its front. And it seems to be the same panel we saw on the Galaxy A50 – a 6.4″ 1080p unit with a U-shaped notch that houses the 16MP selfie snapper.
The earpiece is just above the selfie cam, but it is so small and thin that’s it is almost invisible.
The AMOLED panel is premium hardware, but the high-quality stuff ends with it. The side bezels are tiny, but the chin is pretty big. Then there is this visible screen enclosure between the glass and the frame, which is very sharp around the bottom of the phone. Those are common among the cheap phones though and are not exclusive to the Galaxy.
The frame is very thin, curvy, and glossy, meaning it’s pretty in the few seconds when it’s not covered in fingerprint smudges, and is also hard to get a nice grip on.
The tri-card slot, the volume and power keys are on the right, while the speaker, USB-C port and audio jack are at the bottom of the Galaxy A30.
The Glasstic piece covering the back is flashy and dazzling. No matter if you opt for the blue, red, or black model, the color-changing effect be present on all of them. The piece is bent towards the longer sides and this may not be helping the grip but makes up for a thinner profile and a dash of premium feel.
The dual-camera is on the back humping just a tiny little bit and it won’t wobble on a flat surface. The setup has the secondary 5MP ultra-wide snapper on the top and the 16MP main eye at the bottom. A single LED lash sits outside of this tiny hump.
The fingerprint scanner is also on the back and it’s of our favorite kind – always on and blazing-fast. Its recognition is very accurate, too, and performance doesn’t seem to be affected by smudges.
The Galaxy A30 measures 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm, which is exactly the same as the Galaxy A50. The A30 weighs 165g, a gram less than the A50.
Handling the Galaxy A30 is business as usual. The phone feels more like made of glass than plastic, which is nice but is easy to smudge and eventually it becomes a mess. It’s not as slippery as the looks suggest though, and even if the profile is slim and not that grippy, we didn’t have any major issues while handling it.
Display
Beyond any doubt, the huge Super AMOLED screen is the Galaxy A30‘s main selling feature. It’s the same large 6.4″ Super AMOLED screen of 1080p+ resolution as seen on the A50. The actual pixel count is 2,340 x 1,080, making the aspect ratio quite tall (19.5:9). The pixel density is more than enough at 403ppi.
The A30 has the so-called Infinity-U panel, meaning it has a U-shaped notch at the top for the selfie camera. The screen is of the usual high-quality we’ve grown to like. We measured about 430 nits of maximum brightness in manual mode and 550nits in Auto when the ambient light sensor exposed to bright light. We measured a minimum brightness of 1.9nits.
Display test
100% brightness
Black, cd/m2
White, cd/m2
Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy A30
0
433
∞
Samsung Galaxy A30 (Max Auto)
0
548
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40
0
410
∞
Samsung Galaxy A40 (Max Auto)
0
548
∞
Samsung Galaxy A50
0
424
∞
Samsung Galaxy A50 (Max Auto)
0
551
∞
Samsung Galaxy M30
0
437
∞
Samsung Galaxy M30 (Max Auto)
0
641
∞
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
0.358
479
1338
Huawei Honor 10 Lite
0.344
441
1282
Nokia 7.1
0.377
490
1300
Nokia 7.1 (Max Auto)
0.465
600
1290
Sony Xperia 10
0.362
549
1517
Sony Xperia 10 Plus
0.381
583
1530
Oppo F11 Pro
0.316
440
1392
Realme X
0
448
∞
Motorola Moto G7 Plus
0.332
473
1425
Motorola Moto G7 Plus (Max Auto)
0.469
590
1258
As we’ve come to expect from Samsung Super AMOLEDs, the display on the Galaxy A30 is capable of accurately reproducing different color spaces depending on content and selected display mode. The Basic mode stays true to sRGB (average DeltaE of 1.6), AMOLED Photo is for Adobe RGB applications (average DeltaE of 1.8), while AMOLED Cinema adheres to the DCI-P3 color space (average DeltaE of 2.2). Of course, the default Adaptive mode makes no claims for accuracy and posts an average DeltaE of 3.4 against a DCI-P3 target with a maximum deviation of 9.
Battery life
The Galaxy A30 has a large 4,000mAh battery inside, just like the A50’s. It supports 15W charging, and the supplied charger will refill about 30% of the A30‘s depleted battery in half an hour.
In our testing, the Galaxy A30 achieved some respectable results. We clocked north of 11 hours on our Wi-Fi web browsing script and 14 and half hours of looping videos in airplane mode. The 3G talk time is over a day – an excellent score as well.
Adding to the mix the very good standby performance the Galaxy A30 posted an overall Endurance rating of 92h.
Loudspeaker
The Galaxy A30 has a single loudspeaker located on the bottom. It scored a Below Average mark in our three-pronged test when it comes to loudness, and it is very quiet – it’s been a while since we’ve seen a phone rank this low. The output is okay for the class but won’t impress with rich sound.
Speakerphone test
Voice, dB
Pink noise/ Music, dB
Ringing phone, dB
Overall score
Samsung Galaxy A30
65.9
66.6
68.4
Below Average
Samsung Galaxy M30
65.6
66.2
70.4
Average
Samsung Galaxy M20
67.0
66.8
68.6
Average
Samsung Galaxy A40
66.2
68.3
73.6
Good
Samsung Galaxy M10
66.2
71.7
80.0
Good
Realme 3
66.0
71.8
81.2
Good
Samsung Galaxy A50
68.9
71.3
82.7
Very Good
Sony Xperia 10
68.7
73.0
87.8
Excellent
Realme 3 Pro
67.5
73.8
90.5
Excellent
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
69.8
71.5
90.5
Excellent
Nokia 7.1
75.6
76.0
81.1
Excellent
Moto G7 Power
75.8
75.2
82.5
Excellent
Audio quality
The Samsung Galaxy A30had a fine performance in the first part of the audio test. With an active external amplifier, it posted excellent scores and had above average volume levels .
While the loudness didn’t suffer when we plugged in headphones, a few of the scores took a hit – most notably the stereo crosstalk and to a lesser extent intermodulation distortion and frequency response. The overall performance was very close to the Galaxy M30, suggesting a shared audio chip, but the A30 comes just behind its sibling likely due to slightly different wiring.
Test
Frequency response
Noise level
Dynamic range
THD
IMD + Noise
Stereo crosstalk
Samsung Galaxy A30
+0.03, -0.05
-93.3
93.0
0.0068
0.012
-88.9
Samsung Galaxy A30 (headphones)
+0.23, -0.25
-90.8
91.2
0.015
0.266
-48.0
Samsung Galaxy M30
+0.03, -0.05
-90.5
90.4
0.0057
0.016
-90.0
Samsung Galaxy M30 (headphones)
+0.26, -0.20
-92.9
92.4
0.095
0.249
-59.1
Sony Xperia L3
+0.07, -0.01
-91.9
91.8
0.0013
0.009
-89.3
Sony Xperia L3 (headphones)
+0.50, -0.50
-90.6
90.8
0.0049
0.392
-52.3
Realme 3
+0.07, -0.04
-93.5
93.4
0.0010
0.0067
-91.6
Realme 3 (headphones)
+0.50, -0.17
-92.1
92.2
0.011
0.401
-52.0
Motorola Moto G7 Play
+0.07, -0.01
-90.0
90.1
0.0019
0.015
-92.9
Motorola Moto G7 Play (headphones)
+0.16, -0.10
-92.3
92.5
0.0069
0.164
-64.8
Android Pie and One UI
The Galaxy A30 comes with the new One UI based on Google’s latest Android Pie. It premiered on the Galaxy S10 phones, and it’s a promising replacement of the previous Samsung Experience UX. Just as expected, it packs heavy customizations and tons of old and new features but presented in a cleaner and simplistic way.
If you’ve used Samsung UX over the past few years, you will probably work your way around quickly. However, there are a couple of major revamps that may seem strange or even uncomfortable at first, but we think the changes are for the better.
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, Samsung Health 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 Camera Night mode was a long-awaited feature for more than just a few users.
Performance and benchmarks
The Samsung Galaxy A30 is powered by Samsung‘s Exynos 7904 chipset, which is essentially a downclocked 7885 and we already met it within the Galaxy A40. The SoC packs an octa-core processor with 2x high-performance Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 1.77 GHz and 6x power-efficient and smaller Cortex-A53 cores ticking at 1.59 GHz. For graphically intensive tasks, the Exynos 7904 relies on the Mali-G71 MP2 GPU.
When it comes to memory, the phone comes either with 3GB or 4GB of RAM depending on the model’s base storage – 32GB or 64GB. The one we got for this review has 4GB/64GB.
We kick things off with the usual CPU testing to see where the Exynos 7904 stands. The scores aren’t showing a winner, but nobody really expected a chart-topper. One A73 core ticking at 1.77GHz is powerful enough and would beat any A53 one, while it’s not that far from the A73s clocked at 2.2GHz or similar.
A dual-camera on the back
The Samsung Galaxy A30 has two snappers on its back – the main 16MP PDAF f/1.7 snapper is joined by a 5MP fixed-focus, f/2.2 ultra-wide and there is also a single LED flash around. There is no depth cam on the A30, but it can do portrait photos with defocused backgrounds just fine – Live Focus as Samsung calls the mode.
So, the primary camera has a 16MP resolution sensor behind a fast f/1.7 lens with a focal length that’s reported as 26mm. Then the 5MP sensor behind an f/2.2 aperture lens that delivers a 120-degree field of view. The EXIF data reports 13mm focal length.
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.
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 photos we snapped with the main camera in broad daylight turned out very good, keeping in mind the A30‘s price. The stills have plenty of fine detail, generally realistic colors, and excellent contrast. The dynamic range is above average and Auto HDR triggers extremely rarely – only in very demanding scenes. That said, just like on the M30, there were instances when it could have helped, and the phone didn’t engage it, so keep an eye on that.
There is some noise in areas of uniform color, and the grass presentation could have been better, but the A30 is a budget phone, and it offers more than enough for its class.
The ultra-wide-angle camera relies on a 5MP sensor with fixed focus. There is no lens correction available, so distorted buildings are expected.
During the day this tiny camera produces pleasant photos, which may not be filled with much detail, but they do have a super-wide field of view. The colors are more popping than what we experienced on the 16MP regular stills, but probably Samsung has tweaked it this way to create livelier images and enough distraction from the inferior quality. And indeed, it does.
The low-light photos from the main 16MP camera are nothing impressive as expected. They do have good color saturation, a step up from the M30’s low-light images, but highlights will get clipped, just like on the other phone. The level of detail is underwhelming, and there’s prominent noise across the board.
There is no Night Mode on the Galaxy A30, 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 rather abysmal without any software enhancements.
Once you’re done looking at the real-life samples, don’t forget to head over to our Photo compare tool to check out how the Galaxy A30 deals with our studio charts.
Live Focus
The ultra wide-angle camera isn’t used for depth information, so the software does all the heavy lifting and does the edge separation on its own. The Live Focus photos surprised us with very good separation and very smart detection. You can adjust the strength of the bokeh in real time or later on in the gallery with the slider below.
The Live Focus photos are saved in 8MP resolution.
Selfies
The 16MP selfies are soft and average in detail, but they do offer excellent contrast and punchy colors. The Auto HDR fires here more often than not, but it does an excellent job in restoring the clipped highlights.
If you get the distance right, and if there’s plenty of light – you can get some nice shots.
Portrait mode is available on the selfie camera as well, with just the one camera. The portraits are softer than regular selfies, while the edge detection is far worse than on the main camera. The processing tries to mask the defects and artefacts with extra blur, mostly unsuccessful though. The Auto HDR works here when needed and does an excellent job.
Video recording
The main camera can only record up to Full HD at 30fps, and the same goes for the wide-angle unit. There is no electronic stabilization on any of the snappers.
But if you’d like 4K video recording, the good news is that you can download Open Camera or another third-party camera app from Play Store and enjoy 2160p recording. Be aware though, that the snapper is limited to 4K capturing at 20fps and the clips will be choppy.
If all else fails, the 1080p videos (17Mbps bitrate) from the main camera are excellent, if not class leading. Those are highly detailed, with little noise and true-to-life colors. Dynamic range is good too. We’d rank the A30‘s 1080p clips among the better ones we’ve seen, not just in its class, but overall. And their stereo audio is top-notch, too, captured with 256kbps bitrate.
The footage from the ultra-wide-camera doesn’t have award-winning detail, but it’s decent as ultra-wide videos go.
Designed for digital natives who want to interact, play and share in the moment
Samsung Electronics reveals the new Galaxy A80 – a smartphone created for the way people are engaging in the Era of Live. People are increasingly using their smartphones to share live interactions – capturing spontaneous photos, streaming live video and connecting over shared experiences that are happening right now. We are moving from the ‘era of the selfie’ to the ‘era of live’, where people are fostering more genuine and meaningful connections. Built to drive this evolution, the Galaxy A80 offers compelling innovations: a captivating, full-screen display, Samsung’s first revolutionary rotating camera and an intelligent battery.
“Consumers are at the center of everything we do and they search for devices personalized to their specific lifestyle. Armed with our expertise, global capabilities and rich consumer insights, Samsung is uniquely positioned to provide innovations for everyone,” said DJ Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “The Galaxy A Series provides a range of models so everyone can choose a device that fits their unique needs and enables them to pursue their passions. The Galaxy A80 offers premium features for digital natives who want to fully engage in the Era of Live.”
Capture the World as You See It
Created with Samsung’s first rotating camera, the Galaxy A80 lets people seamlessly capture the world around them. When users select the selfie mode in the camera app, the three cameras automatically pop-up from the back of the phone and rotate. The innovative camera mechanism delivers the same extraordinary triple camera experience with the same high-resolution lens, front and rear, so you never have to sacrifice on quality.
With the 48MP main camera, users can now shoot vivid images day and night. The Galaxy A80’s 3D Depth camera offers Live Focus videos by scanning objects for measurement and depth. Built with an Ultra Wide angle lens with the same viewing angle as the human eye, so your favorite views can be shared with less panning.
The Super Steady video mode helps you effortlessly capture content by reducing video shake to ensure smooth, pro-level action videos. And with other intelligent camera features such as Scene Optimizer that can recognize and enhance up to 30 scenes, and Flaw Detection that automatically identifies glitches before you click, you’ll never miss the perfect shot.
Enjoy Immersive Multimedia Experiences
Enabled by the rotating camera, people can experience an uninhibited view with Samsung’s first New Infinity Display. Featuring the 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED screen, Galaxy A80 brings you content in vivid detail, letting you get fully immersed in every game, video, photo and story.
Galaxy A80’s Dolby Atmos lets you lose yourself in the sound with a 360-degree audience experience when using earphones or Bluetooth speakers.
Stay Connected for Longer
The Galaxy A80’s 3,700mAh battery and its Super-Fast Charging at 25W capabilities keep you connected for longer and gives you more freedom by allowing you to charge your phone quickly – so you don’t miss a beat.
The Galaxy A80 also features an intelligent battery which learns your daily routine and app usage patterns to optimize your phone’s power consumption. The Adaptive Power Saving Mode enables users to be reassured knowing the smart battery is running most efficiently for the best performance needed.
Access What You Need, When You Need It – Safely and Securely
The Galaxy A80’s Intelligent Performance Enhancer provides AI-powered performance optimization software, which adjusts the battery, CPU and RAM of your device based on your unique usage, helping your phone work harder and launch apps faster when you need them.
Bixby Routines helps keep you on track by learning your app usage patterns and analyzing your habits so that it knows which features you need, when you need them. Bixby Routines automates your everyday tasks and apps based on your routine, such as driving or being at work.
Fortified by Samsung Knox, Samsung’s defense-grade security platform designed to protect from chipset to software, people can enjoy the freedom of connection safely on Galaxy A80. This allows people to use Samsung Pass to access apps and websites by using biometric authentication. To increase ease-of-use, a fingerprint scanner was embedded on-screen so people can intuitively unlock their phone.
To complement people’s active lifestyles, Galaxy A80 includes button-activated or hands-free Bixby so that users can get connected to the information needed more conveniently. Users can also easily access other features such as Bixby Vision, Bixby Home, and Reminder while on-the-go. The Galaxy A80 also features key Galaxy experiences including Samsung Health, Samsung Pay* and more.
Express Your Style with an Elegant Design
The Galaxy A80 is available in three colors: Angel Gold, Ghost White and Phantom Black. The Angel Gold color includes elements of pink, while the Ghost White option combines some blue characteristics, so these colors look different depending on light direction and reflection.
The Galaxy A80’s sleek design and comfortable, ergonomic grip ensures it fits comfortably in your hand – so it’s easy to use when on-the-go.
6.7-inch FHD+ (1080×2400) Super AMOLED,
New Infinity Display
Camera
Front/ Rear
Main: 48MP, F2.0
Ultra Wide: 8MP, F2.2 (123°)
3D Depth
.
Rotating Camera
Body
165.2 x 76.5 x 9.3 mm
AP
Octa Core (2.2GHz Dual + 1.8GHz Hexa)
Memory
8 GB RAM
128 GB Internal Storage
Micro SD
Not Supported
Battery****
3,700mAh (typical)
25W Super Fast Charging
OS
Android 9.0 (Pie)
Biometric Authentications
On-Screen Fingerprint
Color
Phantom Black, Angel Gold, Ghost White
Design
3D Glass + Metal Frame
*Availability may vary by market **All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice. ***Screen measured diagonally as a full rectangle without accounting for the rounded corners. ****Typical value tested under third-party lab condition. Rated (minimum) capacity is less. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
Samsung will launch the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2019) and the Galaxy Tab S5e in the United States on April 26, it has been revealed. The former, which is the more basic of the two, will retail for $230; while the latter will command a steeper $400 and come packaged with a free SmartThings Hub.
The SmartThings Hub won’t be included with all orders, however — Samsung’s offering it to customers who pre-order the Galaxy Tab S5e through its website from Friday, April 12 through Thursday, April 25, but not the lower-end Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2019) due to its more budget nature.
For those in need of a refresher, the Galaxy Tab S5e sits beneath the top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S4, bundling a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED screen (1600 x 2560 pixels), a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 CPU, 6GB of RAM, a 13MP rear-facing camera, an 8MP front-facing camera and a 7040mAh battery.
GALAXY TAB S5E SM-T720 SPECIFICATIONS
Samsung‘s Galaxy Tab S5e SM-T720 specifications and features: this is a 10.5” (266.7mm) device with a WQXGA 1600 x 2560 screen resolution. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 soc with a Dual Core 2.0 GHz & Hexa Core 1.7 GHz configuration. Memory is 4GB, 6GB, with the device offering 64GB, 128GB internal storage and up to 512GB of external memory. The Galaxy Tab S5e features Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor and Hall Sensor. Notable features include Bixby 4 speakers sound by AKG, Dolby Atmos. The device measures 245.0 x 160.0 x 5.5mm and weighs 400g.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e price is $399 (around £300, AU$560) placing it firmly next to the Apple iPad 9.7 and Microsoft Surface Go, which carry similar price tags.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e release date is set for Q2 2019 (Apr-Jun) for the US, Germany and more, but no clearer data has been revealed just yet. We’ll update this hands on review as soon as we know more.
Design and display
As we’ve already mentioned, one of the big selling points for the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e is its portability.
We were genuinely surprised just how lightweight this tablet is when we first picked it up, and it’s something you can easily slip into a bag and forget it’s even in there.
It low weight also means the Galaxy Tab S5e is easy to hold for extending periods of time, and is less taxing on the wrist – movie and gaming marathons on the move are very much a possibility here.
The Galaxy Tab S5e tips the scales at 400g, which is comfortably lighter than the 469g iPad 9.7 2018. It also measures 245 x 160 x 5.5mm, making it one of the thinnest slates on the market – however it comes at the expense of losing the headphone jack.
You do get an adapter in the box however, allowing you to plug in your wired headphones via the USB-C port.
The only ports on the Galaxy Tab S5e are a USB-C opening and a POGO pin connector for attaching a smart keyboard.
The power/lock key is located towards the top of the right side of the tablet (when held in portrait) and it has a fingerprint scanner built into it.
This means there’s no need for a button on the front of the tablet, which has allowed Samsung to reduce the size of the bezels on the Galaxy Tab S5e. They’re still noticeable, but offer a good space to place your thumb when holding the slate.
Below the fingerprint scanner is the volume rocker, and both keys are relatively easy to hit, although you’ll need to employ both hands to use them if the tablet isn’t resting on a surface.
While the metal unibody of the Galaxy Tab S5e provides a premium feel, there’s no escaping the fact the rear of the tablet looks rather bland. It reminds us a little of budget tablets from a couple of years ago, and fails to command the same pleasing aesthetics as Apple’s iPad range.
Rounding off the design are the four stereo speakers tuned by AKG, two located at each end of the tablet. We weren’t able to listen to them in the noisy hands on area at Samsung’s Unpacked event though, so you’ll have to wait for our full review to find out how they sound.
Shifting our attention to the screen, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e has an impressive 10.5-inch QHD Super AMOLED display which delivers excellent clarity and vibrancy.
If you’re looking for a tablet to use as a media device, the Tab S5e could well fit the bill.
Specs and performance
With a Snapdragon 670 chipset and 4GB of RAM at its heart, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e is relatively well-equipped to deliver a solid Android experience
The Galaxy Tab S5e runs Android 9 Pie with Samsung‘s interface on top, and from our brief time with the tablet it seemed to run well, although it lacked the zip of the more powerful Galaxy Tab S4 and its iPad rivals.
There’s 64GB of storage onboard, but if that’s not enough the Tab S5e also comes with a microSD slot which supports cards up to 512GB in size, giving you plenty of flexibility.
Samsung is also making a 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage variant of the Galaxy Tab S5e, but it’s currently unclear which markets this will be available in and how much it will cost.
In terms of productivity, Samsung is primarily touting the Galaxy Tab S5e as its first tablet with the Bixby digital voice assistant installed. The feature will use the tablet’s far-field microphones for voice commands aimed at saving time and keeping you organized, like Google Assistant does.
However, the far more important feature as far as productivity is concerned is DeX, which adds features like side-by-side app view. This, and a Samsung Account feature that will allow for remote access to a paired Samsung smartphone, is what will drive the majority of the tablet’s appeal against the Surface Go and iPad.
Inside the metal body of the tablet is a huge 7,040mAh battery which should deliver some solid usage from a single charge (Samsung claims 14.5 hours), but you’ll have to wait for our full review to find out how it performs.
There are cameras on the front and back of the Galaxy Tab S5e, but as is often the case with snappers on tablets they’re average at best.
We managed to take a few shots with both during our hands on time, and found shutter speed to be a little slow and image quality lacking detail (especially when you compare it to mid-range smartphones of a similar price).
There’s a 13MP rear camera on the Galaxy Tab S5e along with an 8MP selfie snapper, if you are thinking about buying this for the photography capabilities – for field work, for instance.
