Samsung Galaxy A30 Review

Samsung Galaxy A30 Review







Samsung's flagship offerings have so far remained popular with those who have lots of money to spend, but the company hasn't been as competitive in the budget segment of the market. That has begun to change this year, as Samsung seems to have finally gotten with the programme with its new Galaxy M and Galaxy A series phones, with as many as six new models launched in recent weeks.

The Samsung Galaxy A50₹19990(Review) and Galaxy M30(Review) fared very well in our tests, and we feel that both these phones are worth recommending. Today, we'll be taking a closer look at the Galaxy A30₹ 16,990, which is the more affordable sibling of the Galaxy A50. It features two rear cameras instead of three, and a less powerful processor. TheSamsung Galaxy A30₹ 16,990overlaps with the Galaxy M30, both in terms of features and price, so it will be interesting to see how it compares, and whether it makes sense to buy this model over the Galaxy M30 and the rest of the competition.

HIGHLIGHT

The Galaxy A30 is powered by an octa-core Exynos 7904 SoC

Samsung Galaxy A30 design

The Galaxy A30 is a big phone to carry around, even if you have large hands. Samsung has maximised the front of the phone by using a big 6.4-inch display with slim borders all around. The chin area is thicker than the other sides, but it's not an eyesore. The Galaxy A30 has a full-HD+ Infinity-U display, just like the Galaxy A50and Galaxy M30. It's a Super AMOLED panel too, which means colours are vivid and everything from images to text really pops. There's no mention of Gorilla Glass or any other kind of reinforced glass, but the display seemed pretty resilient to scratches in the time we spent using this phone.

The glossy sides and back look good but also attract smudges and fingerprints easily. The phone is fairly slim but we found the grip to be adequate. The buttons on the right have the same glossy treatment as the rest of the sides. The SIM tray can accommodate two Nano-SIM cards and a microSD card (up to 512GB). The speaker, 3.5mm headphone socket, and USB Type-C port are all at the bottom.

The back of the Galaxy A30 has slightly tapering edges, which make it look slender. The back has the appearance of glass but it is actually plastic. It didn't pick up scuffs easily with everyday use, but a more forceful impact could leave a lasting scar. The fingerprint sensor is placed a bit too high up for our liking and we had to really stretch our index finger, or at times, shuffle the phone around to reach it. Fingerprint recognition is quick but the placement was a bit awkward.

You have the option to use face recognition instead of — or in addition to — using the fingerprint scanner, but it's not very quick, not even under good light. There's no raise-to-wake gesture, so you'll have to double-tap the display to wake it. In low light, the screen brightness is boosted to light up your face, but it's still not very quick.