Samsung Galaxy A30 Review
Samsung's flagship offerings are so popular with those who have a lot of money to spend, but the company is not as competitive in the market segment of the market.It has started to change this year, as Samsung has finally achieved its program with its new Galaxy M and Galaxy A series phones, in recent weeks six new models have been launched.
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| Samsung Galaxy A30 Review |
Samsung Galaxy A50 (review) and Galaxy M30 (review) have gone very well in our tests, and we think both of these phones are recommended. Today, we will take a look at the Galaxy A30 16,990, which is more affordable sibling of the Galaxy A50.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy A50 Review
It has two rear cameras and one less powerful processor instead of three. Samsung Galaxy A30 overlaps with Galaxy M30, in terms of both features and price, so it will be interesting to see how it compares, and whether to buy this model in Galaxy M30 and the rest of the competition Makes sense.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Galaxy A30 is powered by an octa-core Exynos 7904 SoC
- The display and battery life stand out but the rest isn’t too impressive
- Samsung Galaxy A30 price in India is Rs. 16,990
Samsung Galaxy A30 design
The Galaxy A30 is a big phone that you can take in big hands. Samsung has maximized the front of the phone using a 6.4-inch display with a slim border around it. The area of chin is thicker than the other side, but it is not an eyelid.The Galaxy A30 also has a full-HD + Infinity-U display just like the Galaxy A50 and Galaxy M30. It's also a super AMOLED panel, which means that the colors are vivid and from images to text everything really pops up.
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| Samsung Galaxy A30 Review |
There is no mention of gorilla glass or any other type of reinforced glass, but when we were using this phone it seemed very flexible to display the scratches.
The bright sides and backs look good, but they also attract smooth smiles and fingerprints. The phone is quite slim, but we found that the grip is enough. The right-hand button has shine treatment similar to the rest of the parts.
SIM tray can have two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card (up to 512GB). Speakers, 3.5mm headphone sockets, and USB Type-C ports are all below.
The rear portion of the Galaxy A30 has slightly slender edges, which show it slim. The back is the presence of glass, but it is actually plastic. It did not grapple easily with everyday use, but more powerful effects could leave a permanent scar.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) Review
Fingerprint sensor has been kept very high according to our liking, and we have to stretch our index finger repeatedly, or have to alter it to reach the phone many times. Fingerprint recognition is quick, but placement was a bit awkward.
Instead of using the fingerprint scanner you have the option to use face detection - or besides, but it is not too early, not even in good light.
There is no up-and-coming gesture, so you have to double-tap the display to wake it up. In low light, the brightness of the screen is increased to polish your face, but it is still not too early.
In the box, you get a silicone case, sim ejection device, power adapter, USB type-c cable and headset with adapter fast charging. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A30 is a well-made phone, which looks decent even with its plastic body. It is available in many colors, and we have a black version, though it looks more gray than black.
Samsung Galaxy A30 specifications and features
The Samsung Galaxy A30 is powered by a similar processor like the Galaxy M30, which is the Octa-core Samsung Exynos 7904. There is only one version of this phone in India, which has 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage.Samsung has not said much about the phone specifications on its website, but with the help of some Android diagnostic apps we know that it includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, gyroscope, hall sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, compass , Etc. GPS, FM Radio and USB-OTG
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| Samsung Galaxy A30 Review |
Unlike Galaxy M30, Galaxy A30 runs on Samsung's new One UI, which is based on Android 9 pie. Our unit had also recently got security patches in February 2019. We recently saw a UI on the phone like the Galaxy A50 (review) in action and the experience is quite similar.
By default, icons are comic on the home screen, but it can be easily fixed by choosing a compact grid for the Home screen and app drawer.
You can also enable a finger swipe-down gesture on the home screen to pull down the notification shade. It is extremely helpful because it is almost impossible to reach the top of the screen comfortably with one hand.
The phone supports Samsung Pay Mini, which is a cut-down version that lets you set up only UPI accounts, gift cards and payment Wallet. The digital wellbeing of Android pie is supported, which is good to see.
There is a whole bunch of motion gestures such as one-handed mode, smart stand, etc., which can be toggled on. The Galaxy A30 also has some pre-loaded apps, including Dailyhunt and Amazon Shopping, which can be uninstalled if not needed.
When we first started using the phone, we would get lots of unwanted promotions from the Galaxy App store, and before we open the app. However, when you go through the initial setup of Samsung's app, you can choose to get this information.
When setting up the phone, you need to be a bit vigilant before hitting the final 'Finnish' button, because there is a checkbox below right to get out of the promotion from IronSource. This is a very timid way for users to push ads, which is a bit disappointing to come from Samsung.
You also get Samsung Max, which is a reborn Opera Max VPN, which lets you browse the internet safely. Other programs such as calculator, Samsung notes, etc. are all optional, and when you first set up the phone, you can choose not to install them.
Samsung Galaxy A30 performance, cameras, and battery life
We found Galaxy A30 a great artist while using the normal chat and productivity app. This is not the most fluid experience, because there is always a slight interval when using parts of the UI. |
| Samsung Galaxy A30 Review |
We felt this when after swiping on the Bixby home screen, trying to open the gallery after taking the photo, and even recently, to reach the carousel to switch between apps.
Benchmark numbers are similar to the Galaxy M30 (review) and the Galaxy M20 Review 10,990 (review). AnTuTu achieved 1,06,260 points, while GFXbench only returned 23fps in the T-Rex test.
These numbers are not impressive, especially if you have other phones and low-feature processors like Mediatech Helio P70 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 675, which at the same price post better numbers.
The good news is that the phone does not warm too much. When the CPU and GPU are actually tense, they get hot, like when playing in Pubgy Mobile, but even after carrying out a bunch of photos and videos, the phone did not get hot.
Exynos does a great job with the 7904 game, but we had to scale the graphics settings in a smooth enough frame rate to have huge titles. Asphalt 9: Legends and PUBG Mobile have gone smoothly after leaving both graphics settings a little bit.
The audio output from the speaker is quite weak. The volume was particularly low in our tested games, but even in other apps like YouTube, it did not get enough emphasis on our choice, even in a quiet room. The speaker's placement is good, however, when you keep the phone in landscape mode it is not easy to block it.
The bundle headset is not much to see, but the sound quality is surprisingly decent. You can enable Dolby Atomos for wired and Bluetooth headphones, which adds a bit of audio level and spatial separation.
There is no information LED, but thanks to the Super AMOLED display, you can always display on-display to see time and unread information.
The Galaxy A30 has a 16-megapixel primary camera with a f / 1.7 aperture, and a secondary 5-megapixel wide-angle camera without autofocus. Camera App offers Sean Optimizer the same way as the Galaxy S10+.
It automatically detects the objects and adjusts accordingly accordingly. We saw that it adds a bit of color and also softens the texture, which is not something you always want.
There was a good description in the scenario, and with the wide-angle sensor, you can get a lot of any view in the frame. There is a barrel distortion when using wide-angle camera and when shooting with the main due to lack of autofocus, the details are not as good.
The macros that we captured in good light, had good detail and color. The edges were fast and well defined, which was nice to see.
Regardless of the elaborate holes, low light conditions were blurred and lacked in good detail. The noise was well crossed, but overall, the photos taken in low light were quite low.
When we switch to the low-light wide-angle sensor, it was even worse. Macros performed a little better but were still below average.
Samsung's Camera app has distinctive modes like Panorama, Pro and Live Focus, which is Samsung's Portrait mode. With the latter, you can adjust the level of background blur before and after taking the shot.
Edge detection is good and the Galaxy A30 seems most of the time right. However, in low light, images shot using Live Focus were patchy and lacked good details.
The front 16-megapixel selfie camera has f / 2.0 aperture and has done a good job in daylight. Selfie turned out to be slightly soft for our choice but the colors were good and HDR really did a good job during shooting against the light.
There is also Live Focus, but Edge Detection is not as good. In low light, there is lack of good details in selfie with cereals that appear.
Galaxy A30 can shoot full-HD video with good quality, but the lack of stabilization is disappointing. Unless you are still living, videos often look shaky and useless.
The constant autofocus is not too fast, and when the camera was trying to refocus on any other topic, we saw the visible gap
You can also shoot videos with wide-angle camera, but the details are low, there is no stabilization, and the footage looks granular in low light. The camera app also has AR Emojis, which enjoys playing with it.
The 4000mAh battery is one of the powerful suits of the Galaxy A30. It lasted 15 hours and 8 minutes in our battery loop test, which is much above the average.
With day-to-day usage, which usually included some calls, some gaming, and using chat and social applications, we were able to easily push the entire day on a charge. The bundled Fast Charger is capable of carrying the battery up to 70 percent in one hour, which is not bad at all.
You can also shoot videos with wide-angle camera, but the details are low, there is no stabilization, and the footage looks granular in low light. The camera app also has AR Emojis, which enjoys playing with it.
The 4000mAh battery is one of the powerful suits of the Galaxy A30. It lasted 15 hours and 8 minutes in our battery loop test, which is much above the average.
With day-to-day usage, which usually included some calls, some gaming, and using chat and social applications, we were able to easily push the entire day on a charge. The bundled Fast Charger is capable of carrying the battery up to 70 percent in one hour, which is not bad at all.
Verdict
Samsung's new strategy seems to be throwing everything at consumers and seeing what sticks. Unfortunately, we don't think the Galaxy A30 is the most successful of its many recent launches. |
| Samsung Galaxy A30 Review |
Other than the good battery life, Super AMOLED display and decent build quality, there's not much that stands out at its price tag of Rs. 16,990.
The 6GB RAM variant of Galaxy M30 that is available for just Rs. 1,000 more offers slightly better camera performance, a bigger battery, and more RAM, and storage despite running an older version of Android. Or you could save Rs. 2,000 and get the 4GB/ 64GB variant of the Galaxy M30.
The processor in the Galaxy A30 just isn't competitive enough at this price, when you have phones such as a the Oppo K1 ₹ 16,990 (Review) and the Redmi Note 7 Pro (Review) that offer much better app and gaming performance.
The cameras on the Galaxy A30 are another let-down. They take passable images under good light, but performance is severely lacking in low light.
Overall, we'd suggest giving the Galaxy A30 a pass in favour of either Samsung's own Galaxy M30, or more powerful offerings such as the Oppo K1 or Redmi Note 7 Pro.
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