After neglecting its budget and mid-range smartphone market for years, Samsung has finally found a way to revive its forgoing reputation in this price segment with the launch of the newly revamped Galaxy A series.
Samsung Galaxy A30 sits above Galaxy A10 and Galaxy A20 in the hierarchy and holds a price tag of PKR 39,999 at the time of launch.
Let’s find out how Galaxy A30 turns out in our tests.
Samsung Galaxy A30 specs
- Display: 6.4 inches
- OS: Android 9.0
- Chipset: Exynos 7904
- RAM/ROM: 4GB/64GB
- Camera (rear): 16MP + 5MP
- Camera (front): 16MP
- Battery: 4000 mAh
Design and Display
Design is the only category where Samsung has an unmatched victory. The new Galaxy A30 carries a similar build and design as the affordable Galaxy A20 smartphone. It has a polycarbonate back, which looks like a glass finish, and the company refers to it as a “Glasstic” body.
Just like the Galaxy A20, this smartphone is also not just a fingerprint magnet but a delicate device that can get scratched pretty easily and thus needs to be protected with a phone case and a screen protector at all times.
At the back, the placement of rear camera modules is at the top left side while the fingerprint sensor rests comfortably in the middle.
There is an Infinity-U notch at the front of the smartphone that houses the selfie shooter of Galaxy A30. At the same time, there are minimum bezels on the display unless you count the slightly more prominent chin at the bottom, which does not cause any problem while viewing any content on the device.
Both the volume rocker and the power button are present on the right side of Galaxy A30 while there is a SIM slot on the left side.
Thankfully, the phone comes with Micro USB Type C Charging for reducing the total time the smartphone takes to provide ample charge for the whole day.
Even with the glossy finish, the user can maintain a good grip on the device, and with its lightweight and One UI software, it helps in the single-handed operation of the device.
Samsung Galaxy A20 has a large 6.4 inches Super AMOLED display, which comes with 1080 x 2340 pixels of screen resolution and an 84.9% screen-to-body ratio. The presence of a Super AMOLED screen, makes the device stands out among the competition.
The colors on display look amazing, and you can visibly see the phone’s contents even in direct sunlight. Moreover, the phone’s capable One UI offers the option of the blue light filter and dark mode to save the eyes from unnecessary strain
User Interface
Samsung Galaxy A30 comes with the company’s new One UI software, which is designed to help the users operate their smartphone with just one hand irrespective of the smartphone’s size.
The user interface comes with many useful and exciting features for the users, starting with a hidden app drawer that can be summoned by simply swiping up. The notifications panel has also received a complete makeover, and when you swipe from top to bottom, you don’t just see some quick settings but a separate page-like interface that is clean and clutter-free.
You can choose a different order of the buttons or change the grid options by merely tapping on the three dots at the top right corner in the notifications panel. While testing, it was pretty comfortable to see the three buttons in each row of the notifications panel.
Samsung One UI also offers a dedicated blue light filter and dark mode setting to prevent you from straining your eyes both during the day and night, respectively.
The company has finally changed its default Samsung Internet browser, which is now easy to navigate and comes with some exciting options like Add-ons, including Ad-blockers and Amazon assistant. It suggests different compatible ad-blockers right in the settings, saving you the time of finding one and looking up how to install them in the browser manually.
It also has updated privacy and security features where you can enable the secret mode (similar to Google Chrome’s incognito mode) to browse without the fear of cookies and leaving a record in your browser history.
It also has a new Smart anti-tracking option, which prevents sites from following you around the web.
The Device Care feature helps to keep the smartphone well optimized and allows you to see the status of your phone’s battery, storage, memory, and security in a single place.
By tapping the three dots at the top right corner, you also can choose from additional options like auto-optimization and auto-restart.
One UI also offers a Game Tools feature that provides different shortcuts to gamers that can be accessed by just a simple tap even when they are in the middle of a gaming session.
With Game Tools, you can quickly access apps like messages, notepad, YouTube, Samsung Internet without leaving your game mid-way. Furthermore, you can also record your gaming session to watch it later or share it with friends.
Other minor features that made us excited about Samsung One UI are; new notes app which comes with categorization options for better organization, the digital wellbeing, which keeps track of how much time you spend on a single application so you can be mindful about smartphone addiction and the option to use the volume keys for controlling media volume by default.
Performance and Battery
Samsung Galaxy A30 is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 7885 chipset coupled with Mali-G71 MP2 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. Here are the benchmark scores of the smartphone.
The smartphone offers excellent performance during light and heavy usage, but due to the Mali-G71 MP2 GPU, it is not the best device for gaming options as it provides medium graphics by default in heavy games like PUBG.
Moreover, Galaxy A20 also comes with the same GPU as the Galaxy A30, so you do not get a massive jump in the graphics department from the lower-tier Galaxy phone when you opt for the pricier option.
During our light usage tests, which included surfing the web, using social media, making calls, watching movies and videos, the Galaxy A30 worked without any problem. There was no noticeable lag or stuttering, even if you continue to use the smartphone for more extended periods.
When it comes to heavy usage, Galaxy A30 completed all multitasking jobs without a problem. Even during an hour of a dedicated gaming session where we played heavy games like PUBG, Asphalt 9, Deer Hunter, Real Racing 3, etc., Galaxy A30 performed smoothly with only a less-noticeable heating problem around the camera area of the device. No matter how long you are planning to play games on the smartphone, the phone never heats up to the point where it is hard to hold it in one’s hands.
You can check the following video to find out how the Galaxy A30 battery performs in battery charging and drain tests.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy A30 comes with a dual-camera setup featuring a 16MP primary sensor and a 5MP ultra-wide-angle lens.
The interface of the camera app is similar to the one we saw in the Galaxy A20. It is pretty user-friendly, and the only qualm we have about the app is that the HDR mode is present in the settings and not on the main interface, and thus, you need to switch back and forth to use it.
Also Watch: Samsung Galaxy A30s camera review
While taking photographs, you can slide between different camera modes like Pro, Photo, Video, and Live Focus from the bottom bar. At the same time, a small toggle enables you to switch between primary and ultra-wide angle lenses.
The HDR mode is enabled by default, and you can access this feature from the phone’s camera settings inside the app by tapping the gear icon at the top bar.
Coming to the camera result, Galaxy A30 takes relatively better shots than the Galaxy A20 in the daylight with brighter and punchy colors. Sometimes, the pictures come on a slightly sharper side with a slight loss of details.
In the below picture, you can see that Galaxy A30 has sharpened the image, and thus, the colors are a bit darker than the original tones.
The 5MP ultra-wide-angle lens can help to add more context to an image by taking in the additional background in the landscape shots, but you have to be prepared to see distortion, especially at the edges of the pictures. It also softens the image, and you get slightly lighter colors as compared to the camera’s auto mode.
When it comes to low-light photography, Galaxy A30 struggles to control artificial lights, which may result in slightly over-exposed pictures at night.
Here you can see how the ultra-wide-angle lens has softened the color temperature of the light with a visible loss of details.
Like Galaxy A20, the HDR mode is a huge help in capturing a shot against the sunlight. In the first image below, the sunlight has blown out the details of Minar-e-Pakistan, but with HDR mode, you can see the base of the Minar and the steps leading up to it.
The Auto-focus of Galaxy A30 is worse than the one we saw in Galaxy A20. Even after tapping on the neon sign of Haveli, the phone’s camera has distorted the corridor, and the details of the walls, including the doors, have been blurred.
The auto mode in Galaxy A30’s camera struggles to control light at night time, but by tweaking a few settings in the Pro mode, you can preserve some details of the subject you are shooting.
For selfies, Galaxy A30 offers a 16MP camera that resides inside the phone’s Infinity-V notch. It provides beautification options to smoothen the skin tone and a Live focus option for adding a bouquet effect.
The front camera can take some decent selfies both at day and night time granted that there is ample light. In auto-mode, the selfie camera tries to keep the colors as natural as possible with slight smoothening of the skin. The Live Focus option uses software to blur out the background due to the absence of a depth sensor, and thus, the edge detection can be underwhelming at times.
At night, with good lighting conditions, the front camera can take some good selfies in auto mode. It smoothens the subject’s skin, which will be an attractive feature for users who prefer to beautify their photos for social media. The edge detection in Live focus mode is also quite decent, and you will experience less noise and loss of details at night time.
Verdict
Samsung Galaxy A30 is a beautiful smartphone that offers a truly long-lasting battery life and excellent overall performance both in light and heavy usage. Though it is not a gaming phone, the Super AMOLED display will make the gaming session worthwhile with bright and punchy colors, creating an immersive experience for users.
The fingerprint sensor, just like Galaxy A20, takes some time before unlocking the device, which, until resolved, can create a bitter experience, especially if you really on this feature too much. But the question is whether the new Galaxy A30 is one of the best phones in the price segment?
The simple answer is No, as many less-priced phones offer a unique selling feature for the users like the 48MP camera of Redmi Note 7, which cannot be seen in Samsung’s mid-range creation.
hello . my Friend have A20 i asked him about fingerprint delay problem .. he told me this problem is in Indian phones (not vietnam) and its fixed by an update … so you can update your phone and see the problem is solved or not .
Galaxy A30 user here. In 2021, I would not recommend this phone to anyone (unless you’re on a really low budget, which I understand and you badly need a phone).
There is just one reason for that. And that is performance. In 2019, Exynos 7904 was a good mid-range chipset but by 2021 standards it Is pathetic. The phone has trouble rotating the screen and simple CPU tasks like web browsing on Chrome are extremely laggy.
In 2021, the 2019 A30 of Samsung is the Galaxy A32. But the A32’s processor is also quite weak And it costs $300. And for 300 dollars in 2021, you can get the Galaxy S10+. A 2 year old flagship Samsung phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 inside it (a damn good processor). Plus you get a gorgeous 1440X3040 display and damn amazing cameras (another point where the A30 and A32 are weak). So forget Samsung’s midrange phones from 2021 or whatever year you’re reading this article and go buy a 3 year old Samsung flagship phone for the same price. I’m going to do the same now by selling this A30 and getting the 2-3 year old Galaxy S10 or any other flagship phone. You’ll get amazing performance and damn good cameras (all of which midrange phones lack compared to flagship phones)