Samsung Malaysia recently launched the Galaxy A series successfully in early March 2022. Not surprisingly, being born into the smartphone era of "less is more", Samsung has imbued the Galaxy A series with functionality and power without being too much, all for an affordable price of under RM3,000.
The Samsung Galaxy A 2022 series comprises the Galaxy A33 5G, Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A73 5G. As mentioned, Samsung's direction for this generation's series was to offer satisfactory built quality, performance and durability that is on par with today's living standards.
We've earlier kicked off our review of the highest-end model in the series - Galaxy A73 5G first impression. After spending 2 weeks, here's what we have to say.
What's in The Box
Inside the box consists of:
- Samsung Galaxy A73 5G
- User Guide
- Type C USB
- Sim Card tray pin
Specifications
- Processor: Snapdragon 778G 5G, Octa-core
- GPU: Adreno 642L
- Display: 6.7-inch, Super AMOLED Plus, 120Hz
- Memory: 128GB + 6GB RAM / 128GB + 8GB RAM / 256GB + 8GB RAM
- Rear Camera: Quad; 108MP +12MP +5MP +5MP
- Selfie: 32MP
- Battery: 5,000mAh, fast-charging 25W
- OS: Android 12, One UI 4.1
Build Quality & Design
Samsung mentioned that they will not leave style out of a functional phone that is the Galaxy A73 5G. Of the several colours available, we picked up the online-exclusive Mint colour.
Like many others, the colour through promotional images made this colour seem to be closer to a matte fern green. In real life, it is of this metallic-matte-ish, slightly green-tinted Tiffany & Co's signature colour but with a splash of grey.
This phone weighs just 181g. I like the fact that this holds true even though the screen is large at 6.7-inch (and my hands are pretty small).
Even though the back is of a plastic-like material, Samsung has mentioned that the series beholds a design that's eco-conscious yet stylish and slim. Not to forget, the phone's Ambient Edge design at the back is done in a way to seamlessly blend the rear camera into the phone body.
Even if the back isn't at all flat, I realised that the phone doesn't shake or wobble when placed on flat surfaces.
Zooming into ports, the Galaxy A73 5G has a USB C-type port (USB on the go) at the bottom-middle with a single bottom-firing Dolby Atmos-supported speaker. While it is not the clearest speaker, the Galaxy A73 is still satisfyingly loud and full-bodied.
By all means, the Galaxy A73 5G is quite well-built, being quite comfortable to use.
Display
As we've mentioned before, the Galaxy A73's Super AMOLED screen is huge at 6.7-inch, and it is quite comfortable to use. Its screen is rated at 800 nits, and it's definitely not the brightest but clarity is still good enough when out during the day via the adaptive screen brightness feature.
With a 120Hz refresh rate, the screen did not falter when we were running fast graphics (Asphalt 9 Legends, Social Media etc.) Though we did think the contrast is satisfactory, the colours aren't as vibrant-looking. In short, great for the eyes, but colours just don't pop as much as compared to what we saw on the Galaxy S22 series (tested with Natural viewing).
Processor & Gaming
So, the Galaxy A73 5G is equipped with an octa-core Snapdragon778G processor which is optimised toward allowing for smoother 5G gaming as well as for better battery-life handling. Thus, we set to test a couple of games, activating the RAM plus which goes all the way up to 8GB extra (that's a lot even compared to most higher-end phones).
In short; gaming is smooth with hardly any lagging or loading issues I can fault with. While both Asphalt 9 and Genshin Impact's default settings are Medium, you are still allowed to set them to the highest.
The difference we found between the Medium and High graphics settings was that the phone warms up faster. But it's not to the point that the phone was uncomfortable to hold (some other reviewers stated that the temperature was between 40 to 48 degrees).
Moreover, shipping with a clean One UI 4.1, the Galaxy A73 5G was easy to navigate like many of Samsung previous Galaxy models and series. And because of the RAM Plus feature, I was able to keep over 8 apps open (including Asphalt and Youtube) without my phone showing any signs of sluggishness.
Camera
It's safe to say that we think the camera performance for the Galaxy A73 5G is satisfactory and above-average. Coming with a 108MP main shooter (quad set up: 108MP +12MP +5MP +5MP), pictures seem natural with colour production still looking good and natural. White balance is still not 100% great but it's close!
You can expect images to look pleasantly sharp without looking edited. Even wide-angle images were mostly sharp (though the warping and slightly blurred edges are still there).
It's no surprise that the pictures by the Galaxy A73 5G have very little to no noise, but we were pleasantly surprised at its Night mode; pictures were evenly lit and shoots relatively fast (about an average of 2 to 3 seconds for the Night mode photo we took below).
Battery Life
Samsung has advertised the Galaxy A series to have a lasting battery of up to 2 days.
In our tests; on average usage, the phone was able to end the day with roughly 30% to 40% left. When playing Asphalt 9 for about 15 minutes, about up to 3% was lost (with one or two non-demanding apps in the background). And if left idle for 24-hours, we recorded an average of 5% battery loss.
From those observations, the battery is pretty great given the fact that among the many phones we've seen, 5,000mAh battery life just doesn't necessarily mean it'll last you a lot longer.
A minor thing to talk about; the phone's only fast-charging support is rated at 25W, which is not the fastest.
Conclusion
- Our Rating: 9/10
- Pros: Comfortable design; great camera especially in low-light situations; long battery life
- Cons: Slightly washed-out screen
- Who is it for? For the average user who needs a smartphone to last them a couple of years; given that the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G is quite well built; it is a seemingly reliable phone that'll appease most user types (whether you are a photographer or a gamer).
In short, we really enjoyed the Galaxy A73 5G. Being the highest-specced model you can get in the 2022 Galaxy A series, this phone is a good contender to vie for the title "best value phone" this year. It feels good in the hands, has a nice big spacious screen, great camera and battery life as well as a satisfactory performance.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G here:
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