Samsung's new A Series smartphone offers advanced specs at an affordable price • However, there are some compromises you should put into them before opening your wallet • Full Review
Photo: Yinon Ben-Shoshan
In recent years Samsung has decided to stop scattering: instead of too many devices to confuse users, it has made a separation of powers - the Galaxy S and Note remain its flagship series, while the more prestigious Galaxy A series has taken the place of the vanished Galaxy J absolute.
Judging by the latest models, it feels like a pretty right decision.
Last month, the company announced the three flagship devices in the Galaxy A series for 2021, with the main challenge, of course, being to compete with Chinese manufacturers, such as Shiomi and Realme, which manage to maintain advanced specifications at a low price tag.
Is it a success?
We received the new model of the company and tested it.
Design
There are quite a few cheap mid-range smartphones in Israel.
Most of them do not look very impressive and do not try to feel even premium.
In the present case, the Galaxy A72 is a very handsome and elegant device, but one that still feels cheap in the hand, mainly because of the black frame around the screen and the body which is made of plastic.
However, although it is made of premium materials that do not feel or shout premium just like the other flagship devices, its beautiful design gives it a presence compared to the rest - with a matte back that is very eye-catching.
At the bottom of the device you will find the USB C charging socket, while if you have not yet switched to wireless headphones (hey, we are in 2021) next to it you will find the 3.5 mm headphone socket.
It is also a 6.7-inch smartphone that is very difficult to operate with one hand, so while typing you will already need two hands.
On top of that, it's also a bit heavy (203 grams) - but it's not that the device will make it difficult to walk with in your pocket.
Performance and screen
The A72 is based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 720G chipset and 8GB of RAM, and despite the low price tag and the fact that Samsung has a long way to go before its user interface becomes enjoyable - the performance is good.
I have not encountered any stutters or anything that indicates that this is a mid-range device, and it will most likely be able to handle any task and any application you develop in the background, including games and scrolling on social networks.
Very impressively Samsung has not compromised on the screen, and the device comes with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with FHD + resolution and a refresh rate of 90 Hz which only adds to the experience.
This means that the screen scan rate, meaning the number of times the image is scanned at a given time, is higher compared to other devices on the market - so there are fewer display delays and stutters and a smoother response speed during use.
It is likely that any person who has not experimented with a screen with a high refresh rate of 90 Hz and above will notice a difference immediately.
Also, the level of brightness has risen in the current generation to 800 nits, so that even in direct sun I could still use the device without a problem - something from which quite a few mid-range smartphones suffer.
The device can be unlocked using an optical fingerprint scanner located below the screen (and illuminates the finger), or by face recognition.
Both sensors respond great and fast just like other devices in the same category.
A small drawback that is worth noting is that there is no fifth generation (5G) support.
Camera
The camera system includes 4 cameras, the main one comes with a 64-megapixel sensor including support for optical stabilization, along with a 12-megapixel camera for wide-angle photography, an 8-megapixel camera for optical zoom up to 3x and a 5-megapixel lens for close-up photography. (Macro).
The main sensor produces clear, high-quality images in daylight, with a very nice amount of detail and excellent dynamic range.
However, the colors are often a little less faithful to the original.
In addition, as with all intermediate devices on the market today, difficult lighting conditions are the weak points of the cameras and here it is no different, and the images come out dark and slightly grainy.
The bottom line
Samsung's A72 scratches the NIS 2,000, but brings some advanced features to the mid-range category.
It has a good camera that will not turn you into professional photographers, a quality screen and hardware that allows you to enjoy fast performance.
