Samsung Galaxy A30 and A50 Hands-on, Quick Review: Mid-range Redemption?

Samsung Galaxy A30 and A50 Hands-on, Quick Review: Mid-range Redemption?

We go hands-on with Samsung’s new mid-rangers!

It’s no secret that Samsung faces tough times ahead. Stiff competition from Chinese rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi has slowly eroded its once unassailable market position, thanks to aggressive smartphone pricing.

But Samsung isn’t going without a fight. The company recently unveiled its first batch of Galaxy A series of smartphones in MWC and today we’re going to see if they have what it takes to reverse the company’s fortunes.

Pretty mid-range phones with impressive cameras (on paper)

Say what you want about Samsung, but the Korean company has a penchant for making really pretty smartphones. The Galaxy A30 and A50 glitter and shine in the hands, and look extremely premium from afar.

Unfortunately, both phones are made out of plastic and polymer, not glass and metal. The less than premium material choice isn’t really apparent until you pick the phones up, so there is that.

Both phones have 6.4-inch full HD Super AMOLED panels, with a small, teardrop notch on the top. Given Samsung’s mockery of anything that has a notch nowadays, we’re a little surprised that the Korean company actually included a notch in their new phones instead of just increasing the top bezel size.

The displays on both phones look pretty good, thanks to Samsung’s mastery of Super AMOLED displays. While both phones have the same physical dimensions, the A50 gets an in-display fingerprint scanner while the A30 settles for a rear-mounted physical fingerprint sensor instead.

The A50 also gets three rear cameras, as opposed to the dual cameras on the A30. The A50’s triple cameras are composed of a 25-megapixel f/1.7 sensor along with a 5-megapixel depth and 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensor. The A30 on the other hand gets a 16-megapixel f/1.7 sensor and a 5-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensor.

Hardware-wise, the A50 gets a 2.3GHz Exynos 9610 chipset in either 4GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB configurations. The A30 gets a 1.8GHz Exynos 7904 processor and comes in 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB variations.

There’s Android Pie on board both phones, and both devices benefit from Samsung’s new One UI, which drastically improves the user experience.

Both phones also have pretty big batteries at 4000mAh, which should last you more than a day with regular use.

There’s no pricing set as of yet for both phones, but it’s clear that Samsung is positioning them at the mid-range segment of the market. We’re hoping Samsung has learned that pricing matters in the hyper-competitive mid-range segment, and prices both phones accordingly if and when they’re released in the Philippines.

Samsung Galaxy A50 specs

  • Exynos 9610 octa-core processor
  • 4GB/6GB of RAM
  • 6.4-inch Full HD+ Infinity-U Super AMOLED display
  • 64GB/128GB of expandable storage (up to 512GB)
  • Triple rear cameras: 25-megapixel f/1.7 main camera, 5-megapixel f/2.2 depth camera, 8-megapixel f/2.4 ultra-wide camera
  • 25-megapixel f/2.0 front camera
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
  • In-display fingerprint scanner
  • 4000mAh battery with fast charging
  • Android Oreo

Samsung Galaxy A30 specs

  • Exynos 7904 octa-core processor
  • 3GB/4GB of RAM
  • 6.4-inch Full HD+ Infinity-U Super AMOLED display
  • 32GB/64GB of expandable storage (up to 512GB)
  • Dual rear cameras: 16-megapixel f/1.7 main camera, 5-megapixel f/2.2 depth camera,
  • 16-megapixel f/2.0 front camera
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • 4000mAh battery with fast charging
  • Android Oreo

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