Samsung Galaxy A70 Review

With Samsung been out of the scene for a couple of years in the budget market, Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and OnePlus has changed the entire scenario. It seems like Samsung is all set to flood the smartphone market this year under its new Galaxy M-series and the mid-range focussed Galaxy A lineup.

Samsung has already announced six new smartphones under its Galaxy A-series and is planning to launch even more. Samsung’s Galaxy A-series lineup is known for providing premium features like in-display fingerprint sensor and ultra-wide-angle lens at a mid-range price.

Well, Samsung decided to raise the bar with its latest offering Galaxy A70. For one, the Galaxy A70 is one of the first smartphones in the series to come with 25W super-fast charging. It also comes with a large massive battery, powerful Snapdragon 675 SoC, Super AMOLED display and 32MP cameras.

Samsung Galaxy A70 seems like a power-packed device on paper but what does the reality hold? let’s find that out in our detailed review of Samsung Galaxy A70.

Unlike other smartphones, Samsung Galaxy A70 comes in a single storage variant having a 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard memory. The device is available in three different color options namely Blue, Black, and White.

The smartphone is available for purchase via Amazon India for a price tag of INR 27,000.

Samsung Galaxy A70 comes inside a white box which has the device’s design on the front with the company’s branding on top. At the back of the box, you can see some key highlights of the device. Opening the box, you’ll be greeted by the device itself and then some manuals. Samsung was generous enough to throw in a silicone transparent back cover. 

Here is a quick overview of what you’ll be getting inside the box: 

– Samsung Galaxy A70

– 25W super-fast charger adapter

– USB Type-C cable

– In-ear earphones

– Silicon back cover (transparent)

– SIM ejector tools and some documentation

Before we jump right into our detailed review, let’s have a quick glance on the specifications of the device. 

– Display: 6.7-inch screen, 1080 x 2400 pixels

– Performance: Snapdragon 675, 6GB RAM

– Software: Android 9.0 Pie

– Rear Cameras: 32MP+8MP+5MP triple sensor

– Selfie Camera: 32MP sensor

– Battery: 4000mAh, 25W super-fast charging

– SIM Card: Dual, nano-SIM (hybrid slot)

Unlike competitors, Samsung decided to keep things simple in the aesthetics area with Galaxy A70. When most of the other phones in this price comes with gradient hues, Samsung went with a subtle look which in my opinion is not that bad.

Things get a little interesting when light strikes on the back panel. You’ll notice color shifting on the back panel under the light which looks pretty satisfying for some reasons. 

Since the back is reflecting light, the brand must be using the glass back. Well yes and no. The back panel is basically an amalgam of plastic and glass which the brand has given a funky name, i.e. “glasstic”. In fact, the back looks and feels like a glass with a sturdy look. Although the back is a magnet for fingerprint smudges, you might want to use a case if that bothers you a lot. 

The Galaxy A70 feels solid in the hand thanks to the metal frame which seamlessly transient into the plastic body. The curved edges on the back also add up to the premiumness and comfort. With a 6.7-inch display, the Galaxy A70 is a pretty big device no doubt. Samsung’s One UI software does keep things easy for one-hand usage to some extent. 

There’s a triple camera setup at the back which is aligned vertically with an LED flash. There’s no fingerprint sensor at the back since the device makes use of trending in-display reader. Yes! Samsung hasn’t forgotten about the 3.5-mm headphone jack and in fact, you can find it at the bottom next to the USB Type-C port. 

When it comes to the build and design, Samsung did quite an interesting job with its latest Galaxy A70. Even though the device is big and comes with a massive battery, it still feels very thin, light and comfortable.

Like any other Galaxy A-series smartphone, the A70 comes with a Super AMOLED panel which always delivers a delightful experience. There is a massive 6.7-inch display on the front with a resolution of  2400×1080 pixels and a pixel density of 390 ppi. The display also features a U-shaped notch on the top which looks pretty neat than the traditional ugly notch. 

The color reproduction on Samsung’s AMOLED panel is pretty solid with bright, vivid and sharp visuals. In fact, the brightness level on this device is excellent and the blacks are very deep. If you like dark mode, then you’re going to love it on this device. The sunlight legibility is also up to the mark and you’ll have to rarely tweak the settings manually.  

When it comes to the display, Samsung always manages to keep things top-notch. The display on this device is absolutely perfect for watching movies, playing games and browsing content.

Samsung Galaxy A70 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset coupled with 6GB RAM, 128GB storage and Adreno 612 GPU. To recall, Xiaomi used the same processor in its latest Redmi Note 7 Pro smartphone. The Snapdragon 675 is 11nm chipset which consists of 2x Kyro 460 Gold cores and 6x Kyro 460 Silver cores. The Gold cores come into play when you’re initiating some performance-hungry task. 

In our daily usage, the device was able to handle all the tasks perfectly. There was no noticeable stutter or lag and in fact, the apps opened pretty quickly. The decision of going with the Snapdragon chipset instead of the in-house Exynos will definitely convince people to buy this product.

Coming to the gaming, Adreno 612 is a very capable GPU unit and it can handle all the latest games with decent graphics settings. Since it is a budget processor, you would not be able to play games in maximum settings. 

In conclusion, the Snapdragon 675 is a decent overall processor that can get things done with ease. Of course, it’s not the best one out there but it should not be a deal-breaker considering the fact that you’re getting an overall power-packed phone.

Samsung Galaxy A70 runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie operating system out-of-the-box with the company’s very own One UI software. In my opinion, Samsung did the right thing in replacing its previous software with the latest One UI on its A-series lineup. 

As mentioned earlier, the One UI software focuses more on one-hand usage and simplicity. After a week of usage, the software has started growing on me. It comes with all the latest features like Digital Wellbeing, Night Mode, Bixby Routines and Bixby Voice. In fact, you can customize the entire look of the UI using the company’s Good Lock app. 

Samsung has also introduced a feature called Lockscreen Stories. As the name suggests, it automatically changes wallpapers every time you turn on the screen. I genuinely find features like this to be useless. Another such addition is the App Cloud which annoys me a lot with its notification. 

As expected, the night mode on Samsung Galaxy A70 looks very satisfying. It has a full-fledged night mode with the support of most of the system apps. In fact, a Google search bar on the screen also turns to black when the night mode is enabled.

Samsung Galaxy A70 comes with a triple camera setup at the back. It consists of a 32MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 5MP depth sensor. Even though the main camera is of 32MP, it shoots at 12MP by default. You can change it in the settings but frankly, there is no need since there is no major difference. 

The Galaxy A70 does a great job in capturing pictures during the daylight conditions. The clicked pictures turn out to be decent with lots of details, punchy colors, and minimum noise levels.  Unfortunately, the same can not be said for the lowlight conditions.

There is no night mode in this device, as a result, the pictures are nothing to write home about. The wide-angle lens struggles while the main sensor does a fair job. 

Also, it is worth noting that the Auto HDR mode doesn’t work at the highest resolution. As a result, the photos taken in outdoors with proper lightning lags a little behind. Galaxy A70’s rear cameras still do a pretty decent job but it could have been better surely. 

For Selfie aficionados, Galaxy A70 comes with a 32MP snapper which surprisingly does an impressive job. In fact, the amount of detail on the pictures is pretty good. Although the selfies turn soft in the artificial lighting, that’s the case with most of the selfie cameras at this price range. The wide selfie option also works pretty well. 

Coming to the video recording, the rear cameras support slow-mo recording and 4k recording with 30 frames per second. Like other A-series devices, this one too comes with AR Emojis which works with both the front as well as back cameras. One interesting thing about the AR Emojis is that it can track facial expressions in real-time.

Samsung Galaxy A70 is known for its massive 4,500mAh battery packed inside. The battery life of this phone is pretty amazing an can easily last a  day for you. You can do all the tasks like video streamings, web browsing and a few hours of gaming until you see the battery low warning message. 

My daily usage looks something like this. I continuously use a text messaging app, do heavy video playback, the WiFi is always on and so is the Bluetooth. On top of that, I listen to music almost all the time via my wireless earphones. After all these tasks, I play a few sessions of Pubg. For me, the battery gets me through the entire day with ease. 

Galaxy A70 supports the 25W super-fast charging and Yes! you do get the supported adapter bundled in the box. In half an hour, you can get 33% juice from the zero. Although the difference isn’t that much, the fast charging still comes in very handy most of the time. The phone takes 1 hour and 50 minutes to charge completely from 0% to 100%.

When it comes to the audio, Galaxy A70 disappointed us a little bit. The device comes with pretty weak speakers. To enjoy the content, you’ll have to keep the volume at max. In some scenarios, even the highest volume was not sufficient.

The bundled earphones are not the best definitely but it can still do the job perfectly. You can also enable Dolby Atmos to enhance your audio experience a little bit. 

Samsung Galaxy A70 is equipped with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Of course, the traditional fingerprint sensor is much better and accurate than our beloved under-display reader. Sometimes the in-display reader doesn’t work and other times it takes a little time to unlock. To be honest, my expectations were pretty low from the in-display fingerprint sensor from the beginning. 

Like Galaxy A50, Samsung might improve the sensor using some software updates. Another good alternative is the Face Unlock which is relatively fast. Face Unlock is fast enough that you will forget about the fingerprint sensor on this device. 

Another noticeable upgrade in the Galaxy A70 is the full support of Samsung Pay. The device comes with NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission). A70 is the first smartphone in the series that supports Samsung Pay fully.

Even the recently launched Galaxy A50 comes with Samsung Pay mini. In my personal opinion, Samsung Pay comes in very handy and I don’t have to carry cards most of the time.

Pros

– Large AMOLED display

– 25W fast charging

– Long-lasting battery life

– NFC and Samsung Pay

– Ultra-wide camera sensors

– Somewhat excellent performance

Cons

– Weak speaker output

– Low-light camera performance could have been better

– No notification LED

– Slow in-display fingerprint sensor