SAMSUNG Galaxy A73 5G – A POWERFUL MID-RANGE PHONE

The Samsung Galaxy A73 5G in late March. It’s the top-of-the-line device in Samsung’s A-series lineup. It packs specs you would expect if not more, for a mid-range smartphone and a familiar design similar to the brands flagship smartphones, making one curious. It lands in a very competitive market where Chinese counterparts offer more powerful internals and some additional features.

 

 

DESIGN

The phone has a weight of 181g with about 7.6 mm of thickness, which means that the device is very comfortable to hold despite it being a large screen device. The build quality is good but feels cheap.

The back doesn’t attract fingerprints easily, which is a good thing, but the camera bump protrudes out of the back of the phone. The phone has an IP67 rating, which means it can stay submerged under 1 meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. The unit reviewed came in the Awesome Gray color, but you can also get it in Awesome Mint and Awesome White.

The device uses an in-display fingerprint scanner which works just as well as you’d expect. Personally, considering the device’s design, I would much prefer it be located where the power button would be, but then again, that’s just my personal preference.

The SIM tray can be found at the top of the device and lets you use up to 2 nano-SIM cards in Dual-SIM configuration or 1 SIM and Ana microSD card up to 1TB. The omission of a 3.5mm headphone jack was expected considering the thin profile of the device.

Overall, the design is subtle and simple which most users would appreciate.

 

 

DISPLAY & AUDIO

The A73 packs a 6.7in Full HD+ Super AMOLED+ Infinity-O display. The refresh rate, which Samsung calls Motion smoothness, can be manually configured to 60- or 120Hz. Power-saving modes downgrade the refresh rate to save on battery life.

The viewing experience is excellent and there are extensive options in the settings to configure the display to your needs. The display features Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, although i was hoping that it would get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, but I would understand that would result in a higher price tag.

The Always-on display which can be enabled for those who like to check their notifications and key information without having to turn on the screen. There are minimal bezels around the display and underneath the display is a 32Mp punch-hole selfie camera which does take up slightly more space than usual.

The audio from the speakers does a decent job, but the phone doesn’t offer much volume. Dolby Atmos does help, but I wouldn’t recommend using the phone at a party without connecting a Bluetooth speaker.

PERFORMANCE & SOFTWARE

The phone is powered by an Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor and is paired with 8GB of RAM paired with a choice of 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. The variant tested in this review comes with 8/128GB and there was no noticeable lag during regular usage.

 The 778G is not a bad processor; it is a great chip for mid-tier 5G phones and can still compete with phones from other brands in the same category. It is a slight downgrade from the Snapdragon 780G which is based on 5nm. Don’t get me wrong, the A73 does not feel slow by any means, and it performs well. One UI has been optimized for the device. Don’t get me wrong, the A73 does not feel slow by any means, and it performs well. One UI has been optimized for the device.

 It is worth pointing out that the phone did get moderately warm to the touch during video capture, gaming, or GPS usage, but that should not be a big issue. There is also support for Wi-Fi 6 and the notification tray icons reflect it when connected to faster WiFi networks.

The phone runs Samsung’s One UI 4.1 which is based on Android 12 and the overall interface is smooth and lag-free. You can customize the UI according to the usage very seamlessly and this is where One UI shines. The interface is snappy and fast, but it comes pre-loaded with several apps such as Amazon Shopping, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix just to name a few. Samsung promises 4 Android updates and 5 years of security updates which is very strong, even outpacing Google’s Pixel phones.

CAMERA

The main camera is a 108Mp sensor with f/1.8 aperture and images are shot at 12Mp by default thanks to pixel binning. Photos taken in daylight or under good lighting conditions come out well and not much to complain about here. Low-light shots are not up to the mark and require the phone to be held firmly to prevent blurry shots.

Samsung has done away with a zoom lens on the A73 in favor of that 108Mp main sensor. There is the ability to use digital zoom up to 10x, but the results are not too impressive. Tips within the camera UI are useful for mode recommendations and shot suggestions.

There are three other cameras on the back in the form of a 12Mp ultra-wide and 5Mp depth and macro lenses.

The 12Mp ultra-wide lets you capture a lot of area in a single frame, although some details do get lost on the sides.

The macro mode does get some good close-up shots but requires you to get very close to the subject and the camera does not automatically switch to macro, though the camera app does prompt you.

The portrait feature which is available on both the front and rear cameras, lets you capture some neat portraits. The ability to tweak the bokeh, and lighting after the photo has been captured is nice to have.

The front-facing 32Mp camera does take decent selfies and portraits when the lighting conditions are good, and you have a feature where you can wave your hand to take a selfie.

Samsung A73 5G Night Mode Sample shots:

 

BATTERY

In terms of battery life, the 5000mAh built-in battery can last an entire day with heavy usage with 120Hz refresh rate enabled and can go longer if you switch to 60Hz. Samsung does offer some software tweaks under the hood to help with battery management.

During our battery test, it lasted 12 hours and 32 mins, which is quite impressive. Disappointingly, Samsung chose to not include a 25W charger in the box, which would charge the phone at maximum speed.

I tested several chargers we have at the office, and only a few were compatible to charge the phone at the rated speed. With this, the phone managed to get to 34% in 30-minutes which is slow for modern standards.

 

VERDICT

 

” The Galaxy A73 5G may be packing an old processor and combined with the fact that fast charging is limited to 25W as well as not including a charger with the device, is a little  disappointing. This is Surprising given that the competition offers up to 120W fast charging and includes it in the box. The A73 does carry the Samsung brand value and promise of 4 years of updates.

If you are a Samsung user looking for a mid-range 5G device, the A73 is a reasonably good option but it is worth pointing out that there are more powerful rivals out there, if that’s more important to you. With the A73 5G priced at Php26,990 for the 6/128 model, Php27,990 for the 8/128, and Php29,990 for the 8/256 model respectively, the phone has a lot of weight on its shoulders in carrying the Samsung name but given Samsung’s build quality, it should prove to be a decent mid-range phone.” –  ( Geoffrey B.) tech reviewer from TechG3. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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