ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Samsung’s Galaxy A35 5G is a well-rounded smartphone that is on sale for $198
- You may love the two-day battery life, superb display screen high quality, and 4 years of software program updates
- The largest subject? Efficiency tends to range from each day and might result in overheating
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I am shocked how a lot I get pleasure from utilizing the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G. The 2024 midrange cellphone in Samsung’s lineup is not essentially something particular — it seems to be like another Galaxy phone from latest years, and it does not have any flashy options. Nonetheless, the mission of mid-range phones is to not make waves; it is to supply a stability between efficiency, high quality, and value. This cellphone achieves that stability effectively.
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Some would argue this is not the most effective $400 cellphone in the marketplace, nevertheless it’s actually certainly one of them, and the display screen is the primary motive.
The Galaxy A35 5G encompasses a Samsung Signature Tremendous AMOLED show measuring 6.6 inches diagonally. The show has a Full HD+ decision, a 120Hz refresh charge for clean movement, and 1,000 nits of brightness, making it simple to see in direct daylight. Plus, it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+, which is a pleasant perk.
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Among the finest perks of the Galaxy A35 is the battery measurement. Clocking in at 5,000mAh, this factor can simply final two days on a full cost. Throughout my testing, I solely plugged within the cellphone thrice, and that was with reasonable use. Sadly, there aren’t any wi-fi charging capabilities, and the charging pace is capped at 25W, so it would take a while to get to 100%. Nonetheless, it is good having multi-day battery life on any smartphone, not to mention one which prices $400.
One other factor I wasn’t anticipating to say after spending a while with the A35 is that the cameras aren’t that unhealthy. In reality, I might go so far as to say that at the least two of them are good, which is nearly unimaginable to say for most sub-$500 Android phones.
The primary 50MP digicam is completely able to taking some good footage. Colours aren’t overdone as a lot as on older Samsung telephones, whereas distinction and publicity stay usually on level. The A35 is okay at sustaining shadows, for higher or worse, whereas picture high quality usually dips when the lights get low. It isn’t horrible by any means, however further grain and noise are laborious to keep away from until there is a ton of exterior or pure gentle within the body.
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I am going to additionally give credit score to the 13MP selfie digicam, which is completely fitted to Snapchat or Instagram Tales. Sadly, the opposite cameras on the again of the system are disappointing. The 8MP could also be ultra-wide due to its 123-degree subject of view, nevertheless it’s grainy and low-quality in nearly each lighting situation. In the meantime, the 5MP macro digicam is washed out, and it’s unimaginable to seize something usable — until you are in broad daylight.
You may’t purchase the Galaxy A35 5G anticipating movie-quality movies, however at the least you may shoot in 4K, albeit at 30 frames per second. As well as, I like Samsung’s digicam app, which is well-optimized and straightforward to navigate.
Another notable options embrace a quick, dependable in-display fingerprint scanner, IP67 water- and dust-resistance, Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the again, and a microSD card slot for increasing your storage everytime you need. The A35, nonetheless, stumbles in efficiency. The cellphone is not sluggish, nevertheless it’s not at all times quick both. It is geared up with an Exynos 1380 octa-core processor that is quick sufficient for on a regular basis use, however throughout my testing, the cellphone would generally decelerate a lot that it took a number of seconds to open an app or change to multitasking.
The system would additionally generally get inexplicably scorching throughout common use. For instance, as soon as I used to be scrolling by way of an article with Spotify taking part in within the background, and the A35 acquired scorching sufficient that I needed to put it down.
Additionally: I changed 7 settings on my Samsung phone to significantly improve the battery life
It is a identified subject with Samsung’s Exynos chips, which have traditionally fallen behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors in efficiency and effectivity. Fortunately, you may rig the A35 with 6GB, 8GB, or 12GB of RAM, so you will not run out of reminiscence throughout utilization — simply do not push the cellphone too laborious.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
It is laborious to discover a midrange system that balances the smartphone expertise effectively, however the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G does a reasonably good job. Whereas efficiency and digicam high quality fall behind in some areas, the remainder of the cellphone is sweet (particularly that beautiful display screen) for the worth.
There are different strong options, just like the Pixel 8a or the wonderful OnePlus 13R, that supply an analogous expertise. Nevertheless, they’re considerably dearer. As talked about earlier, the Galaxy A35 is on sale for lower than $200. The OnePlus 13R, as compared, prices triple that quantity.
