Galaxy A6 + (2018) in test: Samsung's new middle class on the test bench

6 inch smartphone with metal case

A Samsung smartphone rarely arrives alone. Thus, the South Korean manufacturer now also offers a more model of its mid-range smartphone Galaxy A6 (2018). Our test tells you how the Galaxy A6 + (2018) beats in practice.

Since the Galaxy S8, Samsung offers its best smartphones with a Plus model. Now, the South Korean manufacturer takes this principle for its mid-range models from the Galaxy A series. Since the spring of 2018, the company not only offers the Galaxy A6 (2018) in Germany, but also its' grand brother 'Galaxy A6 + (2018). If you want to know how the two smartphones differ, we recommend that you read our comparative test Galaxy A6 versus Galaxy A6 +.

Are you interested in how the Galaxy A6 + (2018) beats in everyday life, you should keep reading. Because we have tested the Samsung smartphone through its steps.

Design and execution

The Galaxy A6 + (2018) is a 6-inch smartphone, but do not worry: despite the diagonal of the screen, the phone does not have the dimensions of a tablet, but still disappears comfortably in your pocket. This has a reason: The screen does not have an aspect ratio of 16: 9, but Samsung relies on the 18: 5.9 fashionable format you already know from the Galaxy S8.

The display is thus stretched in length, so that the South Korean manufacturer manages to install the relatively compact screen. With dimensions of 160.2 x 75.7 x 7.9 millimeters, the Galaxy A6 + (2018) is similar to the competition models Mate 10 Lite or Honor 7X. However, it is almost 30 grams heavier than that. Despite the relatively compact design, the new Samsung phone is therefore only something for friends of big and heavy cell phones.

Due to the new display format, there was no more room for a fingerprint sensor on the front. Samsung has therefore banned the scanner at the back, which should not be appreciated by all users. Here he is in the middle of the camera.

The display and the rest of the hardware are packaged in an all-metal case, reminiscent of the "dress" of affordable Galaxy J models. Compared to previous Galaxy A models, which still offered a glbad cover, the new Galaxy A6 + (2018) is much more convenient and less subject to fingerprints. However, you must do without protection against dust and water (IP68), which the Galaxy A models of the year 2017 still had.

Incidentally, our test device is the "black" color variant. Samsung offers the Galaxy A6 + (2018) in this country alternately but also in the colors "Gold" and "Lavender".

Equipment and performance

The sister of the Galaxy A6 model (2018) disappointed us in the test with its moderate characteristics. The Samsung A6 + (2018) makes it better. The screen dissolves here, for example, in Full HD instead of just in HD +. The individual pixels are therefore not visible, the presentation of the Super AMOLED screen is of a remarkable sharpness and the usual colors of the screen technology are sharp.

The device and the memory are large enough with respectively 32 and 3 gigabytes. Although the competition offers more here in part, but we can live with the auction – especially because the memory of the device can be extended by microSD card up to 256 gigabytes if necessary.

The Galaxy A6 + (2018) connects to 2.4 GHz and 5 Gigahertz Wi-Fi networks and can connect to other devices via NFC. Payment services such as Google Pay can be used with the mobile phone. However, support for the new standard WLAN ac and Bluetooth 5.0 is missing.

Samsung has slightly improved its performance compared to its sister model (see table). As the processor in the Galaxy A6 + (2018) does not contain the Exynos chip, but Qualcomm's Octa-core Snapdragon 450 processor, which also works in many much cheaper devices – here is the Motorola Moto G6 for 249 euros and the ZTE Blade V9 called for 269 euros.

The AnTuTu benchmark tests not only processor performance, but also other Smartphone components such as graphics unit or main memory are being tested. GeekBench primarily tests the performance of the smartphone's processor. On the one hand, the performance is checked with a single-core computation kernel and with all activated cores (multi-core). The higher the score, the better the result.

In everyday life, the processor currently offers flawless performance and even brings PUBG Mobile fluid to the phone screen – but only on average graphics. However, the Snapdragon 450 does not offer a lot of performance reserves for the future. The Huawei P about 100 euros cheaper, there are more "horses under the hood". This should displease many potential buyers.

Voice quality and battery life

The Galaxy A6 + does not have an extra microphone for filtering background noise. So, if you are in a busy street, you must shout against the noise of the car, so that your interlocutor understands you. This is no longer up to date in this price range. In quiet environments, the A6 Plus provides a decent voice quality.

Optionally, you can also use the Samsung smartphone with two SIM cards. You do not have to do without the ability to expand memory, Samsung offers two dedicated SIM slots and an additional memory card slot. However, only SIM 1 slot supports fast LTE data transmission. The second SIM card is therefore a maximum 3G speed in the mobile Internet.

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The Galaxy A6 + (2018) draws its energy from a battery of 3,500 milliamps. This is typical of Samsung's A series and can not be changed by you. This is not a problem. In the test, the battery was persistent and reached at PCMark a duration of about 12.5 hours. So you should get along with a battery charge on average a day and a half to two days – depending of course on your intensity of use.

If the battery is empty, the Samsung smartphone must unfortunately remain in the socket for a long time. A full charge cycle took a little less than three hours in the test and therefore a little less than an hour longer than usual in the competition. There are several reasons for this: Samsung does not use a USB C port, which would allow faster charging. Instead, the A6 + is loaded via a microUSB port. Plus, Samsung does not offer compatible power with Quick Charge 2.0 technology, which would speed up the process a bit.

With a suggested retail price of nearly 400 euros, this decision is difficult to understand and costs points in the final score. For the sake of completeness: Wireless Charger does not support the Samsung smartphone. But you can not expect with a smartphone with metal case.

Camera

While the Galaxy A6 (2018) has only one camera on the back, the Samsung Plus model incorporates a dual camera. It is a 16 megapixel wide angle lens and a 5 megapixel Telelinse. The setup allows you to take pictures with a bokeh effect, but a dual optical zoom is not available in the camera application. In the test performed in Bokeh mode, although minor errors overall, the quality of the portrait images can be seen compared to other smartphones in this price range.

Disappointing, however, is the quality of the picture in low light conditions. Despite the bright F / 1.7 aperture, the Galaxy A6 + (2018) reaches its limits in the dark and at dusk, producing mostly blurry or noisy shots. In contrast, in the light of day, there is little exposure to photos. Incidentally, you can shoot selfies with up to 24 megapixels, which guarantees high-resolution self-portraits. In order to succeed not only in the right light, the Galaxy A6 + (2018) also offers a LED photo on the front.

Availability and Prices

The Galaxy A6 + (2018) is available in Germany since the end of May 2018. The manufacturer's recommended retail price is 369 euros. The current offers for the Samsung smartphone are at the end of the article.

Current Price

All prices include VAT and shipping costs in addition. Details on the offers can be found on the respective website / shop.

Rankings

Samsung Galaxy A6 Plus (2018) was rated in the following rankings for smartphones

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