Samsung Galaxy A7 Review: A three-eyed phone with the lucky number "3"

Samsung immediately went into action when OnePlus advanced earlier this year for selling relatively more units in the high – end smartphone category. Since then, the company has doubled its presence in the premium category after facing an existential challenge in the entry-level and budget categories. In order to maximize efforts to win back customers who have fled elsewhere under the domination of OnePlus and Xiaomi, Samsung has found a subtle way of attracting buyers with new features. The Samsung Galaxy A7 is the testimony of the experience.

The Samsung Galaxy A7 is the first smartphone of the company to integrate three cameras. At first, it looks like a novelty that would attract customers but would prove to be a simple gadget. But it's the opposite. The three cameras are the three pillars of the smartphone that make it one of the most popular smartphones in the price category. We say it because it should ideally be a Galaxy S or Galaxy Note device to announce the first in the list of specifications, but Samsung raises high hopes for the Galaxy A7 with three cameras. Price: 23,990 Rs for the basic model, the Galaxy A7 is there to face its rivals with the lucky number 3. Will the luck of the Galaxy A7 bear fruit for the company? Let's find out.

Read more: Review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9: when know-how marries luxury

Samsung Galaxy A7 design, display and hardware

From the outset, the Samsung Galaxy A7 is a well-crafted piece of glass and metal body. The 2.5D rear window finish gives the handset a superior appearance, which justifies the price and the premium label attached to it. Of course, it is definitely better than the 2015 version, but what sets it apart is the shimmer that the back shows. That said, the glass finish is prone to fingerprints and can completely destroy that shimmer in seconds.

A metal frame is sandwiched between the two glass blocks and houses all the physical buttons of the device. The construction is robust despite the use of glass on both sides, which brings us to one of its byproducts – heaviness. But the Galaxy A7 is not very heavy – you will not feel much weight when you send SMS, watch videos or browse. We received the black pattern on three – Black, Blue and Gold, but it looks gray largely because of the light striking the surface.

The back of the Galaxy A7 is equipped with three cameras installed in a vertically long island, supported by a dual-tone LED flash just below. The Samsung logo is engraved upwards in the center. There is usually a fingerprint sensor on the back of Samsung devices, but as we have mentioned, the Galaxy A7 marks the introduction of many innovations it has been moved. The Galaxy A7 incorporates the fingerprint sensor into the power button on the right with a little concavity. Volume flip-flops are one inch above the power button. On the left side is the SIM tray silo with three slots: two for SIM cards and one for microSD card. On the top there is a secondary microphone while the lower edge has the 3.5mm headphone jack, the Micro-USB port, the main microphone and the speakers.

At the beginning of the year, Samsung had lowered the AMOLED screens as much as the Galaxy J series screen which was between the average, upper and upper values. And when a smartphone goes up to reach prices of more than 20,000 Rs, a lot of things should automatically improve. The Samsung Galaxy A7 has a 6-inch Full HD + Infinity display using the AMOLED panel, which means that the color reproduction will be richer and more dynamic than previous models that were lacking. Samsung earns brownie points for not succumbing to the industry's "race to the curb" and we hope it stays that way.

The screen as large as this one has been cluttered in the fascia of the Galaxy A7 despite its relatively small footprint. It has a 18: 9 aspect ratio with fine left and right edges but exactly opposite up and down. The display produces rich colors, however, sometimes a little too sharp, but you can change it in the settings. The default screen mode is set to 'Adaptive Screen', which is ideal for any type of content visible on the screen. The readability of the screen in sunlight allows optimal brightness. You do not need to squint to read finer texts.

Since Xiaomi was called for missing the standard Widevine L1 DRM on its flagship product, the Poco F1, all other smartphone manufacturers are scrupulously screaming about its presence on their respective handsets. The Samsung Galaxy A7 supports the Widevine L1 standard, which means you'll be able to play Netflix and Amazon Prime videos in Full HD resolution.

Samsung Galaxy A7 Cameras

Before moving on to the part where the cameras come out winners of the Galaxy A7, consider undeniable facts. The first smartphone with three cameras is the Huawei P20 Pro, launched earlier this year. It is a flagship product of the company that has made known to the world the existence of two cameras. Of course, it carries an exorbitant price, rightly so, because it offered a competition with the elbow for the iPhone X and Pixel 2 at the time of the tests. The Samsung Galaxy A7, on the other hand, is much cheaper than the Huawei P20 Pro, which means the results will be diluted. But, if we totally exclude the existence of Huawei P20 Pro, the Galaxy A7 would amaze you by its operation.

There are three sensors: a 24 megapixel f / 1.7 sensor, a 5 megapixel f / 2.2 depth sensor, and an 8 megapixel f / 2.4 sensor with a 180 degree ultra wide angle lens. While the first two sensors do almost the same job giving the Bokeh effect, the third sensor is the MVP of the cameras. But Samsung uses the three sensors to optimize a photo by capturing as much detail as possible. Samsung has also included Optimize Scene Mode in the Galaxy A7, which changes the settings to find the best configuration for a particular scene.

The 24-megapixel primary sensor captures good photos that are full of detail and rich in color, but slightly tonic. In daylight, the exposure is optimal and the camera quickly focuses on the subject. The best thing about daylight pictures is the level of detail: zooming in on pictures shows the tiny objects captured in the frame. However, quality suffers when the camera is used indoors. The quality of the camera that keeps the details going a little downhill. The best way to solve this problem is to adjust the brightness of the scene. For example, on very sunny days, light-colored objects tend to be overexposed, which is why it is recommended to adjust the brightness. This also applies to shots indoors where light is not as available unless objects with a shiny surface are scattered throughout the room.

The second 5 megapixel sensor is to offer the Bokeh effect on the photos captured by the main sensor. We found that the depth level of the photos was just above average. The contours of the subject are blurred on the pictures with the background blurred to more than one place. That said, sometimes the photos are really good.

The third 8 megapixel camera is what is supposed to make things happen. This is a very wide angle lens – better known as a full frame fisheye lens used in digital SLR cameras to play with scenes (landscapes, panoramas, etc.) and to show a bit of art. This sensor covers a larger area of ​​the frame. Sometimes he even showed the tips of my fingers that I placed on the upper back to ensure the grip.

Ideally, the wide angle lens will be handy if you want to capture a large group of people in a setting or if the scenic beauty is too appealing to leave side objects out. And even if you do not want to cut the sides, you will have to compromise on their distortion. Objects or objects at the ends of a photo appear radially displaced and oblique. That's why you might want to keep the subject in the center. Regarding quality, the images taken by the wide-angle lens are sharp, but do not retain as much detail as the main sensor.

Regarding the selfie camera, Samsung opted for the same 24 megapixel sensor, but with a larger aperture other than f / 2.0. Selfies look great by sharing them on websites and social media apps. The level of detail is also correct, except that the skin tones are very smooth, even when the beauty mode is off. But, as we said, it's good to use selfies on Instagram and other social media platforms. There is also an LED flash at the front, so you will not have to look for a point bright enough to make selfies.

All sensors are supported by HDR and you can make the most of this feature when shooting scenes with two opposing shades of light. The main camera and selfie videos have a maximum resolution of 1080p without the ability to convert them to 60 frames per second. The videos are of good quality and fairly stable.

Here are the camera examples:

Samsung Galaxy A7 Performance and battery

The Samsung Galaxy A7 is powered by the company's Exynos 7885 internal processor running at a maximum of 2.2 GHz, combined with a maximum of 6 GB of RAM. As a mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy A7 did not meet the expectations in terms of managing all kinds of applications and games. The handset starts to stutter when we open heavy applications and constantly switch between them. But this only happened once or twice. In addition, when playing games like PUBG, Asphalt 9: Legends, the handset began to heat up a little after 30 to 35 minutes. There was no lag, either, in the gameplay, but we noticed a few drops in the image when playing Asphalt 9: Legends.

The fingerprint reader, now mounted on the power button, is fast. It unlocks the device quickly but sometimes refuses to read thumbprints. The reason we used thumbprints is that of the practical use of the sensor. In addition, we found that you would not need to press when you press the power button when your thumb touches it to unlock the phone. It's pretty comfortable but you'll get used to it in a while. Face Unlock is also available on the Galaxy A7. However, it is not as advanced as the recognition of the iris. It works well even in low light conditions.

The speaker of the Galaxy A7 is above average and is nothing special. However, the sound may become loud enough when you turn on Concert Hall mode in the Sound settings. Samsung has equipped the Galaxy A7 with Dolby Atmos sound technology, but this is limited to using a headset. The voice calls made on the handset are loud and clear.

Samsung delivers the Galaxy A7 with Android 8.0 Oreo with a Samsung Experience 9.0 skin above. It's the same experience as other Samsung smartphones with the same user interface. Some preloaded applications, such as Amazon Prime Video, Dailyhunt, Google, and Microsoft, can be uninstalled if you wish. The handset comes with Bixby Vision support in cameras to allow identification of objects by simply placing a camera in front of them. It also features the Bixby Home screen that shows the most used features and content of different applications. But the Bixby 2.0 voice assistant is not available on the Galaxy A7.

The Galaxy A7's power supply is a non-removable 3300mAh battery. In our tests consisting of using the Internet, social media and chat applications for more than four hours, playing games for about 40 minutes, watching an hour-long movie on Netflix and clicking on pictures for about half an hour, the battery has a little more than half a day. We had to load it twice a day, which takes about 2 hours to fully charge. There is no USB Type-C port on this handset, which is a drawback for many potential buyers who opt for midrange phones.

Verdict

Samsung Galaxy A7 is a pretty decent device so you can ignore performance instabilities, which the company can fix with a software update. The cameras have the wow factor on the Galaxy A7 and you will probably be able to rent the pictures captured by them. The high-end smartphone design is impressive and should meet your desire to have a nice phone for the money you pay.

The basic model of the Galaxy A7 costs Rs 23,990 while the high-end model is priced at Rs 28,990. Although it's worth it, it makes sense to opt for the high-end model if you let the photographer nomad silently silence the savvy shopper, because more storage means more pictures. But you can get this by adding the microSD card on the basic variant which costs Rs 5,000 less expensive. The Samsung Galaxy A7 is available via online and offline channels throughout India.