Samsung has aggressively populated the price segment between 50,000 Naira and 100,000 Naira with a total of 5 different M-series and A-series phones
USB-C charging cable
Earphones
SIM ejector tool
Transparent TPU case
Full HD+ (1,080 x 2,340) resolution
Excellent for media consumption
Similarities between the Galaxy M30 and the A30 continue with the display, too. Both phones have a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, which might be the highlight of the phone. Placed next to competing smartphones, the display here shines through as vibrant and generally excellent to look at.
The Super AMOLED display is a definite highlight.
Being a Super AMOLED panel, the contrast ratio is obviously top notch. The display looks fantastic even at extreme angles and I would rank it as among the best in the category. Brightness levels go sufficiently high and the phone is easily visible outdoors.
Samsung has done a good job calibrating the screen and I found the white point accurate. Between the ability to adjust the white balance and the built-in screen color profiles, there are enough options to tweak the display to your preference.
Like most phones, there is a built-in blue light filter that can be scheduled and a very robust dark mode that skins the entire system UI. While the Galaxy A30 lacks a notification LED, you can set the display to always on mode and use it for incoming notifications.
The water drop notch on the Galaxy A30 is not intrusive at all but if you really don’t want one, there is a software option to hide the notch away. This being an AMOLED display, the black bar at the top does a good job at camouflaging the notch. The software bar curves around the edges but has a lower degree of curvature compared to the physically curved display along the bottom edge which might irk you if you are as particular about symmetry as I am.
The South-Korean behemoth uses its own Exynos series 7 chip inside. The Galaxy A30 packs an octa-core Exynos 7904 chipset coupled with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. This is the same chip that you’d find on Galaxy M20 (review) and Galaxy M30 (review).
In terms of benchmark scores, it is no way near the Redmi Note 7 Pro. We didn’t face any issue with day-to-day usage, but high-end games like PUBG didn’t run well.
Having said that, the Galaxy A30 has a clear advantage in terms of overall user experience especially thanks to Samsung’s new One UI.
It is one of the cleanest, user and resources friendly custom interfaces on Android today. The menus and settings have been optimized for single hand operation, which really makes a difference when operating these big screen phones. With Android Pie, it also gets Digital Wellbeing right out of the box, that means you get effective tools to monitor and control your smartphone usage in a better way.
Release date February 2019
Form factor Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm) 158.50 x 74.70 x 7.70
Battery capacity (mAh) 4000
Fast charging Proprietary
Colours Red, Blue, Black
Display
Screen size (inches) 6.40
Touchscreen Yes
Resolution 1080x2340 pixels
Hardware
Processor make Exynos 7904
RAM 4GB
Internal storage 64GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 512
Dedicated microSD slot Yes
Camera
Rear camera 16-megapixel (f/1.7) + 5-megapixel (f/2.2)
Rear autofocus Yes
Rear flash Yes
Front camera 16-megapixel (f/2.0)
Software
Operating system Android Pie
Skin One UI
Connectivity
Wi-Fi Yes
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
USB Type-C Yes
Headphones 3.5mm
Number of SIMs 2
SIM 1
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
SIM 2
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
Sensors
Fingerprint sensor Yes
Proximity sensor Yes
Accelerometer Yes
The camera app is simple to use with you basic modes like Photo, Video, Live Focus, Pro and Panorama options in a carousel on the bottom and the buttons to switch between standard and wide-angle just above that. Right next to it you have the Scene Optimiser button that is enabled by default. This allows the camera to detect certain scenes and automatically adjust the settings to offer more attractive photos. So,. if you're shooting food, the camera will detect that and will automatically boost the saturation to make it look more vivid, appealing and social media-ready.
The primary camera captures good-looking photos in daylight with plenty of saturation and good detail. In daylight conditions, the Galaxy A30's camera will offer results that are similar in sharpness and appeal of a Realme 2 Pro or a Redmi Note 7 Pro. Things start to fall flat when shooting indoors as photos often come out with some noise and smoothness.
The wide aperture of the primary camera does well to offer decent low-light photos. Photos do look bright and clear as long as one does not zoom in. However, the lack of a dedicated long-exposure mode is missed in tricky low-light scenarios where the camera is unable to reduce noise or offer more clarity. In such scenarios, the Redmi Note 7 Pro or a Realme 3 perform far better than the Galaxy A30.
The 16MP selfie camera also manages to capture crisp selfies in daylight conditions, but the performance instantly drops indoors and in low-light where selfies look soft and facial features lack sharpness. Beauty is enabled by default, but you can disable it for more realistic looking selfies.
Overall, the cameras are fine for daylight photography, but if you're someone who prefers taking photos after sunset, you may want to look at some of the newer phones from Xiaomi or Realme that offer better computational photography.
Even with the Always-On display enabled, you won't have to charge the Galaxy A30 more than once in a day. Samsung also offers a couple of intensive battery saving features that can help you get the most juice out of it. The maximum battery saving mode will limit usable apps to just the Phone, Messages, Internet and Setting apps. It will stop background apps, biometrics and will dim the brightness extend the battery life as much as possible.
The Galaxy A30 supports fast charging and you get a 15W Adaptive Fast Charger with the box that takes a little over an hour and a half to fully charge the device.
What’s in the box?
5V/2A chargerUSB-C charging cable
Earphones
SIM ejector tool
Transparent TPU case
Display
6.4-inch Super AMOLED displayFull HD+ (1,080 x 2,340) resolution
Excellent for media consumption
Similarities between the Galaxy M30 and the A30 continue with the display, too. Both phones have a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, which might be the highlight of the phone. Placed next to competing smartphones, the display here shines through as vibrant and generally excellent to look at.
The Super AMOLED display is a definite highlight.
Being a Super AMOLED panel, the contrast ratio is obviously top notch. The display looks fantastic even at extreme angles and I would rank it as among the best in the category. Brightness levels go sufficiently high and the phone is easily visible outdoors.
Samsung has done a good job calibrating the screen and I found the white point accurate. Between the ability to adjust the white balance and the built-in screen color profiles, there are enough options to tweak the display to your preference.
Like most phones, there is a built-in blue light filter that can be scheduled and a very robust dark mode that skins the entire system UI. While the Galaxy A30 lacks a notification LED, you can set the display to always on mode and use it for incoming notifications.
The water drop notch on the Galaxy A30 is not intrusive at all but if you really don’t want one, there is a software option to hide the notch away. This being an AMOLED display, the black bar at the top does a good job at camouflaging the notch. The software bar curves around the edges but has a lower degree of curvature compared to the physically curved display along the bottom edge which might irk you if you are as particular about symmetry as I am.
Performance and Software
Can the Galaxy A30 match the likes of Redmi Note 7 Pro on performance front?The South-Korean behemoth uses its own Exynos series 7 chip inside. The Galaxy A30 packs an octa-core Exynos 7904 chipset coupled with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. This is the same chip that you’d find on Galaxy M20 (review) and Galaxy M30 (review).
In terms of benchmark scores, it is no way near the Redmi Note 7 Pro. We didn’t face any issue with day-to-day usage, but high-end games like PUBG didn’t run well.
Having said that, the Galaxy A30 has a clear advantage in terms of overall user experience especially thanks to Samsung’s new One UI.
It is one of the cleanest, user and resources friendly custom interfaces on Android today. The menus and settings have been optimized for single hand operation, which really makes a difference when operating these big screen phones. With Android Pie, it also gets Digital Wellbeing right out of the box, that means you get effective tools to monitor and control your smartphone usage in a better way.
Samsung Galaxy A30 Full Specifications
Brand Samsung Model Galaxy A30Release date February 2019
Form factor Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm) 158.50 x 74.70 x 7.70
Battery capacity (mAh) 4000
Fast charging Proprietary
Colours Red, Blue, Black
Display
Screen size (inches) 6.40
Touchscreen Yes
Resolution 1080x2340 pixels
Hardware
Processor make Exynos 7904
RAM 4GB
Internal storage 64GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 512
Dedicated microSD slot Yes
Camera
Rear camera 16-megapixel (f/1.7) + 5-megapixel (f/2.2)
Rear autofocus Yes
Rear flash Yes
Front camera 16-megapixel (f/2.0)
Software
Operating system Android Pie
Skin One UI
Connectivity
Wi-Fi Yes
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes
USB Type-C Yes
Headphones 3.5mm
Number of SIMs 2
SIM 1
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
SIM 2
SIM Type Nano-SIM
GSM/CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
Sensors
Fingerprint sensor Yes
Proximity sensor Yes
Accelerometer Yes
Camera
The Galaxy A30 sports a 16-megapixel primary camera with a wide f/1.7 aperture, which does admirably in low-light. There is a secondary 5-megapixel sensor with an ultra wide-angle lens and f/2.2 aperture. On the front, the Galaxy A30 gets a 16-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera.The camera app is simple to use with you basic modes like Photo, Video, Live Focus, Pro and Panorama options in a carousel on the bottom and the buttons to switch between standard and wide-angle just above that. Right next to it you have the Scene Optimiser button that is enabled by default. This allows the camera to detect certain scenes and automatically adjust the settings to offer more attractive photos. So,. if you're shooting food, the camera will detect that and will automatically boost the saturation to make it look more vivid, appealing and social media-ready.
The primary camera captures good-looking photos in daylight with plenty of saturation and good detail. In daylight conditions, the Galaxy A30's camera will offer results that are similar in sharpness and appeal of a Realme 2 Pro or a Redmi Note 7 Pro. Things start to fall flat when shooting indoors as photos often come out with some noise and smoothness.
The wide aperture of the primary camera does well to offer decent low-light photos. Photos do look bright and clear as long as one does not zoom in. However, the lack of a dedicated long-exposure mode is missed in tricky low-light scenarios where the camera is unable to reduce noise or offer more clarity. In such scenarios, the Redmi Note 7 Pro or a Realme 3 perform far better than the Galaxy A30.
IMAGE
Much like every other Galaxy phone this year, the Galaxy A30 also gets an ultra wide-angle secondary camera, which is best utilised in daylight conditions. It comes in handy when you want to capture scenes that requires a wider field-of-view without having to move a few steps back. Wide-angle shots in low-light look unappealing as photos look washed out, soft and lack detail.The 16MP selfie camera also manages to capture crisp selfies in daylight conditions, but the performance instantly drops indoors and in low-light where selfies look soft and facial features lack sharpness. Beauty is enabled by default, but you can disable it for more realistic looking selfies.
Overall, the cameras are fine for daylight photography, but if you're someone who prefers taking photos after sunset, you may want to look at some of the newer phones from Xiaomi or Realme that offer better computational photography.
Galaxy A30 Battery
Samsung has been pretty generous on the battery front for most of its phones in 2019, and the Galaxy A30 is no different. The phone houses a 4000mAh battery which is sufficient to handle most intensive tasks and still have some left in the tank by the end of the day. The Galaxy A30 can stretch to over a full day on days with basic usage like messaging, some social media browsing, a 30 minute session of PUBG and a couple of hours of video streaming.Even with the Always-On display enabled, you won't have to charge the Galaxy A30 more than once in a day. Samsung also offers a couple of intensive battery saving features that can help you get the most juice out of it. The maximum battery saving mode will limit usable apps to just the Phone, Messages, Internet and Setting apps. It will stop background apps, biometrics and will dim the brightness extend the battery life as much as possible.
The Galaxy A30 supports fast charging and you get a 15W Adaptive Fast Charger with the box that takes a little over an hour and a half to fully charge the device.
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