Even if you don’t bleed yellow and you’ve followed CSK’s consistent performance in the IPL since Season 1, you will agree that the team’s success is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It’s the same with Samsung’s newest A series device. There’s no standout feature that makes heads turn but it all seems to come together. Samsung’s Galaxy A series assembly line has been working overtime as the brand aims to address heightened competition across different price points - this device lands in the Rs 25,000 – 30,000 price band.
Samsung opts for a polycarbonate chassis for the A70 but it still looks quite refined. I like the prism effect when light bounces off the back (our review unit came in black) that adds an interesting element. The 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display (1080 x 2400 pixels) is just what you need for videos on the go. It’s massive and the dewdrop style notch is quite minuscule making this quite immersive. The large display adds to the heft; it weighs a tad over 180 gm and is not always easy for one-handed navigation.
At its heart is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor. It’s certainly not the best in this price band but the A70 doesn’t really stutter even as you push it over the edge. 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage plus a Micro SD slot (with support for up to 512 of extendable memory) make it a formidable hardware package. And then there’s the 4500 mAh battery – one of our favourite features of this device. We were left with about 40% of juice even after a whole day of significant call and multimedia usage. Even if you do need to reach out for a charger, the 25W super-fast charger (with a USB Type-C cable) is one of the fastest we’ve seen on any Samsung device, the S10 included.
One of Samsung’s key selling propositions in this segment has been its rear camera. This one combines three lenses – a 32MP primary lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP Live Focus lens. The ultra-wide lens is no longer the preserve of pricey flagships and opens up quite a few possibilities. Portrait images were decent in our tests too. The rear cam does a stellar job in optimal light but doesn’t quite ace lowlight photography. It’s the same with the 32MP selfie cam too that shoots sharp selfies in good light. Samsung’s One UI has been a revelation, a huge improvement over the brand’s earlier spins on Android. It’s not just eye candy but is mighty smooth too. That’s one more reason to consider Samsung’s Galaxy A70 that adds more spark to the intense battle in this price segment where most customers want flagship quality at less than half the price.
The Samsung Galaxy A70 costs Rs 28,990/- and is available in three colour options – black, white and blue.