Samsung Galaxy A70 Review – Bold Enough?

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Samsung seems to have vowed to launch at least one new phone in India every month in 2019. The strategy seems to be working well for the South Korean giant as is evident from the claims that it garnered over $500 million revenue in 40 days just from Galaxy A-series sales alone. Samsung is in no mood to slow down. In April, the South-Korean giant launched two new smartphones in India in April – the Galaxy A20 and Galaxy A70 – with plans to bring Galaxy A80 in May. (Samsung Galaxy A70 review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

While the upcoming phone has some intriguing features, Samsung with the Galaxy A70 aims to make its presence felt in the Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 segment which usually doesn’t see much activity in India.

Is the A70 good enough to justify its mid-range price tag? Does the A70 have what it takes to beat the existing competition from brands like Xiaomi and Vivo? Let’s answer all these questions in our in-depth Samsung Galaxy A70 review.

Page Contents:

Samsung Galaxy A70 Specifications

ModelSamsung Galaxy A70
Display6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, FHD+ resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio
Processor2 GHz, Octa Core, Snapdragon 675
RAM6/8GB
Internal Storage128GB, Hybrid slot, expandable up to 512GB
SoftwareOne UI (Android Pie)
Rear Camera32MP ( f/1.7 aperture)+ 8MP(f/2.2 aperture)+ 5MP(f/2.2 aperture)
Front Camera32MP (f/2.0)
Others4G Dual VoLTE(Nano), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, USB Type-C port, 3.5 mm audio jack, proximity sensor, light sensor, and accelerometer
Battery4500mAh, 25W Fast Charging, Quick Charge 4.0 Support
Indian Price6GB + 128GB – Rs. 28, 990

Samsung Galaxy A70 Unboxing: What’s in the box?

Samsung Galaxy A70 unboxing review india
Samsung Galaxy A70 package

At the start of 2019, Samsung pledged to use eco-friendly packaging for new products. The Galaxy A70 comes in a plain white box with the phone branding on top. Inside the box, you will find:

  • Galaxy A70
  • 25W wall charger
  • USB Type-C cable
  • in-ear headphones
  • SIM-ejector tool
  • transparent protective case
  • documentation

Samsung Galaxy A70 Review: Design

The Samsung Galaxy A70 design is not as insane as the Galaxy A80 that literally ushered in a sweeping change. The Galaxy A70 is actually similar to the Galaxy A50 (review) and follows the same “3D Glasstic” design language where ‘glasstic’ stands for glass-like plastic.

Just like the Galaxy A50, it too has a subtle, understated gradient on the glossy back and you will notice varied color effects when you look at it at an angle. Of course, as you climb up the A-series ladder, the cameras keep piling and on the A70 you will find a triple-camera module.

The Galaxy A70 looks absolute best when naked, especially when the snazzy rainbow light shimmers off the surface. Customers get a choice between Black, Blue, Coral, and White color options.

With a 6.7-inch infinity U screen on the front, the phone is not the most compact option available in the market, but it’s still surprisingly manageable.

There is hardly any bezel on the front, and despite the large footprint, the phone weighs only 183gram. The polycarbonate body with all the curves in the right places, makes the phone feel sleek and relatively light in hands. We got used to the dimension very quickly and relished watching multimedia on the big screen, but yes, this is not a phone meant for people who value one hand usage.

The A70 has an optical fingerprint sensor placed underneath the display. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection is overlaid on top.

Samsung-Galaxy-A70-Review-with-pros-and-cons-india

We appreciate the presence of triple card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the USB Type-C port.

ALSO READ: Realme 3 Pro Review

Samsung Galaxy A70 Review: Display

Just like most recent A series phones, the Galaxy A70 gets a quality SuperAMOLED display, and thanks to the large size there’s so much of it to relish.

Samsung-Galaxy-A70-Review-with-pros-and-cons-india

The AMOLED screen has 2,400 x 1,080 pixels resolution which makes it fairly crisp. The 20:9 aspect is better suited for watching video content.

What I like most about the Galaxy A70 screen are the scintillating colors and deep blacks. With 420 nit max brightness, the display is sufficiently bright. The touch sensitivity of the display is also quite good.

Samsung Galaxy A70 Camera Review

Samsung continues with its new found love for triple cameras. On the rear, the Galaxy A70 stacks a 32-megapixel (with 0.8µm, f/1.7 aperture) primary sensor, 8-megapixel wide angle shooter (123-degree with 1.12µm and f/2.2 aperture), and a 5-megapixel depth sensor (1.12µm and f/2.2 aperture). As for selfies, the Galaxy A70 uses the same 32MP sensor on the front as well.

The camera app seems the same as what we used in the other recent A-series phones. There’s Scene Optimizer, live focus portrait mode, flaw detection and many more options on the phone. Samsung has included 240fps slow-mos at 1080P which should be fun to play around. It can record up to 4K at 30fps from both front and rear cameras.

As for the Galaxy A70 camera quality, the phone manages to perform on the expected lines in most lighting conditions. Scene detection usually kicks in. The images shot with A70 in daylight have a good amount of details. However, aggressive noise cancellation at times takes a toll on details. This is noticeable when you zoom in.

The dynamic range could have been better. The camera also struggles in handling harsh sunlight. Indoors, it manages to do a decent job. Shots clicked under artificial lighting look clean and vibrant, particularly on the phone’s display, but details get little fuzzy when you analyze them on a bigger screen.

The wide-angle lens present in the Samsung Galaxy A70 camera module manages to take quality shots if you are willing to overlook slight edge distortion. The 5MP depth sensor gets in action in Live Focus mode. It can shoot good portrait shots with an option to adjust blur intensity even after you have clicked them.

The 32-megapixel selfie camera is certainly one of the best in this price segment. The selfies turned great with rich detail and natural skin colors. The Live Focus feature for selfies doesn’t work that well and often fumbles with edge detection.


All those who are into videos will miss the OIS and EIS which helps to negate shake during handheld shooting.  The A70 allows you to shoot videos at 4K and full HD resolutions at both 60fps and 30fps options. If you can mount the phone on a tripod, it can certainly shoot crips videos.

So, overall, the camera performance is better than other low-end A-series phones and certainly above average, but perhaps it isn’t the best camera phone in its class.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy A20 Review

Samsung Galaxy A70 Review: Hardware and Software

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC is currently the best 600-series chip from Qualcomm and should help Galaxy A70 stand out in the one area where A50 didn’t outright impress.

Samsung-Galaxy-A70-Review-with-pros-and-cons-india

Samsung has paired 2GHz octa-core chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. There is a dedicated microSD card slot that can hold additional 512GB storage. We wouldn’t say that Samsung is being generous with performance hardware, but there is enough muscle for smooth performance and to justify the price.

One can argue that Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with the same Snapdragon 675 SoC at almost half the price. Well, you won’t we completely wrong, but the Galaxy A70 is still way ahead when it comes to real-world performance.

Samsung Galaxy A70 vs Redmi Note 7 Pro storage speed

As compared to the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Galaxy A70 feels much faster. The difference in performance could be attributed to better-optimized software and nearly storage speeds. In a synthetic storage speed test, we found storage of Galaxy A70 to be twice as faster than the Redmi 7 Pro.

Day-to-day usage is absolutely smooth. The Galaxy A70 manages to handle popular games like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends without any hiccups. We tested these games in high setting and our experience was smooth and stutter-free. Also, the Galaxy A70 is better at heat dissipation than the Note 7 Pro.

As for the software, the Galaxy A70 Samsung ships it with OneUI which is based on Android 9.0 Pie. If you have used Samsung’s previous Experience UI you will find the new One UI to be refreshing. It is smooth and user-friendly skin and is actually one of our personal favorites. The Galaxy A70 is also the first A-series phone in India this year to get the full version of Samsung Pay. The only issue we had with the software was the presence of bloatware most of which can be removed or uninstalled.

Overall, we are quite happy with the software and performance of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy A70 Benchmark Scores

Benchmark TestScores
AnTuTu172439
Geekbench 4 Single-core2322
Geekbench 4 Multi-core6502
3D mark Sling Shot1784

Samsung Galaxy A70 Review: Battery and Sound

Another thing that needs to be applauded here is the mammoth 4,500mAh battery which has been performing well. To refill, it gets a 25W fast-charger which is the fastest charger Samsung has bundled on A-series  (or any other series) till date. It manages to last my entire day with about 15 percent left in the tank.

The Samsung Galaxy A70 also scores well in audio thanks to Dolby Atmos support. It offers immersive experience while playing via earphones. Unfortunately same can’t be said for the mono speaker.

Samsung Galaxy A70 Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

The Samsung Galaxy A70 makes a good case for multimedia consumption and strikes the right balance of capable hardware and user-friendly software. It can handle demanding games, offers great battery life, has super-fast charging, and the full version of Samsung Pay that lets you go card free.

On the downside, the camera is versatile but you will miss a dedicated night mode.

In this price segment, the Vivo V15 Pro (review), Oppo F11 Pro (review) are the only few viable options introduced this year, and in light of these the Samsung Galaxy A70 at Rs 28,990 does make sense.

The AMOLED expertise, refreshing One UI software, and neat design give the new 2019 Samsung an unprecedented advantage in the lower and middle order, and these are attributes that Chinese competition simply can’t one up.

But for consumers who put much faith in specs, the best of last year like Nokia 8.1, Asus Zenfone 5Z, and Poco F1 (review) are still viable challengers, and recently launched phones like Realme X and Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro could also prove tough to beat.

Pros 

  • Good AMOLED display
  • Excellent battery life
  • Design
  • One UI
  • Samsung Pay
  • Super-fast charging

Cons

  • Low light camera performance
  • No OIS or EIS
  • Loudspeaker isn’t loud enough
  • Inconsistent and slow fingerprint sensor

 

Deepak RajawatDeepak Rajawat
Experienced technology journalist with over 7-years of experience. Before embracing online journalism, he has worked with several legacy publications including print editions at Hindustan Times and The Statesman. He also has a keen interest in Sports, which he used to cover with equal enthusiasm in his early career.

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