Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: A powerful device under 45k?

Samsung has launched its next in the mid-range series with the Galaxy A73 5G. It comes with Snapdragon 778G chipset, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and a quad-camera rear setup and is priced at under 45, 000 but is it worth considering? Read on to find out.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: Design

Samsung Galaxy A73 looks beautiful at first glance. The polycarbonate-made device looks and feels premium in hand. We have the Mint color variant with us which looks beautiful from every angle. Samsung has given a metallic finish to the side rail to further make it appealing to the eye. The rear panel has a matte finish ensuring it doesn’t get smudged that easily.

The right edge of the phone has volume rockers and a power button whereas the left edge is left idle. . My fingers could reach up to the volume rockers and power button easily, but the device did need to be operated with both hands at times. The bottom edge has a microphone, Type-C charging port, and speaker grille whereas the top edge has a 2^nd microphone and hybrid SIM tray.

At the back of the device, you will spot a quad-camera setup with an LED light sitting at the slight pedestal. The rectangular camera module seems to be merging well with the back panel. The bottom side has Samsung branding.

Although the design of the smartphone looks pretty simple, the device gives a premium feel when held in hand. The front is dominated by a 6.7-inch display which doesn’t have pre-applied protection on top. The AMOLED panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 which can handle minor scratches and mishandling.

For unlocking the device, you will find an in-display fingerprint sensor which is very quick. As soon as you unlock, the device, you see the display screen.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: Display

Galaxy A73 has a 6.7-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Whether it is scrolling social media apps like Instagram or watching content on Netflix, the screen shows good colors and details. The display is huge and bezels are very thin along with HDR support that makes watching content even more fun.

The display has a peak brightness level of 800 nits which makes it visible even under direct sunlight. The device comes with 2 screen modes out of which, the Vivid mode gives very vibrant and cheerful colors. The Natural Mode gives the closest replication of the natural colors. The refresh rate also has 60Hz and 120Hz options, out of which I used mostly on 120Hz. When you opt for the 120hz option, it will stay at 120Hz even if you are watching 24fps content.

Coming to the audio, the phone has a single speaker at the bottom that is very loud and clear. The speakers on offer here can fill a room that makes it worthy enough for content consumption.  

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: Performance

Samsung Galaxy A73 has been launched at a time when its octa-core Snapdragon 778G chipset seems rather outdated but the processor based on 6nm fabrication gives reliable performance. Paired up with Adreno 642L GPU, 8GB RAM, and 128/256GB memory, the device gives seamless web surfing, social media surfing, multi-tasking, video playback, and more. There are no lags or stutters while performing any of these activities.

We performed a CPU throttle test on the device, during which it did warm up a little, but considering that it is summertime, there is nothing to worry about here.

Not all smartphones are meant for gaming, and the Galaxy A73 is also not specifically made for gaming. However, you can play some light games on it. Heavy games like Asphalt 9 tend to throttle the CPU. If you are a simple lifestyle user, this smartphone will work for you.

To test the performance of the device, we ran some benchmark tests on it. Here are the results-

If we talk about the software, Galaxy A73 runs the latest Android 12 version with Samsung One UI 4.1 skin on top. The smartphone supports fast internet speeds, and has a clean UI but loads of bloatware too. There are quite a few third-party apps that are pre-installed like Josh, MX Takatak, Dailyhunt, Moj, Snapchat, PhonePe, Prime Video, and more, but these can be uninstalled if you don’t need them.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: Camera

Let’s talk about the camera department now. Galaxy A73 sports a 108MP main camera sensor with f/1.8 aperture and OIS. The camera clicks good pictures with decent colors, detailing, and dynamic range.

The colors in the photos clicked mostly remain natural, which is likable. Our review camera samples turned out sharp with adequate images details. In low light, the main lens clicks more or less good images, although details take a slight hit in night images.

The second lens is the 12MP ultrawide sensor. The ultra-wide lens gives a large FOV and decent images but the image details are nowhere close to the main rear camera. The smartphone also has 5MP macro and 5MP depth sensors.

The camera has super slow-motion, slow-motion, Food, Panorama, Pro, Single take, and portrait modes as well.

Upfront, Samsung has packed the Galaxy A73 with a 32MP camera for selfies. The selfie camera manages to click some really good pictures for us. In natural light, selfies have excellent details.  Like most cameras, it also suffers image deterioration in low light.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review: Battery

Galaxy A73 packs a 5000mAh battery which offers excellent battery life. The phone supports 25W fast charging which takes more than 2 hours to charge completely. Once fully charged, its battery does not drain quickly out even after heavy usage. If you are a moderate user, then the battery will easily last for more than 1.5 days. Setting the refresh rate at 60Hz makes sure the battery lasts for almost 2 days.

There is no charger inside the box and the given cable has a USB Type-C port at both ends. So, if you have a new charger, this cable might work with it otherwise you will have to purchase a new charger. Any old charger which has a Type-C port at any end can also be used.

Review verdict: Should you buy Samsung Galaxy A73 5G?

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G is a good mid-range smartphone. Within a budget of Rs. 42,000, you get a good 108MP main camera sensor, excellent AMOLED screen, and a reliable performer in Snapdragon 778. There’s no scope for complaint in the battery life area also.

Yes, Samsung has priced it slightly exuberantly which means you can expect a price cut in the next couple of months. The lack of bundled charger is also one of the major shortcomings of the phone. If you can ignore these small shortcomings, then you can seriously think about buying this device from Samsung.