Samsung launched Galaxy A03 last month with a price tag of only Tk11,999 for 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM version.
Another 4/64GB version of the smartphone is available at Tk13,999.
With this low of a price, how well does the smartphone perform and who is this smartphone for? Let’s find out.
Aesthetic
The smartphone looks and feels surprisingly well for its price. The back is made up of fingerprint-resistant plastic and the extra layer offers a comfortable grip.
Weighing only 196 grams, the phone is 9.1 mm thick. Keep in mind that they managed to put a massive 5,000 mAh battery inside this smartphone.
The phone also has a full display front with little to no bezel on both sides. The lower bezel is a bit visible though.
Performance
The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Unisoc Tiger T610 chipset. According to nanoreview, it scores 192,354 in the AnTuTu benchmark. We compared this chipset with MediaTek Helio G35, which is also an entry-level chipset.
In comparison, it performs way better than Helio G35 in CPU and Gaming performance. The only place where it lagged behind G35 by a little was battery consumption.
Some smartphones with Helio G35 chipset inside are Oppo A16, Xiaomi Redmi 9 Activ, Nokia G20, Poco C31, and Realme C20A. Apart from the Realme phone, all are priced higher than Samsung Galaxy A03.
While we don’t recommend playing graphics-intensive games in this chipset, games like PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile will be playable in low to medium graphics settings.
In case the storage seems small, the phone also supports up to 1TB of microSD cards. Although I don’t know who will use a 1TB microSD in a phone that would cost less than the memory stick.
The phone runs in the OneUI Core version, which is a version of OneUI that contains only the main features. Samsung did something good here. By not giving the whole OneUI experience, they automatically saved this smartphone from loads it cannot bear.
Camera
The phone has a dual-camera setup on the back including a 48 MP wide primary camera and a 2MP depth camera. In front, it has a 5MP selfie camera.
The camera performance was what one would expect at this price. Keep in mind that this is not a smartphone that will offer social media ready selfies or photos.
All three cameras work, and they capture some doable images as long as there are enough lights. The back camera can also capture portrait images, which looks really good.
You will be satisfied with the camera performance as long as you don’t zoom in.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A03 has a 6.5 inches PLS LCD display. PLS is produced by Samsung, and they claim that PLS panels have better viewing angles, a 10% increase in brightness, a 15% decrease in production costs, increased image quality, and allow for flexible panels compared to IPS panels.
The display resolution is 720 x 1600 pixels with a 20:9 ratio. The lower display resolution will surely help the battery of the smartphone to survive longer.
The display is not bad in general. For this price, it is definitely good and better than expected.
Battery
The smartphone has a massive 5,000 mAh battery inside. With the chipset and display resolution, the battery gives at least eight hours of screen on time (SoT), which should be more than enough to be used for two days straight for most users.
Who is this device for?
If someone is entering the smartphone segment for the first time, this phone can be a good choice. If someone wants a secondary device besides an expensive one, it is still a good choice.
If you have an elderly at your home who needs a device for video calls and some basic photo capturing capability, you can give one of these to him/her.
Final verdict
As mentioned earlier, there are a good amount of usage scenarios and customer bases for this smartphone. This is a phone that’s very cheap and also comes with Samsung’s brand name.
This brand value, paired with the lower price will help this smartphone sell lots of its units. People trust Samsung for its reliability and that trust will have an impact on their judgment when they look at this device.