Samsung continues to focus on the mid-range mobile market alongside the flagship market. The company showed off a new, striking mid-range phone at CES 2020 – the Samsung Galaxy A71. It believes that the phone will supply customers with everything they want – long battery life, plenty of cameras, and a large screen. The sleek design and the excellent specifications leave critics with no doubts that the phone is targeted towards a younger audience that spends a lot of time online – consuming and creating high volumes of video content.
The successful relaunch of the Samsung Galaxy A series in 2019, where the Galaxy A40 became the line’s best-seller in the UK and Europe, has given the company the confidence to double-down. The Galaxy A71 sits towards the top of the range – nudging in just behind the newly launched Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite. The screen, camera, battery combo makes the phone seem like a good deal, but how does it all come together?
In this post, we’ll review the Samsung Galaxy A71.
Samsung Galaxy A71 Release Date
The Samsung Galaxy A71 will release in early February, but no specific date has been announced. However, it seems like the phone will be on sale before the Galaxy S20 launch, which is scheduled to take place on February 11.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy A71’s design is all about the huge, 6.7-inch display. The display dominates the front of the handset, but the bezels are minimal, and the phone fits in hand better than you’d imagine. It features the Samsung Infinity-O screen technology. It’s not an entirely new style of screen, and we’ve seen it on previous devices from the firm. You will get a punch-hole camera design, with the camera at the top of the display. The camera sits in the notification bar, keeping it out of the way nicely – so not to intrude on general usage.
One discrepancy is that the front-facing camera on the Galaxy A71 takes up more space than the camera on the cheaper Galaxy A51 – even though they have the same lens! The larger camera cut out is down to the fact that the Galaxy A71 uses a Super AMOLED Plus panel (the Galaxy A51 uses the regular Super AMOLED panel). The Super AMOLED Plus panel is thinner and lighter, but the trade-off is the camera cut-out, which needs to be a little larger. It’s not intrusive and does not affect the look or operation of the phone, but it’s a shame that Samsung couldn’t get a smaller camera cut-out for this phone too.
Design
The Galaxy A71 measures 163.6x76x7.7mm and weighs a decent 179g, which makes it relatively manageable to use. If you have smaller hands, you will still find it pretty massive, and stretching your thumb to the top of the screen is a struggle – especially during one-handed use. On the right side of the phone, you will find an easy-to-reach power button and volume keys. On the bottom, there’s a headphone jack, next to the 25W fast-charging USB-C port. The back looks stunning – Samsung has developed a new prism effect design for the rear of its latest A-series devices (the A51 and A71). The design gives the phone more character and makes it recognizable. You will be able to find the Galaxy A71 in a range of colours, including silver, black, blue, and pink.
Shifting the focus back to the display, it’s 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus panel delivers a bright, colourful punch. The screen has a Full HD+ resolution (1080 x 2400), which makes for a high level of detail on-screen. You can watch Netflix comfortably on this phone. There’s a fingerprint scanner embedded into the display, and users also have the option to use face recognition to unlock the phone.
Camera And Battery
One of the most significant selling points for any Samsung phone is the camera – and the A71 has plenty of them. The front-facing, 32MP camera produces high-quality shots, even in lousy lighting conditions. The selfie camera will satisfy selfie fans. On the rear, the Galaxy A71 packs four cameras. The primary sensor is a 64MP, f/1.8 sensor that captures super vibrant and detailed images. The 12MP, 123-degree ultra-wide camera enables you to fit more of your surroundings into a shot by tapping an icon on the screen. You also get a 5MP macro and two 5MP depth cameras for your close-up shots and background blurring effects (which Samsung calls Live Focus).
The phone supplies a fully-featured camera experience, with many flagship camera modes and other additional features. The Samsung Galaxy A71 is a bit of a star when it comes to battery life. The company has squeezed a sizable 4,500mAh battery into the handset, which makes the battery bigger than the battery in the Galaxy Note 10 Plus (4,300mAh) and the Galaxy S10 Plus (4,100mAh). As of now, there’s no telling how long it will last on a single charge; however, fans are hoping that they’ll be able to get close to two full days of use before needing to charge the phone.
Performance And Specs
The Samsung Galaxy A71 is powerful – it comes with an octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM. Some regions will also get an 8GB variant. The device runs Android 10 out of the box, and the UI feels fluid and fast. You also get 128GB of internal storage, which is more than enough for many. If you do run out of space, though, the Galaxy A71 also has a MicroSD card slot that supports memory cards up to 512GB in size.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy A71 has a lot going for it, from the large, vibrant screen and power to the massive battery and feature-packed cameras. At the attractive price point, the phone looks like it is using the winning formula and will put Samsung back on top in the mid-range smartphone segment.
