Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Samsung Galaxy A72 Hands-On

With the launch of the latest Galaxy A52 and A52 5G, Samsung also unveiled a third member for their latest mid-range lineup, the Galaxy A72. It’s slightly bigger, has a larger battery capacity, and comes with extra camera tricks up its sleeve. Now we’re gonna checking this out, give it a quick look and see give some first impressions, so without further delay, let’s get right into it.

Now what we like about this phone off the bat is how it looks very eye-catching but at the same time still keeps a very subtle design. The rear panel features what Samsung calls a ‘matte haze finish’ and is quite a nice texture to brush your fingers on. And because of that, it also keeps clean from fingerprints and smudges, which keeps the device looking fresh. Speaking of fresh, we’re getting 4 color variants for this one: Awesome White, Awesome Black, Awesome Blue, and Awesome Violet.

Of course, the highlight here would also be the camera module, along with the LED flash is located on the top left side. It has these nice tapered edges to give it a softer look, and the camera bump is also nice and shallow.

The frame has a shiny metallic band accent and compliments the neutral colorways of the device. If you look at the right side, we have your power/sleep button along with your volume rocker keys right above. It comes in the same metallic finish, while on the left side, it is nice and flush with nothing in this area.

At the top, here’s where you’ll find a hybrid sim tray slot and secondary microphone, while over at the bottom is your Type-C charging port, primary microphone, loudspeaker, and thankfully we still get the 3.5mm audio jack onboard.

The Galaxy A72 is also IP67 rated, so it does have water and dust resistance capabilities. Although not completely waterproof, this means it can handle being submerged up to 1.0m for 30 minutes. So it’s safe to say you can take this to the shower with you.

The front panel sports a 6.7-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080) Infinity-O Super AMOLED display coupled with Corning Gorilla Glass for protection. And unlike its predecessor, the Galaxy A71, this time, we’re getting a refresh rate of 90Hz. Apart from a smoother experience, it also has automatic refresh rate optimization to minimize battery consumption. The screen can also go up to a total brightness of a surprising 800nits, something that is mostly seen in flagship devices.

It has some relatively thin bezels, with the bottom being thicker by just a slight amount. The front camera has a punch-hole design in the middle and up top, where the speaker’s earpiece can be found. The A57 also comes with stereo speakers for a better listening experience.

For cameras, we’re getting a quad setup at the rear. Specifically a 12MP ultrawide, a 64MP main, an 8MP telephoto lens, and the smallest one being the 5MP Macro shooter right above the LED Flash, while on the front, you can find the 32MP selfie shooter. The main shooter also comes with OIS built-in, while the telephoto lens features 3X Optical zoom with up to 30x Space Zoom. Video recording is capable of 4K resolution format and can snap high-quality 8MP photos at the same time. The 30 scene optimizers automatically change according to what you’re shooting for the best result. We can’t wait to get some sample shots on this device, so stay tuned for our full review.

Running the software department is Android 11 skinned with Samsung’s latest One UI 3.0. It’s got a more minimal and refreshed design, has more customizability, and gives a more holistic experience across the whole Samsung Galaxy ecosystem. So if you have something like the Galaxy Earbuds or maybe a Galaxy Smartwatch, you’re going to want to compliment that with something like this phone.

Powering the Samsung Galaxy A72 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G with an Adreno 618 GPU. It also packs in 8GB of RAM and has an internal storage capacity of up to a sizable 256GB, while the expandable MicroSD card slot is capable of handling up to 1TB of external storage.

When it comes to the battery, we have a capacity of 5,000mAh with 25W fast charging. It also uses Samsung’s adaptive power saving, which helps manage your battery consumption throughout the day. We can’t wait to check out how it fares in our standard video loop test, so stay in the loop for our full review.

The Samsung Galaxy A72 is priced at PHP 23,990 and is already setting itself to be a good option for those looking into a new mid-range phone with a large screen. Pair that with decent battery size, solid cameras, and a relatively affordable price, and you have yourself a pretty good phone.

Samsung Galaxy A72 specs:
6.7-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) Infinity-O Super AMOLED 90Hz display, 394ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass
Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core CPU
Adreno 618 GPU
8GB, LPDDR4X RAM
256GB UFS
Quad-rear cameras:
• 64MP OIS AF F1.8 (main)
• 12MP F2.2 (ultra-wide)
• 8MP OIS AF F2.4 (tele)
• 5MP F2.4 (macro)
32MP F2.2 front camera (punchhole)
Dual-SIM/MicroSD up to 1TB (Hybrid)
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4G+5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD
NFC
GPS (L1+L5 Dual Band), A-GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou
Fingerprint scanner (in-display)
Face Unlock
USB Type-C 2.0-C
Dual Stereo Speakers
Samsung One UI 3.0 (based on Android 11)
5,000 mAh battery (typical) w/ 25W Fast Charging
77.4 x 165 x 8.4mm
203 g
Awesome Violet, Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Blue