Introduction
Samsung Galaxy A6 2018 Review
For the first time ever there is a model 6 in the Samsung’s A series, which resembles the last year’s J5 and this year’s A8. Since this is an A series device it should belong to the upper middle class, and whether it belongs there, stay with us to find out.
The A6 has an aluminum chassis just as the J5, while the camera and fingerprint scanner placements are the same as in this year’s A8. On the back there are the antenna bands that give that distinct Samsung look. Still, this phone didn’t get one of the main characteristics of the A series, water and dust resistance, and it will truly be missed on this device.
Inside the box of the A6, next to the device, there is also: a charging adapter that doesn’t support fast charging, microUSB cable, headphones, user manuals and a SIM tray tool.
Let’s now see what this device has to offer for the price.
Video review
Unboxing
Display
We’re glad to see that Samsung opted for a Super AMOLED display for the A6, but we must say that perhaps this resolution does not deserve this matrix, since it is only FullHD+. The lack of sharpness can sometimes be visible since this phone has a 5.6” display with Samsung signature 18.5:9 aspect ratio.
Visibility on the sunlight is good, but not perfect. Due to the Super AMOLED display, the A6 gives you options to customize colors, and the modes are Adaptive Display, AMOLED cinema, AMOLED photo and Basic.
Hardware and OS
The A6 cannot really boast with its chipset since the Exynos 7870 that powers the device is two years old now. The CPU consists of 8 Cortex A-53 cores clocked at 1.66 GHz, but on the other hand, the CPU is built in a 14nm process meaning that it will be very power efficient. The phone comes in two memory configurations, either 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage or 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is expandable via a microSD card up to 256GB.
At normal day-to-day use, the phone does a very good job, screen transitions and opening applications all work with no lag at all, but its weak chipset and GPU struggle to deliver the framerate that new games demand – Exynos 7870 is just not powerful enough. It’s the same thing in AnTuTu benchmark as well – this phone scored just 63000 points which is, realistically, a low score for a device placed in the upper middle class.
We can really give our praises to the speakers built into this device. It provides very loud, yet very high quality sound.
Another thing that keeps up with the trends is its OS, and of course Samsung A6 runs on Android 8.0 Oreo with Experience UI version 9.0. This UI has a lot of customizable options.
Camera
Galaxy A6 borrowed its cameras from its big brother, the A8 2018. The main shooter in this device is a 16 megapixel sensor with the aperture of f/1.7 while the selfie camera has the same resolution but the aperture of f/1.9. Speaking of the front facing camera, unlike the A8, this device doesn’t have the other 8 megapixel sensor that the A8 has. The A6 however has something different, it has the front facing LED flash which serves its purpose quite well – night time selfies will look much better now!
When it comes to the quality of photos made by the main camera, there’s nothing bad to say about it, since the device is still a mid-ranger. Photos have nice details, colors are vivid and they are not washed up, and HDR mode gives quite nice results on the direct sunlight. All this is in well lit environments, however, in low light conditions the A6 produces only decent photos. There is not too much noise in night shots, but the colors are washed up here. All in all, pretty nice camera results for the middle class.
Video is, once again, captured in only 1080p resolution at 30 fps. FullHD videos at 60 fps are NOT supported, and neither is stabilization. Speaking of maximum resolution and captured videos, they are actually very nice. Missing 4K support is a downside most definitely, but those who only need good FullHD quality will get what they ask for, with a lot of details and very nicely registered colors.
When it comes to the selfie sensor, it will only round up the whole story in the nicest way possible. Selfies have astonishing level of details due to the 16 megapixel sensor. There is also the Selfie Focus mode that will blur the background, however, the phone tends to blur the edges of the face a little bit as well.
Connectivity
On its bottom side, the A6 has a microUSB port used for charging and data transfer. The device we have here is SM–A600FN which has a dual nano SIM card slot. Next to the charging port there is also the good old 3.5mm headphone port, and also supported is NFC. Wireless charging is definitely not supported since the back of the device is made of aluminum.
Wireless connection options are:
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct and HotSpot mode
- Bluetooth v4.2 with A2DP and LE support
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS
- NFC
Supported network frequencies are:
- 2G GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
- 3G WCDMA: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
- 4G LTE: 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 MHz
Battery
Samsung Galaxy A6 has an average sized battery of 3000 mAh. As we’ve said, the battery charges up through a microUSB port, and sadly doesn’t have any sort of fast charging.
Full charge, 0-100% takes about 2 hours, and it provided around 8 hours of Screen On time with brightness set at 60% and Wi-Fi connections active at all times.
Final words
I n the end of the review we must say that we’re left with mixed feelings, but we still think we can find better devices for the price of around 300 euros. Good cameras cannot completely make up for the weak chipset, only HD screen resolution and 2 hours of charging time. If you still think this is the right device for you, a smart choice would be to wait for some time until the price drops a little bit.
Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018) Full Specifications
Do you like the Samsung A6 2018? We’d like to hear your opinion in the comment section below. If you have any suggestions or you would like to see some new devices being reviewed, let us know either here or on our Facebook page. If you liked this review, subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, sit back and relax as we’re working hard on new material for you.