Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review: Expensive, but actually AMAZING

Great screen, great camera, long battery life – these words are part of one of the scariest smartphone commercials that has ever existed, but they have always defined the Galaxy A7X series of phones perfectly. Over the last few years, the Galaxy A70, A71 A72 and now the A73 have come to define what Samsung’s Galaxy A series is all about. The recipe is simple – give buyers all the fine stuff without compromising on the Galaxy S Series devices at all costs. This year, however, that is not the case.

This is because the Galaxy A73 ends up being the more tempting choice than the next current generation of the Galaxy S series – the Galaxy S21 FE. The S21 FE is a good phone, but in the real world, the Galaxy A73 performs better for most users with its theoretically inferior specifications. The basic variant with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage space for Rs. 41,999 gives the best value, and in the “Awesome Mint” shade it is actually beautiful.

Should you buy it then, especially when technically superior phones like iQOO 9 and Xiaomi 11T Pro are available at similar prices? Time to find out.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G design

The Galaxy A series in 2022 has been more in line with its design than ever for its advanced models. The A73 has no defining elements that make you go “wow!” but it is still a nice design. It is in some ways cross-border if you get it in the black color variant. And as soon as you hold it, the plastic unibody construction immediately lowers the desirability quotient a few notches. iQOO 9 for the same price gives you the luxury of a glass-metal combination, while Oppo and Vivo phones at the same price play with special color-changing materials. Are you playing for sure, Samsung?

While the feel of the hand is not great, the phone is well-built and comfortable to use. Not a one-handed phone though, given the box-shaped dimensions, the 6.7-inch real estate makes it feel larger than it actually is. And while you miss glass and metal, you get IP67 certification of water and dust resistance, which goes a long way to ensuring reliability. No case in the box, as usual, nor any charger.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G screen

As the A73 is the best in the Galaxy A series, it also gets the prettiest screen. With its 6.7 inches, it is the largest and the Super AMOLED Plus panel is beautiful to look at. In typical Samsung fashion, it is set for brighter and more vibrant colors. With a refresh rate of 120 Hz, the A73 looks smoother to the eye, making scrolling and other animations seem smoother. Note that 120Hz mode drains the battery faster and without variable refresh rate technology here, there is not much you can do other than stick to 60Hz. The on-screen fingerprint sensor is fast for an optical sensor.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G performance

This is where the controversial comes into play. Samsung comes from Galaxy A72 and has not upgraded the chipset in this one – you still get the year old Snapdragon 778G chip here. Not that this is a slow chip by any means, but the semiconductor industry has several cheap, yet powerful chips to offer (MediaTek Dimensity 1200, Snapdragon 870, etc.), and Samsung could have chosen one of these older chips to justify a upgrade. Given the five years of software support, I’m wondering how the Snapdragon 778G will fare in a year or two.

Nevertheless, unlike its Exynos rivals, the Snapdragon 778G is a great chip at the moment and is well optimized for performance and power efficiency. With One UI 4.1 based on Android 12, the Galaxy A73 is tuned to get the most out of it, keeping everyday tasks fast. Whether it’s open the Chrome browser or Instagram, the Galaxy A73 can handle it all as a charm. While this is not meant to be a gamer’s choice, I threw myself around with short sessions of Call of Duty: Mobile and Shadow Fight 4: Legends; which both played fine on the high settings with high frame rates.

The One UI 4.1 software interface is among the most polished Android interactions you can find in this category, apart from Motorola’s MyUX skin. Each side is baked with convenience that you easily get used to. The integration with Microsoft and Google apps is excellent, and some of the extras stored in the settings are actually useful (such as the sidebar or the ability to stream audio output on multiple devices at once. I did not find any UI error , which is unusual for a new phone these days.The only annoyance comes in the form of some preloaded third-party “bloat” apps, and the setup process desperately wants you to install apps from the Galaxy Store.It seems a bit unnecessary Samsung, the price taken in consideration!

The sound quality out of the stereo speaker setup is good and loud enough, but not even near as close as the speakers on the Xiaomi 11T Pro. There is also no headphone jack present here.

Thanks to the Snapdragon 778G, the phone provides support for 5G connectivity, making it future-ready. Right now, however, the Galaxy A73 5G offered a rock solid network performance on Jios 4G networks and also managed to lock onto the network in difficult areas. The call quality is great and with the Samsung dialer app you can record calls without notifying the other person.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G cameras

This is where the Galaxy A73 5G shines. With its new 108 MP main camera and some smart adjustments, the Galaxy A73 does a fantastic job with the dynamic range, details, color accuracy, exposure and noise reduction. Whether in daylight or indoors, the camera takes consistently brighter images with generous texture details and good exposure control. And with human portraits, the edge recognition is excellent, and there is minimal to insignificant loss of detail in face details. Even at night, you get class-leading images with well-controlled exposure, good noise reduction and brighter overall images.

However, do not assume that the 108 MP camera matches that of the S22 Ultra – there is a noticeable loss in detail when compared side by side. But for a phone under Rs. 50,000, the Galaxy A73 with its primary camera performance has made us impressed.

See some camera examples here.

The same can be said about the 8MP ultra-wide, which also impressed us with good color reproduction and details. The 5 MP macro camera is also decent as long as there is sunlight; it can not match the 5MP macro camera on Xiaomi 11T Pro. Video recording performance is good, but not as great as iPhone SE – you can only record up to 4K at 30 fps. There is OIS, but the stability is not of the highest quality we have seen on a phone in this price range. This is good enough for casual video recording purposes, but not for content creators.

The 32 MP front camera brings it back on track, with bright and natural looking selfies with lots of facial details. Selfies do not look as natural as on the iPhone SE 2022, but most of you would happily skip the manual editing over to social media.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G battery life

With its 5000mAh battery, the Galaxy A73 usually lasts an entire day with an average of 30-40 percent charge left over. Note that this scenario was possible without hour-long game sessions and no video binging. Under the most generic circumstances, you can easily get a full day out of the Galaxy A73’s battery. There is support for 25W fast wired charging, and if you get the compatible charger, wait for almost 1.5 hours for the battery to be charged from below 10 percent. This is painfully slow compared to the 20-minute charging heroes from iQOO and Xiaomi.

Dom

The Samsung Galaxy A73 5G with all its pros and cons has made us surprisingly impressed! Unlike the Galaxy A53 5G, this one works as expected under normal circumstances. Despite sticking to the Snapdragon 778G for another year, the A73 remains fast and smooth. The good camera performance then adds to its appeal and so does the lively screen. The rest of it is on par with the competition, but there is certainly room for Samsung to show that it can do better. For someone just looking for a sleek Android phone, the Galaxy A73 ends up being an easy recommendation.

And when you look at the Apple iPhone SE 2022 in the same price range, the Galaxy A73 with its very superior screen, longer battery life and versatile cameras ends up appealing more to the eyes. With 4 years of OS and 5 years of security support, it is also a good argument for longevity.

The worries arise as a result of the competition it faces from its Android brethren. At similar or lower prices, smartphones like the iQOO 9 5G, Oppo Reno 7 Pro 5G, Vivo V23 Pro 5G and Xiaomi 11T Pro are far superior in most ways. Alone in terms of hardcore specifications, these phones leave the Galaxy A73 5G biting in the dust. With 20 minutes of full charge, true flagship performance and slightly better cameras, the iQOO 9 and Xiaomi 11T Pro will always be the popular choices. In fact, the Oppo Reno 7 Pro is not sloppy with its cameras either and can make the A73 bite its nails.

So why? Why Galaxy A73 for Rs. 41,999? The simple answer is its quality user experience that comes right out of the box. This One UI software delivers a healthy smartphone experience comparable to iPhones most of the time. And when you look at it as a package, the Galaxy A73 5G does not set a foot wrong. It may not have the muscles for direct bragging, but it is the most sensible purchase for those who want a no-nonsense smartphone. Try it before you settle for one of these flagship killers.