Preserve your expectations low for this low cost smartphone, and it may be simply what you want

By Melanie Pinola

Most telephones as of late value $500 or extra. That’s a very good chunk of change if all you need is a telephone that may make calls, ship textual content messages, and snap images to ship to family and friends.

In case you don’t place excessive calls for in your telephone, the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A03s would possibly provide all you want, and you will get it at a rock-bottom worth. It retails for $160, and you will get it for as little as $50 from pay as you go cellphone carriers similar to Enhance Cell. Fifty bucks!

So what’s the catch? The Galaxy A03s ranks close to the underside of CR’s smartphone scores. Different telephones outperform it on digital camera picture high quality (rear picture, video, and selfie), and CR’s testers say the telephone is sluggish. I discovered that to be the case over the few days I used the Galaxy A03s—it’s the slowest telephone I’ve utilized in latest reminiscence, taking a second or two to do issues like convey up the onscreen keyboard or swap between apps. Additionally, this telephone doesn’t help 5G.

On the plus aspect, the telephone has an extended battery life, lasting 39 hours on one cost in our labs. And regardless of its low worth and plastic construct, the Samsung Galaxy A03s survived our powerful sturdiness testing.

Samsung Galaxy A03s (2022)

Notable Options

• Battery: The massive 5000mAh battery can final practically two days. The telephone doesn’t have quick charging, nonetheless.

• Expandable storage: The Samsung Galaxy A03s comes with simply 32 gigabytes of inside storage, which is small by at present’s requirements, however you may add extra storage through the microSD card slot. That’s a function many dearer telephones have deserted.

• Headphone jack: Choose wired headphones to wi-fi ones? This is likely one of the few telephones out there at present with a headphone jack.

How Properly Does the Samsung Galaxy A03s Work?

That is the least costly telephone in Samsung’s Galaxy collection, so you may anticipate some compromises. The 6.5-inch show is an LCD, relatively than the sharper and higher-quality OLED screens present in dearer telephones. I discovered it troublesome to observe movies outside in direct daylight, though the display screen was completely tremendous indoors and CR testers give it a Truthful ranking.

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The Samsung Galaxy A03s additionally has solely 3 gigabytes of reminiscence, whereas different telephones have 6GB or extra. That low RAM and an outdated processor that was launched in 2018 are accountable for the telephone’s comparatively gradual efficiency. In case you’re used to prompt responsiveness from a telephone’s touchscreen, you’re prone to discover the lag on this telephone. It might not be a deal breaker—that’s as much as you. However you do want a little bit of endurance while you’re tapping by menus.

I performed a number of video games on the Galaxy A03s, as a result of video video games typically push gadgets to their limits. The telephone carried out tremendous with 2D puzzle video games and 3D technique video games, however it crashed a number of occasions making an attempt to run the intensive and resource-demanding Genshin Impression recreation.

The cameras on the telephone are “adequate,” in line with our testers. There’s a 13-megapixel most important rear digital camera, a 2-megapixel depth sensor (which aids the principle digital camera for blurring the background to create bokeh results), and a 5-megapixel entrance digital camera. The fast images I took regarded adequate to share in a bunch chat or on social media, however the colours had been a bit off. For instance, I took a snapshot of a stuffed animal that’s the colour of blue painter’s tape or a plastic recycling bin and it turned out a light-weight, pastel blue. Zooming in on the photograph, the sides regarded blurry, so this isn’t a telephone for skilled photographers or individuals who might want enlarged prints. Additionally, there’s no picture stabilization, so movies can prove shaky.

I discovered the fingerprint sensor, which is positioned on the facility button on the correct aspect of the telephone, to be unreliable. Once I tried to unlock the telephone with my thumb, the Galaxy A03s typically instructed me it couldn’t discover a matching fingerprint and to strive once more. After a number of makes an attempt, making an attempt totally different angles, the telephone shut down the fingerprint choice and made me enter my password, defeating the entire goal.

The plastic chassis has a little bit of a flex to it, which makes me ponder whether the Galaxy A03s might be a contender for a kind of YouTube movies the place somebody breaks a telephone in half with their naked palms. (I didn’t check this.) Regardless that it’s a cheap gadget, you’ll in all probability need to put it in a sturdy case.

Who Is the Samsung Galaxy A03s For?

Regardless of all its negatives, the Galaxy A03s would make an important starter telephone for a young person or maybe somebody who travels typically and prioritizes lengthy battery life over every part else.

In case you’re prepared to sacrifice high efficiency for the financial savings, the Galaxy A03s may be for you. It delivers on all of the fundamentals and is the lowest-priced telephone in our scores.

How Client Experiences Checks Smartphones

There are practically 50 smartphones in our scores, with new fashions added frequently all year long when producers launch them. As with all of the merchandise we check, CR buys the telephones at retail to make sure we’re getting the identical gadget you’ll.

Our specialists run a collection of exams to guage issues just like the telephone’s contact responsiveness, how lengthy the battery lasts, the colour accuracy and readability of the display screen, the picture high quality from the cameras below a number of lighting circumstances, and, if it’s rated for water resistance, whether or not the gadget survives a very good dunk. We even topic telephones to a glass check, during which we drop the telephone 100 occasions to check its sturdiness.

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Client Experiences is an impartial, nonprofit group that works aspect by aspect with shoppers to create a fairer, safer, and more healthy world. CR doesn’t endorse services or products, and doesn’t settle for promoting. Copyright © 2022, Client Experiences, Inc.