Samsung Galaxy A70 review: Features | Specifications | Pricing

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Samsung has long sold its phone lines on the prestige of its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines, with the mid and budget range offerings covering a bewildering array of "A" and "J" series handsets.

That has changed in 2019, with all of Samsung's less-than-flagship phones coming under the A series banner. The Samsung Galaxy A70 is effectively its mid-range "flagship", but it's one that delivers a surprisingly large range of features that you'll find on its actual flagships at a much more pleasing price.

There's stiff competition in the mid-range from the likes of Google, Huawei and Oppo, but the Galaxy A70 holds its own very nicely, especially if you prefer a larger handset.

Design

• 6.7-inch AMOLED display is a stunner at this price
• Teardrop notch rather than a hole punch
• Fingerprint sensor lacks precision
• Headphone jack still present
• No in-built Bixby button

• Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy A70's design

  Stare at any of the other Galaxy A series phones this year from the front and you might be hard pressed to tell them apart. That's because they're all 6.4-inch phones, but for the mid-range flagship, Samsung's gone a little larger. The Samsung Galaxy A70 features a 6.7-inch 1,080 x 2,400 pixel AMOLED display.

  In the mid-range, it's far more common to see LCD displays, but it's a feature of every A series phone this year, and something that marks the Galaxy A70 out from its similarly priced competition.

  The style of the Galaxy A70 is still very much within Samsung's design playbook, with the inevitable comparison point being the lower-end Galaxy S10e. The big design change there is the lack of an "infinity O" hole punch for the front-facing camera. Instead, you get an "Infinity U" display, which is Samsung's silly marketing way of describing a teardrop notch.

  The Galaxy A70 is a big phone, as any 6.7-inch handset is going to be, and you've got to be sure that you're happy holding that size in your hands. Actual buttons are kept to a minimum, with power and volume buttons on the right-hand side. Fans of wired headphones will find a 3.5mm headphone jack at the base, next to the USB C charging port.

  Notably, there's no dedicated "Bixby" button for Samsung's in-house voice assistant, although it is present in software. I'm not much of a fan of hardware voice assistant buttons on any phone, but if it does fuss you you can opt to make the power button into a Bixby control instead. The choice is up to you.

  The Galaxy A70 brings in-display fingerprint sensors rather solidly into the mid-range, although it's terribly imprecise. Despite registering my fingers and thumbs multiple times, I hit a recognition rate well below 50% when using it. It reminded me of the annoyance of a similarly inefficient fingerprint sensor on the Nokia 9 Pureview, because it really doesn't work that well at all.

  Samsung sells the Galaxy A70 in Australia in either black or white finishes, at least at launch. In other markets there are also "coral" and "blue" versions, but we're not being offered those for now.

  One nice touch here is that a simple plastic case for protection is included in the box, so it's easy to keep it free from scratches.

Camera

• Triple lenses cover standard, wide and depth sensing
• Lacks any kind of night mode shooting
• Wide angle is great for landscape shooting

• See sample photos and read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy A70's camera

  The Galaxy A70 features three rear lenses, although the third of these is simply a 5MP depth sensing lens. That leaves the actual still shooting tasks up to the primary 32MP f/1.7 lens and secondary 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide 123 degree lens. On the front side there's a single 32MP f/2.0 lens for your selfie needs.

  There have been plenty of mid-range phones that technically offer up a dual lens array via packing in a simple depth sensor, but few that actually offer up additional usable lenses. It gives the Samsung Galaxy A70 an edge over much of its competition as long as that wide lens is of use to you. It's decent for group portrait photography, but really comes into its own when you're out and about shooting landscapes.

  As an example, here's a shot I took up in the Blue Mountains using the primary lens:
  

  And then the same shot on the ultrawide lens:
  

  One feature that you don't find on the Samsung Galaxy A70 is any kind of low light "night" mode. While that might feel like a feature reserved for the premium space, it's well worth considering that the Google Pixel 3a sells at exactly the same price point as the Galaxy A70, and it has Google's full "Night Sight" camera on board.

  While low light isn't the Galaxy A70's strongest selling point, it's still a very capable smartphone for photo purposes. It launches quickly, and outside of the lack of night shooting, Samsung's camera app is simple to use for everyday photography.

  The included depth sensor really comes into its own with the inclusion of Samsung's own Live Focus feature, making it easy to blur background details with a simple slider.

  Samsung Galaxy A70 sample photos

  
  
  

Performance

• Snapdragon 675 with 6GB of RAM
• 128GB of onboard storage

• See test results and read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy A70's performance

  The Galaxy A70 stands out from its other A series brethren once you strip away that display screen. That's because the rest of Samsung's A-series phones this year use Samsung's own Exynos processors, a strategy we also see in the Galaxy S10 phones it releases here in Australia. The Galaxy A70, on the other hand, uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor. Without a Galaxy A50 to hand to compare we can't yet say whether it's a big step up in power over its siblings, but we can compare it against other mid-range handsets.

  On the benchmark front, the Galaxy A70 impresses. Here's how it compares using Geekbench 4's CPU test:

  It fares a little less well in 3DMark's Slingshot Extreme, although still within acceptable parameters for a mid-range handset:

  It's still predictably a step below that of the Samsung Galaxy S10e, but then this is a phone that's hundreds of dollars cheaper. In day-to-day use, the Galaxy A70 is responsive in apps, even if its fingerprint sensor isn't. It's the typical expected mix of Android staples and Samsung's own in-house software and Galaxy Apps store. It's very much a matter of taste as to whether you use Samsung's approach or the wider Google one, but you're at least not pestered as much to use the Samsung equivalents as you would on, say, a Huawei or Oppo handset.

  Samsung's take on Android for all of its handsets rests around its new "OneUI" interface, which is bright and cheerful, if a little perplexing if you're coming from a pure Android standpoint. Still, it's easily the best manufacturer-based launcher out there compared to Huawei's bloated EMUI or Oppo's ColorOS.

  Having tested out all of this year's Galaxy S phones, I was expecting the Galaxy A70 to feel very second-rate, because there's always been a pretty wide gulf between Samsung's flagships and its budget phones. However, it's not the case for the Galaxy A70, which was a nippy performer for just about anything I threw at it.

  One feature notably absent from the Galaxy A70 – although not a total shock at this price point – is any kind of water resistance. If you want that, you'll have to up the ante to the price point of the Galaxy S10e.

Battery life

• 4,500mAh battery provides excellent battery life
• No wireless charging, but wired charging is nicely quick

• See test results and read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy A70's battery life

  Mid-range phones often come off worst in battery comparisons. They lack the higher capacity batteries of the flagships, but also the low-power processors of the true budget models. Samsung's attempted to reverse that trend with the Galaxy A70, using all of its 6.7-inch frame to pack in a 4,500mAh battery. Now, to give that some perspective, that's the same battery capacity you'll find in the current absolute flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.

  Despite its large screen, usually a killer for battery life, the Samsung Galaxy A70 delivered excellent battery life, both in day-to-day use and in benchmark terms. Here's how it compares using Geekbench 4's battery test:

  The Geekbench test is a deliberately tough one, because it works on a constant basis, which isn't the way we tend to use phones in reality. However, on a more anecdotal basis, the Galaxy A70 quite easily managed a full day's use in my testing. It's a very pleasing result, because the current crop of actual Galaxy S flagships have dipped in battery tests this year. The Galaxy A70 represents a real return to form for Samsung, and one that's very welcome indeed.

  In keeping with its mid-range status, there's no sign of wireless charging, but Samsung does supply a quick wired charger in the box to top up the Galaxy A70 rapidly.

Verdict

• The best big-screen mid-range phone you can buy right now

• Read our full verdict on the Samsung Galaxy A70

  The Galaxy A70 is a seriously impressive mid-range phone, and it's a very easy recommendation if you're a fan of Samsung's larger phone handsets. However, that's the crux of whether it's the best option in the mid-range space.

  There's plenty of competition out there, and the fact that the Galaxy S10e now has a few months on its clock means we're starting to see more than a few importers selling the low-end model at prices dipping down towards the Galaxy A70's asking price.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP $649

Where to buy

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Specifications

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