Samsung Galaxy A2 Core Review: Easy on the wallet!

A few years back, we can only find bar phones and features phones at the entry-level price. But these days we can see some decent phones in the market available under $100 price mark. And I was always suspicious regarding such phones since we can see manufacturers making a ton of compromises to keep the prices low. But how different is the Samsung entry-level Galaxy A2 Core from the rest? And how good of a performer is it when it comes to real-life use? Let’s find out in this Samsung Galaxy A2 Core review.

Samsung Galaxy A2 Core specifications

• 5-inch (540 x 960 pixels) qHD TFT display
• 1.6GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor with Mali T830 GPU
• 1GB RAM, 16GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
• Android 9.0 Pie (Go edition)
• Dual SIM
• 5MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture
• 5MP Front-facing camera
• Dimensions:141.6 x 71 x 9.1mm; Weight: 142g
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS
• 2600mAh battery
• Price: Rs. 9,390 Rs. 8,999

Design

On the side, the handset looks vaguely similar to the last year’s J2 Core. The plastic material on the back and thick bezels on the front with the Samsung branding on the chin is barely distinguishable. But what sets the A2 core apart is its glossy plastic back, which is non-removable this time. And since most of the entry-level devices come with the dull and cheap looking plastic material, the glossy finishing here has made the device somewhat elegant than the rest. With glossy back, phones are usually slippery and they fall from the hands quite often. But that’s not the case here. The phone comes in small size and it rests comfortably on the hand. That’s why the device never slipped through my hands on the normal use. But the thing I am not convinced about is the navigation buttons. Despite having a thick chin on the button, Samsung has included the navigation button on to the screen. I think Samsung could’ve done better than that.

Display

When it comes to the display, Samsung has employed a 5-inch qHD IPS panel here. Not the Quad-HD like the Galaxy S10 and S10+ but a quarter-HD, which is less sharp than the HD display. So you can’t quite find crispy details on its screen. Redmi Go has implemented HD resolution on its screen so I expected the same from Samsung. But that’s not the case here. But since it’s an entry-level device, we cannot really complain much about that, can we? And talking about the brightness, you might have to struggle a little in the scorching sunlight but most of the time, the screen is legible. But since the device doesn’t have an ambient light sensor, users have to adjust the display brightness manually on time and often.

Camera

Now let’s talk about the camera. The phone comes with a 5MP camera on both the front and on the back. When it comes to the image quality, I found the rear camera surprisingly good for its price. Colors look good and the images have a good amount of details in the good light. Focusing can get tricky here though. So have to keep your hands steady while capturing the images. Also, dynamic range is not something to fuss about in an entry-level segment but if I had to speak about it, I would say it’s not that great here. Shadow details are completely crushed, so you have to manage with the details of the highlights only. When it comes to the low light, the images look mushy and have quite a lot of noise on them. So they are mostly unusable. Talking about the selfie camera, it’s decent and does the job well most of the time. In ample light, the selfies look good with a decent amount of details. But in artificial light and low light condition, selfies look soft with the missing facial details. I don’t know if it’s really that important, but the phone also has a beauty mode. On the videography side, both the cameras are capable of capturing 1080p videos at max. For high res images, click here.

Performance & Software

The phone comes with Android Go version of the Android Oreo. With the Android Go on the board, you can see the Go or the Lite version of apps as well like the Gmail Go, Files Go, YouTube Go and so on. When it comes to the performance part, the A2 Core really nails it on the entry-level segment. It comes with Exynos 7870 chipset and has 1GB of RAM under the hood. Since the Android Go is really optimized, the phone does well even with 1GB RAM. And with the Exynos 7870 chipset on the board, it handles most of the workloads pretty fluidly. I couldn’t play PUBG and Asphalt 9 but when I played some heavy titles like the Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8, I didn’t face any major lags or stutters. On the storage side of things, the phone rocks with a 16GB of onboard memory. It also comes with a dedicated SD card slot for memory expansion. With more storage, the A2 Core seriously has an edge over the Redmi Go. And I was also quite happy with this generosity on a Samsung phone.

Battery

Now the battery. The phone comes with a 2600mAh battery, which is not much according to the recent standards. But given the low-res display and the power-efficient chipset, the phone provides a good endurance. On my use, the phone always backed me up for more than a day on the normal use. At the end of the day, I was always left with 35% or more charge left on the phone. Standby backup is also pretty good here. So you have nothing worry here. But I cannot say the same when it comes to charging the device. The phone comes with a 3.5-watt charger on the box, which you can already guess takes a significant time to charge the device.

Conclusion

So the Samsung Galaxy A2 Core is a great phone with amazing performance, a good amount of storage, good design for its price and obviously it’s budget-friendly price. It goes super easy on the wallet and does most of the job really good. I would have loved to see an HD display and a faster charger but I think that’s some cutdowns Samsung made to keep the price low. And that sort of downsides are usually evident on the entry-level devices. So if you are thinking of buying an entry-level smartphone for your old folks or even for yourself, you can't go wrong with the A2 Core.

Pros and Cons of Samsung Galaxy A2 Core