The Galaxy A6 is the first mid-range smartphone that Samsung will release this year. The 299 euro device is experiencing fierce competition from good devices from Motorola and Nokia, among others. So the question is: are you better off with the Galaxy A6?
Samsung Galaxy A6
Price € 299,-Colors Black, purple and gold
OS Android 8.0
Screen 5.6 inch OLED (1480 x 720)
Processor 1.6GHz octa-core (Exynos 7 Octa 7870)
RAM 3GB
Storage 32GB (expandable with memory card)
Battery 3000 mAh
Camera 16 megapixel
(rear), 16 megapixel (front)
Connectivity 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC
Format 14.9 x 7.1 x 0.77cm
Weight 188 grams
Other micro usb
Website www.samsung.nl 6 Score 60
- Pros
- Metal housing
- (Am)oled display
- Excellent battery life
- Dual SIM and Micro SD
- Negatives
- no usb-c
- No fast charging function
- HD resolution display
- No notification led
- Only one update per quarter
Like most mid-range smartphones, the Galaxy A6 has a metal housing that looks nice and feels sturdy. Although we don't recommend it, we expect the device to survive a crash without too many problems. The rather narrow bezels below and above the display make the A6 look modern, an impression that is enhanced by the elongated 18.5:9 screen ratio. But make no mistake: the phone does not look nearly as futuristic as the Galaxy S9, although it is clearly inspired by it. The display of the A6 is 5.6 inches and will be fine for most people to operate with one hand.
Cost-saving choices turn out to be wrong
On the back of the phone, directly below the camera, is a fingerprint scanner. Personally I find it a bit too high but after some getting used to it it works well. At the bottom of the A6 is a familiar 3.5 mm headphone jack with a micro USB port next to it. The latter is unfortunate and probably an austerity measure, but a bad one. Practically all middle-class smartphones that have been released in recent months do have a handy USB-C connection. On the A6, more of these defects can be found, which together give the feeling that you do not have a middle class but a budget device in your hands. The on and off and volume buttons make a cheap clicking sound when you press them, a notification LED for notifications is missing and the battery charges slowly because there is no built-in fast charging function. We have less trouble with cheaper smartphones, but the A6 with 299 euros is not cheap.
HD screen looks blurry
Another thing: while in 2018 almost all mid-range phones have a full-HD screen, the Galaxy A6 uses an HD screen. The lower resolution in combination with the relatively large screen surface (5.6 inches) results in a screen that does not look as sharp. You notice this especially when reading texts and watching photos and videos. Why the A6 does not have a full-HD screen is a mystery to us. Selling the choice as a much-needed cost-saving measure is difficult because older, cheaper Samsung devices such as the J7 (2017) and A5 (2017) do have a full-HD screen.
Apart from the resolution, the display of the Galaxy A6 is fine. The brightness is sufficient, the viewing angles are good and the OLED panel provides excellent black reproduction and beautiful colors.
The battery lasts a long day
Thanks to the smooth Samsung Exynos processor and 3GB of RAM, the A6 runs the most popular apps without any problems. Sometimes you have to wait a while, but the phone is not slow. Unless you want to game: that is more difficult. The storage memory is 32GB (25GB available) and you can put a micro-SD card in the device. It is nice that you can also store two SIM cards in the A6 at the same time for dual SIM functionality. The 3000 mAh battery of the smartphone lasts a long day with normal use. If you take it easier, one and a half to two days is possible, but in principle charging every night is the most convenient. The battery does not support fast charging, so charging takes a few hours. A quick refuel before you leave the house in the afternoon therefore makes little sense.
Lots of megapixels, mediocre quality
The 16-megapixel cameras on the front and back of the Samsung Galaxy A6 take great photos. Nothing more, nothing less: the results are generally good enough and comparable to the snapshots of competing smartphones. The A6 takes less good photos in the dark and backlighting is also a challenge, but we don't fall for that on a mid-range phone. Anyone who shares their pictures and videos on social media or who makes a photo book can work well with the A6's cameras.
Outdated software and disappointing update policy
Like other recent Samsung smartphones, the Galaxy A6 runs on Android 8.0 (Oreo) with version 9.0 of Samsung's Experience software. This shell, the successor of Touchwiz, is visually somewhat busier than the standard Android version and contains more apps. In this case, more isn't necessarily better because most pre-installed apps from Samsung and Microsoft (yes) add little and not all of them can be removed.
The Experience software works fine, although we prefer the vanilla Android software that is used by Nokia and Motorola, among others. One of the reasons is that phones can be updated faster and more often, something Samsung doesn't seem to care about much with the A6. Weeks after launch, the phone still runs on the older Android 8.0 instead of 8.1 and has the April security update. Google releases an update monthly, but Samsung says that the A6 is updated once every three months. Mid-range phones from Nokia, for example, do get an update every month.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy A6 is positioned as a mid-range smartphone, but it seems more like a budget phone to us. That is because parts have been cut back (HD screen, micro USB) or because they are even absent (fast charging support, notification LED). We also find Samsung's software support disappointing and would like to see updates made available more often and faster – after all, competing brands can do it too. Is the Galaxy A6 a bad smartphone? No, but for 299 euros you get Android phones with more complete hardware and a better update policy. We would therefore leave the A6 in the shops, at least until the sales price has dropped considerably.
