Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Review, Price, Display, Performance, Cameras, Battery life, Specs | ProoWix
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G's excellent battery life, solid network connectivity, and impressive design make it a good choice for budget phone buyers.
Pros
- Long battery life
- Very low price
- 5G with C-band
- Handsome design
- Capable cameras
- Impressive performance for the price
Cons
- Low-resolution display
- Mediocre speaker
- Backplate scratches easily
If you're in the market for a cheap Android phone with 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G ($279.99) will have your back. Years of excellent battery life, solid performance, and the promised Android upgrades and security updates mean this cheap phone should keep you happy for a long time. A low-resolution display aside, there's little to dislike about the Galaxy A32 5G; It's an excellent value and the winner of our Editors' Choice award for budget-friendly 5G phone.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Review
5G has become more prevalent lately, so it's no surprise to see 5G support on less expensive phones. Samsung's midrange A model now includes 5G, and the cheapest -- the Galaxy A32 5G -- lets you enjoy faster networking speeds for $280. It's a big deal, even with some serious drawbacks.
As you'd expect for $280, there's nothing high-end about the Galaxy A32. The 720p display isn't good, performance is mediocre at the best of times, and it's a large device that can be hard for some people to manage. However, the Galaxy A32 5G packs an incredibly impressive battery number, 90Hz refresh rate on a TFT LCD panel, and Samsung's promise of three years of platform updates and four years of security patches.
US buyers will notice similarities between the Galaxy A32 and the OnePlus Nord N200 5G, which I called the cheapest 5G phone when I reviewed it a month ago. At $40 less than the A32, the Nord N200 does a lot just fine, sporting noticeably better performance and similar performance. However, Samsung wins in the camera department, as you'll see below. And with longer support, the A32 is the safe bet, in the long run, making it one of the cheapest phones you can buy.
Our Galaxy A32 5G review will tell you what this phone does well and where it lacks. If you want 5G under $300, this is a phone you should consider.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Specs
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Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Price and availability
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Samsung Galaxy A32 5G (SM-A326BR/DS) Dual SIM 128GB 6.5”, Factory Unlocked GSM, International Version - No Warranty - Black | Check On Amazon |
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Samsung Electronics Galaxy A32 5G
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The Galaxy A32 5G has the advantage of being available seamlessly anywhere. There's a whole load of Samsung behind it, and you can buy it through various wireless carriers, as well as Samsung and Best Buy. It'll run you $279.99 outright for 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, though you can probably find a good deal with trade-in and/or same-day activation.
The A32 doesn't support mmWave 5G, but it does come with C-Band support (which is important for some of AT&T and Verizon's future 5G expansion plans). The lack of mmWave on the Galaxy A32 5G isn't surprising - it's a premium feature that's often seen as a luxury these days.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Design
At first glance, the Galaxy A32 5G looks great. The three vertical camera lenses, along with the macro camera and flash, form a micro camera module on the back of the phone. With a glossy plastic body, the A32 really does attract fingerprints, which require frequent cleaning to keep it looking sharp.
The display occupies most of the front of the Galaxy A32. The chunky bottom and top bezels, however, dispel any illusions that this is an edge-to-edge screen. The front camera is housed in a teardrop notch up top, and not the hole-punch cutout we see on other phones, like the Nord N200 5G.
The A32's power button also houses a fingerprint sensor, which worked pretty well in my testing. I sometimes had trouble with proper placement with my left index finger, but the phone pretty much recognized my right thumb each time.
At $280, no one should be surprised that the Galaxy A32 5G feels cheap. Buttons sound hollow and loud. You get a headphone jack, something you don't find on the more expensive flagships.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Display
We don't see a lot of phones with TFT LCD anymore, but Samsung went with this option to keep the price of the Galaxy A32 5Glow. It's certainly a far cry from the company's Super AMOLED panel and at 720p, the screen's sharpness won't knock your socks off. It's a medium 6.5-inch display that struggles with crushed blacks, so much brightness, and washed-out colors.
Watching videos on the Galaxy A32 isn't the best experience, while the OnePlus Nord N200 5G had a decent display that did a better job with colors, viewing angles, and deeper blacks. Placing both the phones next to each other shows a clear difference between the TFT and IPS LCD panels. (The latest Nord has the latter feature.)
The displays on both phones can go up to 90Hz, though, so it's really nice to see for devices that cost less than $300. That higher frame rate means scrolling will be easier. Games that support higher refresh rates will theoretically look even better if the Galaxy A32 can get the power it needs for such a task.
I saw my favorite scene in the later parts of Blade Runner 2049 with its extreme orange color palette. On most phones, this scene looks rich and captivates you with its strangeness and mystery. On the Galaxy A32 5G, it looked washed out and dull.
Looking at the performance lab results reveals much of a difference between the A32 and the Nord N200. The A32 produced 96.1% of sRGB and just 68.1% of the DCI-P3 gamut. The Nord N200 managed 160.7% of the sRGB spectrum and 113.8% of DCI-P3. The A32's Delta-E score, where 0 is perfect, is also quite high, at 0.35. Compare this to the Nord N200, with its 0.25 Delta-E score.
As for brightness, the Galaxy A32 hit a maximum of 485 nits in our testing (with the Nord N200 seeing 415 nits less). It's quite surprising to see such mediocre performance from Samsung, especially since OnePlus offers a better screen on a phone that's $40 cheaper.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Cameras
The Galaxy A32 5G packs four cameras: a 48MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide shooter, a 5MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. As you might expect, only the main and ultrawide cameras are worthwhile - the latter two add up to nothing.
Overall, the A32 does a commendable job for a phone under $300. It's definitely better than the OnePlus Nord N200 5G, which I used for the following camera comparison. Samsung likes to overset on its more expensive phones, but the trend isn't as readily apparent on the A32's photos. This could be because the processor doesn't have the horsepower to do all the post-processing that high-end Galaxy phones do.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Video
The Galaxy A32 5G can record videos up to 4K at 30 frames per second. That's a lot of pixels for a phone under $300, though I'd wager that most people will want to go with 1080p at 60 fps for a smoother video.
The Video recording on the A32 wasn't amazing. Samsung's phone ran into a noticeable problem thanks to my stride and sway. It also struggled with background noise, with the final video being too loud with wildlife and cars providing a lot of distraction. Mic quality wasn't the best, with my voice sounding hollow and distant.
For a $280 phone, the Galaxy A32 5G can record decent video but don't expect much from it. If you are trying to capture a cute moment with your pet or a special event with your kids, this one will get the job done.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Performance
MediaTek-powered phones aren't that common in the US, so it was a bit of a shock to see one from Samsung of all places. The Galaxy A32 5G uses the Density 720 system-on-chip which is paired with 4GB of RAM. It's not a powerhouse, but the chip matches well with some of Qualcomm's lower-end offerings such as the Snapdragon 480 5G found in the OnePlus Nord N200 5G. In day-to-day use, the Density 720 does quite well, but anything more intensive than browsing social media and checking your messages is where you'll notice a slowdown.
Gaming can sometimes be a chore on the A32, especially if you need to tweak graphics settings to get any sort of reasonable performance. Lighter games will be fine, but anything that requires heavy lifting like the Genshine Impact will make the phone quite a struggle. it is not surprising.
In Geekbench 5, the Galaxy A32 5G scored 1,642 in multicore. The OnePlus Nord N200 5G managed 1,602 in the same test, so the phones are pretty close to each other. In the 3DMark Wildlife Unlimited graphics benchmark, the A32 managed an average of 7.3 frames per second. The Nord N200 scored a low 5.8 FPS.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Battery life and charging
The biggest highlight of the Galaxy A32 5G is its battery life. With a 5,000mAh battery, the phone lasts for an impressively long time considering its 90Hz refresh rate. I like to watch the phone for more than 10 hours, which we would consider average for a smartphone nowadays. But the A32's numbers could earn it a spot on our list of the best phone battery life.
To test the batteries, we work the phone at 150 nits brightness over a cellular connection to reload pages until they die. In adaptive mode, where the display moves up and down depending on the content you're consuming, the A32 lasted 11 hours 39 minutes. At the same time, in 60Hz mode, the phone lasted for 12 hours and 22 minutes.
The OnePlus Nord N200 5G didn't fare as well, clocking 10 hours and 28 minutes in its 90Hz mode and 10 hours and 36 minutes in its 60Hz mode. So the A32 lasted much longer despite having the same size battery as the Nord N200.
We also tested the recharge time for the Galaxy A32 5G, with the phone recharging from 0% to 14% in 15 minutes and up to 27% in 30 minutes. This is in line with the Nord N200, which recharges to 32% after half an hour.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Software
Another plus for the Galaxy A32 5G, the software on this phone is practically the same as what you'll find on the Galaxy S21. And with that, Samsung has promised three years of Android updates and four years of security patches. It destroys anything else in this product category, certainly the OnePlus Nord N200 5G with its 1-year/2-year promise.
Samsung's One UI 3.1 looks very different from Google's vision, but you might find it to your liking. Samsung also gives you the option to choose which bloatware you want to install during setup, which is great to see. Pick and choose the ones you want, or deselect them all.
Nothing else is going on with the A32's software, which is fine. Samsung has done a great job of making One UI easy to use with sleek animations, beautiful transitions, and lots of things to do in the settings.
Buying the Galaxy A32 5G is a better decision in the long run than the Nord N200 as Samsung will update the phone to the Nord N200 for a longer period of time than OnePlus.
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G Verdict
Galaxy A32 5G is a great phone in terms of price. It has notable drawbacks like display and performance, but it impressed me with its battery life. The cameras are great for $280, but for $70 more, you can get the excellent Pixel 4a and its incredible camera. Granted, you lose the 5G, but you also get better performance.
And with Samsung's best software update policy, the Galaxy A32 will last you a few years before it reaches the end of its life. There's a lot to be said for that, and it helps make the A32 an easy recommendation for inexpensive 5G.
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