OPPO has released its latest A Series lineup, the A5 range with a new wave of smartphones built for durability, performance and outstanding everyday value.

Combining unbeatable resilience, smart features and polished design, the A5 Series makes high-performance essentials accessible to everyday users, without the premium price tag.

The expanded A5 Series includes the OPPO A5 5G and A5 4G, two feature-rich devices made for daily life. They join OPPO’s toughest smartphone to date, the A5 Pro 5G – which launched in June 2025 – in offering more choice when it comes to durable, dependable tech.

OPPO New Zealand Managing Director Morgan Halim says the A Series range is for Kiwis who need a good-value phone that works as hard as they do. “Whether someone’s on the tools, outdoors in all conditions or buying a reliable first phone for their kids, the A Series is a dependable, great-value choice that’s made to last,” says Halim. “It’s built to survive backpacks, pockets and the occasional drop – and it keeps up with your hustle, whatever your day looks like.”

The A5 5G and A5 4G are engineered to handle more than just the basics. With large, high-refresh-rate displays, splash and dust resistance and OPPO’s 300% Ultra Volume Mode, these phones are made to be heard and seen clearly – even outdoors or on noisy job sites.

With 6,000mAh batteries across both models and support for 45W SUPERVOOCTM Flash Charging, users can spend less time plugged in and more time getting things done. OPPO’s battery technology has been tested for 1,700 full charge cycles, equivalent to approximately five years of regular use, while maintaining at least 80% battery health. It’s power that lasts day after day, year after year.

And because durability should extend beyond hardware, the A5 Series is backed by OPPO’s industry-leading software support – with 5 years of operating system updates and 6 years of security updates. It’s long-term peace of mind that sets a new standard in this price bracket, especially compared to competitors who typically offer only 2 years of updates or less.

These devices are made to move at your pace. They offer practical, efficient performance for everything from messaging and music to maps and media.

The OPPO A Series is available online at OPPO’s official website and from electronic retailers.

The post Tough just got smarter – OPPO’s A5 2025 Series appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s Galaxy A Series has been the pocket friendly price point without compromising too much on the specs.

This year’s offering holds true to this with a new range of A Series smartphones releasing.

STG received both the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G and Galaxy A55 to review and compare.

On first glance both smartdevices are very similar. Both offering up some killer camera’s that way higher priced devices don’t quite come close to, all the while not sparing too much on the inner workings to get you through a day… or three.

However  when put to real-world use and the covers virtually removed, the Galaxy A35 5G and the Galaxy A55 are different and of course have differing price-points.

Both A Series smartphones come with a 6.6 inch AMOLED screen with a brightly detailed 120Hz refresh rate.

Storage on either phone has 128GB, but the RAM differs, of course. The Galaxy A55 being the beefier 8GB RAM and the Galaxy A35 5G coming in at 6GB.

Depending on what you use your smartphone for, this may or may not be a clincher for you. For example, the Galaxy A55 was able to play high quality mobile games at ease while the Galaxy A35 5G struggled.

Both the Galaxy A35 5G and Galaxy A55 offer some impressive cameras.

While the Galaxy A55 has a 50MP wide main camera and a 5MP Macro, same as the Galaxy A35 5G, the difference comes in at the secondary camera. The Galaxy A55’s 12MP ultra-wide vs. the Galaxy A35 5G’s 8MP.

There’s a huge difference between the selfies camera’s too. A mega 32MP ‘selfie’ camera on the Galaxy A55 whereas the Galaxy A35 5G was whittled down to 13MP.

In some scenarios this is likely to affect the level of detail when using the front camera.

Camera modes on offer were pretty much the same, and produced very similar results in both light and dark environments.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G – Portrait mode

Interestingly my pick of the two devices when it came to camera specs vs. pricepoint was the Galaxy A35 5G.

The Galaxy A55 was a lot more fluid to use with its Exynos 1480. I found that the Exynos 1380 on the Galaxy A35 5G caused a wee bit of lag and sluggishness at times with general use. It also seems to be this difference in processor (and RAM) that came in to play with the ability to use either smartphone for console quality gaming.

Powering you through a day, or more on both is a 5,000 mAh battery.

This was excellent on both the Galaxy A55 and A35 5G, the Galaxy A35 lasting the longest, likely this was due to the phone’s inability for hardcore gaming, limiting its all-round use.

For general use either smartphone is easily going to get you through a couple of days on a full charge.

It can be confusing when you’re looking to upgrade your phone and figuring out which is right for you. There’s a few models in the Samsung Galaxy A Series, from the highest to the lowest, and it will also depend on your budget too.

If you’re considering a Samsung Galaxy A Series, we have compared one of the higher models to one of the lowest, and as you’ll see the differences can be minimal but at the same time restrictive for what you may need from your smartphone.

Either way, which ever smartphone tier you choose it comes down to what you use your phone for and I can definitely say that both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 5G are worth their respective price tags.

You actually get more than what you pay for with Samsung’s Galaxy A Series.

The post Samsung Galaxy A35 5G vs. A55 Comparison appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With the glitz and glamour of the top shelf models of Samsung’s smartphone lineup it’s easy to overlook the middle tier, the A Series.

You shouldn’t. The Samsung A Series Android phones have a lot of bang for your buck, and at a budget friendly price tag.

This years Galaxy A55 bring us an Android based smartphone with some killer specs.

Coming in at 6.6 inch, near-to all AMOLED screen, the nicely rounded squared edges are beautifully finished off with a dust and water resistant aluminium frame.

Around the back there’s a triple camera which sees a generous 50MP wide lens coupled with a 12MP ultra-wide and a 5MP macro.

The front ‘selfie’ camera comes in at a whopping 32MP. For the social media divas and video bloggers this is an absolute  dream front facing camera.

More on that 5MP Macro lens though.

Smartphone manufacturers often forget about macro photography, or they include it but it doesn’t quite get the technical love it should. Not so with the Galaxy A55.

Using Macro mode on the camera you can get some super detailed close-ups.

Night mode was a bit hit and miss though. It does pull in light or light up an environment in a pitch black scene. However it’s not as lit up as Samsung’s S Series smartphones and I found that the Galaxy A55 tended to struggle to give a true replication of a ‘normal’ lit environment, by way of adding in an almost rainbow array of colours in to a shot to illuminate it.

The inner specs of the Galaxy A55 are not to be sniffed at.

While the internal storage is low at 128GB you can boost this by way of a microSD card (something I wish we would see come back in the S Series).

There’s 8GB RAM to keep you multitasking like a pro, and this is beneficial when it comes to some more heavy weight tasks that you may put the Galaxy A55 through.

The processor, a Exynos 1480, is most definitely not a Snapdragon Gen 2 or 3 for sure, but it is able to hold its own very well, even with console quality mobile gaming.

Infact I did not have any technical lag or issues with games I tried on the Galaxy A55 – and if you’re going to get yourself one of these the inner specs are more than enough for day to day use and snapping pics and vids.

Battery life was mixed. The Galaxy A55 has a 5,000mAh powercell and for the average user this will likely get you through a couple of days before requiring a charge up.

Day to day use for me, who tends to be a little heavier, definitely got me through an entire day, morning to night, however when it came to mobile gaming the battery depleted quicker than I had expected.

While I wouldn’t recommend for lengthy gaming sessions, the Galaxy A55 is one of the best mobile photography phones you can get without the hefty price tag.

It’s almost up there with some of the more expensive handsets, even offering a better camera than some, yet its affordability puts the Galaxy A55 makes it accessible to most.

There’s no need to need to substitute or suffer a downgrade with the Galaxy A55, it has almost the same chops as a top shelf smartphone.

The post Samsung Galaxy A55 (2024) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung has just unveiled the Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G, two smartphones that demonstrate Samsung’s ongoing commitment to making the best of mobile innovations available to everyone.

Both devices come with extensive security features such as Knox Vault, as well as new photography capabilities inspired by Galaxy’s flagship camera innovations and a stunning display that adjusts to users’ surroundings with Vision Booster.

“With the Galaxy A series, we are expanding our latest technologies to a wider audience so that more people can benefit from them,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “We are excited to open up even more possibilities on the Galaxy A series this year, including offering Samsung Knox Vault for the first time on this lineup. We’re proud to enable Galaxy A series users to safely and reliably enjoy outstanding mobile experiences.”

With enhanced Nightography, Galaxy A55 5G takes clearer and more vibrant photos even in poor lighting conditions. That means every nighttime photo can reach epic new levels. Night Portrait mode and 12-bit HDR video ensure the people in every image look great so that capturing memories with friends and family is never dependent on the perfect lighting.

Both Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G offer the incredible photography capabilities that Samsung Galaxy is renowned for, including features such as optical image stabilisation (OIS) and video digital image stabilisation (VDIS) that keep photos and videos crisp even when filming on the go.

The new devices also continue the Galaxy A series’ tradition of making fun and immersive mobile experiences accessible to all. Users can enjoy watching the latest shows or browsing social media with Super AMOLED displays, showing astonishing clarity in Full High Definition. They can also count on the 6.6-inch[1] screen on both the Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G looking clear and bright in a range of light conditions thanks to Vision Booster.

This year, Samsung is bringing one of its most innovative flagship security features, Samsung Knox Vault, to Galaxy A series users for the very first time, including on the new Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G.

A hardware-based and tamper-resistant security solution, Samsung Knox Vault offers comprehensive protection against both hardware and software attacks by constructing a secure execution environment that is physically isolated from the system’s main processor and memory. It can help protect the most critical data on a device, including lock screen credentials, such as PIN codes, passwords and patterns. Samsung Knox Vault also protects device encryption keys, encrypting users’ private data stored in the device. Only a user who has the correct lock screen credentials can access their data, even if the device is lost or stolen.

The Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G are also secured by Samsung Knox, Galaxy’s multi-layer security platform. One of the most trusted security platforms in the world, Samsung Knox is designed to safeguard critical information and protect against vulnerabilities with end-to-end secure hardware, real-time threat detection and collaborative protection, taking a holistic approach across the entire Galaxy ecosystem.

For even more ways to stay protected, the Galaxy A series offers Auto Blocker, an opt-in package of additional security measures. When switched on, Auto Blocker can block app installations from unauthourised sources, provide app security checks to scan for potential malware and block potentially malicious commands and software installations to your device while connected by USB cable. New Galaxy A series users will also have access to Galaxy’s Security and Privacy Dashboard, making it easier than ever to see and control what is happening to their data and withdraw any permissions whenever they choose. They can also enjoy Private Sharing (part of Quick Share), which enables the secure and encrypted sharing of private files containing important personal or financial information. To ensure confidentiality, users can control the recipient’s access permissions and the file’s expiration date, while also choosing to limit screenshots or downloads.

The new Galaxy A series smartphones demonstrate Samsung’s commitment to ensure Galaxy devices remain secure and up-to-date for longer. With the Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G, users will continue to benefit from up to four generations of Android OS and One UI upgrades and five years of security updates, optimising the lifecycle of the devices by keeping them equipped with all the latest Galaxy and Android features.

The Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G are fully compatible with the Galaxy ecosystem giving users a smooth and integrated experience across a range of Galaxy devices. Users can keep up with their fitness goals by connecting Galaxy Fit3 or Galaxy Watch6 to their Galaxy A series smartphone. And, thanks to Auto Switch, incoming calls will be automatically switched to connected Galaxy Buds FE for enhanced convenience.

The Galaxy A55 5G and Galaxy A35 5G are available from 25 March 2024.

The post Samsung Announces Galaxy A55 5G & Galaxy A35 5G appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s A Series are known for packing the goods without the high price tag, and this year’s lineup are closely nipping at the heels of the flagship S Series.

Having received a Samsung Galaxy A54 5G to try out I put aside my S22 Ultra (last year’s top shelf handset) and used the new A Series model as my everyday for a week.

Coming in at a smaller ratio, the Galaxy A54 5G has a 6.4 inch AMOLED display with a slim bezel.

The front camera is a pin hole weighing in at a front running 32MP.

From the rear, one could be forgiven for mistaking the new Galaxy A54 5G for a S23. The cameras at the back are housed in a vertical triple array, the main being 50MP (wide) accompanied by a 12MP (ultra-wide) and a 5MP macro.

There’s a 10x digital zoom (maximum) and vids record in 4K.

The macro is excellent as is Nightography (there are modes for both or the camera will auto switch if it thinks it needs to).

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G – Nightography

Powering up the Galaxy A54 5G is a Exynos 1380 (Octa Core 2.4GHz+2GHz) processor with a low but expected 6GB RAM.

While the Galaxy A54 5G is not aimed to be a multi-tasking powerhouse, it does extremely well if you’re someone who uses multiple apps and any time.

Gaming it also fared well being able to run Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty and Asphalt.

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G – Macro

But it is not a gaming mobile, not really. Games chomped away at the 5,000mAh battery and with Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty the phone did heat up.

The Galaxy A54 5G is better suited to creatives. Having a killer camera that comes close (and beats in some respects) the S23 Series.

It doesn’t have that super high price point, so if you’re a photo snapper and a creator the Galaxy A54 5G has got the goods and then some.

The post Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G, two innovative smartphones that advance Samsung Galaxy’s commitment to designing awesome mobile experiences.

These new additions to the popular Galaxy A series will help users shoot steady and crisp videos, see clearly even in bright conditions, and do more of the things they love with battery life that lasts more than two days.

“Cutting-edge mobile experiences are increasingly essential to everyday life,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “With continuous enhancements to the Galaxy A series, we’re ensuring that more people around the world can access our transformative innovations.”

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G deliver stunning images with clear quality even in bright conditions, making use of Samsung Galaxy’s leading Nightography and AI capabilities. Whether users want to capture the perfect selfie or connect through super-smooth video calls, the Galaxy A54 offers astonishing detail thanks to its 32MP front camera.

The new smartphones produce video with amazing clarity, combatting shakiness and blur with improved optical image stabilization (OIS) and video digital image stabilization (VDIS). Even with unsteady hands or when filming on the go, users can be confident about capturing awesome content. For adventures after dark and in low light conditions, Night mode helps users to capture more detail by broadening the camera’s pixel size.

Users can also now remove unwanted shadows and reflections for the first time in Galaxy A series, thanks to the enhanced editing tools.

Both devices feature immersive Super AMOLED displays, measuring 6.4-inch on the Galaxy A54 5G and 6.6-inch on the Galaxy A34 5G. Both displays have been upgraded for astounding outdoor visibility, even under bright sunlight. With the enhanced Vision Booster and a 120Hz refresh rate, the displays will keep up with users as they move between different lighting conditions.

Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G also guarantee up to four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security updates. These features allow users to access the latest software and security to maximize the smartphone lifecycle.

Enhanced mobile experiences rely on advanced security. With Samsung Knox, data is kept under lock and key with defense-grade mobile security. The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G give users access to the Security and Privacy Dashboard, which makes it easy to see how apps are tracking data and enables simple ways to stop unwanted data collection. When users want to share important files that contain sensitive or personal information with the ultimate level of privacy and control, there’s Private Share. This enables users to share files only to designated recipients within time limits and with screenshots disabled.

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G are also compatible with the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem to provide seamless connectivity between devices. Users can get 100GB of cloud storage and easily back up photos to OneDrive with a six month trial of Microsoft 365 Basic, accessible on the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G.

The Galaxy A54 5G will be available in two colour options, Awesome Graphite and Awesome White.

The Galaxy A34 5G will be available in two colour options Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet. Both Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G will be available in New Zealand on April 3rd, 2023 online and select retailers.

The post Samsung Announce Galaxy A54 5G & Galaxy A34 5G appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung has just unveiled the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G, two innovative smartphones that advance Samsung Galaxy’s commitment to designing awesome mobile experiences.

These new additions to the popular Galaxy A series will help users shoot steady and crisp videos, see clearly even in bright conditions, and do more of the things they love with battery life that lasts more than two days.

“Cutting-edge mobile experiences are increasingly essential to everyday life,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “With continuous enhancements to the Galaxy A series, we’re ensuring that more people around the world can access our transformative innovations.”

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G deliver stunning images with clear quality even in bright conditions, making use of Samsung Galaxy’s leading Nightography and AI capabilities. Whether users want to capture the perfect selfie or connect through super-smooth video calls, the Galaxy A54 offers astonishing detail thanks to its 32MP front camera.

The new smartphones produce video with amazing clarity, combatting shakiness and blur with improved optical image stabilization (OIS) and video digital image stabilization (VDIS). Even with unsteady hands or when filming on the go, users can be confident about capturing awesome content. For adventures after dark and in low light conditions, Night mode helps users to capture more detail by broadening the camera’s pixel size.

Users can also now remove unwanted shadows and reflections for the first time in Galaxy A series, thanks to the enhanced editing tools.

Both devices feature immersive Super AMOLED displays, measuring 6.4-inch on the Galaxy A54 5G and 6.6-inch on the Galaxy A34 5G. Both displays have been upgraded for astounding outdoor visibility, even under bright sunlight. With the enhanced Vision Booster and a 120Hz refresh rate, the displays will keep up with users as they move between different lighting conditions.

Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G also guarantee up to four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security updates. These features allow users to access the latest software and security to maximize the smartphone lifecycle.

Enhanced mobile experiences rely on advanced security. With Samsung Knox, data is kept under lock and key with defence-grade mobile security. The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G give users access to the Security and Privacy Dashboard, which makes it easy to see how apps are tracking data and enables simple ways to stop unwanted data collection. When users want to share important files that contain sensitive or personal information with the ultimate level of privacy and control, there’s Private Share.

This enables users to share files only to designated recipients within time limits and with screenshots disabled.

The Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G are also compatible with the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem to provide seamless connectivity between devices. Users can get 100GB of cloud storage and easily back up photos to OneDrive with a six month trial of Microsoft 365 Basic accessible on the Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G.

The Galaxy A54 5G will be available in two colour options, Awesome Graphite and Awesome White. The Galaxy A34 5G will be available in two colour options Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet. Both Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G will be available on 3rd April 2023 online at Samsung.com and select retailers.

The post Samsung Galaxy A54 5G & Galaxy A34 5G: Awesome Experiences for All appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As each year rolls around Samsung release a new slew of top tier, mid and low range smart phones.

Sitting in the middle of the tech road is the A Series.

I reviewed two of this year’s offerings, the Galaxy A13 and the Galaxy A73 5G.

While they both compete in this years A Series space, they couldn’t be any further apart in the specs – specs that at the higher end (A73) teeter close to being a top shelf handset.

Within the Galaxy A Series at the time of writing there’s A22 5G, A32 5G, A52s 5G, A73 5G, A53 5G, A33 5G, A12, A02s, A72, A03s, A13, A23 and A03.

Quite a few ‘A’s huh.

Walk in to your local telco and ask about a Samsung mid range and likely they will show you the range, confusing you even more than when you first went in there.

All have a varied range of camera specs, storage and memory options, colours and battery life.

While I’m not going to do a run down of every Samsung Galaxy A Series phone, I will compare the lower spec with the highest.

The Samsung Galaxy A13 is at the lowest end and a cheaper price point.

Having an LCD screen coming in at 6.6 inches and a thicker bordering with minimal RAM (memory) at 4GB, Samsung did include some decent goodness to make the A13 worthwhile for those that don’t need the fancy bits and not in the market for that higher price range.

The A13’s camera’s are not be sniffed at with an array of four lenses; 50MP (wide), 5MP (ultra-wide), 2MP (depth) and a 2MP (macro).

The front ‘selfie’ cam is a modest but low 8MP. The A13 is capable of producing some quality video though at 1080p.

It also has storage expansion option by way of adding a microSD card. Shoot a few FHD vids and likely your 128GB internal storage will get chomped up real quick.

The quality of images that the camera produces is real good, detailed and vibrant – but the A13 does terribly in low light.

Samsung also added reliability to the A13 by way of a mega 5,000mAh battery and 15 watt Quick Charge feature. Given that the A13 is incapable of doing anything too complex a battery of this size would see you right for a couple of days before needing a charge up.

The Galaxy A13 is an entry level smart phone. You’re not going to be able to do anything too heavy on it , the Exynos 850 Octa-Core processor won’t handle too much and it is definitely not designed for mobile gaming.

For that you’d need to go to the high end of the A Series scale and check out a Galaxy A73 5G.

The bigger and beefier of the Galaxy A Series is the A73 5G with its super impressive array of four cameras at the rear, the main being a whopping 108MP. Followed up by 12MP (ultra-wide), 5MP (depth), 5MP (macro) and an equally impressive 32MP front ‘selfie’ camera.

The A73 5G has no problems in low light shooting or snaps.

Under the hood you’ll get just slightly better than the A13. The A73 5G has 6GB RAM (memory) and the same 128GB storage with the microSD expandability option.

The extra 2GB of RAM in the A73 5G gives the phone more of a kick allowing you to do more on it. Game, multi-task and content create as much as or near to what you would on a flagship device.

The A73 5G is able to keep up with its S Series cousins, playing console quality games thanks to its Snapdragon 778G 5G, which is also optimised for battery consumption.

But play a couple of hours of Call of Duty Mobile on the A73 5G and expect a big dent in your battery level.

Samsung gave the A73 5G a Super AMOLED screen which comes in at 6.7 inches  including bezelling (screen frame edges).

And to power all of this there’s the same battery capacity as the A13 – 5,000 mAh but with a 25 watt Fast Charge option.

Being a smart phone that you can push further, expect the large capacity battery to not last as long as does on the A13, but it will get you through a full day for sure, sometimes a day and a half for light to medium general use.

The A73 5G comes very close to snuggling up with Samsung’s S Series, but way cheaper than those top shelfers.

All Samsung smartphones run the latest version of Android (12) and when you compare the camera prowess of the A73 5G or even the A13 to, say, other non-Android smart phones it makes one wonder why the ‘core’ pricing of these other devices is what it is, making you pay more for less.

If you’re thinking of jumping in to the Galaxy A Series, consider what you use your phone for, why you are thinking of upgrading and of course what you expect out that upgrade for the price tag.

Many factors will come in to play including budget and with this in mind Samsung’s Galaxy A Series isn’t likely to break the bank and has a smart device fitted for pretty much everyones use, tastes and colour preference.

So, likely there is a Samsung Galaxy A Series smart phone designed just for you.

The post Samsung Galaxy A Series – Which is Right for You? appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s Galaxy A Series is a mixed bag from near-to high end through to basic entry level, ticking off a scope for all users.

Recently I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G, the top shelf smartphone in this midrange category, and now with a A13 it’s time to get down to basics.

First off the Galaxy A13 is 4G.

It has a decently sized screen coming in at 6.6 inches the A13 will give you enough scope for any form of media or photo snapping.

However the A13 doesn’t have the eye-candy of its bigger and bolder cousin. There’s no AMOLED here, instead a less sharp LCD. An Infinity-V display to be exact – which is bright and crisp but lacks vibrancy and detail. Also to note is a chunkier bezel at the base of the screen.

The processor is an Octa-core A55 @ 2GHz which isn’t too bad at performance and will see you right for multi-tasking like a pro and does optimise power usage.

You’re not going to be able to do anything too heavy on the A13 though. The 4GB RAM is bare basics but enough and the low 32GB storage might see you needing to reach for a microSD card (yep the A13 has expandable storage option).

This said there’s no 8K recording here, pics snap at FHD+ as does video – so if you’re going to be using an A13 for photo’s and video’s you should be right for a bit with the 32GB.

While the LCD screen is less than impressive than say AMOLED, the A13 makes up for it with both camera and battery.

At the rear there’s four lenses, the main being a 50 MP (wide), 5 MP, (ultrawide), 2 MP (macro) and finally a 2 MP (depth).

Your selfie camera is a tear drop coming in at 8 MP. More than enough for a vlogging, beautilicious selfies and face scan to unlock your phone.

Samsung Galaxy A13 – Macro mode

I was pleased to see a dedicated macro and the image quality was actually good for an extreme closeup.

Same can’t be said for the zoom or night shots.

Still you must bear in mind that the A13 is an entry level Android smartphone and to some degree it’s packing a few things beyond what an entry level device would usually have.

This includes one mighty battery.

The A13 is powered by a 5,000 mAh powercell that also offers fast charging via 15 watt. There is no wireless charging so you’ll need to cable it. A 15 watt charger is however not included in the box with the phone.

Samsung Galaxy A13 – Night mode

Given that you’re not really going to play much in the way of quality games (I tried – they wouldn’t install due to compatibility), streaming media, using the camera for photo’s and videos, social media and general day to day usage will definitely get you through an entire day, probably more.

Using the A13 as an everyday device for me who is likely regarded as a heavy user I managed to squeeze two days from a full charge to empty.

The A13 is a mixed bag. On the one hand it has the specs that I expected from a low cost entry Android smartphone – but then it has a few surprises with extreme reliability and higher MP cameras and in a range of pastel colours to suit pretty much everyone.

Setting you back a couple of hundred dollars if you’ve been rocking an older Android or iPhone for a years now and don’t need all of the features of a higher end smartphone, and ultimately just need something that works, the A13 would be it.

The post Samsung Galaxy A13 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

If Samsung’s latest Galaxy flagship S Series is a little too much for you in price or specs their A Series has got the smarts you need.

With a range of smartphones to cover all bases, the big tamale of this years A Series is the A73 5G.

Super lightweight and ready to snap high quality pics or record in 4K.

The Galaxy A73 5G has four cameras, the main is a whopping 108 MP wide, accompanied by a 12 MP ultrawide and a 5 MP macro plus one 5 MP depth.

These are high-end cameras at a non high end price.

The selfie cam comes in at a generous 32 MP and is also able to record at 4K.

Brilliant stuff for content creators and vloggers.

Samsung have ported over some of the modes from their Fold, Flip and S Series with the usual suspects being readily available. This said the A73 5G night shots still need some work.

You’re not going to get a result of total blackness in a zero light environment – but you’re not going to get the brightest either.

But they do have a thing called ‘Fun’ as a builtin selectable mode.

Clearly this aimed at social media snapping by way of adding filters and such to your pics. A teenagers dream phone for sure.

The 10x zoom is good. At max zoom you’ll lose a wee bit of the finer details but far better than I expected..

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G – Macro mode

The 6.7 inch Super AMOLED screen has an impressive 120Hz refresh rate, a clear winner for gaming. And yep the A73 5G has just enough grunt to have console quality gametime on.

Games like Asphalt Racing, Call of Duty Mobile, Fortnite and PUBG all play real well. No stutter or lag.

But internal storage might be an issue, especially if you’re going to be recording a fair amount of 4K vids.

You’ll get 128GB internally coupled with 6GB RAM. But Samsung are aware of this and keeping the rom at 128Gb keeps the price down while they added microSD support. I’d recommend investing in a microSD, just so you’re not having to delete data to keep going.

Samsung Galaxy A Series A73 5G – Night mode

The processor, a SDG 778G 5G Octa-core is smart enough to optimise RAM usage (system memory) and the battery life as well as producing enough data crunching to multi-task and play like a pro.

Security sees all of the bells and whistles. Facial recognition and under screen fingerprint.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me for the 2022 version of the A73 5G is the powercell that Samsung have placed in to the phone.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G – 10x Zoom

A 5,000 mAh battery is going to see you right for a day of heavy use (video recording, gaming, media streaming) and for the more moderate to light users out there the A73 5G will get you a good couple of days before needing a charge up.

If you’re caught short this model has 25 watt fast charging (cabled).

Coming in an array of pastel colours to possibly suit all tastes the A73 5G borders on being a top shelf smartphone. Almost.

The lesser spec’d processor and just shy of 8GB RAM to place it at the lower end of a flagship, the phone has a camera array that Samsung’s entry level S Series should be jealous of.

Built for super reliability and always good to go this year’s A73 5G comes in at well under $1K and outdoes some of the more expensive smartphones from other ‘core’ manufacturers.

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