When you mention Samsung, you'll probably think of their gigantic Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series, or its younger brother, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series.

It's understandable, because other than those two models, there aren't any Samsung smartphones worth shouting about.

Well, until the Samsung Galaxy A72 came along.


Launched in the middle of March, the Galaxy A72 is the predecessor of the Samsung Galaxy A71, but with loads more bells and whistles attached this time around.

The Galaxy A72 is powered by a Qualcomm SM7125 Snapdragon 720G chip with up to 8GB of RAM, so it has all the power you need to get jobs done.

Samsung was hoping that the Galaxy A72 would disrupt the budget smartphone market a little bit, but can it?

Here are our thoughts:

Built like a flagship

Despite it being a budget smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy A72 doesn't feel like one when you hold it.

The chasis of the smartphone is made out of metal, with the back made entirely out of plastic, so there's a pretty nice weight to it when you hold it. It doesn't feel like you're holding on to a piece of cheap plastic.


Speaking of the back, we love the matte finishing, as 1) it's not a fingerprint magnet and 2) it's nice to the touch.

We felt that it's easier to grip the phone with one hand, compared to, say, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, because the plastic back doesn't slip as much as the the S21's glass back.

The pastel hue (we got the Awesome Violet one) looks pretty and it will definitely stand out, but we suggest that you go with Awesome Black just because the matte finish will make the device look classier.


When you flip the phone, you will be greeted by its ginormous 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O Display.

We mean, it's already expected from Samsung, because they make the best smartphone screens in the market, but to see them packing a budget phone with such an awesome screen is definitely a welcome.

We can definitely see the difference with the 90Hz refresh rate, as scrolling and flipping through pages are smooth like butter. It's a stark difference moving back to our paltry 60Hz iPhone 11 Pro Max after two weeks of use.

Blast from the past

OK, before we forget, we would like to also mention that unboxing the Samsung Galaxy A72 is like taking a trip down memory lane.

At an age where less is more, you'll find some 'forgotten' smartphone tech and features with the Galaxy A72.

One, the smartphone ships with a charging brick in the box, something Samsung has recently stopped doing with the Samsung Galaxy S21 series.


The Galaxy A72 also comes with - surprise, surprise - a 3.5mm audio jack, which is good news for those who are still unwilling to fork out a couple of hundred ringgit extra for a pair of wireless earphones.

It's good to see that Samsung did not 'force' its customers to fork out extra money for a budget phone.

It's all in the design

While you can clearly see Samsung's signature design language in the Samsung Galaxy A72, the biggest difference is that the Galaxy A72 has a noticable smaller camera bump.

It doesn't jut out as much as its older brother despite having the same amount of cameras at the back, and we noticed that it doesn't rock as much on the table when the phone vibrates.

It will be interesting to see if Samsung manages to find a way to reduce the size of the camera bump in their flagship smartphone in the future.


Overall, we have no complaints about how the Samsung Galaxy A72 looks.

The performance of the phone, on the other hand..

Performance is a tale of two stories

When you hold the Samsung Galaxy A73 in your hands, you'll forget that it's a budget smartphone.

Everything that you expect it to do well, it does with flying colours. But it is when you put it through its paces that you'll be reminded that it is a budget smartphone after all.


Watching YouTube videos and binge-watching 'Modern Family' on the Galaxy A72 is a joy, as pictures are sharp and vibrant thanks to its gorgeous display.

The speakers, located on the top and bottom of the phone, are loud enough to fill a room.

The Galaxy A72 is a pretty good gaming phone as well, as we had no problems crashing candies for hours on end.


But it's when we start treating it like a flagship smartphone that we feel the Galaxy A72 begin to struggle.

When we had a number of apps and games open in the background, we feel a little stutter when we tried launching an app. We also experienced certain apps hanging when we tried to multitask, and that was kinda of a warning sign for us to close some that were running in the background.

The same goes for games that are heavy and more visually-taxing. We noticed a little bit of stutter when we're on games 'Asphalt 9' and 'PUBG' after a certain period of time, and the back of the device started heating up a little bit.


Speaking of which, the Galaxy A72 is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, and Samsung claims that it can last you up to two days.

Well...it didn't. The most we got after a day of moderate to heavy use was 20 per cent by the time we went to bed.

Maybe if you're the type who use your phone just to stalk people on social media and nothing else, you could stretch the battery life to two days.

But if you, like us, pick up your phone a gazillion times a day and rely on it for entertainment, making it last more than a day is truly a Herculean effort.

Picture perfect? Not quite

Now, let's talk cameras.

The Samsung Galaxy A72 comes with four cameras: a 64MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra wide-angle, an 8MP telephoto and a 5MP macro camera.

For the most part, the Galaxy A72 takes really good photos. In well-lit environments, the photos came up pretty with almost perfect colour reproduction.

However, at points where the HDR kicks in, we've had a couple of shots where everything is oversaturated; the greens are so much greener and the blue are too blue for our liking.

The oversaturation makes the photos look a tad too unrealistic.


While the Galaxy A72 is a pretty good shooter in broad daylight, it struggles quite a bit in low light conditions. During our test, pictures tend to come out a bit noisy and blurry at some parts.

The same goes for the macro and the ultrawide cameras; photos are passable, and they are nothing too shout about.

Oh, we also have to mention that when we were testing out the cameras, there was a noticeable shutter lag. After tapping on the trigger, it takes a second or two for the phone to register our input, and maybe another second for it to take the picture.

It can be a little bit frustrating if you want to take pictures of moving objects.

All these small little things will remind you that the Samsung Galaxy A72 is a budget smartphone, and it would be foolish to expect it to perform like its older brothers.

Verdict

Despite its minor flaws, we'd still recommend the Samsung Galaxy A72 as a solid budget smartphone option.

Is it the most value for money option? Well, it's not, because they are better options out there that excel at doing certain things that the Galaxy A72 can't.


But if you're looking to experience the best Samsung has to offer -- the gorgeous screens, the above average camera system, the superior build quality, etc. -- but in a less expensive package, then you'll never go wrong with the Samsung Galaxy A72.

Just remember that the Samsung Galaxy A72 is a budget smartphone, yeah?

The Samsung Galaxy A72 retails for RM1,899 and is available on Samsung Malaysia's website.