Samsung galaxy a7 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

Samsung Galaxy A7 is a new smartphone introduced by the South Korean company this year to try to conquer the mid-range. It is a model that promises to offer high-end characteristics, while maintaining a fairly tight selling price, always within what is expected of a leading manufacturer.

Today we offer you its complete analysis, thanks to which you will be able to know all its characteristics. Will it meet our expectations?

First of all, we thank Samsung for the trust placed in us by transferring the product to us for analysis.

Samsung Galaxy A7 technical characteristics

Unboxing

Samsung Galaxy A7 is presented in a very high quality cardboard box, which informs us of all the most outstanding features of the device. The interior is very well padded to protect the smartphone during transport.

The bundle includes a 7.8 watt (5V, 55A) modular power supply, a USB cable and a quick start guide, as well as headphones with a 3.5mm audio jack that the manufacturer is resistant to. remove. The manufacturer's warranty lasts 24 months after purchase. The battery and power supply warranty is limited to 12 months.

Design

The front of the Samsung Galaxy A7 features a 2.5D screen with scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 that is slightly curved and smoothly attaches to the plastic frame. The OLED panel is surrounded by a frame of a few millimeters on the sides and a centimeter on its top and bottom, there is no screen notch. The useful screen percentage is 74%. Samsung's Super AMOLED display has a 6-inch diagonal. Its 2220 x 1080 pixel resolution means it has a pixel density of 441 ppi. The pixel structure is barely noticeable during normal use and at an average distance from the screen.

The phone weighs 168 grams and is only 7.5 mm thick and it feels quite light, which is very positive. It's nice to keep it despite its relatively large dimensions of 150 x 77mm. The fingerprint reader is integrated into the power button located on the right side and is convenient to use. Physical buttons are easily distinguished by touch thanks to different sizes and surfaces. The volume control is very well manufactured and sits well in the case with a well defined pressure point. However, unlike the power button, the volume control is placed too high on the right edge and is difficult to reach at times.

At the top edge we find only the noise cancellation microphone and on the left the slot for nanoSIM and MicroSD cards. Lastly, the bottom edge luckily houses a 3.5mm Jack audio jack, call microphone, multimedia speaker and incomprehensibly a Type B microUSB port, by now almost all devices should come with Type C.

The back of the Galaxy A7 is also covered in slightly curved metallic colored glass that looks great but easily marks the fingerprints after use. The colors available for this back are black, blue and gold. The front, unfortunately, always remains black. The triple camera sits vertically in the upper left corner at the back and is not flush with the chassis, causing the terminal to wobble when resting on a flat surface. Another drawback is that the lenses run the risk of suffering more damage over time as they are more exposed. The led flash is located just below the cameras.

screen

The Super AMOLED display achieves a high brightness level of 583 cd / m² when a pure white panel is displayed. This makes the Samsung Galaxy A7 significantly brighter than most of its competitors. The phone uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to control the brightness of the screen, even at its maximum. At brightness levels of up to 99%, the frequency of this flickering is quite low at 240 Hz. However, not everything is so good in this section, during testing, sometimes we had a few problems with the automatic brightness mode. A function that usually works well on many terminals but this one worked somewhat erratically. Hopefully it is something fixable by software.

Due to their technology, super AMOLED panels have a significant advantage compared to IPS panels. These displays can show total darkness even in a dark room at maximum brightness. This means that, in theory, the contrast ratio of the Samsung Galaxy A7 tends towards infinity.

Colors are another aspect where the screen stands out thanks to the liveliness with which they are displayed. Luckily, thanks to the organic diode layer typical of this type of screen, color oversaturation does not exist and they are displayed more true to reality.

At this point, the viewing angles are good but a dreaded slight staining appears when you turn it a lot. It is an aspect that is there but does not bother when using the front terminal.

In adjustment we can find several functions such as activating a blue filter to avoid eye fatigue, changing the font or the frame of the icons and choosing the screen mode. This last setting allows you to select various modes of color, saturation and screen sharpness: adaptive, which is automatically optimized, Cinema AMOLED, Photo AMOLED and Basic. It is also possible to modify the navigation buttons and even hide them.

Sound

The sound that this Samsung Galaxy A7 gets is quite decent, the sound power without being high is enough to be heard well in most situations. On the other hand, the sound quality remains at a midpoint. It doesn't offer such a wide frequency range as for those who are more sybaritic but it performs well. The sound does not have much noise or distortion at medium volume. Nor do we find in this Samsung Galaxy A7 a benchmark in low frequencies, which go rather unnoticed.

If we use headphones, we will have several different sections in the sound settings. In the first section we can activate the Dolby Atmos effect to get an immersive experience but, after trying it, I personally do not like the feeling it conveys. We also find aspects common to other smartphones such as the equalizer or the room emulator, however, there is a more exclusive effect called the Pro Tube Amplifier, which simulates just how the sound would sound if it came from a real one, something that is usually best.

Finally, the adaptive configuration of the sound, performs tests to improve the sound as much as possible to our ears.

Operating system and interface

This Samsung Galaxy A7 comes standard with Android 8.0 Oreo and for now it is only known that its possible update to Android 9.0 Pie could arrive shortly, a few months from now. As always, it is a pity that a version of Android that is already on the street, takes time to reach recent terminals. On the other hand and how could it be otherwise, this model comes with the Samsung experience 9.0 customization layer.

We find a layer that has been evolving version by version to be increasingly simple and even in some aspects, resembling minimalism that Google has also pursued for a long time, but without losing the identity that has always characterized Samsung devices. Along the way, they have also learned not to shoehorn, or almost, apps that most people do not want. In this case, during the initial configuration it is given to choose which Samsung's own apps you want to install or not. Regardless of this, some tools such as Office or OneDrive from Microsoft and Samsung Health continue to be installed. The typical Google ones are also present but I have always seen it as essential instead of annoying. Fortunately, most of the apps described above can be easily uninstalled.

Despite the minimalist evolution achieved by the brand, I was surprised to notice the odd flip or delay during the use of the operating system.

In setting we can find a game mode with useful functions for when playing, the Smart Stay mode keeps the screen on while looking, with the fingerprint sensor you can open and close the notification panel and we even have the possibility of using independent accounts for the same app.

performance

Its Samsung Exynos 7885 processor was first introduced in early 2018 on the Samsung Galaxy A8 2018. This SoC has two Cortex A73 cores operating at a maximum of 2.2 GHz, as well as six energy-efficient Cortex A53 cores with a 1.6 GHz clock speed. The Exynos 7885 is produced using the 14nm FinFET process. The graphics card is an ARM Mali-G71 MP2.

LAARM Mali-G71 is an entry level GPU. Its MP2 version, which is used in this Samsung Galaxy A7 only has two available graphic cores. The GPU is based on the Bifrost architecture and is compatible with OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 2.0 and RenderScript.

The result given by the AnTuTu benchmark gave a result of 118, 191 points, a somewhat low quantity but acceptable considering the price range for which the Samsung Galaxy A7 moves. GPU performance is good enough to display current games in native 1080p resolution.

Two models of this Samsung Galaxy A7 can be found, one has 4 GB of LPDRR4 RAM and the other 6 GB.

The cheapest internal eMMC storage in our terminal has a capacity of 64 GB, although users only have 52 GB available for personal use after initial configuration. The most expensive model offers 128 GB.

The phone's storage can be expanded using a microSD card (up to 512 GB). However, unfortunately the SD card cannot be formatted as internal storage.

It is a great success not to offer anything below 64 GB, with the amount and weight of files that we handle today, it is the minimum that must be mounted, always taking into account that the operating system eats only a few gigs.

Unlocking the Samsung Galaxy A7

The fingerprint sensor leaves a bittersweet taste. Being located on the on / off button on the right side, we tend not to fully support the membrane of the finger and this means that it is not accurately recognized, so we have to repeat this procedure until we do it well. It is something that does not usually happen in the sensors at the rear. Once the finger is recognized, the unlock is usually done quickly. However, we have another problem, the power button can also be pressed to turn off the screen and, if ever when we want to turn on the terminal, we press the button, the screen may turn on with the fingerprint and turn off for having pressed the button. Something that ends up frustrating a little.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy A7, also incorporates the facial unlock function. After our testing period, we have been more or less satisfied. On many occasions, if the light conditions were ideal, the unlocking was satisfactory, but if the light was scarce or we had any accessory on the face, it was difficult to unblock the terminal.

Camera

The main camera on the back of the Samsung Galaxy A7 has a resolution of 5664 x 4248 pixels and a 4: 3 aspect ratio. While the 24 MP camera takes photos at a standard 77 ° angle, the wide-angle lens of 8 MP records at a 120 ° angle, corresponding to our natural field of view. The third lens is a 5 MP sensor that allows the main camera to collect more depth-of-field information and determine the three-dimensionality of the main subject. This enables real-time bokeh effects and is known as Live Focus.

The 24 MP camera module has a powerful f / 1.7 aperture, which creates relatively clear photos in dark surroundings. In daytime scenes, the amount of detail captured is quite good, however where the camera fails a little more is in the slightly washed colors and in a contrast that does not finish showing a good level of blacks. Indoors, the first thing you notice is the decrease in the level of detail.

When lighting is lacking, noise soon appears in the image and photos are characterized by artifacts and blur. Photos taken with the ultra wide angle lens are very dark and very noisy due to their f / 2.4 aperture.

The blur effect is not one of the best there is, especially in scenes with less light. When the lighting is correct, a quite acceptable but far from perfect effect is achieved. Luckily it can be edited later.

The 24 MP front camera has an f / 2.0 aperture and takes good selfies during the day, although they tend to be a bit overexposed. Unfortunately, this camera does not support autofocus for ideal image sharpness. The front camera records videos in FHD resolution (1920 × 1080 pixels) at up to 30 fps. This also applies to the main camera on the back.

The camera software used in the Samsung Galaxy A7 offers 19 different scenes and automatically chooses the appropriate parameters for each photo. The scene optimization feature recognizes image content, such as people or landscapes, and adjusts color tones, brightness, and contrast accordingly.

In general, the app offers its multiple functions simply and within reach, without messy menus. Among them, the Bixby Vision function is incorporated that is used to buy products that we photograph, search for places or translate texts, something similar to Google Lens and its search aid depending on what you are seeing.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy A7 has a 3300 mAh battery that allows it to reach a range greater than one day and reaching just a day and a half after making daily use with social networks, web browsing and multimedia content display and with a screen brightness set to 150 cd / m², which is pretty good on paper. Screen hours are around 5 hours on average, an amount that is not exceptional but that is correct.

The included 7.8 watt power supply does not have a fast charge, and recharging the device takes approximately two and a half hours. The phone charges at 50% capacity in about an hour.

Connectivity

Samsung has equipped the Samsung Galaxy A7 with Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC for near-field communication, which allows users to use the smartphone to pay through Google Pay. The Wi-Fi module built into the Galaxy A7 is compliant with IEE 802.11 ac standards and uses the 2.4 and 5 GHz band. The device offers space for two nano-SIM cards. The microSD slot is not connected to the SIM slots and can therefore be used even when using two SIM cards. Just as it has an audio Jck port, it also has an FM Radio without the need for internet.

The device uses GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou satellite systems and the SBAS satellite-based augmentation system. It is quick to position ourselves within five meters outdoors. Even indoors, the Samsung Galaxy A7 manages to locate us quite quickly.

Final words and conclusion about Samsung Galaxy A7

Samsung has managed with the Samsung Galaxy A7 to create a fairly affordable mid-range terminal with very interesting features. The design is the first thing that enters through the eyes, and although there is no revolution, the truth is that its light weight and its style and rear glass with metallic color makes it a pleasure to hold it in your hand.

The Super AMOLED screen also fulfills its promise even if it does not have the best quality when rotating it but many will appreciate not having the famous notch. Facial unlocking is a well-resolved aspect in this mid-range terminal, its performance is good at times but not always as it happens in other high-end models.

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The battery is one of the sections that without being excellent, offers what you would expect from it in a device of this range. The same can be said of the camera, which does not offer everything it could give of itself; the sound, which is good but does not reach the level of other models, or the operating system, which sometimes suffers from a few jerks and does not have Android Pie.

They are quite correct aspects and you can not ask for much more of them if we talk about a terminal that is around € 250. This is what usually happens in cases where you try to adjust the hardware at a moderate price. Sometimes it is achieved, in this case they had to have optimized some more of its sections.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ Elegant and lightweight design.	- It does not have a microUSB type C port.
+ The layer has improved and brings less junk apps.	- In the end the triple camera is not what was expected.
+ A not very high price.	- Finger unlocking is cumbersome.
+ Includes audio jack.	- It still scratches the operating system a bit.
	- Dyeing by rotating the screen.

The Professional Review team awards him the silver medal:

Samsung Galaxy A7

DESIGN - 84%

PERFORMANCE - 78%

CAMERA - 75%

AUTONOMY - 78%

PRICE - 79%

79%

A mid-range that could have given more.

A flasgship was not expected but it was at least good in most of its sections.