Samsung Galaxy A80 hands-on: Sliding into a no-notch, no-hole future

Samsung's ongoing battle against the Chinese contest has resulted in the visitor launching a bevy of new smartphones this year. We've seen five new Milky way A series phones and three Milky way M series phones, and Samsung is showing no signs of stopping. This week, Samsung has appear the Galaxy A80, its starting time smartphone with a popular-upwards camera. And it's not only a sliding camera mechanism that the A80 has going for it: The phone has no front-facing cameras and simply rotates the rear camera towards you when you want to accept a selfie.

Yes, the Galaxy A80 has a pop-upandrotating camera organisation, and this means your selfies volition have the aforementioned quality as the photos you have of things effectually you. And they'll be quite detailed as well, since the principal camera on the Milky way A80 is a 48-megapixel sensor. That's the highest megapixel count yet on a Milky way smartphone, and you also have ultra-wide and 3D depth sensors adjacent to that 48MP primary camera.

I was able to play with the Galaxy A80 and its pop-up cameras in a short hands-on session in Bangkok, Thailand. Did I come away impressed? Well, you'll need to go along reading to notice out.

No notch, no hole, very fiddling bezel

First off, I have to say the Galaxy A80 is one beautiful telephone. I've found all of the visitor's new phones with the gradient colors to be very pretty, but I wasn't prepared for how much better the A80 looks compared to recent A serial phones like the Galaxy A50. Perhaps it'south because the A80 has drinking glass on the back and not plastic, and the sober color choices (pink, black, and white) no doubt helped too. There'south also that completely redesigned camera module setup that adds to the amuse, and while it may not await that skilful in the pictures in this commodity, the camera associates looks quite classy in real life.

The Galaxy A80 is also a big phone thanks to its 6.7-inch screen. Simply information technology's non as big as you'd wait, thanks to the modest bezels. In fact, the pinnacle bezel on the A80 is even smaller than the Galaxy S10's, thank you to the lack of a traditional earpiece. Samsung is using what it calls "sound nether brandish" technology, which basically uses vibrations to transmit sound to your ears (similar to bone conduction tech found on some headphones). And thank you to the pop-upwardly camera, there'due south no notch or pigsty on the display, allowing the Milky way A80 to offering a more immersive viewing feel than Samsung'due south latest flagship.

Not bad rotating camera machinery, but no facial recognition!

Alright, now let's talk about that rotating and sliding camera setup. My first question to Samsung was the obvious 1: How long will that complex camera mechanism last? I was told it won't pose whatever issues for a couple of years, and the unabridged thing looked very well made and felt extremely stable every time the slider went up and the cameras rotated. The only thing that worried me was the gap that was created on the side of the phone when the cameras popped out. Samsung tells me grit won't exist an issue, merely the gap looked a flake too big for me to feel reassured.

There is also a major limitation on the A80: Yous don't get any facial recognition. No prizes for guessing why, of course. Since the camera setup has to rotate every time yous want to take a selfie, adding facial recognition would wear out the mechanism a lot faster. Only the lack of facial recognition is a shame, considering the Galaxy A80 has a fourth dimension-of-flight (ToF) camera next to the 48MP primary and 8MP ultra-wide cameras. A ToF photographic camera sends out a pulse of lite and then measures the time information technology takes for the light to bounciness back, and that can be used for advanced facial recognition similar to Apple's Face ID technology.

What the ToF sensor does enable is the power to take Live Focus (bokeh) videos. A brusk exam of the Live Focus video feature had me impressed, and Live Focus photos too had a more premium-looking blur result. Again, the best part is that you lot tin can use the same camera setup for both front-facing and rear-facing pictures and videos, and that includes being able to take ultra-wide selfies as well. I just wish the ultra-wide photographic camera had a higher megapixel count: The 8-megapixel ultra-wide shots will look noticeably less detailed than the 48MP pictures from the main camera.

Super fast charging is on-board, merely no microSD slot or headphone jack

The Galaxy A80 is also special for the fact that it supports super fast charging like the Galaxy S10 5G and the Galaxy A70. The A80'southward 3,700 mAh battery is considerably smaller than the 4,500 mAh battery on the A70 and S10 5G, and so the faster charging should exist even more useful on the A80. For those unaware, the super fast charging tech allows these devices to draw 25 watts of ability from the charger. Samsung's traditional fast charging on the Galaxy S10 and all of its phones in the final couple of years, meanwhile, only draws 15 watts.

But while you will be able to elevation upwards the A80'southward battery quickly, you won't be able to expand available storage once you fill upwards the 128GB of internal storage. Aye, there's no microSD slot on this phone, another compromise made because of the sliding camera system. There's no headphone jack, either, but that'due south non really a compromise, just a deliberate decision that Samsung has already fabricated on some devices, including the upcoming Galaxy Fold.

As far every bit the rest of the specs are concerned, the Galaxy A80 falls in the upper echelon of Samsung's mid-range phones. It comes with 8GB of RAM as standard and is powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 730 chipset, and it felt very quick and smooth during my hands-on session. You likewise go Android Pie with 1 UI 1.1 out of the box. One UI 1.1 brings features like Bixby Routines and Digital Wellbeing, both of which are available on the A80, and also enables the employ of the power push for Bixby Voice.

Last merely non the least, the Galaxy A80 also has an in-display fingerprint sensor. It'southward the optical kind, and if the Galaxy A50 is anything to go by, it won't work that groovy. But it's the only biometric pick the A80 offers, so y'all'll simply take to get used to it.

An impressive phone that may non be for everyone

The Milky way A80 managed to print me in the brusque time I had with it and I tin't wait to test it out more than thoroughly. The pop-upwardly camera and rotating mechanism makes it feel quite special, and features similar super fast charging, a brandish with no notch and extremely small bezels, the latest software, and 8GB of RAM further enhance the package.

Withal, I'thousand not downwardly with some of the limitations. No headphone jack, no expandable storage, and no facial recognition despite the presence of a fourth dimension-of-flight sensor could turn away some consumers, although I'm hoping the phone will rising to a higher place those limitations and offering a adept feel in other aspects. Whether that's actually the case is something yous'll find out in our total Galaxy A80 review.

What'south your take on Samsung's newest mid-range phone?

Source: https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-a80/hands-on

Posted by: plunkettlailme.blogspot.com

Share this post