Samsung A30 Review: Average in Every Sense of the Word

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Samsung A30: At First Glance

Over the years, it seems Samsung has been known for manufacturing rather pricey smartphones. However, the Samsung M and A series seem to be taking a different turn.

Notably, among the Samsung M 1st gen series are the M10, M20, M30, and M40. The Samsung A series, on the other hand, includes the A20, A30, A50, and A70 which were all released in 2019.

Samsung A30 is well among phones meant to be a balance of price and specs for an average user. This is especially true with its starting price of $400 (as of November 2021).

Did Samsung get this balance right in Samsung A30? The remaining sections of this review will answer that question.

Samsung A30: Design, Dimensions and Weight

The Samsung A30 shares similar design features as the Samsung A70 which isn’t actually its predecessor. To start with, Samsung A30 has an interesting build that comprises both glass and plastic.

Asides from the glass screen, the rest of the phone is made of shiny plastic that looks a lot like glass – most especially the phone’s back. The back of this phone is not as slippery as glass but it’s as durable as plastic.

Samsung refers to this combination of glass and plastic as “glasstic” which is similar to what’s on the A70. According to the manufacturer, glasstic is the construction of glass and plastic molded together.

With such an intersection build, the Samsung A30 is definitely a fingerprint magnet. Furthermore, the beauty of this phone is evident whether you go for black, blue, or white.

On a different note, if you love lightweight phones, the A30 definitely fits that description. The Samsung A30 weighs 165 g and has a dimension of 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm.

Closely following the A30 is the Samsung A50 which weighs 166 g and has a dimension of 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm. On a heavier side of things is the OnePlus 6T which weighs 185 g.

Furthermore, the OnePlus 6T is also thicker with a dimension of 157.5 x 74.8 x  8.2 mm. By comparison, the A30 is slimmer and lighter than its competitors.

Moving on, the dimension of the A30 has an almost bezel-less look with an 84.9% screen-to-body ratio. To be exact, asides from the notch cut out for the selfie camera and the slight chin at the base, this phone has almost no bezels.

This means there are no distortions or anything occupying the top or lower bezels – not even an LED notification. Speaking of which, there’s no LED notification on the A30, what you get instead is an always-on display that indicates notifications. 

Moving on, let’s talk about what you’ll find on the phone’s edges. At the base, there’s the usual position of the USB Type C port.

Beside that port are the single speaker and the headphone jack. On the left side of the A30 is where you’ll find the SIM tray which can be home to two nano-SIM cards and a nano-SIM and a microSD card. 

To give more clarification about the SIM slot, it is a dual-nano-SIM AND a microSD card slot. This means that you can insert two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card at the same time. 

Moving on to the back of the phone, there’s the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. There’s also the dual rear-facing camera placed horizontally in the camera bump.

Just below that camera bump is an LED flash. Below the fingerprint sensor is where you realize what brand you’re holding with the “Samsung” text logo. 

In a word, the A30 design is attractive for anyone who wants a good-looking phone. For that reason, I will rate the design features of the Samsung A30 a nine out of ten in this review.

Samsung A30: Display Features

A smartphone’s display is more than just what’s on the surface. It largely involves what technology was used and the end result of the said technology.

On that note, the Samsung A30 features a Super AMOLED display type. In addition to that, this smartphone also has a Full HD+ (2340 x 1080) resolution and a display size of 6.4″.

Over the years, Samsung has been able to really make a name for itself with great displays and the A30 is no exemption. The super AMOLED panel produces a great contrast ratio and deep blacks in its most original form. 

Additionally, this AMOLED panel also makes viewing angles enjoyable. By viewing angles, I mean the way in which a phone screen is tilted and still maintains its clarity.

As for the FHD+ resolution, it is responsible for sharp images and great color accuracy in the Samsung A30. In the aspect of brightness, the A30 has 561 nits of brightness – making it bright enough for outdoor use.

Comparatively, the Samsung A50 has more nits than the 456 nits of the Nokia 7.1. However, the Samsung A50 with its 595 nits of brightness does better than the Samsung A30.

By comparison, the A30 is not the most remarkable in terms of brightness, however, it is very usable outdoors. Moving on to the aspect of size, the Samsung A30 has a display size of a large 6.4″.

With such a large screen, expect to really stretch your thumb when trying to reach this phone’s top bezel. If that’s too far-reaching, you can activate the one-hand mode instead.

This one-hand mode makes the phone more usable by moving the phone’s display to one side of the screen. All in all, the display feature of the Samsung A30 is quite impressive and worth a nine in this review.

Samsung A30: Camera Features

This Samsung mid-range smartphone comes with a three-camera setup. There’s the main 16 MP rear-facing camera with ƒ/1.7 aperture.

Next to that is a 5 MP wide-angle rear-facing camera with an aperture of ƒ/2.2. For the front-facing camera, there’s the 16 MP camera lens with an aperture of ƒ/2.0.

In case the term “aperture” is strange to you, it simply refers to how wide the camera lens opens to accommodate the entrance of light. Furthermore, it’s interesting to note that the lower figure best describes a good aperture.

On that note, it’s important you understand how these cameras perform. Starting with the main camera, images tend to appear slightly overexposed when taking pictures outdoors.

Also, images have little details when shooting in low-lit situations. On the good side of things, portraits come out looking really sharp with a fine amount of detail and image separation. 

The wide-angle camera makes shadows visible with little detail. Unfortunately, this wide-angle lens lacks auto-focus so don’t expect sharp images from this wide-angle lens.

One major thing missing in this phone’s camera features is the night mode. Even for a mid-range smartphone, this phone doesn’t have the night mode feature for taking pictures at night. 

This means you’ll have to depend on the plain features of the main camera. As you may have guessed, using the main cam for night pictures makes details unclear and leaves images looking grainy. 

As for shooting videos, the Galaxy A30 can shoot good video quality of up to 1080p. On the downside of things though, is the lack of image stabilization when taking videos.

The absence of image stabilization means that videos will be shaky and may turn out blurry. The only way to prevent or minimize shaky videos from happening is to really keep your hands steady.

For the front-facing camera, selfies are not so sharp, however, colors are good especially in good light. Nonetheless, all camera lenses on the A30 are pretty much average.

On that note, camera features on this device are not to die for. This makes it appropriate to rate the Samsung A30 a seven in the camera section of this review.

Samsung A30: Battery Life and Talk Time

The battery size is as you would expect on this device. A 4000 mAh non-removable battery is what powers the Samsung A30.

This 4000 mAh battery is the same size found in the Samsung A50 as well. Having that in mind, let’s talk about the battery life of the A30.

When you use the Samsung A30 for continuous web browsing, you can be sure to get about 11 hours 10 minutes. This is 25 minutes longer than what you’ll get in the A50 which lasts about 10 hours 45 minutes.

Comparing the battery life with other brands, the A30 is actually on par with the rest. To be exact, the OnePlus 6T lasts about 10 hours on continuous web browsing.

Close to that is the Redmi Note 7 which lasts approximately 10 hours 16 minutes. Another mid-range smartphone that doesn’t match up to the A30 is the Moto G7 which lasts around 9 hours 17 minutes also on continuous web browsing.

By comparison, it’s realistic to say that the Samsung A30 is truly getting it right with its battery life. In a similar light, it’s important you know how long it takes in charging this smartphone.

Despite the fast charger in the box, the Samsung A30 charges from 0-30% in 30 minutes. This in turn means that this phone can get a full charge in around 1 hour 40 minutes.

Comparatively, the A30 does pretty well among its competitors. For instance, the Redmi Note 7 takes 2 hours 15 minutes to get a full charge.

A different brand that does better than the A30 is the OnePlus 6T. This OnePlus product takes approximately 1 hour 25 minutes in getting a full charge from 0-100%.

In essence, the Samsung A50 is well among the smartphones that reduce battery anxiety for its users. You can be sure to get a full day’s use on a single charge and less than two hours to fully charge the A30 after much use.

With such impressive features, the Samsung A30 battery is deserving of a nine in this review.

Samsung A30: Storage Options and Performance

The storage capacity of the Samsung A30 is targeted at moderate storage users. To be exact, this phone comes in different storage options.

Depending on the variant you go for, you can get this phone with 32 GB or 64 GB onboard storage. Frankly, 64 GB is just the right amount of storage for a phone in its price range.

Although, it appears that Samsung wanted to offer a cheaper variant with storage as its only difference. Just as you may have guessed, the higher the storage, the more expensive the phone model.

This means that 32 GB storage of Samsung A30 will be less expensive than its 64 GB counterpart.

For those who are big on storage size, the 64 GB will do just fine and even if it wouldn’t, there’s another option. Actually, the Samsung A30 has room for more storage with the use of a microSD card. 

In fact, you can have up to 512 GB more storage on this smartphone. Do note that this microSD card wouldn’t be added to the box – you’ll have to purchase it separately.

As a whole, the storage features of this device in as you would rightly expect in such a smartphone. In terms of rating, the storage feature of the Samsung A30 is best suited for a nine in this review.

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Samsung A30: Security Features and Sensors

On the aspect of sensors, the Samsung A30 has the typical sensors you would need in a smartphone. These sensors include accelerometer, fingerprint, facial recognition, geomagnetic, gyro, hall, ambient light, and proximity sensors.

In case you’re not sure how each sensor functions or the benefit they provide you, I will be clarifying that in the next paragraphs. For starters, the accelerometer sensor measures the acceleration of a device.

More precisely, this accelerometer is responsible for the phone’s ability to auto-rotate when you turn the screen. Next is the gyro sensor which is actually similar to the accelerometer.

This gyro sensor measures a greater level of acceleration by measuring angular velocity. If you’re wondering what its importance is, well, the gyro sensor is responsible for the gaming pleasure when playing that car racing game.

In the aspect of security, the Samsung A30 has fingerprint and facial recognition sensors. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is very responsive to the touch.

As for facial recognition, it doesn’t perform any differently. If you find the face unlock more convenient, this feature wastes no time in recognizing your face to unlock the phone.

Away from that, there are other two most common sensors on a smartphone – proximity and ambient light sensors. The proximity sensor is popular for turning off the screen light when you’re on a call.

This is possible because the phone screen responds when it comes in contact with your eyes or ears. The ambient light, on the other hand, takes note of the lighting situation in the environment.

Similar to the proximity sensor is the ambient light sensor. This sensor detects the present lighting environment of the phone and reduces the screen brightness if there’s sufficient light around the phone.

The essence of both the ambient light and proximity sensors is to preserve the battery life of the device.

Another sensor found in the Samsung A30 is the hall sensor. This hall sensor is a feature that functions when you make use of a flip case for this phone.

Whenever the cover of that flip case opens, the hall sensor communicates to the phone to turn on the screen light. This explains why a phone’s screen light comes on just by opening the phone’s cover.

In brief, the sensors of the Samsung A30 are typically what you would need in a smartphone. Having that in mind, the Samsung A30 is worth a nine in this sensors section of the review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

On a final note, there is really nothing that makes the Samsung Galaxy A30 exceptional. The A30 is best described as a perfectly average smartphone with typical features you would rightly expect.

On a positive note, the design and battery features of the A30 would really make you consider it. However, if you must really settle for an average smartphone, there are other cheaper options to consider.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy A50 is perhaps a more appealing option especially in the aspect of camera performance. A more impressive option would be the Redmi Note 7.

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