Table of Contents
Scope of delivery
- Smartphone
- USB Type C cable
- SIM tray clip
- Instructions
Specifications
| Dimensions and weight | 160.1 x 76.8 x 8.4 mm, 200 grams |
| Housing materials | Glass, plastic |
| Display | 6.5 inches, 1080×2340 pixels (20:9), 90 Hz, SuperAMOLED, 396 ppi, automatic brightness control (up to 800 nits), tempered glass |
| operating system | Google Android 14.0, OneUI 6 |
| Platform | Mediatek Helio G99 (technology 6 nm), Mali-G57 MC2 |
| Memory | 4/128 GB 6/128 GB 8/128 GB 6/256 GB 8/256 GB microSD memory card up to 1 TB |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC |
| Net | Dual SIM, nanoSIM (combo slot), no eSIM support |
| Navigation | GPS/GLONASS/Beidou/Galileo |
| Sensors and connectors | USB Type C (USB 2.0), OTG Accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, compass Fingerprint sensor built into the side button Face unlock |
| Main camera | 50 MP (f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 5 MP (f/2.2, wide-angle) + 2 MP (f/2.4 – macro without autofocus), LED flash, 1080p/30 video recording |
| Front camera | 13 MP (f/2.0), bokeh effect, various additional effects |
| Battery | Li-Pol 5000 mAh, no charger included, charging up to 25 W |
| Degree of protection | No |
| Colors | Brave Black, Optimistic Blue, Magical Blue, Personality Yellow (not all colors are available in Russia) |
| Sound | 3.5 mm, two microphones |
| Payment system | Samsung Pay, Google Pay |
| Peculiarities | No charger included, FM radio |
Positioning
Samsung remains the world leader in the smartphone segment, and budget models are among the best-selling, and if you look at sales in the second quarter of 2024, we will see that they are adjacent to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, although they exceed it in sales. The company’s most popular model is the Galaxy A15, and it comes in two versions – 4G or 5G.
For a long time, budget models from Samsung were content with boring content, and their hardware specifications lagged far behind their competitors, which made the price/quality ratio extremely far from optimal. You need to clearly understand that the basis for the success of such models is in the sales of subsidized phones by operators, which you receive for free (we are not talking about the Russian market), as well as in the choice of those people who trust the brand.
Many people underestimate the power of a brand and try their logic on everyone, considering it the only correct one. But it is precisely the strength of Samsung’s brand perception that allows the company to sell budget solutions at high prices, while buyers of such devices, as a rule, do not want to look at anything else and are rather inert in their choice.
The model has been on sale since the beginning of 2024, but I didn’t get around to writing about it. In the end, I decided to fill this gap, although I studied the device in the spring and started the review in the summer. There was something distracting all the time, but now is the time to talk about it, since it is iconic in many ways. This is the first device in which Samsung is trying to improve the characteristics of a budget model enough to match inexpensive models from Chinese manufacturers.
Design, dimensions, control elements
In a budget phone, the main material is always plastic, and here we see it everywhere except the screen, it has tempered glass, but its type is not indicated. The matte plastic frame is quite massive, as is the device itself, which corresponds to a large display with a diagonal of 6.5 inches. The weight of the device is 200 grams, it feels like a heavy block. Dimensions – 160.1 x 76.8 x 8.4 mm, the device cannot be called small.
The back panel is glossy, but does not collect fingerprints, is practically scratch-resistant, and small scratches on the body are invisible. In the Galaxy A25, such a panel additionally has a pattern – a repeating carpet of dots, here it is simply filled with one color.
The camera block is designed in the style of the Galaxy 2024 line – individual lenses that protrude slightly from the body.
Despite the fact that this is a budget model, it has two microphones, on the top and bottom ends. A tribute to the audience – a 3.5 mm jack, it is located at the bottom end. There is also a USB Type C connector and the main speaker, there is no stereo pair, the earpiece is used only during calls.
On the left side there is a slot for two nanoSIM cards; you can also install a microSD memory card. On the right side there is a power button, a fingerprint sensor is included in it, the latter works quite quickly, there are no complaints about it. The paired volume key is located higher.
If you don’t like using the fingerprint sensor, you can use face unlock, it works just as quickly. The front camera is installed in the U-shaped cutout of the screen.
The display has a clearly visible edge, this is done so as not to damage the glass on the screen if you like to place the device face down. Both in terms of assembly and materials, this is a typical representative of the budget segment.
In Russia, the model is available in three colors.
Display
Let’s briefly list the technical characteristics of the screen: 6.5 inches, 1080×2340 pixels (20:9), 90 Hz, SuperAMOLED, 396 ppi, automatic brightness adjustment (up to 800 nits), tempered glass.
The first thing that needs to be said is the appearance of a SuperAMOLED display in a budget model; usually other manufacturers focus on IPS matrices, and this is Samsung’s advantage. On the other hand, the advantage is relative, since you need to look at other characteristics of the device, and not just the screen.
There are few settings, you can set 90 Hz for animation, a blue filter, choose the color scheme, and also increase the screen’s sensitivity to touches.
Unfortunately, there is no AoD here, which would be logical for such a screen, but it was left for older models.
Battery
The smartphone has a built-in Li-Pol battery with a capacity of 5000 mAh, it supports fast charging; according to an unkind tradition, the charger is not included in the package. When using a 25W charger, you will get the following charging times.
| Charging time, Samsung charger, 25 W | |
| minutes | % |
| 10 | 18 |
| 20 | 34 |
| 30 | 50 |
| 40 | 62 |
| 50 | 74 |
| 60 | 85 |
| 70 | 92 |
| 80 | 95 |
| 89 | 100 |
On average, the device lasts about three days with moderate use (2-2.5 hours of screen time, normal work with applications). With active use, the battery will run out in two days (4-4.5 hours of screen time). It is necessary to make allowances for the fact that the usage profile of such a device differs from ordinary smartphones, its target audience does not actively use the network, people do not spend so much time with their phones every day.
Memory, chipset, performance
The Galaxy A15 used the Mediatek Helio G99 chipset (6 nm technology). The chipset is old, well-known in the budget segment, and it is clearly not enough to make the device smooth and fast; microlags are visible in the interface, it slows down. This is a budget model with all that it implies. But the most important thing is that the basic version of 4/128 GB is clearly not enough; more memory is needed (this is why Samsung has created a variety of memory options, but we are describing a budget option).
In synthetic tests the device shows very modest results.
Under load, throttling practically does not occur, the device does not heat up.
Communication capabilities
The Galaxy A15 has dual-band Wi-Fi and supports VHT80, which provides good data transfer speeds. Bluetooth version 5.3, NFC is present (depending on the region, it is available in Russia).
In terms of navigation, everything is also very good (GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/Beidou), a cold start on city streets occurs in 2-3 seconds, the navigation accuracy is excellent, there are no complaints.
Camera
These are the modules used in this model.
The camera interface is familiar to other Samsung models.
Let’s look at the photos.
There is no optical zoom in the device; the crop from the main camera is used (x2).
Front camera 13 MP (f/2.2), bokeh effect, various additional effects. Look at the example photo, everything here is familiar and at the level of other models.
Let’s look at examples of photos and videos from the camera.
Software – Features
The model is initially based on Android 14 and OneUI 6, that is, this is the latest version of the interface at the time of the device’s release. Three years of updates are available for OneUI and Android.
Standard applications include a calculator, file manager, voice recorder and other applications that are necessary for comfortable work out of the box.
There are also scripts here, a very cool thing that I use and recommend to you.
Impressions
The connection quality is as expected, there are no problems. In Russia, this model is presented in the 4G version, you can buy the basic version for 12-15 thousand rubles, the 8/256 GB version for 20 thousand rubles. And here we come to the fact that there are dozens of different Chinese companies on the market that offer a much better price/quality ratio and a greater number of possibilities. Here we need to point out that they provide more memory by default (there is no 4/128 GB option for that kind of money). The second thing you should pay attention to is the chipsets used, they are often newer and also faster.
And it turns out that what is Samsung’s big step towards the consumer – the A-series generation in 2024 has become slightly better in terms of characteristics – remains unnoticed by the market, competitors are much more profitable and better. And still, the strength of the brand decides; sales of this device are quite high, people choose it, since it is Samsung. Here is a story about the power of a brand in practice.
Source: mobile-review.com
