Design of Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
Samsung has done something new with its A series smartphones. When the A series was first unveiled, the handsets were equipped with metal unibody and IP certification. Glass panel has been used on the back panel of all three smartphones Galaxy A7 (2018), Galaxy A9 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018). It gives a plastic feel when you touch the frame and the frame does not get cold in the air conditioner room. The Galaxy A7 (2018) features a 6-inch display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Samsung has named it Infinity Display, but it does not have curved edges like Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9. The thickness of the bezel on the side of the phone is slightly more. The earpiece, selfie camera, flash and sensor have been placed above the screen. There is a micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack and loud speaker at the bottom of the phone.
According to the price of Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018), it was expected that the company will use USB Type-C port in this smartphone. There is no separate fingerprint sensor provided for security. You will see the power button on the side of the phone, the company has integrated the fingerprint sensor in it. Apart from the power button on the right side, there is a button to increase and decrease the volume. Similarly, the concept of fingerprint sensor was also seen in Samsung Galaxy J6+. If the phone is held in the right hand then the fingerprint sensor can be easily used. The weight of the phone is 168 grams. Vertical triple rear camera setup with LED flash will be available on the back panel. There is a matte rim on the side to protect the camera sensor. Fingerprints easily fall on the glass back panel.
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) specifications and software
The Galaxy A7 (2018) has a 6-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ display. The viewing angles are quite good, and we did not face any problem in viewing the display in outdoor light. We had no complaints with the display while watching videos. Dolby Atmos support will be available while using headphones but not on loud speakers. For speed and multitasking, Exynos 7885 octa-core processor has been used in Galaxy A7 (2018). The phone will be available in two storage variants, 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage and the other 6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage variant.
Both variants come with 3,300 mAh battery, Bluetooth version 5, dual-band WiFi 802.11 ac, GPS, GLONASS support. Instead of NFC support in this smartphone of Samsung brand, the company has given Samsung Pay Mini feature. Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and ambient light sensors are part of the phone. Both SIM slots support 4G and VoLTE.
The Galaxy A7 (2018) runs a custom Experience UI based on Android 8.0 Oreo. The smartphone we have for review is running on the September 2018 security patch. You will find many apps pre-installed in the phone. The Settings app is slightly different from stock Android. We didn’t face any problems while searching for a feature in Settings, the search button works properly. Samsung virtual assistant Bixby is present in the smartphone. Like the Galaxy A9 (2018), there will be no separate button for this in the handset. By swiping right on the home screen, you will be able to access Samsung Assistant.
Apps like Google, Microsoft Office apps, Amazon, Prime Video, Dailyhunt, Samsung Mall, Samsung Max (data saving app), Samsung Pay Mini and My Galaxy will come pre-installed. Samsung’s popular features like S Bike Mode, S Power Planning and S Secure will not come pre-installed but if you want, you can download these apps from Google Play Store. Samsung Smart Stay feature will prevent the display from turning off if you keep looking at the display. With the help of palm swipe gesture, you can easily take screenshots. Like dual apps in smartphones of other companies, this Samsung phone comes with the facility of dual messenger.
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) performance, battery life and camera
The Exynos processor given in Galaxy A7 (2018) is not slow in any sense. The octa-core chipset doesn’t slow down or cause any issues while navigating the phone’s user interface. Talking about multitasking, we tried opening several apps simultaneously but the phone did not slow down at any stage. The fingerprint sensor and face unlock feature work fast. The Galaxy A7 (2018) scored 1,19,786 points on AnTuTu benchmark. It scored 1,525 and 4,368 respectively in single-core and multi-core tests on Geekbench. The Galaxy A7 (2018) scored 29fps in the Geekbench T-Rex test.
Let us tell you that this benchmark score is for Nokia 5.1 Plus (review) and the Motorola One Power ( with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipsetreview) is in the benchmark range. Both these smartphones are priced below Rs 15,000. We found that the Xiaomi Mi A2 (review) and Poco F1 smartphone has scored higher in these tests. The price of both the handsets of Xiaomi brand is less than Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018).
We tried playing PUBG game, we would recommend you to keep the phone on medium graphics. The phone did slow down a bit while playing games but within half an hour the phone started heating up. In the HD video loop test, the Galaxy A7 (2018) gave a backup of 15 hours and 40 minutes. Once the phone was charged, we kept the WhatsApp account active for the whole day, made calls, navigated on Google Maps for an hour, gaming etc. and the battery lasted the whole day.
Now let’s talk about the camera. The Galaxy A7 (2018) has a 24-megapixel primary sensor with F/1.7 aperture, a 5-megapixel depth sensor with F/2.2 aperture, and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens with F/2.4 aperture. The camera app includes features like Panorama, Pro, Beauty, Live Focus, Slow Motion, AR Emoji and Hyperlapse mode. The viewfinder comes with features like Bixby Vision and Quick Share that lets you send photos directly from the camera app to Facebook and Facebook Messenger. There are also control features for the flash, filters and camera switcher. Here you will find a button that will help you switch between the primary camera and wide-angle.
The 24-megapixel primary camera takes good pictures in daylight. The 8 megapixel sensor will help you while shooting in landscape. While shooting in macro mode, the phone focuses on small things quickly, it maintains the difference between the background and the subject due to which the photo looks good. Photographs taken in daylight came out sharp, whereas photographs taken indoors did not have much sharpness. We are hoping that if the company provides pixel binning feature in Galaxy A7 (2018) then it will help in taking better pictures in low light. Selfies came out quite good, they can be shared on social media apps. Beautification mode remains automatic, if you want natural output then you can set it to manual mode. The phone also has an automatic HDR feature for selfies.
our decision
The Galaxy A7 (2018) is the first Galaxy smartphone to come with triple rear cameras. These sensors will help you in taking better pictures in different situations. To bring life to the phone, a 3,300 mAh battery has been provided. The battery life of the phone is quite good due to the impressive processor. The glass back panel gives a premium look. We are not very satisfied with the fingerprint sensor present on the side of the phone. Not because of the speed of the sensor, but the reason behind it is that if the phone is held in the left hand, there may be some problem in reaching the sensor and using it. The Galaxy A7 (2018) is a good phone for Rs 23,990. If you want a powerful processor, then you can buy Poco F1 or Vivo V11 Pro of the same price segment in the market.