REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy A7 2018, a mid-range top-of-the-line body

I started testing the Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 believing that it was an intermediate smartphone (mid-range), without innovative features and with performance capable of pleasing only less demanding users. I was surprised.

In the past, mid-range was a model with some hardware limitations, slower CPU, half-assed camera, that stuttered in games but met most of the normal needs of a mobile user. But a few years ago, the bar was raised by some super smartphones like the Galaxy S9, da Samsung,  and iPhone X, from Apple , and the mid-range guy also went up the scale.

O Galaxy A7 2018 is a good example. Its design is very similar to the company's top models, it has three cameras that allow you to take excellent photos in any environment and runs state-of-the-art games without any problem. Obviously, there are some limitations: the processor is a little slower than the top models (but it's 8 cores), it uses the micro-USB and not USB-C and the “infinite” screen is less infinite than that of the more expensive brothers. Even so, from medium to Galaxy A7 2018 has nothing.

A7 in short

Pros

• Three cameras bring great versatility
• Design just like the S7 for you to pose as a playboy
• Fantastic Super AMOLED screen
• Compatible with Samsung Pay or Google Pay

Cons

• Uses the outdated micro-USB
• It's not waterproof

Samsung Galaxy A7 on the outside

With a look similar to the S9, the Galaxy A7 2018 has some small differences. The back is made of metal and glass, which gives it a vibrant metallic color that may not please those who prefer a more discreet phone.

The fingerprint sensor is located on the power button, on the side, below the volume buttons, which makes its use very practical. Soon you get used to holding the device with your thumb over the sensor and unlocking it immediately. You don't even have to press the button. It is possible to configure the gesture of swiping up and down on the sensor to go down and up the notifications and settings menus. On the other side, only the slot for nano-SIM and microSD cards.

The rear is completely clean, with just a slightly protruding rectangle where the three cameras are and the flash LED just below. Underneath, the headphone audio output bravely resists, along with another old port: the micro-USB. While the top models bring USB-C, which among other modernities allows for faster battery charging, the Galaxy A7 2018 still uses that old connection.

Fabric

Despite the name “infinity display”, the Galaxy A7 2018 it is not curved like the top models and retains black edges, including the space for the front camera at the top. But it's a screen lady, with 6 inches, technology Super AMOLED and resolution of 1080 x 2220 pixels. With vivid colors that catch the eye and deep blacks it leaves nothing to be desired in relation to more expensive smartphones. It's great for gaming and watching videos. The performance in sunny open places is very good too.

Cameras

Let's talk about good things, let's talk about the triple camera of Galaxy A7 2018. It's not the best camera on the market, but it's very versatile and lets you take professional-quality photos. There are three sets of lenses and sensors: the main one takes 24MP photos (enough to print a small poster if you want), f/1.7 aperture and PDAF technology. This ensures fast, accurate focus and a good sensitivity for night shots. It does not have optical stabilization, only digital, but it is still a camera worthy of a top smartphone. The second camera has a depth sensor and serves to create the blurred background effect known as bokeh or portrait mode but which on Samsung is called dynamic focus. The third camera is an 8MP wide-angle (f/2.4, 13mm) and 120º field of view that allows you to take pictures in style. GoPro greatly widening the angle but distorting the image.

All that hardware generates a bunch of options and modes in the camera software for you to have fun with. Swiping your finger across the screen navigates you through no less than nine photo and video modes. Are they:

Widescreen: 360º photo made by rotating the device.

Beauty: Automatically adjusts the photo for better skin tones, eyes and lighting.

Dynamic Focus: This is where you use the two cameras together to blur a part of the photo and emphasize others. The result can vary greatly depending on the image, leaving the photo looking professional or ruining it completely. It also slows down shooting a bit so it's not recommended for action shots. Another inconvenience is that the images become darker. Better to make your photos with blurred background in open places.

Pro: Brings controls for manual adjustment of ISO and exposure, but since you can't control speed and the aperture is fixed, it's not that Pro.

scene optimizer: Automatically adjusts the image's color, contrast, and brightness according to the scene. There are 19 categories: Food, Portraits, Flowers, Interiors, Animals, Landscapes, Garden, Trees, Sky, Mountains, Beaches, Sunrise and Sunset, Aquatic, Street Scenes, Night Scenes, Waterfall, Snow, Birds and Text.

Automatic: Allows you to choose between the normal and wide-angle lens that can put everyone in the picture and can be used for comical effects by creating selfies with big noses.

Slow Movement: Produces slow motion videos. I suspect a digital trick as the camera only shoots at 30fps and for slow motion without loss of quality 60fps would be required.

Emoji AR: Put bunny ears and other props on your friends' photos and movies. You can also create a My Emoji avatar with dozens of animated gifs with your emoji face.

Timelapse : Creates ultra-fast movies by stitching together photos taken a few seconds apart.

The front camera is also not to be thrown away, with 24MP it has options such as Selfie Focus, which makes self-portraits with a blurred background, Emoji AR and a panoramic selfie capable of including an entire organized crowd in a single image.

The photo app's interface is well resolved, even with all these options available. To switch between the rear and front cameras, simply swipe the screen up and down. As for the videos, they can be made in full HD (1920 x 1080) or FHD+ (2224 x 1080).

You will hardly find a smartphone with so much versatility when it comes to taking pictures. Its main camera isn't the best on the market, but it scores big with the variety of options it puts at your fingertips.

“The main camera isn't the best on the market, but it scores big with the variety of options it puts at your fingertips.”

Compare the images from the main and wide-angle

Hardware and performance

O Galaxy A7 2018 It has a performance very close to that of the S line models and you will hardly have any problems when using the applications. It ran games like Asphalt 9 e PUBG Mobile (with graphics in Medium). Only those who really need all the power of a CPU need to worry about that. That is, if you are not a hardcore gamer, nor are you going to use your smartphone with virtual reality glasses, you can go A7 without fear.

System and Resources

The operating system is the Android 8 Oreo and not the Android 9 Pie, What is a shame. There is no word on when it will be updated.

Instead of a button like on the S9, the personal assistant Bixby is triggered with a left swipe on the home screen. It basically works as an app hub allowing you to see your tweets, messages, photos, play music and order an Uber on a single screen. It can also be integrated with other apps, such as the camera one, to allow for some artificial intelligence tricks. You can, for example, photograph an object with the Bixby triggered and it will look for similar images on the internet. Fun and useful for those looking for image references. It is also possible to photograph a text and translate it instantly, with results not as good as those of Google Translate but that do the trick. Unfortunately, Bixby still doesn't allow voice commands in Portuguese like competitors Siri and Google Assistant. Even so, the camera integration is quite useful and fun.

I had no problems with the fingerprint sensor, except when setting up my fingerprint. It took three tries before he approved my thumb, probably as a result of the sensor being too narrow. But once configured, it didn't miss any unlock attempts. With facial recognition I wasn't so lucky, it just didn't work. O Galaxy A7 2018 It also brings the possibility of automatic unlocking by location, which is very practical. You can always have the device unlocked at home, for example.

Battery

The 3300mAh battery can keep the device alive for a full day of normal use. Obviously, if you spend a few hours watching videos on Netflix or playing PUBG it fades much faster. When it gets close to the end, the device automatically dims the screen and performs other tricks to save energy.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy A7 2018 It doesn't have fast charging so you have to leave it plugged in for about two hours until it fully charges.

So, is it worth it?

costing R$2.199 (64GB) and R$2.499 (128GB), the Samsung A7 (2018) it's not a cheap smartphone. But, as you can already see, he is quite stocky and must be very offended to be called an intermediary.

Ultimately, the Samsung Galaxy A7 2018 proved to be a great phone for those who produce content for social media. I believe that this is the target audience of the launch, as the great creative possibilities that its cameras provide give a great advantage to those who need to click, edit and post images at all times.

“If you are not a hardcore gamer and are not going to use Virtual Reality glasses, you can go for the Samsung A7 without fear”

Specification table

Fabric	6-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with 16 million colors and a resolution of 1080 x 2220 pixels (411 pixels per inch); aspect 18.5:9
CPU	Exynos 7885 with eight cores (2 cores of 2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 and 6 cores of 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53); GPU Mali-G71
RAM	4GB
Storage	128GB, 4/6GB RAM or 64GB (expandable via microSD card up to 512GB; slot shared with SIM)
Back camera)	Triple with 24 MP, f/1.7, 27mm (wide), 8 MP, f/2.4, 18mm (ultrawide) and 5 MP, f/2.2, with PDAF depth sensor focus, LED flash, panorama and HDR, records 1080p@30fps video (gyro-EIS)
Frontal camera)	24 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), HDR, 1080p@30fps
Connectivity	Dual-SIM with 4G, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0 (with A2DP and low energy), GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, NFC and FM Radio
Doors	3,5mm connection for headphones; MicroUSB
Battery	Li-Po with 3.300mAh
Dimensions	159.8 x 76.8 x 7.5 mm
Weight	168 grams
Colors	black, blue and copper
OS	Android 8.0 Oreo
Accelerometer	Yes
Price	BRL 2.199 (64GB) and BRL 2.499 (128GB)