Samsung Galaxy A35 5G Review: A Sensible Choice

Worth When Reviewed

399.99

In order for you a Samsung smartphone however aren’t too eager on the sky-high costs of the model’s flagship fashions, then the Galaxy A-series is the place you’ll discover the precise handset. And in case you’re looking for the very best worth, you’ll be wanting on the Galaxy A35, In the meantime, the Galaxy A55 presents some further bells and whistles in case you’re completely happy to half with an extra £100.

In comparison with final yr’s Galaxy A34, the Galaxy A35 presents a quicker processor, an upgraded major digicam, and that’s about it on the {hardware} facet. Nevertheless, you additionally get Samsung Knox safety for the primary time, which encrypts your personal knowledge on a {hardware} stage. It’s additionally £10 cheaper than final yr at £339 and it’s additionally out there within the US this yr at $399.

This mid-range worth bracket is extra aggressive than ever, and with the A35 solely receiving modest upgrades over its predecessor, is Samusng doing sufficient to maintain up? I used to be eager to seek out out, and after utilizing it as my major machine for per week, right here’s what I discovered.

Discover out which telephones the Galaxy A35 is up towards in our greatest mid-range cellphone chart.

Design & Construct

• Plastic body and rear
• Gorilla Glass Victus+
• 209g
• IP67 rated

The Galaxy A35 is a pretty big cellphone, and regardless of being made largely from plastic, it’s fairly weighty, too. It sports activities a flat back and front, with a squared-off body, much like the iPhone, or Samsung’s personal Galaxy S24 vary.

The body and the rear of the cellphone are constructed from plastic, they usually really feel plasticky, so it’s instantly obvious that you just’re holding a budget-oriented machine. Nevertheless, the seems to be may idiot you into considering in any other case. 

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The rear of the cellphone, with Samsung’s signature site visitors light-style digicam structure, seems to be simply pretty much as good, if not higher than among the model’s flagship fashions. I used to be despatched the Superior Lilac variant for testing, and it has a stunning pearlescent end that shifts within the gentle.

It’s shiny, however nonetheless fairly grippy within the hand, and it’s not a lot of a fingerprint-magnet. The Superior Lemon choice is equally, if no more, hanging, whereas the Superior Navy and Iceblue finishes provide a extra delicate aesthetic.

The plastic building ought to be sure that the cellphone is kind of sturdy, and an IP67 ranking implies that unpredictable climate poses no menace to the A35. That mentioned, I’ve managed to place a small dent within the nook of the body because it fell off a desk, so it’s not indestructible. There’s no case within the field, and also you would possibly need to think about selecting one as much as maintain it secure.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

There’s no headphone socket on this mannequin, as is the case with most 2024 mid-rangers, however you do get microSD card assist. You’ll have to decide on between utilizing a second SIM card or the microSD card, although, and there’s no assist for eSIM on this mannequin.

The haptic motors on this mannequin are fairly respectable. They’re extra spectacular than the Oppo Reno 11 F, for instance, however nonetheless an enormous step down from the wonderful suggestions delivered by Samsung’s Galaxy S-series. In any case, they’re exact sufficient to present some assured suggestions if you’re typing.

Display screen & Audio system

• 6.6-inch AMOLED show
• 1000 nits and 120Hz
• Stereo audio system

The show is a big OLED panel with a easy 120Hz refresh fee and an ample decision of 1080 x 2340 pixels.

The brightness peaks at 1000 nits, which is sweet sufficient for almost all of eventualities, and nearly vibrant sufficient to take care of direct daylight. An anti-reflective coating would actually assist in that regard, although.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The show is unquestionably a spotlight of this machine. HDR content material from apps like Netflix and YouTube seems to be good on this panel. You get glorious distinction from the OLED panel, vibrant colors and vibrant highlights. 

When you wish to tweak your settings, One UI provides you some primary management of the color output. The choices are equivalent to Samsung’s flagship fashions, together with a complicated tab the place you may shift the white steadiness and two major profiles that both provide you with a vivid or a pure look. The default settings seemed spot on to me, so I by no means felt the necessity to modify these.

The one factor I don’t like about this show is the bezel. It’s fairly chunky all the best way round, and the chin is barely bigger than the opposite sides. It provides the cellphone a barely dated look, particularly as so many different mid-range units are managing to shrink these down and even them out.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

This is likely one of the few telephones in its worth bracket to come back with stereo audio system, they usually punch nicely above their weight. There’s a superb quantity of quantity, little in the best way of distortion and extra bass than most. I’ve heard worse from telephones at 3 times the worth.

Specs & Efficiency

• Exynos 1380
• 6GB RAM
• 128GB storage

The Samsung Galaxy A35 will get an improve to the Exynos 1380, the identical chip that powered final yr’s Galaxy A54.

That is paired with 6GB of RAM and both 128- or 256GB of storage. I’m testing the bottom mannequin with 128GB, and naturally, this storage may be expanded by as much as 1TB utilizing a microSD card.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Sadly, regardless of the improve in processing energy, the efficiency of this cellphone didn’t impress me an excessive amount of. It achieved respectable scores in benchmarks, however I ceaselessly skilled stutters and lag when navigating the OS throughout my testing, and that made the cellphone really feel much less highly effective than the spec sheet suggests.

Don’t get me incorrect, it’s straightforward sufficient to dwell with, and it by no means froze solely, however these stutters occur with jarring regularity. Telephones with weaker benchmark scores, just like the Honor Magic 6 Lite, provide a a lot smoother expertise for day-to-day use.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

As at all times, I booted up Genshin Influence to get an concept of the gaming efficiency. It’s playable on the ‘low’ graphics preset, however I had a smoother expertise utilizing ‘lowest’, by which it may nearly handle 60fps. In each circumstances, the cellphone bought fairly toasty, however by no means bought too sizzling to deal with.

This cellphone is extra suited to much less graphically intense titles, like Marvel Snap or Offended Birds, which it is going to run with ease.

Samsung Galaxy A35 benchmarks

Benchmarks:

• Geekbench 6 multicore – 2940
• Geekbench 6 single core – 1002
• GFXBench (numerous exams)
  • Aztec Open Excessive – 19fps
  • Aztec Vulkan Excessive – 19fps
  • Automobile Chase – 25fps
  • Manhattan 3.1 – 46fps
• PCMark for Android battery check (display screen set to recommended 200 nits brightness) 12 hours 18 minutes
• Charging with Ugreen Nexode 300W from 0% in quarter-hour – 27%
• Charging with Ugreen Nexode 300W from 0% in half-hour – 53% 

Cameras

• 50Mp major sensor
• 8Mp ultrawide
• 5Mp macro
• 13Mp selfie digicam

The Samsung Galaxy A35 has three lenses on the rear.

The 8Mp ultrawide and 5Mp macro cameras are unchanged from final yr’s mannequin, whereas the principle digicam will get a decision bump from 48- to 50Mp, and a barely bigger sensor, too.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The principle digicam outclasses the others by a big margin. It takes vibrant, lifelike pictures with glorious dynamic vary within the daylight, and when it will get darkish, it’s not too shabby both – particularly when aided by night time mode.

Samsung’s picture processing positively helps elevate pictures, though the default sharpening is barely extra aggressive than I’d like. The portrait mode cutouts and the substitute bokeh results are simply as spectacular on this cellphone as they’re on Samsung’s flagship fashions, too.

The ultrawide is beneficial occasionally, nevertheless it lacks element, and also you’re unlikely to be impressed in case you view the pictures on a bigger show than the cellphone. It may’t deal with low-light conditions too nicely, both.

In the meantime, the 5Mp macro is fairly ineffective and primarily serves as a option to up the digicam rely because it so usually the case on telephones this form of worth.

There’s no telephoto digicam, so all zoom pictures are created utilizing digital crops of the principle sensor, together with some AI picture enhancement. 2x zoom seems to be surprisingly good, however in case you push too far past that, you’re in for disappointment. You possibly can shoot at a most of 10x zoom, however the perfect outcomes shall be had under 5x.

Across the entrance, you get a 13Mp punch-hole selfie snapper, and whereas the specs aren’t something to put in writing house about, the outcomes are glorious. It delivers sharp detailed pictures with glorious pores and skin tones. It’s fairly extensive, too, which is helpful for group pictures.

In video mode, you may shoot at as much as 4K/30fps on the principle and selfie cameras, whereas the ultrawide is proscribed to 1080p. The movies look good, with easy stabilisation in any respect resolutions, however the mics battle with wind noise.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• No charger included

The Samsung Galaxy A35 has a good, albeit fairly commonplace, 5000mAh battery, and when paired with a mid-range chip like this, that’ll final a critically very long time.

All through my testing, I usually ended the day with 50% cost remaining, so there’s actual potential for 2 days of life with lighter utilization. In our common PCMark for Android battery benchmark, the A35 lastest a stable 12 hours and 18 minutes.

That mentioned, on days with heavier display screen time, that quantity dropped to round 20% remaining, all of it depends upon how you employ your cellphone, after all. In any case, it’ll by no means battle to make it via the day.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The cellphone helps wired charging at as much as 25W, however there’s no charger included within the field, so that you’ll must supply your personal. It’s not the quickest round, nevertheless it’s not terrible. A appropriate charger will get you from flat to full in about an hour and a half. In the meantime, a 50% cost can take as little as half-hour. 

There’s no assist for wi-fi charging, however that’s nothing uncommon at this worth level.

Software program & Apps

• One UI 6.1
• Based mostly on Android 14
• Some bloatware
• Lengthy assist

The Galaxy A35 runs Samsung’s One UI 6.1, which is constructed on prime of Android 14. Longtime Samsung customers will really feel proper at house right here, however in case you’re coming from a unique Android machine, it may be a bit complicated.

Samsung basically doubles up on all of Google’s providers with its personal variations, which suggests that you’ve got numerous apps to take care of, and issues begin to really feel a bit cluttered. There’s additionally some bloatware preinstalled, which is par for the course within the worth vary, nevertheless it provides to the issue.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

One UI has some nice options baked in, its dealing with of widgets is among the many finest within the enterprise, and it integrates seamlessly with Samsung’s different merchandise. You miss out on a couple of issues right here in comparison with Samsung’s flagship line, although. There’s no fancy Galaxy AI performance, and no Circle to Search with Google, both.

The most effective factor in regards to the software program might be the size of assist. Samsung guarantees to ship 4 main OS upgrades and 5 years of safety patches. It doesn’t fairly match what it presents on its flagship units, nevertheless it’s nonetheless higher than the overwhelming majority of telephones on this worth bracket.

Worth & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G carries an MSRP of £339/$399.99/€379 and it’s out there to buy now in most areas throughout the globe, both from Samsung instantly, or a third-party retailer like Amazon.

That worth places it in competitors with the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi Be aware 13 Professional, Motorola Edge 40 Neo and Nothing Telephone (2a).

Within the UK, we’ve seen reductions that take the worth as little as £289/$359 to buy outright, nevertheless it’s additionally out there on contract with most main networks – see the perfect offers under. When you purchase the handset out of contract, be sure you try our information to the perfect SIM-only offers.

You can even take a look at our rating of the perfect mid-range telephones for extra choices.

Do you have to purchase the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G?

The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G presents so much in your cash.

It has a spacious and high-quality OLED show with a quick refresh fee, nice audio system, glorious battery life and it will possibly take nice pictures, particularly in case you keep on with the principle and selfie cameras. The Samsung badge additionally provides some reassurance in regards to the machine’s high quality and buyer assist, in addition to having the joint-longest software program assist promise on this worth vary.

Nevertheless, it’s not all excellent. The massive uneven bezel on the show and stuttering animations within the OS are common reminders of this cellphone’s funds worth level. I believe different manufacturers are doing a greater job of giving equally priced telephones a extra premium really feel. The Poco X6 Professional is an efficient instance, it’s barely dearer, however has good slim bezels, tremendous speedy efficiency and appears fancier in its signature yellow colourway – if that’s your form of factor.

That mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy A35 is a solidly good selection, and as long as you’re not asking something too taxing of the processor, you then’re in for a superb time. The machine will keep related for a very long time, too, as Samsung shall be delivering OS updates that take this handset all the best way to Android 18.

Specs

• One UI 6.1, based mostly on Android 14
• 6.6-inch, 2340×1080, AMOLED, 120Hz
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Exynos 1380
• 6GB RAM
• 128GB storage
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp major sensor
  • 8Mp ultrawide
  • 5Mp macro
  • 13Mp selfie digicam
• As much as 4K @ 30fps rear video
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM
• MicroSD card slot
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 5000mAh battery
• 25W charging
• 161.7 x 78.0 x 8.2 mm
• IP67 licensed
• 209g
• Colors: Ice Blue, Lilac, Navy