Samsung by Xiaomi: Galaxy A6s – pros and cons

Just a few days ago, Samsung introduced its new mid-ranger, the Samsung Galaxy A6s.

It is noteworthy that this year the Samsung campaign promised to release the Samsung galaxy P30 smartphone. An interesting feature of this model was to be a fingerprint scanner built right into the display. However, something went wrong, and instead of the P30, the developers announced the release of the Galaxy A6s.

And besides, this is the first Samsung phone given to the development of a third-party company.

How it was

Recently, things have not been going well for Samsung in the Chinese market, and Samsung decided to experiment. They did not make this phone in their own factories, but at the Wintech factory in China. The same factory makes smartphones for Xiaomi.

This decision was taken by top managers of Samsung to reduce the cost of production and strengthen their position in the Middle Kingdom.Therefore, it is quite possible that a solid smartphone with good value for money awaits us.

Moreover, the Internet is replete with estimated price tags of $ 260 for a model in the basic configuration, which adds optimism.

If the experience turns out to be successful, then in the future, Samsung management plans to completely transfer the production of smartphones in the middle and low-budget segment to Chinese factories.

So what is it, a smartphone from Samsung at the price of Xiaomi, was the experiment successful and is it really worth the money.

Let's figure it out.

Design

It seems to us that the Koreans did not fail by giving the design work to a third-party manufacturer using the OEM development scheme, because the appearance can definitely be considered one of the undoubted advantages of the phone.

There is nothing particularly revolutionary here, the phone is made in the best traditions of 2019 design. Cases metal with glass on the back panel.

The device can be purchased in 4 colors: black, blue, red or pink-violet. Not quite the usual color scheme. Blue and pink-purple look especially impressive. Moreover, the frame of the front of the screen is the same color as the back.

On the front panel there is a screen with tempered glass, which occupies ~ 78% of the total area of ​​the case.

At the top is a selfie camera with a speaker. Fortunately, the developers did not make this part in the form of a unibrow, it looks like a classic stripe, although this may upset someone.

On the left is a volume rocker and a combined slot for a SIM card. On the right is the lock button.

On the back panel on the left, the developers placed the camera, just below is the fingerprint scanner.

In general, the design creates a good impression, except that the device visually seems large.

Display

The new "not-quite-Samsung" brainchild has received a large, bright Super Amoled display. Based on a good IPS matrix, it has an impressive color reproduction of 16 million colors.

Full HD screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2160 with a pixel density per inch of 402 ppi. In this device, the designers planned to implement frameless display technology, which hints at the 18:9 aspect ratio, but it does not look as impressive as, for example, Samsung S9 or Samsung Note 9. Nevertheless, the display is very good, and it’s a sin to complain about it, especially considering the $260 price tag.

Main characteristics

The new smartphone has quite high specifications for its price segment. In the table, we briefly talked about each, then we will analyze them in more detail.

CPU

The processor deserves special attention, since the Snapdragon 660 is almost the best solution in the middle price segment.

The 14nm die houses 8 Kryo 260 cores, which are improved versions of the A73 and A53 cores. True, the developers are modestly silent about exactly how they were improved. But tests show that this model compares favorably with its previous versions.

The fact is that the 652nd version of Snapdragon had significant problems with heating. From the very moment of its release, its main problem was throttling. At high loads, it got very hot and the processor had to reduce the frequency, which is why it could not realize its full potential.

In this connection, many manufacturers preferred the 625th chip, which heated up and had an incomparably higher energy efficiency, although it was significantly inferior in performance to the 652nd.

The new chip looks like a stripped-down version of the snapdragon 835 in terms of performance. It has high performance, significantly exceeding its predecessors in the face of 650 and 625 chips. In addition, it is devoid of the main drawback of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 - overheating.

To a large extent, this was facilitated by a new process technology. The processor correctly distributes the load across all the cores, which was clearly visible during tests and allows you to load them up to the maximum frequency.

There was no noticeable throttling during this. The processor confidently kept the frequency for a long time.

With that said, it's safe to say that this is definitely one of the best, if not the best processor in the mid-range segment.

Processor performance can be measured by geekbench 4

Front and rear camera

Camera manufacturers from outsourcing also picked up a very decent one. The rear camera is equipped with a 12 MP sensor with an f 1/8 aperture. The second sensor is almost traditionally used for portraiture. It allows you to blur the background, creating a bokeh effect.

It also has settings for panoramic shots and HDR.

An unexpectedly nice addition was the ability to shoot 4K video.

The front selfie camera is nothing special, except for a resolution of 12MP, does not stand out.

Memory

The amount of RAM can not but rejoice. 6 GB is more than enough to help the processor provide decent performance.

There is no need to complain about the built-in memory either. The minimum internal storage size in the basic configuration is 64 GB. This should be more than enough for anything, given the ability to put an SD card.

Battery

A 3300 mAh lithium-ion battery is quite common for this price segment. Such a battery has become more or less the gold standard for the middle class. It can be guaranteed that it should last a day without recharging. More details can only be said with more thorough tests.

The new power-intensive processor suggests that the results will be different for the better.

In addition, the Quick charge system is implemented here. For recharging, a USB Type-c connector is used.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Nice design with interesting colors. Despite the fact that the glass case is not new for a long time, it is still popular and looks great. In addition, this device has a nice color scheme.
• Good screen. The big bright Super Amoled screen looks great.Color reproduction and pixel density are at a high level, no complaints about the screen.
• Fast processor. The decision to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 in this model was a great idea. At the moment, this is probably the best possible option for the middle class.
• RAM. 6 GB of RAM will serve as a nice addition to the fast processor.
• Camera with the ability to shoot 4K video.
• Quick charge system

• A small design issue is the phone's large width. Not that it was that important, but he somehow suspiciously looks like a shovel.
• The rear camera looks rustic, despite the ability to shoot 4K video. Surely this can only be found out after more thorough tests.

Conclusion

The main drawback can be attributed, perhaps, to the deceived expectations of people who were waiting for the galaxy P30 with its fingerprint scanner built into the screen. Here, the sensor is in its usual place, which probably caused some disappointment.

Otherwise, if you look at it with an open mind, the ODM developer turned out to be a good smartphone with balanced characteristics, worthy of many Samsung models. In addition, the estimated price of $ 260 for such a device cannot but rejoice.

It seems to us that this device will be in demand, and there will be those who want to buy it even in China, where Samsung wants to strengthen its position. In the meantime, we can only wish them good luck.