Latest Galaxy A30 news
Introduction
Samsung has revamped the Galaxy A series for 2019 with more features and more models at more price points. The new lineup now replaces everything from budget models to premium midrangers. It appears Samsung is going to brand every smartphone that is not a flagship and sold offline as a Galaxy A series device going forward.
The Galaxy A30 and A50 are the first set of devices born out of this strategy. The Korean company unveiled them at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona last month. As the model number suggests, the Galaxy A30 is the cheaper and less powerful model of the two. It is still placed above the Galaxy A10 that Samsung launched a week later.
Design
Just like the A10 and A50, the Galaxy A30 is made out of glossy plastic that Samsung calls 3D Glasstic since it looks like glass. It’s a well-built device but doesn’t offer anything new or striking in terms of design. It weighs 165 grams with 155.6 x 75.6 x 7.9 mm physical dimensions.
The front is occupied by an Infinity-U display with a U-shaped notch for the single selfie camera. The bezels are not proportionate and the chin is large, but the device still manages to offer a good screen-to-body ratio by today’s standards.
The volume rocker and power button are placed on the right and are easy to reach. The left side houses a SIM slot that can take two SIMs and a microSD card. On the bottom side, there is a headphone jack, USB Type-C port, primary mic, and a speaker grille. The top side is clean and only hosts a secondary microphone. On the rear side, the Galaxy A30 has a vertically arranged dual-camera setup on the top left, an LED flash right below, Samsung branding in the middle, and a fingerprint reader just above it.
Specifications
The Galaxy A30 packs a 6.4-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U display, Exynos 7904 octa-core chipset with Mali-G71 MP2 GPU, 3GB/4GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of storage, dual rear cameras, single selfie shooter, rear-mounted fingerprint reader, NFC-based Samsung Pay, and a 4,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging. Like the other new Galaxy A models, it comes with Android 9 Pie with Samsung’s One UI on top out of the box.
You can find the full list of specifications on our Galaxy A30 page
Display
The Galaxy A30 sports a 6.4-inch full-HD+ (1080 x 2340) Super AMOLED Infinity-U display, giving it a pixel density of ~403 PPI. Samsung uses the Infinity-U terminology to refer to screens with a U-shaped waterdrop notch, which is not all that different from its V-shaped cutouts on devices like the A10. The display has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Given how good Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays are, this is one area where you can expect the A30 to be better than its rivals in the market.
Camera
The dual rear cameras in the Galaxy A30 is a step up from the A10’s single-camera setup. It consists of a 16 MP f/1.7 primary camera with PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus) and a 5 MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens. There is also an LED to assist in low-light conditions. The primary camera supports 1080p video recording at 30fps. For selfies, there is a single 16 MP f/2.0 camera that can also record 1080p videos. The camera software doesn’t offer any new features and is similar to what you find on other A and M series devices in its price bracket.
Software
Barring the Galaxy S flagships, most other Galaxy devices often launch with older versions of Android. Thankfully, that’s not the case with the new A series models, including the A30, as they not only come with Android 9 Pie OS out of the box but also run Samsung’s One UI. This can be a major factor for many buyers who are apprehensive of Samsung’s past performance in rolling out quick version updates. The presence of One UI means the A30 will offer a similar experience and feature-set found in other Galaxy devices in the same price range.
Availability
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy A30 at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, and it went on sale in India a week later. It comes in in red, blue and black color options and carries a price tag of INR 16,990 (~$240) for the 4GB/64GB. The A30 also has a 3GB/32GB variant, but Samsung hasn’t released in India. As usual, pricing and availability vary by region.
