Samsung Galaxy A50, A30, Tab S5e hands-on review

Introduction

We're going to assume that we've all collectively taken-in Samsung's new Galaxy S10 line by now and enjoyed it in full. After all, that's one of the industry's current yearly obsession. Just in case you haven't had your fill yet, might we direct you to our pretty in-depth hands-on review.

Samsung A50, A30, Tab S5e hands-on review

That's all fine and dandy, we never say no to some great tech eye-candy. But what if you don't really need the most bleeding-edge the Korean giant has to offer? This fancy new Dynamic AMOLED panel and its sophisticated fingerprint reader and HDR10+ support. Or that front-facing TOF sensor. Intriguing for sure, but hardly essential. What if all you want is a solid upper-end smartphone and you happen to like Samsung's way of doing things in the Android realm?

Well, the "A"-series is traditionally where you should look. However, that particular lineup has been undergoing some soul-searching for some time now. From an insistence on a metal build, through IP ratings and a few other inconsistent trends, in recent months Samsung has mostly been using the "A" line as a testing ground for new features, like the quad-camera setup on the Galaxy A9 (2018) or the Infinity-O display on the Galaxy A8s.

Samsung Galaxy A50 specs

Body: Front glass, plastic body; 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm; IP68 ingress protection rating; Color options: Black, White, Blue and Coral
Screen: 6.4" Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080 x 2340 px)
Rear cameras: 25 MP, f/1.7, PDAF; 8 MP, f/2.2, (ultrawide); 5 MP, f/2.2, depth sensor
Video capture: 1080p@30fps
Front camera: 25 MP, f/2.0, fixed-focus
Chipset: Exynos 9610 Octa (10nm), octa-core processor (4xCortex-A73 + 4xCortex-A53), Mali-G72MP3 GPU.
Memory: 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage / 6GB of RAM + 128GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support
OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Ion; Samsung quick charge
Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available; LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC
Misc: Single bottom-firing speaker, Under-display fingerprint reader

Well, that crazy chapter might thankfully be drawing to a close if the Galaxy A50 and A30 are of any indication. Both are a lot tamer and traditional Samsung offers. Instead of experimental features for the sake of marketing, we see a return to the well-proven philosophy of simply offering a step-down in feature set from the Galaxy S line.

Samsung Galaxy A30 specs

Body: Front glass, plastic body; 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7 mm; IP68 ingress protection rating; Color options: Black, White, Blue
Screen: 6.4" Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080 x 2340 px)
Rear cameras: 16 MP, f/1.7, PDAF; 5 MP, f/2.2, depth sensor
Video capture: 1080p@30fps
Front camera: 16 MP, f/2.0, fixed-focus
Chipset: Exynos 7885 Octa (14nm), octa-core processor (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 6x1.6 GHz Cortex-A53), Mali-G71 GPU.
Memory: 3GB of RAM + 32GB storage / 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support
OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Ion; Samsung quick charge
Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available; LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS; Bluetooth 5.0
Misc: Single bottom-firing speaker, Rear-mounted fingerprint reader

That being said, there is still clearly a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of product strategy. If nothing else, there's the revamped naming scheme, clearly borrowed from the company's new Galaxy M line. We're still not sure whether it's indicative of some sort of beneficial move towards naming unification and better segmentation.

And speaking of potentially sound and beneficial decisions, we definitely have to classify the new Galaxy Tab S5e under that category. Sure, we are perfectly aware that for many the tablet class of device is pretty much irrelevant with the average phone screen size on the constant rise.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e specs

Body: Front glass, metal frame; 245 x 160 x 5.5 mm; Color options: Black, Gold, Silver
Screen: 10.5" Super AMOLED; 16:10 aspect ratio; 1600 x 2560 px
Rear cameras: 13 MP, f/2.0, 26mm, 1/3.4", 1.0µm, AF
Video capture: 2160p@30fps
Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, 26mm, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, fixed-focus
Chipset: Qualcomm SDM670 Snapdragon 670 (10 nm), octa-core processor (2x2.0 GHz 360 Gold & 6x1.7 GHz Kryo 360 Silver), Adreno 615 GPU.
Memory: 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage / 6GB of RAM + 128GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support
OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
Battery: 7,040mAh Li-Ion; Samsung quick charge
Connectivity: Single-SIM (Nano-SIM); LTE; USB 3.1 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS + GALILEO; Bluetooth 5.0
Misc: 4 speakers (Top: 2, Bottom: 2), Sound by AKG, Cinematic sound with Dolby Atmos technology, POGO charging

Still, tablets might have its place in out lives and they excel in certain use cases. There is still a potential market for them given that the right balance of features and price is actually met. That's what the Tab S5e seems to be going for - bring down pricing on a relatively premium feature set to appeal to a broader public. We can definitely get behind that approach.

Join us on the following pages as we take a closer look at the rest of Samsung's MWC portfolio, out-staged by the Galaxy S10 launch.

Samsung Galaxy A50 hands-on

As the top-dog in the new Galaxy A-line, or at least thus far, there are plenty of expectations that fall onto the A50. It this is going to be the first step down from the Galaxy S10 or rather the S10e if you go on a pure price basis, or the S10+ if you prefer to compare by size, it has to deliver. Samsung agrees since the A50 has so many features that it could easily pass for a flagship offering. Well, a less premium one, or one from a competitor or a year or two ago. But, you get the point.

Let's take this one step at a time though and start with first impressions and appearances. The Galaxy A50 makes a pretty solid one indeed. It looks stunning and largely due to its paint job. The Korean giant refers to its new back design as "3D Glasstic", as a joking combination of glass and plastic. And yes, it's no Gorilla Glass for sure, but whatever Samsung did with the color works.

Well, naturally, this is going to be subjective, but the curved back has so much light reflection and refraction going for it that it's actually hard to get a proper shot of it. That darker shade A50 unit you see in the photos is actually Black! Slightly shifting the phone under the strong show floor lights was a really eye-catching sight.

Pretty fun indeed, but we can see how this might not be a perfect fit for regular board meeting attendance. The other shade we captured on camera is actually what Samsung is calling Coral, but even that sounds a bit too specific given the particular color-shifting dye.

On to materials and build quality then. We know full well this is a polarizing statement to make, but we don't really mind the plastic frame on the Galaxy A50. As long as it is reasonably durable, it's a perfectly fine alternative to the popular "glass sandwich" design. That being said, while the A50 felt really well put together and sturdy in our hand, its specs sheet featured no specific mention of extra scratch protection. So, you might just have to cover that beautiful tapestry with a case. It does have IP68 ingress protection, though.

Samsung Galaxy A50

Speaking of in-hand feel, holding the Galaxy A50 is a pretty familiar feeling if you have any experience with a recent Samsung phone. The sides taper in a very familiar way, leaving behind a fairly slim edge. The volume rocker and power button are in their usual location on the right side and equally thin to match. Also, color-coordinated. They felt great - tactile and responsive.

On the left side we find a noticeable absence of buttons. Noticeable since there is no dedicated Bixby key. Samsung's Ai is still there in the OS, just in case you fancy it, but the controversial extra control is missing.

Since we are already on the subject of controls, the Galaxy A50 has the basics covered, and yes, we are talking about a 3.5mm audio jack. It is on the bottom next to the Type-C port and single speaker.

The top of the phone is mostly empty. But so is the back, sans for the camera. So, what does that mean for biometrics? Samsung definitely didn't forget those and the solution is just one of the "bells and whistles" we were talking about - the A50 gets an under-display reader.

Info is rather scarce on the module itself, but we don't think its exactly identical to the fancy ultrasonic unit on the Galaxy S10 line. A pretty major indication of that is the fact that the A50 has a Super AMOLED panel, instead of rocking the fancy new Dynamic AMOLED moniker. So, it's likely a simpler optical-based unit instead. Performance and accuracy-wise it seemed to do fine, although we reserve final judgment for the full review.

We guess this is a good place to transition to the display. With a diagonal of 6.4 inches, it is a pretty close match to the one on the S10+. Size-wise, of course. Aside from that, it can boast a few fancy features like HDR10+ support or curved sides. The latter one still being a debatable "bonus" for many. The aspect is slightly different as well, with the A50 sporting a less skinny 19.5:9 one. The native resolution has seen a downgrade to 1080 x 2340 pixels, for a ppi rating just above 400. Even so, we find it perfectly sharp.

In fact, the display looks really nice in person. Colors pop, contrast is great, so is brightness. At least subjectively. .

However, speaking of debatable bonuses, there is the matter of the notch. Again, this is going to be a matter of personal opinion, but in our book, the teardrop Samsung opted for (the Infinity-U to use their proper terminology) is probably the least obtrusive option out there. Still, we would have preferred an uninterrupted display any day of the week.

That might have been hard to pull off though since the top and side bezels are pretty thin and Samsung still needed room for its selfie camera up there. On the A50, it's a pretty high-resolution 25MP, f/2.0 snapper. It is fixed-focus, though, which is kind of a bummer. We do wish that one of the autofocus models from Galaxy S models of old could have made its way to the A50 instead. On the plus side, there's the deceptively-named "Selfie Focus" feature with leverages AI for better bokeh selfie portraits.

On the back, the A50 gets a trio of cameras. Interestingly enough, Samsung claims the main one of these also has a 25MP resolution. The reason we find this slightly odd is that we haven't really seen such a camera out in the wild. All the while certain other Samsung devices like the Galaxy A9 (2018) and Galaxy A7 (2018) have a very similar 24MP, f/2.7 main snapper.

Anyway, it is joined by an 8MP fixed-focus, f/2.2 ultra-wide and a 5MP, fixed-focus, f/2.2 depth sensor. That's definitely one thing we have to test more in-depth later on.

The same is also true about the Exynos 7 9710 chipset powering the Galaxy A50. This is the first time we are encountering this 4xCortex-A73 + 4xCortex-A53, Mali-G72MP3, 10nm silicon. We did manage to snag a quick GeekBench 4 sore from it at the venue, but keep in mind that these are early units and you should consider those preliminary results.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

vivo V15 Pro
6527
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
5908
Samsung Galaxy A50 (MWC)
5004
Motorola Moto G7 Plus
4927
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
4446
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
4418
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
4144
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3768
Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3718
Xiaomi Redmi 6
3639

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

vivo V15 Pro
2386
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890
Samsung Galaxy A50 (MWC)
1705
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
1532
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018)
1524
Motorola Moto G7 Plus
1334
Sony Xperia XA2 Plus
839
Xiaomi Redmi 6
820
Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
735
Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
733

Just to round things off with the Galaxy A50 for now, it packs a big 4,000 mAh battery with support for Samsung fast charging. Memory is set at either 4GB/64GB or 6GB/128GB with a dedicated microSD slot for expansion. Pretty great loadout if you ask us.

Samsung Galaxy A30 hands-on

Since we already toured the Galaxy A50 in quite a bit of detail and seeing how the Galaxy A30 is pretty much its little brother in most ways, pretty much all of the impressions shared thus far are applicable here.

We'll try to mainly focus on the differences between the two, starting with physical ones. When we say "little brother" that shouldn't really be taken literally, since the A30 is physically identical to the A50 to the mm - 158.5 x 74.7 x 7.7mm. Color options do differ between the two, but ever so slightly and only in number, as in - the A30 does not come in Coral.

Instead you can see it in our photos in Blue and white, which collectively means you got a taste of the entire new Galaxy A pallete. Those less-than-subtle color shifts, reflections, and refractions we already mentioned are still very much present.

Samsung Galaxy A30

The materials of choice are the same, so mostly plastic and so are the sloping angles. Controls and buttons are in the exact same places. It's basically the same physical handset. Even the IP68 rating is here. Well, except that the A30 has a rear-mounted fingerprint reader.

It's perfectly usable and being a conventional control, just as fast and reliable as you would expect out of a standard fingerprint scanner in 2019.

Naturally, that means that there is no under-display fingerprint reader on the A30, ultrasonic or otherwise. We can't really say we're all that surprised, though, since cost does have to be cut from somewhere to create a cheaper model.

In fact, we are pretty happy to see that Samsung hasn't gone after the display. Instead, the Galaxy A30 is rocking the same large 6.4-inch, Super AMOLED, FullHD+ panel.

Again - no fancy curved sides or HDR10+ support, but just as much great visual fidelity. Popping colors, infinite blacks and what looked like very decent brightness. All things we've frankly come to associate Samsung's AMOLED panels with.

The notch is also just the same and fairly unobtrusive. The only real difference being that on the A30 it houses a 16MP camera (down from 25MP on the A50). This shouldn't really be too much of a downgrade, though, especially seeing how both cameras are fixed-focus to begin with. The Galaxy A30 does boast Face Unlock via said snapper but the A50 has it as well.

The main camera setup on the Galaxy A30 was likely the other major cost-saving area for Samsung's engineering team. Here we find a 16MP, f/1.7 main snapper and no ultra-wide one. The 5MP, f/2,2 depth sensor is still accounted for, though.

Moving on to internals, we find the last few downgrades on the Galaxy A30. RAM has been reduced to 3GB or 4GB, coupled with 32GB or 64GB of storage, respectively. So, we're glad to see that the microSD slot is still present, since you might just need it here. And just like on the A50 it has its own dedicated slot and does not take up one of the two nanoSIM trays.

For chipset the Galaxy A30 gets an Exynos 7 7885, which we are a lot more familiar with from devices such as the Galaxy A7 (2018) and Galaxy A8 (2018). It rocks an Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 6x1.6 GHz Cortex-A53) CPU setup and a Mali-G71 GPU. You can check out one of the aforementioned devices to get an idea of relative performance out of this silicon.

Last, but not least, since Samsung is reusing the body from the A50 it has enough space in there for the same big 4,000 mAh battery. So, we're happy to see it accounted for in its entire capacity. Having less juice would have been less than ideal.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e hands-on

Technically Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab S5e a few days before MWC 2019. So, seeing it here is hardly a surprise. Still, that doesn't make it any less "fresh" of a device or less exciting, for that matter. And the way we see it there is actually quite a bit to be excited about.

We'll just ignore all the constant "dead form factor" chatter for the next few paragraphs and we'll instead focus on the positive narrative. The main one probably being the relatively affordable or at least value-oriented nature of the Tab S5e.

It only takes a quick specs comparison with the current Galaxy Tab S4 flagship to see that it actually offers a very comparable experience at a lower price point. In fact, we might even go as far as to say that in certain aspects the Tab S5e is looking better and certainly more modern than the Tab S4, namely the looks department.

Not only is its design modernized and done with slimmer bezels around the display, but it is also thinner at just 5.5mm and lighter at 400 grams. Of course, this does come at a price. Particularly, in this case, approximately 260 mAh of battery capacity.

Even so, realistically, that's hardly a huge difference. Definitely small enough to be easily offset by the modern look of the Tab S5e and its better portability. Oh, and did we mention it costs less. All the while you are still getting a gorgeous 10.5-inch Super AMOLED panel. One with the same 1600 x 2560 as the Tab S4. In fact, it is likely the exact same panel since OLED units in this size are not really common. Taking this analysis one step further, this is actually one of the biggest and highest quality AMOLED panel you can get on a portable device. The next real step up in size arguably residing in the TV realm. And TV OLED tech is not really the same as tablet OLED tech.

Another thing you are getting on the Tab S5e, just as you would on the Tab S4 is the excellent four speaker AKG-tuned setup with Dolby Atmos. There is also a Type-C port and fast charging support through it. If you plan on charging and using wired headphones at the same time you will need a dongle, though, since the Tab S5e lacks a 3.5mm jack.

In terms of internals, you get a Snapdragon 670 chipset - not flagship-grade, but still perfectly potent in out book. Combined with either 4/64GB or 6/128GB it seems to fare perfectly well powering a modern Android 9 Pie experience with Samsung's new One UI on top.

We would love to test this performance in more depth, though. So, hopefully, the Tab S5e stops by the office at some point. We're also kind interested to see how Samsung's new phone sync feature works. As per press materials, it should allow you to pick up a phone call on your tablet, without having your phone around just as you can with an iPad/iPhone combo.

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