Samsung Galaxy A30 first impressions: Improved design, camera looks promising

Samsung quietly launched its revamped Galaxy A series in India last week. The refreshed series features Galaxy A10, Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 starting at ₹8,940 and going up to ₹22,990.

Of the three, the Galaxy A30 is a mid-range budget phone with a price tag of ₹16,990. The smartphone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Galaxy A30 comes with a refreshed design, dual cameras, fast charging and OneUI. Here's our first impression of the new Galaxy A30.

Display, design

Galaxy A30 sports a U-shaped notch which Samsung calls the 'Infinity-U' display. The smartphone has curved edges with a tall body. You'll find the power button and volume keys on the right side of the phone.

The fingerprint sensor is placed at the rear panel which is a plastic body topped with a glossy finish. A trend being adopted by smartphone brands these days, this is aimed to give a premium look and feel to budget phones. Most phones turn out looking tacky, but the Galaxy A30 finds a balance by being subtle without losing premium touch. It comes in three colour options of black, red and blue.

Galaxy A30 has a large 6.4-inch FHD+ display. Thanks to its AMOLED panel, the smartphone's display offers vivid colours and good contrast.

Performance

Samsung uses its new Exynos 7904 processor on the Galaxy A30. The same chipset powers the Galaxy M30 phone as well. In comparison, rival chipsets like Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 are said to give better performance than the Exynos 7904. Overall performance can only be judged after a full review, though.

Galaxy A30 runs on the new OneUI based on Android 9 Pie. The new UI is especially designed for large screened phones with a cleaner and minimalist look. The icons are placed on the lower half of the screen making it easier for users to navigate around. OneUI is definitely better to use than the previous Samsung Experience with no flashy animations or gimmicky features on the phone.

The smartphone packs a 4,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging and USB Type-C port.

Camera

For photography, Galaxy A30 sports dual 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel rear cameras. The secondary 5-megapixel sensor has 123-degree ultra-wide lens. I tried out the camera indoors and the photos turned out pretty good. But a better clarity can be given only through testing the cameras outdoors and in low-light.

I did notice the camera app to be a little slow while switching from normal to wide-angle. The phone also lagged a little while moving around the camera app itself.

There's a 16-megapixel front camera for selfies. I particularly liked the front camera as the selfies turned out really clear and crisp provided you turn the beauty filter off.

Summing up,

During my brief usage of the Galaxy A30, I discovered that the phone is pretty, has promising cameras and performance too. But the price tag could be a downer for the Galaxy A30 as similar offerings can be found on cheaper phones. For example, the Redmi Note 7 also comes with similar specifications and features but costs around ₹5,000 lesser.