Samsung Galaxy A6 Plus review: Impressive selfie camera, battery life

If you're looking for a mid-range phone in the ₹20,000-25,000 price range, you don't really have a lot of choices. Either you'll have to increase your budget to roughly ₹30,000 or just settle for one around ₹15,000. Samsung's latest Galaxy A6+ aims to cater to those customers who have long waited for more options, like they have for the budget or premium category.

Priced at ₹25,990, Samsung Galaxy A6+ comes with mid-range specifications like 4GB RAM, 64GB built-in storage, and 3,500mAh battery. In the photography department, the phone sports 16-megapixel + 5-megapixel rear cameras, and a 24-megapixel front-facing camera. It runs on Android Oreo 8.0-based TouchWiz UI.

We've talked in length about the design of the phone and how it's different from other Galaxy A-series phones in our detailed first impressions. Just a quick recap, the phone comes with the Infinity Display (edge-to-edge display in Samsung's speak), boat shaped antenna lines on the back, and a slim profile. During our long usage, Samsung Galaxy A6+ offered pretty decent grip and felt sturdy, thanks to the metal design. We also liked the flat camera panel on the back which also houses the pill-shaped fingerprint scanner. The setup is a refreshing one from the increasing number of phones with protruding camera panels.

The highlight of Samsung Galaxy A6+ is its stunning display. Featuring a 6-inch AMOLED display with full HD+, Samsung Galaxy A6+ is a treat for watching high-resolution multimedia content. The display delivers pretty rich colours with satisfactory levels of contrast ratio and details. Complementing the AMOLED display is the ever-colourful TouchWiz UI, which is quite easy to get started. TouchWiz UI seems quite leaner than the older iterations while retaining a range of customisation.

There are a few pre-loaded applications such as S Bike Mode, Samsung Pay Mini and data and privacy app Samsung Max which are quite useful as well.

Even though running on lower-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, Samsung Galaxy A6+ handles most of the tasks with ease. It can also handle graphic intensive games Marvel Clash of Champions and Real Racing 3.

The phone heats up little bit during longer sessions of gaming, but that's the case with most of the phones. If you're using the phone for basic browsing, multimedia streaming and social networking, Galaxy A6+ will meet your expectations. On basic to moderate usage, which involves basic browsing and multimedia streaming along with little bit of gaming, the phone should last a full day on a single full charge in the morning.

Samsung Galaxy A6+ comes with a dual-camera setup on the back featuring 16-megapixel sensor and 5-megapixel sensors. The camera thrives in conducive light conditions and delivers pretty impressive results. The quality degrades in low light conditions but not to a point where it looks terrible. In other words, Samsung Galaxy A6+ camera does a good job for its price point. But we've seen lower priced phones deliver quality results, if not better. The 24-megapixel front-facing camera is near-excellent and should satisfy the selfie-loving millenials.

Verdict
Samsung Galaxy A6+ camera is a well-packaged phone for its price point. It doesn't blow your mind off with some extraordinary features, but in this price category, there's barely any other good option other than Moto X4 and Nokia 7 Plus. If you're looking for a phone for ₹25,000- ₹26,000, Samsung Galaxy A6+ is definitely worth considering.