The Galaxy A01 is a no-fuss, low-priced Android cellphone that’s the most cost-effective member of Samsung’s A-series of price range telephones. Priced at $150 (although we have seen it on sale for as little as $100 unlocked from Samsung), the cellphone’s bare-bones {hardware} and options — like its plain design and low-resolution display– aren’t a lot to get enthusiastic about. But the handset covers the fundamentals effectively sufficient that, for its low value, it must be a good system to snap photographs, examine e-mail, watch movies and, in fact, make calls.
LikeAffordableHeadphone jackDecent digital camera
Don’t LikeMeager onboard reminiscenceCamera’s Live Focus is inconsistentCan be gradual at instances
Thanks to its higher digital camera specs and up to date OS, I want the Galaxy A01 over 2019’s Motorola Moto E6 and 2018’s Moto G6, which additionally may be discovered for $100 to $150 now. However, the A01 lasted slightly below 12 hours in our battery checks, so if you would like one thing with extra juice and might spend $100 extra, take into account the Moto G Power ($250 at Best Buy) as an alternative. In addition to a triple rear digital camera system and a sharper show, the G Power lasted greater than 24 hours throughout our battery checks.
Galaxy A01’s design and show The A01 has a 5.7-inch LCD show. While watching movies is ok, the cellphone’s 720p decision means I am unable to watch movies on the sharper 1080p decision, which many YouTube movies may be considered in. Some on-screen icons (just like the digital camera) additionally look fuzzy on nearer inspection, and total the LCD display screen is not as vibrant and wealthy as, say, the Galaxy A51’s ($273 at Amazon) OLED show.
Thin and sufficiently small to navigate with one hand, the A01 has a teardrop notch for its front-facing digital camera that retains it wanting trendy. Up prime is a headphone jack and on the bottom of the cellphone are two small slits for the audio speaker grille. This is one thing to pay attention to; everytime you put the cellphone down to observe video, the audio might be barely muffled in opposition to no matter floor it is laying on. When I laid it on my desk I did not hear a lot of a distinction in comparison with after I was holding the cellphone in my hand, however after I put the A01 on my mattress to observe movies, the sound did dampen a tad extra. The Galaxy A01’s teardrop notch.
Angela Lang/CNET
Galaxy A01’s digital camera struggles with portrait pictures The Galaxy A01’s digital camera takes clear, colourful photographs in ample lighting, and crimson and inexperienced hues particularly pop in some footage. There have been just a few pictures the place the sky was overexposed, and was blown out to white. Later within the night, I used to be capable of take a superb shot of the blue sky, with the foreground and subject material evenly uncovered as effectively. The digital camera has an 8X digital zoom that’s respectable at getting extra particulars from faraway objects, however picture high quality does get muddier and washed out the nearer you zoom. Live Focus for portrait photographs was additionally actually inconsistent. Though some footage turned out OK, a number of others had the foreground or object blurred out as an alternative of the background, even after I made positive that the impact was prepared to make use of. Samsung mentioned they’re wanting into the problem, and I’ll replace the evaluation after I hear again.
The digital camera can file 1080p video. Video high quality is evident and sharp sufficient, however the cellphone does not have optical picture stabilization so footage will not be super-smooth in the event you’re transferring round lots. The flowers on this shot are vibrant, colourful and sharp.
Lynn La/CNET
This image of a rose backyard is sweet, however the sky is blown out.
Lynn La/CNET
In this picture, the sky and its clouds have been effectively captured, together with the foreground.
Lynn La/CNET
An instance of the Live Focus characteristic not working (left) and dealing (proper).
John Kim/CNET
Galaxy A01’s inner storage woes Speaking of photographs, you may doubtless want to make use of Google Photos cloud service to retailer your photographs and movies or spend money on a microSD card. The cellphone solely has 16GB of inner storage, practically half of which is taken up by the OS and apps. My evaluation unit is from Verizon and got here with many preloaded apps. When I first turned it on, having taken no photographs or downloaded any apps of my very own but, it had solely 4.9GB of usable reminiscence. After uninstalling as a lot bloatware as I might (there have been some apps I could not delete together with a bunch of Verizon apps), I received to about 6.8GB. Again, the cellphone does have expandable reminiscence as much as 512GB, so I like to recommend that route for onboard storage. If you need to take heaps photographs and movies with the A01, spend money on extra storage.
Angela Lang/CNET
Performance is respectable with a Snapdragon 439 chipset Equipped with a Snapdragon 439 processor, the A01 operates rapidly sufficient for essentially the most half. There have been instances after I observed it was sooner at quitting apps and launching the digital camera than even the Galaxy A51, which has a extra superior processor. But now and again I observed that the A01 took a beat or two to do issues too, like opening sure apps (Geekbench 4 particularly took some time to launch). It wasn’t sufficient to throw the cellphone out the window, however if you would like a lightning-speed person expertise, this cellphone is not for you. Benchmark outcomes are additionally on par with my actual life observations, with the Galaxy A01’s Geekbench 4 and 3DMark’s Slingshot Unlimited scores on par with G6 from two years in the past. More latest price range telephones, just like the Galaxy A51 and Moto G Power comfortably beat the A01 with their extra superior processors. (Note that I couldn’t obtain Geekbench 5 or 3DMark’s Ice Storm Unlimited checks on the cellphone.) Geekbench v.4.0 single-core
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Geekbench v.4.0 multicore
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
3DMark Slingshot Unlimited
Note:
Longer bars point out higher efficiency
Galaxy A01’s battery life Powered by a 3,000-mAh battery, the cellphone can final all by means of the work day with delicate utilization. That consists of watching movies, snapping photographs and shopping the online for just a few hours out of the day. During checks for steady video playback on Airplane mode, the cellphone averaged 11 hours and 47 minutes. That’s a superb time to clock in (and that is longer than, say, the Pixel 4 from final yr, which initially offered for $800, thoughts you, and lasted solely 10 hours). But each the A01 and Pixel 4 have one of many shortest battery runs I’ve seen within the final two years. If you need one thing approach longer, take a look at the Moto G Power, which lasted greater than 24 hours for a similar take a look at. We’re additionally conducting streaming video battery checks, and I’ll replace the evaluation when I’ve these numbers. Galaxy A01 spec comparability
Samsung Galaxy A01
Samsung Galaxy A51 (4G)
Motorola Moto G Power
Motorola Moto G6
Display dimension, decision
5.7-inch LCD; 1,520×720 pixels
6.5-inch FHD AMOLED; 2,400×1,080 pixels
6.4-inch; 2,300×1,080 pixels
5.7-inch LCD; 2,160×1,080 pixels (18:9 display screen ratio)
Pixel density
295ppi
405ppi
399ppi
424ppi
Dimensions (inches)
5.81 x 2.79 x 0.33 in.
6.24 x 2.90 x 0.31 in.
6.29 x 2.98 x 0.38 in.
6.1 x 2.8 x 0.3 in.
Dimensions (millimeters)
147.5 x 70.9 x 8.3 mm
158.5 x 73.6 x 7.9 mm
159.85 x 75.8 x 9.63 mm
153.8 x 72.3 x 8.3mm
Weight (ounces, grams)
5.32 oz.; 151g
6.07 oz.; 172g
7.01 oz.; 199g
5.9 oz.; 167g
Mobile software program
Android 10
Android 10
Android 10
Android 8.0 Oreo
Camera
13-megapixel (normal), 2-megapixel (depth sensing)
48-megapizel (normal), 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 5-megapixel (macro), 5-megapixel (depth sensing)
16-megapixel (wide-angle), 2-megapixel (macro), 8-megapixel (ultra-wide angle)
12-megapixel (normal), 5-megapixel (depth sensing)
Front-facing digital camera
5-megapixel
32-megapixel
16-megapixel
8-megapixel
Video seize
1080p
4K
4K
1080p
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 439
2.3GHz octa-core processor
Snapdragon 665
Qualcomm Snapdragon 450
Storage
16GB
128GB
64GB
32GB, 64GB
RAM
2GB
6GB
4GB
3GB, 4GB
Expandable storage
Up to 512GB
Up to 512GB
Up to 512GB
Up to 128GB
Battery
3,000-mAh
4,000-mAh
5,000-mAh
3,000-mAh
Fingerprint sensor
No
In-screen
Back
Home button
Connector
USB-C
USB-C
USB-C
USB-C
Headphone jack
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes