Samsung Galaxy A32 5G review: Unfortunately, far too little for the money

The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G started a few weeks ago at a proud 279 euros and was therefore clearly in the middle class. However, if you take a look at the data sheet, you will quickly notice that Samsung has made enormous compromises in some areas, such as the display.

This was heavily criticized from the first second, because Samsung actually relies on an IPS display with a low resolution and a lack of 90 or even 120 Hertz. For this reason alone, the Galaxy A32 5G is actually more of the entry-level class. In the following lines we will on the one hand clarify the question of whether the smartphone can convince apart from the display and on the other hand whether it is recommendable.

Haptics, design and processing

With dimensions of 164,2 mm in height and 73,1 mm in width, the size of the Galaxy A32 5G fits perfectly among today's smartphones. It is a larger device, but unlike last year's S20 Ultra, Samsung has not overdone it. When I picked up the smartphone for the first time, I was a little negative, because it looked thick (8,6 mm) and bulky, but also quite heavy (205 grams). I still have this impression. The edges are not optimally rounded, which gives a rather uncomfortable feeling in the hand.

As with almost all smartphones in this price range, the A32 5G is unfortunately made of plastic with a high-gloss finish. This does not feel particularly high quality and attracts fingerprints as well as scratches almost magically. The back of my test device is already covered with a few scratches from top to bottom. Samsung could have made a little more effort here. In principle, I have nothing against plastic, especially because it can be found in almost all smartphones for less than 300 euros, but Samsung would at least have matt plastic, as with the A52 5G and A72. Matt plastic is much more grateful for fingerprints and scratches.

The back of the Galaxy A32 5G is extremely prone to scratches and fingerprints. (Image: TechnikNews)

The Galaxy A32 5G is offered in four different “Awesome” color variants: white, blue, purple and black. I tested the latter. In addition to the colors, another detail stands out on the back, namely the cameras. The South Korean manufacturer has installed four pieces here, all of which are housed individually in the smartphone's housing and not in a large rectangle, as is usually the case. With this, Samsung provides a bit of variety again and I'm a big fan of it, especially because the sensors hardly protrude from the case, which is why the device hardly wobbles when it is operated on the table. If we turn the smartphone over, we are greeted by a large 6,5-inch display, the quality of which will be reported in detail shortly. The panel is only interrupted by a small notch that accommodates the front camera. The edges around the display are unfortunately a bit thicker, which makes the A32 5G more reminiscent of a smartphone from 2018 instead of one from 2021.

I didn't notice anything negative during processing. The keys sit firmly in the case, have a decent pressure point and overall the A32 5G makes a very stable impression.

Display - a bad joke

Now let's get to the display, which is without question a bad joke. It is a 6,5-inch LC display, which has an extremely low resolution of 1.600 x 720 pixels and only supports a refresh rate of 60 Hertz. First of all, I find it totally incomprehensible how Samsung can bring a smartphone with an LCD panel to the market for 279 euros, because that 4G variant of the A32, the much cheaper A40 and even that A30 from 2019 are equipped with a high quality OLED screen. Furthermore, the aforementioned smartphones and almost all others for less than 300 euros with Full HD +. Even the much cheaper one Little M3, which is currently available for around 120 euros, has a visibly sharper resolution of 2.340x1.080 pixels. In everyday life, individual pixels can definitely be seen on the Galaxy A32 5G. However, if you are not used to sharper displays, the resolution will not be too big Prohave problems.

The front camera sits in a small notch. (Image: TechnikNews)

As if the LCD technology and the low resolution weren't enough, the image is only updated up to 60 times in one second. 90 Hertz are now standard in this price range, at least for LCD, and some even offer 120 Hertz. Samsung, if you are already installing an LC display, probably to save costs, then at least give the panel a higher resolution or a higher refresh rate.

The other points were also only able to convince me to a limited extent in everyday life. The maximum brightness is just enough to be able to read the display reasonably well in sunshine and the color representation is also okay. Colors are reproduced sufficiently realistically, but sometimes appear a bit too reddish, especially the white value. I was rather disappointed with the viewing angle stability. If the smartphone is only tilted slightly to one side, the colors become quite noticeable.

The viewing angle stability of the A32 5G (in the middle) can be improved. The cheaper Poco X3 NFC (above) is visibly better. (Picture: TechnikNews)

Software - One UI 3.1

The in-house user interface One UI in version 3.1, based on Android 11, is used as software. At the time of the test, the security patch was still on February 1st. It can definitely be done better. Unfortunately, some bloatware was also preinstalled with Netflix and TikTok at the beginning. I was able to uninstall TikTok, but unfortunately Netflix can only be deactivated.

One UI has relatively little to do with stock Android and is very colorful in many places, but I like the software. The idea of ​​One UI is to be able to use the smartphones with one hand despite the huge displays. There are also some additional functions, such as an eye protection mode, an ingenious gesture control and double tap to switch on or off. Unfortunately, there is no always-on display here.

Performance - decent performance, but with occasional stutters

Under the hood is the Dimensity 720 from MediaTek, which is supported by 4 GB of RAM and, depending on the version, 64 or 128 GB of internal storage. the latter can proeasily expanded via a micro SD card.

The everyday performance can definitely convince. Apps start and close quickly and run in the background for a long enough time despite the 4 GB RAM. Unfortunately, during the entire test period, there were occasional jerks and sometimes it took a few seconds for the device to respond again. Because of this, I'm a little worried about future security, especially because Samsung also wants to provide the A32 5G with some updates in the future. I doubt that it will still be usable then, but wait and see. At the moment you can definitely get along well with the performance.

Battery - madness

Samsung has given the A32 5G a 5.000 mAh battery that can be charged quickly with up to 15 watts. The right power supply is, different than with the S21Ultra, included with. Unfortunately, it takes about 2,5 hours to fully charge the battery. Compared to the competition, I would have liked to see a little more here.

With the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G I always managed protwo days without a charge and many should even manage a little more. At the end of the day, with a screen-on-time of 5 to 7 hours, I usually had about 50 to 65 left Procent battery left. These are phenomenally impressive figures. Well done Samsung.

Camera - neat

There is space for a total of four cameras in the upper left corner on the back, all of which are housed individually in the housing. The main camera has a resolution of 48 megapixels, whereby four pixels are combined into one through pixel binning, which is why photos are taken with 12 megapixels by default. The ultra-wide-angle camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels. There are also two additional sensors with 5 and 2 megapixels, which are responsible for macro shots and depth effects.

The quad camera of the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. (Picture: TechnikNews)

With the main camera, particularly in good lighting conditions, you can take very nice pictures that are no longer as saturated as with earlier Samsung smartphones. Here and there there may be a bit of a lack of contrast, but overall that's fine. I was also more than satisfied with the sharpness and dynamic range for the price. Unfortunately, zoom shots cannot quite keep up with other smartphones in this price range, because afterwards they are sharpened far too artificially. I would zoom in on objects up to a maximum of 3 times. As soon as it gets darker, the quality decreases visibly. The night mode brings slight improvements every now and then, but the images quickly start to rustle and lack some details. To be fair, it has to be said that other devices, such as the Little X3 NFC, Galaxy A51 or Realm 7 5G also not really better, sometimes even a little worse.

If you switch to the ultra-wide-angle camera, you get a lot more on the picture. For this you have to make clearly visible quality losses. There are enormous weaknesses in terms of sharpness and even in daylight there are blurred areas at the edge areas. The dynamic range and color rendering are convincing in turn. With Lowlight, the ultra-wide-angle camera is completely unusable, as with the competition, even if the images are extremely brightened in night mode.

And then there is also a dedicated macro camera, which actually surprised me a little positively. Unlike the competition, the colors and even the sharpness are reasonably convincing. Nevertheless, you shouldn't expect miracles here. A Xiaomi My 11, S21 Ultra or Huawei P40 make noticeably better macro shots.

Test photos

Let's take a look at a few test photos. The following images are absolutely unprocessed, but compressed without loss in order to keep the loading times and memory consumption of the website low.

Comparison with the Poco X3 NFC and Samsung Galaxy A51

Last but not least, we want to compare the camera in different situations with the Poco X3 NFC and the Samsung Galaxy A51, which cost about as much as the A32 5G.

All smartphones deliver similarly good images that only differ in nuances. The A32 5G is slightly ahead in macro mode, color rendering and dynamic range. In return, the Poco X3 NFC wins in terms of sharpness and lowlight performance.

Others - good speaker, bad vibration motor, etc.

Samsung only installs a mono speaker, but it is quite impressive. It is sufficiently loud and still offers a nice sound even at a higher volume.

Unfortunately, the built-in vibration motor does not convey a high-quality and pleasant feeling. It also sounds rather annoying, especially when the smartphone is on the table. Samsung can make improvements here in the future, even if I don't want to complain too much about the price.

Finally, let's take a look at the fingerprint sensor on the side. This is easy to reach, reacts sufficiently quickly and usually unlocks the device reliably. However, I like a Realme 7 5G a little better here.

Conclusion

The smallest version of the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G with 64 GB of storage currently costs around 230 euros, which in my opinion is far too much. For this price and sometimes even for significantly less, a Poco X3 offers NFC, Little X3 Pro, Realme 7 5G, OPPO Reno4Z 5G etc. a much better overall package with a noticeably better display. Samsung has simply saved in the wrong place here and therefore I cannot recommend it under any circumstances for the current price.

If the price drops to around 150 euros, it could turn out to be very interesting, because it offers good performance, a very good speaker, an outstanding battery life and an all-round successful camera setup. But you still have to be aware that there are better displays even in this price range, such as in the Poco M3 or OnePlus Nord N100, gives.

We would like to thank Samsung Germany for providing the test device!

Buy Samsung Galaxy A32 5G

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