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Samsung Galaxy A72 review: Is it worth the extra charge for the A52?

Samsung Galaxy A72 test header
Picture: TechnikNews
(Post picture: © 2021 TechnikNews)

The new Samsung Galaxy A72 could also be called the bigger brother of the A52 because there are very few differences on paper. The A72 is slightly larger and accordingly has the larger battery as well as a telephoto camera and a 25 watt power supply in the scope of delivery.

The rest, i.e. the quality of the display, the design, the main and ultra wide-angle camera, the features and the built-in one Proprocessors are the same. The A72 currently costs about 80 euros more than the A52. In the following lines you will find out whether this price difference is justified and whether Samsung has not saved on one or the other place for the high RRP.

Haptics, design and processing

The Samsung smartphones from the A70 series have been characterized by their enormous dimensions since the beginning, which made them difficult to use with one hand. So it is this year too, because even by today's standards, the A72 with dimensions of 165 mm in height and 77,4 mm in width can clearly be assigned to the larger smartphones. Added to this is the relatively heavy weight of 203 grams and the thickness of 8,4 mm. Because of this, as well as the fact that the edges are not rounded too smoothly towards the frame, the smartphone is a bit bulky and sharp-edged in the hand. A sensible one-handed operation is practically impossible. I would advise everyone to pick up the device before buying, as many people, including me, shouldn't like this size. However, if you prefer large smartphones, you will get your money's worth here and for those, the extra charge for the A52 could be worthwhile.

The frame is made of plastic with a high-gloss finish, does not feel particularly high-quality and is extremely susceptible to fingerprints and scratches. Samsung would have liked to have installed a metal frame or at least a matte plastic frame for a recommended retail price of 449 euros. The back is also made of plastic, but it is finally matt, which leads to significantly less visible fingerprints. In addition, it is easier to grip and feels of higher quality. But here too, one would have liked to think about higher quality materials for the price. A four-year-old A5 2017 with a glass back and metal frame still plays in a completely different league, but at least I see progress compared to its predecessor.

Customers can choose between four different colors for the Galaxy A72, all of which are "Awesome" according to the manufacturer: white, blue, purple and black. I tested the latter, which also shimmers slightly gray in a lot of light. It wouldn't be my favorite right now, but those who like it classic will be very happy with it. In addition to the colors, the cameras on the back are also noticeable, which can be found in a rectangle at the top left. The camera bump protrudes a little from the housing, which means that the smartphone wobbles slightly when it is lying on the table.

If you unlock the Samsung Galaxy A72, we are greeted by a huge 6,7 inch display, which is only interrupted by a small, centrally located punch hole. As with the A52, this is unfortunately not black, but gray / silver, which looks a bit strange in my opinion. However, it never really bothered me in everyday life. The edges around the panel are sufficiently thin, whereby the predecessor was even slightly ahead here.

There is no reason to criticize the workmanship. The smartphone makes a stable impression, the back can hardly be depressed, the keys sound a little cheap when pressed, but have a decent pressure point. For my taste, however, the buttons are positioned a bit too high.

Display - very good, but ...

A great strength of last year's Samsung smartphones, whether in the middle class or in the flagship segment, were the displays, and so it is with the A72. It has a 6,7-inch AMOLED display with full HD + resolution (2.400 x 1.080 pixels), which is completely sufficient in everyday life. The panel also supports a smooth refresh rate of 90 Hertz, which is definitely noticeable in everyday life. Nevertheless, I would have expected a little more here, since the cheaper one A52 5G supports a higher refresh rate of 120 Hertz. Poco also offers 120 Hertz for less money, but at least the A72 has a solid 90 and not 60 Hertz as with some other smartphones for over 1.000 euros.

Otherwise, the display is convincing all along the line, especially the maximum brightness. I never had, even on sunny days Proproblems with readability. You can adjust the color rendering to your own taste with just a few clicks. In "Natural" mode, the colors are rendered beautifully realistic and in "Vivid" mode, they are slightly more saturated. The viewing angle stability is then rather average. The colors discolor a little when viewed from the side, but that's completely normal in this price range and it never really bothered me in everyday life.

Software - One UI

The in-house user interface One UI, based on Android 11, is used as software. One UI is a highly customized interface that has little to do with stock Android. It's quite colorful, but I still like it relatively well, because the idea of ​​One UI is to still be able to operate the smartphones reasonably well with one hand despite the huge displays. Unfortunately, some bloatware was also preinstalled with Netflix and TikTok at the beginning. TikTok can be uninstalled, but Netflix can only be deactivated.

Otherwise there are some additional functions, such as a very good always-on display, which shows you the time and notifications, an ingenious gesture control and an eye protection mode. Tapping twice to switch it on or off is also on board, which I find very practical in everyday life. In addition, Samsung promises to provide the device with software updates for three years and security updates for four years.

Performance - far too little for the price

Under the hood is the Snapdragon 720G from Qualcomm, which we can also see in the cheaper A52. Also the Redmi Note 9 Pro for currently 200 euros and that Realm 8 Pro for about 265 euros come with this Proprocessor equipped. Depending on the version, there is also 6 or 8 GB of RAM with 128 or 256 GB of internal memory procan easily be expanded via a microSD card.

Compared to its predecessor, the Snapdragon 720G isn't really an improvement. That's not a bad thing Prozessor, but for a suggested retail price of 449 euros you should be able to expect a lot more, especially because almost all of the competition offers a lot more. With the Poco F350, which costs 3 euros, the high-endProzessor Snapdragon 870 and even the in-house Galaxy A52 5G is equipped with a stronger and future-proof Proprocessor, the Snapdragon 750G.

Not only on paper, but also in use, this is clearly not enough. Unfortunately, jerking, longer waiting times or inconsistent animations are part of everyday life. Samsung's One UI still doesn't seem too good at it, weaker ones Proprocessors for good performance, because the Realme 8 Pro with the same Proprocessor runs a little better. It is possible to play lighter games, but you can already see that more complex games do not run consistently and the picture often stutters. The A72 is not particularly well positioned in terms of future security.

Battery - excellent runtimes, average charging times

The Samsung Galaxy A72 has a 5.000 mAh battery that can be fully charged in around 25 minutes using the 90 watt power adapter supplied. That's okay, even if some competitors are a step ahead in this price range.

One of the highlights is without question the excellent battery life. Despite the 90 Hertz refresh rate, I almost always came protrouble-free for two days. Even heavy users shouldn't get it empty in a day. At the end of the day, with a screen-on-time of 6 to 7,5 hours, I usually still had around 40 to 60 Procent battery left. These are really impressive values ​​and the biggest advantage over the A52, even if it also has a very good battery life.

Camera - good setup with a unique selling proposition

There are hardly any differences in the camera setup compared to the A52. Here, too, a 64 megapixel main camera with OIS is used, which by default combines four pixels into one in order to ensure even better recordings in poor lighting conditions. There is also a 5 megapixel macro camera and an ultra wide-angle camera with 12 megapixels, which can capture quite a large image section due to its large viewing angle. The only difference to the A52 concerns the fourth lens. While the A52 has a 5 megapixel sensor for portrait mode, the A72 actually uses a telephoto lens that enables a 3x optical zoom. The resolution is 8 megapixels. The front camera with a resolution of 32 megapixels sits on the front.

Samsung Galaxy A72 camera

A 3-fold optical telephoto lens is hidden behind one of these four sensors. (Picture: TechnikNews)

As is typical for Samsung, the images appear a bit more saturated than they actually are, but they are still absolutely fine. The sharpness is great and by no means has to compete with the 108 megapixel main sensor of the Realme 8 Pro hide. The dynamic range is also great. As soon as the light conditions deteriorate, the night mode is used. This brightens the images visibly and provides better results overall. Although OnePlus and especially Google are a bit better in this price range, I was also quite satisfied with the low-light performance of the A72.

For video recordings, the A72 supports 4K at 30 frames after the latest update pro second and full HD at 60 frames pro Second. Only at higher levels is the stabilization very bad, apparently it is Proprocessor not strong enough. Otherwise the quality is fine, even if a OPPO Find X3 Lite something is even better.

The highlight is without question the triple optical telephoto lens, which is an absolute rarity in this price range. Even some smartphones for 3 and even over 800 euros do not offer a 1.000x optical zoom. In the end, however, it is the result that counts in everyday life and not the numbers on paper. Fortunately, the zoom of the A3 can also convince in everyday life across the board. The recordings are pleasantly sharp and the color reproduction is similar to that of the main camera. The images can still be used absolutely up to a magnification of 72x, but anything beyond that is rather unusable.

Even the macro camera is definitely convincing and provides added value, which is definitely not the case with many other smartphones in this price range. Thanks to the 5 megapixel resolution, the images are sufficiently sharp and the colors are reproduced much more beautifully than with 2 megapixel macro cameras. Currently only Xiaomi can keep up with the so-called telephoto macro camera. As soon as it gets darker, the A72's macro sensor also reaches its limits.

The front camera takes color-accurate pictures with a decent dynamic range, but despite the high 32 megapixel resolution, the photos are somewhat lacking in sharpness.

Test photos

Let's take a look at a few test photos. As always, 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 OnePlus Nord

Last but not least, we want the camera to work with the camera in various situations OnePlus North to compare. I made a conscious decision to buy this smartphone because it is in a similar price range to the Samsung Galaxy A72.

The camera comparison shows quite well that Samsung is slightly ahead in good lighting conditions, both with the main and the ultra-wide-angle camera. Colors are reproduced a bit too saturated, but the sharpness is convincing across the board. Especially with the ultra-wide-angle camera, the A72 sometimes takes significantly better pictures. The same also applies to zoom images from 3x magnification. Hardly anyone else can compete in this price range at the moment.

As soon as the lighting conditions get worse, the OnePlus Nord wins for me, even if the difference is by no means huge. The images are mostly sharper and a little brighter.

Other - light and shadow

In other areas, the Samsung Galaxy A72 has a key strength: the IP67 certification against the ingress of water and dust. This feature is usually only seen in flagship smartphones. For the price of the A72, that should definitely be praised. The fact that Samsung continues to use a 3,5 mm jack connector on the underside is also praiseworthy.

The built-in stereo speakers are definitely among the best in this price range. They become loud enough and provide a clean sound. Compared to a Samsung Galaxy s21 ultra you can still hear a difference, but this also costs significantly more and appeals to a completely different target group.

Unfortunately, there are still a few aspects that are very annoying when it comes to operation. On the one hand unlocking via the fingerprint sensor integrated into the display. Although it is reasonably easy to reach with the thumb, it unlocks the device quite slowly and there is also room for improvement in terms of reliability. Compared to competitionproproducts, Samsung should catch up a lot here in the next generation. Two-dimensional face recognition is not only less secure than three-dimensional one, it also reacts a little more slowly.

In addition, the built-in vibration motor is simply bad, a detail that is unfortunately neglected by many. Bad hardware and optimization meet here, so that the haptic feedback is very loud and uncomfortable.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy A72 is actually a good mid-range smartphone, which unfortunately started out a bit too expensive. 449 euros is too much for what is on offer, especially when you take a look at the competition. A Poco F3, for example, offers significantly better and future-proof performance, is also made of glass and on top of that offers a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hertz. The in-house competitor, namely the A52 5G, also offers a stronger one Proprocessor and 120 Hertz. The A72 wins in terms of battery life and the strong 3x lossless zoom, but I would currently rather use one of the other two smartphones.

Fortunately, the price has already dropped significantly. You can get it on Amazon for just under 400 euros and I assume that the price will drop even further in the next few weeks and months. When we have reached around 350 euros, you can grab the A72 and get a good smartphone, which is particularly strong in terms of zoom and battery life. For those who attach great importance to these points and are looking for an extremely large smartphone on top of that, the surcharge for the A52, which is currently offered for around 310 euros, is also worthwhile. Otherwise, the A52 is completely sufficient.

Thank you Samsung Germany for providing the Samsung Galaxy A72!

Samsung Galaxy A72 buy

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Fabian Menzel

Fabian has been part of since mid-September 2020 TechnikNews and regularly supplies the site with various news, but also with some test reports on smartphones. He's having so much fun and is extremely grateful to have such a great team by his side. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music and occasionally taking photos with his Huawei Mate 50 Pro.

Fabian has already written 300 articles and left 24 comments.

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