We all know that Samsung can confidently hold its ground against its biggest competitors with its high-end smartphone range. However, does their expertise in making premium smartphones also extend to their more budget-friendly offerings?
For Samsung, 2021 has started with a bunch of new releases. In addition to the release of its flagship S21 series, the company also rolled out its premium mid-range A-series. Aside from those two though, Samsung also launched the Galaxy A12, an entry-level smartphone that packs a 5000mAh battery and a quad rear camera module. Compared to its predecessor, the A11, the A12 offers a bigger battery, bigger storage, better camera set-up, and even a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The question is, does it deliver especially given its less than PHP10K price tag? Read on and find out our verdict in our full Samsung A12 review.
Samsung A12 Review: What You Need To Know
To put it plainly, Samsung’s Galaxy A12 is what it is: a budget phone. From being one of the few LCDs in the company’s OLED-dominated smartphone lineups to having a Mediatek Helio P35 processor, you can clearly see the consequences of budget constraints. Still, that doesn’t mean the A12 is one to ignore. While it faces plenty of strong competition and although it is built to fit the price point, it is made with a combination of technology that is frugal and decently powerful at the same time. Now, let’s dive into the details of our Samsung A12 review.
Design: The Simplest You Can Get
To start out our Samsung A12 review, we’ll begin with what everyone sees first: the design.
At first glance, the Galaxy A12 doesn’t look like it has that Samsung signature flagship design, however, it certainly has a simple sleek look. From the front, its 6.5-inch display dominates with a waterdrop notch at the center top for its selfie camera. While this design isn’t entirely new, we still love its clean and simple look especially since we do get the full use of those extra millimeters when watching something on the phone.
Going around the frame, there’s nothing that stands out that much. You have your usual dual nano sim slot and a dedicated micro sd slot. Then, on the other side, you can find the volume rocker beside the power button which also conveniently acts as the fingerprint scanner. On top, you’ll find the secondary microphone, and down below, you’ll find the main microphone, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, and the speaker grille.
Now, going around the back, the camera really presents an interesting feature but we’ll leave that for later. If you thought the case was made of plastic though, you would be absolutely right. It’s made from polycarbonate plastic that feels really good and solid. Its top 2/3 part has line textures that provide a better grip and its bottom has a flat matte finish giving a great contrast with its two-tone look. This feature also helps you avoid any fingerprint smudges unlike what you’d get on glass-backed phones.
What we really love about it though is that in total, it feels pretty sturdy to the point that we won’t be afraid of using this without a case. Sure, a case would add so much more personality to it but there’s comfort in knowing that you won’t have to treat a phone so delicately without one.
Display: Just Decent Binge-Watching
The Galaxy A12 boasts a 6.5″ IPS panel and an HD+ resolution. Unlike most Samsung smartphones, however, the A12’s display is a standard LCD screen instead of an AMOLED screen. And coupled with its 720p resolution, it doesn’t really provide as good a viewing experience as Samsung’s other smartphones. When it comes to the color quality though, everything is certainly sharp enough. And at peak brightness, the screen remains easy on the eyes, and on the other end of the brightness spectrum, it’s comfortable enough to use.
The same thing goes for the A12’s sound quality. Although the onboard speakers are good enough for watching maybe a couple of videos, don’t expect it to be as good to blast hours of music from. And if you’re one of those people who really put value in a phone’s audio quality, then you might not be so happy about this one. Our recommendation? Use great earphones or an external speaker.
Both of those wouldn’t necessarily distract you if you’d primarily use your phone for simple messaging, app scrolling, and business purposes, however, if you’re expecting to use it for Netflix binging or even just YouTube binging, you shouldn’t expect it to look or sound as good as what other premium mid-rangers would provide. When it comes to using the A12 for school or business purposes though, the A12 won’t disappoint especially given that it is a budget phone. Although you won’t get to see your co-workers or professors in HD, you’ll get to see them anyhow just fine and be able to communicate just as well.
Gaming Prowess
In addition to watching, we also have to include one of the most popular mobile entertainment avenues today in our Samsung A12 review: mobile gaming. And when it comes to the A12, you won’t be totally disappointed.
Although the A12’s Helio P35 processor is already old by today’s standard, it surprisingly holds up well with gaming especially since it’s backed by 6GB of RAM (the A12 also has a 4GB RAM variant). For games like Mobile Legends which aren’t that demanding, you’ll experience minimal to zero lagging. You can even enjoy it for almost a full day of playing given its 5000mAh battery which is also highly praised in almost any other Samsung A12 review out there. However, if you move on to more hardware-intensive titles like Genshin Impact, you may have to compromise your graphic settings. And with more demanding games, the A12 might not be able to handle it.
Camera: One of the A12’s Biggest Selling Point
One of the A12’s upgrades from its predecessor is its quad-camera setup: 48MP main camera, 5MP Ultrawide with 123-degree field of view, and 2PM for both macro and depth sensor.
As expected with most phones today, the A12’s 48MP main shooter takes great photos with a good amount of detail and crisp colors. At night, however, the image quality takes a noticeable dip especially since the A12 doesn’t have a dedicated Night Mode. Even if you have pretty stable hands, the photo can still turn out blurry, very grainy, and lacking in detail. The same thing goes with the A12’s ultrawide cam. It gives a subtle fisheye effect but it does take great pictures with great detail in brightly lit settings.
And it can be a pretty great camera to use when going on vacation because you can really capture the beauty of the place you’re going to.
In low light though, the photos will appear noisy and dim. The 2PM macro sensor, on the other hand, is also pretty great, especially when used in tandem with the depth sensor. The color processing is great as well as the subject to background separation.
As for the front camera, you can take Insta-worthy selfies with the A12. It even has an HDR option that fixes any blown-out highlights and balances out the entire image. Of course, they won’t be as smooth or airbrushed as what you’d get with a DSLR but a clear photo that captures your beauty and personality well enough is already pretty good.
When it comes to video recording, the A12 can only shoot at 1080p at 30fps on both the front and back cameras. It’s not mind-blowingly clear and exposure can even be a bit off at times, however, given that its price point, this is right what you’d expect. Anyhow, it’s still great for capturing memories, Zoom calls, Facetimes, and the usual everyday stuff. Overall though, one of the A12’s biggest selling points is its cameras. With these, you do get a portion of what they offer with their higher-end phones.
Performance: Reliable
Last but not least in our Samsung A12 review is the phone’s performance which is, in all honesty, one of its better points. One thing that really surprised us with the A12 is that for a budget phone, it holds up quite well whether we use it for professional purposes, entertainment purposes, or just casual everyday use. It’s quite smooth and we didn’t experience any of those annoying delays or lagging even while we kept switching between apps throughout the day.
One thing we really loved about it though is the battery life. In this case, the Samsung Galaxy A12 really doesn’t disappoint. At full and constant use with videos, social media, emails, and all that, the phone can easily last you anywhere from a day to a day and a half in a single charge. If you’re frugal with your phone use though, the A12 can easily last you a full two days. And in terms of storage space, there’s really nothing to worry about. In addition to the 128 GB that you get with the phone itself, it can also support a microSD expansion of up to 1TB.
Samsung A12 Review: Overall Verdict
Overall, the Samsung A12 is a pretty solid budget phone for casual use. As our overall Samsung A12 review has shown you, there are things to love and there are things that can be improved. While it might not be able to handle all games out there or be extra crispy clear for a night of Netflix binge-watching, the phone’s performance is pretty satisfactory. Its cameras are pretty decent in good lighting conditions and, of course, its battery life is just amazing. And for a price of less than PHP10k (PHP 9990 for the 6GB model and PHP 7990 for the 4GB model), it’s not too shabby.
Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy A12 faces tough competition in the budget phone area. However, if you are set on getting a Samsung device for its design or because of its UI, then the A12 is something really worth looking at. Who knows? You might even find something much more enjoyable in it than we did.
To see the phone in action, watch our video review here!