Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review – Big Screen Budget Behemoth

The largest of the current Galaxy A 2022 line-up of midrange smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G has the largest, highest refresh rate screen as well as the best camera among its A-series brethren.

We previously took a quick look at the design and our first impressions of the Galaxy A73 5G. This time around, we’ll put it through its paces to see if it’s really worth the money. Here’s our Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review where we put their most powerful workhorse phone to the test.

 

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G Review – Specifications and Benchmarks

In terms of hardware, the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G stands apart from its siblings and uses a Snapdragon 778G 5G processor instead of the Exynos 1280 processor users in the Galaxy A53 and A33 which ekes out slightly better overall performance. 

This is paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage with the notable addition of an increasingly rare hybrid SIM card slot that lets you bung in a microSD card up to 1TB in size to augment the onboard memory. The phone also has the ability to allocate up to 8GB of onboard storage to vRAM which makes it quite a powerhouse for its price range. Here’s how it stacks up on paper:

Price	RM2,099
Display	6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus Infinity O display, 1080 x 2,400 pixels, 120Hz, 20:9 aspect ratio, 800 nits
Processor	Snapdragon 778G 5G
Memory	8GB RAM/256GB storage + microSD card
OS	Android 12 w/ OneUI 4.1
Camera	108MP F/1.8 w/ PDAF and OIS + 12MP F?2.2 ultrawide camera + 5MP F/2.4 macro camera + 5MP F/2.4 depth camera [rear] / 32MP F/2.2 [front]
Battery	5,000mAh w/ 25W fast charging
Size/Weight	163.7 x 76.1 x 7.6mm / 181g

Under the hood, the phone runs Android 12 overlaid with their One UI 4.1 and their rock solid commitment to offering up to 4 OS updates and 5 years of security updates means that you won’t run the risk of your investment being rendered obsolete a year or two down the line from a lack of firmware updates unlike cheaper phones from the competition.

It also has a number of useful software features culled from the higher end Galaxy S series like the ability to limit maximum battery charge to 85% to extend battery longevity, Samsung Pay support for payments, the ability to assign the aforementioned virtual RAM for better multitasking performance and the new Link to Windows feature to transfer content, view notifications and make or take calls from a paired PC.

Unfortunately, the phone doesn’t support the immensely useful DeX mode that lets you use it as an ersatz PC in tandem with a display but it’s not a feature that the A73’s  intended demographic would be keen on in any case.

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review sample scored the following:

3DMark Wild Life	2,497
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited	2,496
3DMark Wild Life Extreme	692
3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	687
PCMark Work 3.0 Performance	12,306
Geekbench 5 Single Core Score	779
Geekbench 5 Multi Core Score	2,891
Geekbench 5 OpenCL	2,250
Geekbench 5 Vulkan	2,385
PCMark Battery LIfe	8 hours 4 minutes

Under more practical usage scenarios, our Galaxy A73 5G review unit performed in a very capable fashion. For the purposes of this review, I maxed out the vRAM to 8GB and installed the usual array of games like Call of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 9 at high settings and more demanding games of recent vintage like Genshin Impact and Apex Legends at medium to low settings without keeping over or heavy lagging.

Even after heavy sustained gaming over the course of a couple of hours, my Galaxy A73 5G review sample didn’t cook off and remained wieldable without being overly hot to the touch. Swapping between over two dozen open browser windows, watching videos and editing a video on CapCut was a swift and snappy affair and there’s little to quibble about on the performance front.

The large 6.8-inch Super AMOLED Plus display looks excellent when viewing movies and gaming, offering good colour rendition with the smooth 120Hz lending a fluidness to onscreen animations and web scrolling though it’s also dependent on what you’re doing as not all apps support a full 120Hz refresh rate. 

Colours look wonderfully deep with dark blacks, brilliant whites and vibrant hues without being overblown. Screen clarity is also demonstrably good under daylight conditions though you’ll likely need to max out screen brightness to legibly read text onscreen unlike the Vision Booster enhanced panels in the Galaxy S22 series phones.

Powering the phone is a 5,000mAh battery which is identical in capacity to its lesser siblings the A53 5G and A33 5G along with support for 25W fast wired charging from a compatible charger. Even with the larger display, the Galaxy A73 5G was able to easily last a full day of heavy use with enough to read an ebook or two and wander around on TikTok on the return commute home. 

PCMark’s battery life benchmark offers about 8 hours or so of active usage with 80% screen brightness though you’ll likely get a couple of hours more if you dial it to adaptive brightness or keep the refresh rate to 60Hz and dial it down to just 50% brightness.

For its capabilities and the sheer size of its display, these are pretty decent results. Charging it up to full takes about an hour and 35 minutes via a third party UGreen 100W GaN charger which is a fairly modest clip. The phone lacks wireless charging and reverse wireless charging tech to save on cost but at this price range, it’s not an issue.

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review – Cameras

Our Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review sample features a quad camera array with a primary 108MP F/1.8 camera with phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation taking centre stage. OIS is a notable rarity in midrange phones due to cost reasons which makes its addition here quite a bonus.

This is complemented by a 12MP F/2.2 ultrawide angle camera, a 5MP F/2.4 fixed focus macro camera and a depth sensor. Combined, this setup is capable of capturing up to 4K@30fps video though if you want it stabilised, you’ll have to dial it down to 1080P@30fps. The front features a 32 MP camera for selfies and 1080P@60fps video.

The omission of a camera with actual optical zoom in the rear camera array like that used in last year’s Galaxy A72 is somewhat of an odd omission, presumably on account of the size of the 108MP camera’s sensor and the assumption that its size and the use of AI and OIS allowing for steady digital zoom. On that note, the phone is able to offer up to 10X digital zoom.

In both daylight and modestly dim low light scenarios, the large 108MP sensor and OIS of the main rear camera is able to capture some pleasing shots with good detail and colour accuracy in daylight at up to 2x digital zoom.

Beyond that all the way to its maximum 10x digital zoom, shots were serviceable if somewhat soft with low light shots beyond 2x showing noticeable grain on auto mode. A dedicated night mode is able to salvage slightly better shots with enhanced dynamic range in dim light and slightly better detail but requires a bit more patience with a longer shutter delay.

The provided macro camera is capable of capturing good shots up close in daylight but you’re unlikely to use it except in very specific situations.

The front-facing 32 MP selfie camera is pleasantly capable and is able to take decent selfies and, more importantly, is able to snag some decent TikTok dances or whatnot with the suitable provision of a tripod. 

Overall, the Galaxy A73 5G is a very capable performer for the majority of photography subjects typically encountered from food shots, group and scenery shots as well as videos for TikTok and Facebook posts with more than sufficient performance for most casual users.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A73 5G?

The Samsung Galaxy A73 5G brings to the table an exceptional amount of value for what you pay for. For RM2,099, you’re getting a large 120Hz display that is fantastic to behold, good overall performance, 5G connectivity, a decent set of cameras for casual users and expandable storage, making it a very capable workhorse. 

Compared to its other siblings, the Galaxy A73 5G’s larger and smoother display and slightly improved performance lends it greater utility for gamers and those who enjoy watching movies on the go. Add in its industry-leading 4 years of OS update and 5 years of security updates and the Galaxy A73 5G makes for a sound investment. 

Samsung Galaxy A73 5G review  sample courtesy of Samsung Malaysia. To purchase and for more details visit their official online store at https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-a/galaxy-a73-5g-awesome-mint-256gb-sm-a736blghxme/