SAMSUNG GALAXY A12 REVIEW: THE ULTIMATE BUDGET PHONE? By Mary Bautista

Hello guys! So Samsung has a new budget phone again. Hey guys! It's your Tech Girl, Mary. And welcome back to my channel. I'll just sit for now guys because I got tired of always standing. Yes, guys. If you follow me on my social media accounts, I'm always standing in all of my videos and it sometimes lasts for an hour or if gets too long, it's sometimes 1 1/2 hours.

It's tiring, right? So now we're going to sit because it's really very tiring. Samsung Galaxy A10, Samsung Galaxy A10s, and this time, this is their new budget device, the Samsung Galaxy A12. This is not an entry-level smartphone, but it's definitely Samsung's new budget device. So it's really like the Samsung month right now guys. (entertainment music) Obviously, what I have guys is the color blue and it is also available in other colors.

It also has white. I think that's the one that was reviewed by Liz, Liz Tech. Hello, Liz Tech! It's also available in black, and I think there's also a red one. I purchased this guys, on Lazada. And I got it for Php9,990, because the variant that I bought is the highest variant which is the 6GB of RAM with 128GB of internal storage.

Opening the box, it comes with a smaller box. And inside, I feel like this has no jelly case guys. Yep. We're right. Quick start guide and we also have a warranty card.

Then, this is our phone itself, the Samsung Galaxy A12. Fast charging power brick. A USB Type-C to USB Type-A charging cable. Earphones. And its very thin poking tool, the SIM ejector tool.

There. I now look like a beauty guru. It's so corny. (giggles) So guys, that's the things included in the box of the Samsung Galaxy A12. It's complete, except for the free jelly case.

So, yup. That's it for today's video guys. I hope you enjoyed our very quick unboxing. Is that okay? (giggles) I'll just repeat it. The reason it's Php9,990 is because the one that I bought is the 6GB of RAM with 128GB of internal storage.

If you want a more affordable one, it has a 4GB of RAM variant that retails for Php7,990 on Lazada. (entertainment music) So, Samsung Galaxy A12. You know what, Samsung changed. For the past two years where we had the A series, if you'll notice, it looks like glass, but it's plastic or as they call glasstic, and it has a glossy back finish that has a rainbow effect on its back. This time, Samsung changed it.

Its design doesn't look like an A series anymore. It's like... We know guys and we can distinguish if it's an A series. But now, since they changed the design, you'll see it more and you'll notice it more what smartphone is the latest. This time guys, it's not glossy back finish anymore and I'm very happy with that.

It's textured. It's got these like small dots here on its back somewhere on the top, making it more easier to hold, because it has this kind of texture so the grip is better. But it's not textured all throughout because it its bottom is smooth, without having any texture, but it's not a glossy back finish. It's still got a matte finish to show there the branding of Samsung. Aside from that, it also has a square camera setup, which is very different from old Samsung A series budget device, with a LED flash, and we don't have a fingerprint sensor on the back anymore.

It's very clean-looking now. On top it has a microphone. On the right side is its volume rocker. And it also has a power button guys that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. On the left part you can see the SIM tray guys.

And don't worry, it's dual SIM. You can put two 4G LTE SIM card and one microSD card. And lastly, below it has a headphone jack and another microphone, USB Type-C charging cable, and the speaker grill. Anyway, I didn't have any problems on its fingerprint sensor. I actually liked it more than before where it's always located on the back.

To be honest, it's now more consistent and more accurate unlike in the past A series budget device. Guys, before we talk about its display, I just noticed something on this device while I'm using it in the past few days. It's a budget phone that's kind of heavy actually, and it's also kind of thick. And to be exact, it weighs 205g with a 8.9mm thickness. And of course, this is a budget device, it's made of polycarbonate plastic and even its frame.

So, yup. That's everything that you need to know guys for its overall physical appearance. Let's now talk about its display. (entertainment music) To be honest, I'm very okay with its new design that Samsung made. I'm just kind of disappointed on its display.

It's got a 6.5'' IPS LCD panel that has a 720x1600 pixels resolution. So obviously, it only has an HD+ resolution. And for the price that I paid for this smartphone, again being Php9,990, it's kind of not fair. To be honest, if you're going to buy a smartphone on other brands that has the price of Php10,000, you'll be able to buy one that has 6GB of RAM and also has Full HD+ resolution. Again guys, display is what we see first or what we first notice on a smartphone.

That's why it's important that even if it's a budget device, as much as possible, it should be Full HD+. But anyway, for a Samsung display, it's fine. It still has accurate colors. There are just times that it's lacking on its brightness, especially under direct sunlight, because again, that's what IPS displays can only give. Also if you'll notice guys, it's already 2021, but we still have a notch here on the Samsung Galaxy A12.

Yes, guys. This part is kind if surprising, but we can't do anything about it. It is what it is. And that notch has a 8MP front camera. Aside from that, you might notice that its side bezels are a bit thick, especially its chin on the bottom.

Of course on the bottom because it's the "chin", it can't be on the top, right? (laughs) I've just realized what I said. (giggles) (entertainment music) Anyway, since we're already on the front camera, we'll just talk about the camera. Actually, it has a lot of cameras, four cameras. And to be exact, it has a 48MP main camera with f/2.0 aperture, 5MP f/2.2 aperture ultra-wide angle lens, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth sensor that also has a f/2.4 aperture. As expected guys for a budget device, the set of cameras that we have is okay.

I'm not complaining, because this is always what we get— four cameras where there is a depth sensor and macro lens, especially it's a Samsung device. For the front camera, as usual for a Samsung device, you'll have the option to use the wide and ultra-wide angle lens even if it only has a single front camera. And guys, both the rear and the front camera can be used to shoot 1080p at 30 FPS. In fairness for the sample video that we have guys and even for the sample photos taken by the 8MP front camera, it didn't disappointed me even if it's only 8MP. It's still clear and you can clearly see the clarity and quality of the photos and videos taken by the Samsung Galaxy A12.

And it is surprisingly good for a budget device. In here, it's very clear and the subject-to-background separation is good. So let's now try to turn off the lights. Here's another sample video where we turned off the two soft box light. And to be honest, it's still okay.

Actually, I'm expecting something of a noisy quality video, but in fairness it's still okay. About the rear camera guys, the photos taken by the 48MP main camera are actually okay. And to be honest, I was also surprised, because a consistent quality was given by the wide and ultra-wide angle lens. But, I kind of didn't like the subject-to-background separation when we're using its depth sensor or the live focus option. It's not as good as I thought it is going to be.

I'm just not that satisfied with the colors and it's a bit undersaturated. Anyway, let's now talk about the performance. (entertainment music) To be honest, since I bought the 6GB of RAM, I actually had no problems with it in terms of multitasking, switching between applications. It's fast enough for the price that I paid for it. I'm just not that sure if it will still be the same if you'll buy its lower variant which is the 4GB of RAM, which costs Php7,990.

It has the MediaTek Helio P35 with a 12nm chipset. It also has an octa-core CPU. Of course I run the AnTuTu on it guys before I download the applications and games the other day. Its result was actually a bit low. It's 109,293.

And I'll say it again, for the price that I paid for it, for Php10,000, it's really low. And if you'll remember the previous budget device of Samsung which is the Samsung Galaxy A10s, it has the MediaTek Helio P22. It definitely did improved, because of course from P22 to P35. On paper, the changes are really big. That's me comparing Samsung device to another Samsung device.

But again, if we'll compare this phone to other budget phones that was released last quarter of 2020, Samsung Galaxy A12 is kind of behind in terms of gaming with the smartphones that I was mentioning. Gaming is okay guys. It's okay. You can really play Wild Rift on this one. We didn't experience any lags on this one while playing Wild Rift.

It is playable. But other games like Call of Duty and Asphalt 9, there's a bit of some noticeable lag, and it may kind of hinder your gameplay. And the gaming experience that I had was not that smooth. So definitely, this Samsung Galaxy A12 is more on for people that are casual gamers only or the ones who don't play high graphics games. What I like about the Samsung Galaxy A12, before we talk about its battery, is its option, because you have, again, an option of 4GB RAM that has 128GB of storage or 6GB of RAM with 128GB of internal storage.

If you're going to buy its lower variant that is Php7,990, to be honest, that's actually worth it, because we will already have 128GB of internal storage. Most of the budget phones before, if you'll remember, the prices of 128GB are already Php8,000 to Php10,000. And that's not bad. And for that, if you don't have a budget and you only want to buy its Php7,990 lower variant, for me it's okay and reasonable. For the software, it has the One UI 2.5 based on Android 10. It's still not Android 11 yet and it doesn't have the latest One UI 3.0, but this is already expected guys, from a Samsung budget device. It has a Dolby Atmos feature, but we can only use this when we use a wired or wireless earphones.

It also has a dark mode and focus mode, and then its power button is also located here on the notification toggle. Actually, all Samsung is already like this one. It also has bloatwares, but it's not that many unlike with other smartphones. It already has an installed Lazada app and YouTube Music. But don't worry, it already has some preinstalled Google apps and YouTube application.

Actually, to be honest, a good suggestion for the students are the Samsung budget devices because it already has some preinstalled Microsoft applications where we can use for school. (entertainment music) Now, for the battery. Maybe the reason why it's kind of thick and heavy is because we got a big one, but not as big as the Samsung Galaxy M51. It has a 5,000mAh of battery capacity and it also has a 15W fast charging power brick. Actually, the moment I unboxed it, of course I fully charged it first before I used it in real world.

And until now, I think it's my third day of using this Samsung Galaxy A12. It's not totally like this is the only one I'm using, because of course I have other phones that I'm using. But, during those three days, I've already made a gaming review on it, camera test, we've made a b-roll, a little bit of social media. I'm still left with around 35% of battery life. And just imagine it guys, 5,000mAh, it really is a powerful amount of battery for a budget device.

It's probably because it's only 720p resolution on this smartphone. To be honest, I still haven't test the charging yet. But guys, the 15W is slow for a smartphone that has a 5,000mAh of battery capacity. We're not guessing guys, but most of the smartphones that has 5,000mAh of battery capacity that I've reviewed in the past few months, most probably it'll take two hours or more before you'll charge it to 100%. But again, I don't see it as a problem for as long as the battery capacity is big.

Again, it's okay to have a big battery capacity than having a small battery capacity with fast charging. Because most of the time, we're only charging at the end of the day before we sleep, so when we wake up, it'll not matter anymore if your device charged fast or not, because most probably it's already fully charged when you wake up. This is only my opinion when it comes to budget and midrange devices. But for flagship of course, it's another thing. Anyway, that is it for our Samsung Galaxy A12 unboxing and quick review.

Again, if you're going to buy the Php7,990, for me it's still worth it, because it'll still be able to get the 128GB of internal storage. The only problem is that you won't get the same performance in terms of multitasking that I've experienced on this one, because it'll be a different feeling for a smartphone with 4GB of RAM compared to the 6GB of RAM. The only cons that I see here probably guys is its display. Because display is one of the most important aspect of a smartphone. Yup.

That is it for today's video guys. It's now getting loud because there's a construction going on in front of our studio. If you're hearing anything, I'm sorry. Again, it's your Tech Girl, Mary, and see you on my next video. Bye!.

Source : Mary Bautista