Samsung Galaxy A71 Full Review 1 Year Later: Should You Buy It In 2021? By TechDaily

What's going on guys, my name is wade with tech daily, so it's been nearly one full year since the Samsung Galaxy a71 was released and while the a71 definitely piqued people's initial interest, when it was first announced, this phone would eventually become not only one of the most popular devices throughout all of 2020, but, in my opinion also, ultimately became the benchmark for mid-range smartphone devices all together. This is the phone that most other 300 to 500 phones were compared to and given how stellar of a device this is. Its existence was also kind of detrimental to the overpriced flagship s20 as well. In my opinion, this phone gives people everything they could ask for and more all for a price, that's relatively reasonable by comparison and now, one year later, I still think this is one of the best mid-range android Samsung devices. You can buy right now in the summer of 2020, Samsung also pushed out a sort of mid-cycle update to the a71, the a71 5g, which is only marginally better than the original. You can't even tell them, apart, and I'll, give you some of my thoughts on that here too, but let's go ahead and just get right into what I think about the a71 now at the one-year mark and whether you should be considering it here in 2021 and beyond.

First off, let's just quickly go over the couple different a71 variants that exist now, there's the original a71, which did come out in January 2020, and that phone has the snapdragon 730 processors. Then, in June and July Samsung launched the a71 5g and a71 5g ultra-wideband, which were updated slightly with the Enos 980 and snapdragon 765g chipsets, respectively and 5g support, obviously, but the whole rest of the phone physically and feature wise is the same as the original. You can't tell them apart. So in my mind, no matter which a71 you end up with nowadays, the original or the 5g version you're, basically just getting the same device that was originally launched one year ago, most everything from the designs, the materials to the display to the camera. It's all going to be the same.

Now, when it first launched, the original price tag for the original a71 was around 400, depending on where in the world, you lived a great launch price honestly at that time, and it gradually got cheaper and cheaper too settling around 375 bucks by the summer. But when the a71 5g came out, Samsung suddenly was charging 500 for that phone again, essentially the same phone, which you guys know I had quite the issue with, and because of that, I would just often recommend the standard a71. Instead today, the original a71 can be bought for 350 bucks unlocked on places like Amazon, while the a71 5g, with its slight bump in processor and 5g support, is still well over 450 bucks for some reason, and while it's great to maybe get a 5g phone even for that price. Today, I'd still much rather just stick with the original a71, because I don't think there's anything better out there right now for 350. It's really just that good of a deal and if you guys are interested in doing some comparison shopping of your own.

I will leave some links down below in the video description to where you can get the original a71 and the a715g at their cheapest. Current prices so check down there for some deals and discounts. Like I mentioned already, aside from the 5g support and slight bump in the processor, the a71, as it's known, has remained unchanged since it originally launched, no matter which model you choose, you're, getting the same massive 6.7 inch device with an AMOLED display, mostly plastic housing and relatively modern design that I think still holds up well looking ahead to 2021, I think right off the bat one of the most striking things about this phone has always been its size.6.7 inches is a lot to handle in one hand, but getting a phone. This big at this price point I think, is great, and it's likely one of the biggest reasons why so many people like it the front hole, punch camera cutout, I think, isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. The slim bezels are about as small as you can go and all in all this, in my opinion, is what android smartphones will continue to look like for some time.

So there's nothing here worth criticizing really around back. The a71 has a plastic rear cover and in early 2020, myself and others were probably quick to classify this material choice as being the cheaper budget option that maybe was even a little too cheap for the highest end, a series device now with the likes of the s20 Fe and even the flagship note 20, also rocking a plastic back, nothing that Samsung does with its material choices, makes any sense anymore, but I will say that the glossy finish, the subtle pattern and the slight rainbow effect all still convey a sense of quality, even on a less than premium material. Furthermore, if you do go with the a715g like I have here, you get a metal polished frame which does give the phone just a bit more weight in the hand. Also, if you take a look around the a71 offers a couple little things I know some people will still find important down below. Next to the USB charging port is a headphone jack and up top you also get a SD card slot, which I think is something that does increase the potential value of this phone.

On the other hand, the a71 does lack some stuff. Other phones might offer there's no wireless charging here, no waterproof rating, no dual stereo speakers- you may not care about that stuff, but I think for some people, those lacking extras are still worth considering. Now I already talked about the size. The 6.7 inch display on this phone is great on its own, but diving a little deeper into the specs and overall viewing experience. There are a couple of important things to talk about here.

Every iteration of the a71 has the same display technology. You get a super AMOLED plus screen with a resolution of 2400 by 1080 packing in 393 pixels per inch, and I've gone on records. Saying that these a series phones have some of the best displays for the price that was certainly true through at least the first half of 2020. Getting a big, bold, bright and relatively crisp display for 300 to 400 is a great value and really heading into 2021. I still think that's the case, but with a lot of similarly priced devices now both having and being rumored as having high refresh rate panels that could make this a71 feel a little dated this year and that sort of begs the question: will the a72 get a high refresh rate screen? I personally don't think that will happen, but with half a dozen other options out there at 90 or even 120 hertz for a bit more money.

It might be one of the first factors that sways people away from this phone and potentially the a72 as well in the coming months. For a lot of folks, though high refresh rate isn't a huge deal and honestly, this a71 offers a viewing experience. That's perfect for, like 95 of people, it's still a great value, even today, and after a year of staring at it. Now I don't have a single bad thing to say so, let's get into the specs here, because I think this is what people might be most curious about. I already mentioned that the original a71 launched with the snapdragon 730 chipsets, which in early 2020, was a decent upper mid-range spec by the summer.

The newer a71 5gs had the Enos 980 and snapdragon 765g chipsets, mainly for the 5g support, but also as a slight refresh and bump up ram wise. All the a71 models either had six or eight gigs of ram, so not much to talk about there, but in general I would say that no matter the a71 model you might end up going with this is a phone that is and will still remain plenty powerful. The a71 has been one of the devices. That's also received the newest updates, a bit earlier than others. Android 10 and one UI 2.5 have been here for months now and overall I find the a71 to be a fast and smooth device. That's also improved with each new update.

Now I've actually had the chance to try both the standard a71 with the snapdragon 730 and this a715g with the 765 chipset, and while this phone is a tiny bit faster and more powerful, the difference certainly is not worth another 100 to 150 dollars. All in all, this is a phone that's been able to handle anything and everything I throw at it, including any games you can think of. I personally usually play just asphalt, 9 or Call of Duty mobile, and I never have any issues and looking ahead, I think this phone easily does still have another two to three years of life left in it. Samsung will likely push out a couple, more android updates, which will be nice to see, but, most importantly, looking at the rumored a72 5g, I don't really see that new phone lapping this a71, either in recent years, when analyzing these smartphone internals we've seen minimal real changes in capabilities. Minor speed increases if anything, and it's becoming harder and harder to measure even in this mid-range space.

That simply means that last year's phone in this case, which you could snag at a discount, is an even better value still, and this a71, with its specs and capabilities, will continue to be a great value for quite some time if there were one upgrade. I would like to see happen, though, on this phone it's gotta be with the in-display fingerprint reader, while I've seen some improvements after a couple. Initial software updates. This setup on the a71 is just a bit slow, and it tends to be more finicky and inaccurate than some older flagship, s-series phones, for example, I've gotten used to it, it's not as bad as the a51 for whatever reason, which is good, but it's just something. I've noticed that's probably a little worse than it could be.

Fortunately, face unlock here is plenty fast, so I'm into the phone as soon as I glance at it anyway, but if you're going to have the fingerprint reader in the first place, I think it should definitely be upgraded now. Actually, one of the biggest upgrades that did come to the a71 and 2020 was the camera setup and out of everything this I think is where Samsung put probably most of their effort towards the quad lens setup, has some very useful things like the 64 megapixel main lens and 12 megapixel ultra-wide, which at least by 2020 standards for a mid-range device produced some fantastic shots. The macro lens for me has never been useful. After, like thousands of pictures now, I don't think I've ever chosen to use it and the depth sensor probably isn't necessary anymore, but all in all this camera package has been great, and I still think it will be into 2021, but camera tech is what's been, the biggest focus for all smartphone manufacturers recently. So it's likely going to be the aspect of the a71, that's going to feel the most outdated, the fastest, and you'll sort of have to weigh whether that's important to you.

This isn't a flagship phone with flagship camera specs to begin with. It already was sort of behind in a way, but I do think, especially in the mid-range space this year, we're going to see a ton of continued innovation in camera tech. Looking back on the a71, there is a lot to like about this phone. I really do think it's paved the way for a new breed of mid-range devices and in Samsung's own lineup. It was certainly the best overall value device, at least until the s20 Fe came out for 350 bucks.

The regular a71 will continue to be a great value. The a71 5g, I think, is still a bit overpriced, but honestly, all things considered it's not terrible, especially for a 5g phone. If that's something that's supported by your carrier in your area, the big question now really is just whether you should pick this phone up in 2021 or maybe snag the a72 5g when it does come out which likely will be in the next couple of weeks, and if you want my honest opinion, at least with the rumors and leaks we've seen so far, I haven't really been too compelled by the a72 5g. I don't really see it being that much better or different. I think it's going to be a minimal upgrade in comparison, and that means the a71 will still be a great buy in 2021 for sure.

But what do you guys think if you've had this phone for a bit? I'd love to know your thoughts on it in the comments down below and also what you think of, maybe the upcoming a 72 as well? Hopefully, you guys did enjoy this. Video, though, be sure to follow tech daily on Twitter and subscribe to the tech daily YouTube channel. If you haven't already, and I'll see you guys later,.

Source : TechDaily