So, it’s been 2 years since the release of this Samsung Galaxy A73. What’s interesting is that this is the LAST of the A70 series from Samsung, which meant there were no A74 and no more number 70 for their A Series.
So, let’s find out why Samsung did that. Was it because the phone was too good that it was butchering their flagship smartphones? Or was it not good enough?
Design & Build
Let’s start out with the design and build. This was also the time when slim phones were in, and the matte finish at the back also meant that the phone felt great in the hands, even when using the phone with one hand.
The color wasn’t something that I was a huge fan of, but eventually, I just lived with it. It did gain some attention from people asking which exact Samsung phone I was using. The reason why I said that is because this iconic camera array was widely used by Samsung at that time, giving it a signature look of the A Series smartphone.
I almost forgot that the phone comes with a microSD card slot, and it was very useful. However, since we are all used to not having it on our phones, it didn’t really affect me. It is good for someone out there who really needs a phone with a microSD card slot. But just so you know, there’s no headphone jack, in case you’re wondering.
Other than that, I love the overall build, design, and weight of the phone, which surely defines what the A Series has always represented. Huge credit goes to this phone when it comes to the overall design and build quality.
Display
The consistency of having great screens was carried over to this A Series, especially with this A73 variant. The 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen was really nice. Even after 2 years, there was no sign of fading and no noticeable issues when it comes to the overall brightness and sharpness either.
I also love how the display was flat, so using the phone daily, especially for multitasking and scrolling from the edges of the screen, was very pleasing indeed.
Another plus is the fact that the phone has a 120Hz refresh rate. It was one of the very few smartphones at that time, especially in the mid-range segment, that had that high refresh rate.
But the refresh rate is not as adaptive compared to the flagship, so it forces itself to use that high refresh rate all the way, which will indeed affect the battery life of the phone. More on my battery life experience with the phone later.
When it comes to watching videos on the phone, it had Widevine L1 playback quality with HDR10 capabilities, and the overall color accuracy on the phone was really well pronounced, whether watching videos on Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, or YouTube. The display on the A73 was another great positive aspect of the phone after 2 years.
Cameras
As for the phone’s camera, here’s a quick recap of the specs: it has a 108MP f/1.8 main camera, which was considered a very high megapixel count 2 years ago on a mid-range smartphone.
Then there’s a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, a 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and a 5MP f/2.4 dedicated macro lens. The front camera has a 32MP f/2.2 lens.
Once again, for an A Series phone, the rear cameras did not disappoint at all during the day. Whether you’re taking a high 108MP image, using the ultra-wide lenses, the main lenses, or even the 2x zoom images, they were really great.
However, if you go to the max 10x zoom, the image quality was not the best, so I wouldn’t recommend using that.
Portrait mode on the phone was also quite an interesting find because whether you’re using this mode to take pictures of objects or a person, you must wait till the app says that it’s ready; otherwise, you will get some blurry images, so keep that in mind.
The macro mode photos were great if you’re looking to take close-up shots since there is a dedicated macro lens.
Then under low light, the ultra-wide lenses performed well even in dimly lit areas, which was great to know.
The main lenses obviously shined the best at night too, with a nice balance of highlights and shadows, even up to 2x zoom. But again, don’t go beyond that as you will see a reduction in quality.
A huge surprise for me was the night portrait mode because it nailed the focus and the subject-to-background blur very well, both on objects and on people.
The selfie cameras during the day were flawless, both for regular selfies and portrait mode, especially with the great dynamic range and blurred background area.
At night, you really need to keep your hands steady if you’re taking photos under low light; otherwise, you will get a blurry image, specifically with the selfie photos.
The story is a little different when it comes to video. While the quality was great for the ultra-wide and the stabilization was good, the 4K main lenses did not do a very good job when it comes to stabilization unless you turn on the super steady mode, which will downgrade the resolution to 1080p. But I did not do that because I prefer the 4K video recording.
[Sample video footage available on my YouTube video]
The story was the same for the rear video quality at night, with decent results on the ultra-wide and great results on the main lenses but not so much on image stabilization.
The front video recording could go up to 4K recording, but once again, it sacrifices the overall stabilization both during the day and at night. Two years ago, it was one of the very few or perhaps the only mid-range smartphones to have 4K video recording for the front camera.
[Vlogging test available on my YouTube video]
Software
As for the phone’s software, as of the time of this review, it is updated to Android 14 with One UI version 6.1 skin.
Since the release of One UI version 4.1 when it was first launched 2 years ago, I didn’t have any issues then, and I don’t have any issues using the phone right now.
As expected, the software on Samsung phones, in general, even on this A Series, is still one of the best Android skins for Samsung to date.
Speaking of being up-to-date, Samsung mentioned that the phone will receive four years of Android updates, which means it will technically receive another two more years, so that was great to know.
For those of you who always preferred the Snapdragon chipset over the Exynos, definitely not me because I did not mind the Exynos chipset at all, this phone uses the Snapdragon 778G chipset, which was perfect for daily use, especially when it comes to gaming.
Gaming
So, let’s dive into something heavy like Genshin Impact. The phone performed best at medium settings with the motion blur set to low instead of totally turning off when the phone was first released.
Based on our tests, the optimum settings will perform best at medium with 60 FPS, and that was a huge surprise because it is better than when the phone first came out. The motion blur looked gorgeous in this low setting, and it was super fluid during gameplay thanks to the phone’s refresh rate.
There was no noticeable battery drain, and the phone was barely warm after 15 minutes of continuous gaming.
If you insist on playing on higher settings, you can, but you will get some minor jitters, and this issue will mainly affect the battery life and make the device hot. I would stick to using this phone on medium settings for Genshin Impact.
Switching over to Call of Duty Mobile, the best gameplay graphics were set to Very High and the frame rate set to Max, as the Ultra option is not available on the phone compared to newer phones out right now. That was totally fine as the BR mode graphic is customizable.
The battery drain was very good too, only dropping about 4% after 20 minutes of gameplay, and the phone felt very usable. Gaming on the A73 was a huge plus, especially given its very comfortable form factor during long gameplay sessions.
Battery
When I first got the phone 2 years ago, the battery life was not good. I was getting about 4 hours plus of screen-on time with dark mode turned off and 120Hz refresh rate.
After several updates, Samsung managed to fix the battery drain, giving it about 6 hours plus. Now, with heavy gameplay, I was averaging about 5 and a half hours, which was super amazing.
This showed not only that the 5000 mAh battery had great longevity but also that Samsung’s software updates significantly improved battery optimization. For those of you who are worried about updating your software, this is a lesson to make sure you always update to the latest software, especially for Samsung Android smartphones.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy A73 remains one of the best smartphones that Samsung has made, especially for the A70 series. It was probably too good, which is why Samsung did not want to release an A74. When it was released, getting a flagship smartphone did not make sense.
So, is the phone worth it in 2024? Hell yeah!
