Samsung Galaxy A72, analysis: the price of fame should not be so high

This Galaxy A72 relies on a series of improvements to become one of the best sellers of the year, with a processor focused on gaming, a smoother screen, and a complete camera system, including telephoto. All these components, and some more that we will know below, are at the theoretical height in a mid-range smartphone that flirts, already in a big way, with the high-end, but do they meet those specifications in practice?

Next, we will tell you how our experience with the Samsung Galaxy A72 has been these weeks, specifying its strengths and weaknesses. The purpose is one: to know if it is worth buying this Galaxy A72, which goes on sale for 449 euros in its 6GB / 128GB version and 509 euros in the higher memory version, with 6GB / 256GB.

Index of contents:

• Samsung Galaxy A72 datasheet
• The best of the Samsung Galaxy A72
• Elegant and elegant design
• A huge quality screen
• Spectacular autonomy for two days
• The not so good the Samsung Galaxy A72
• Insufficient processor for its price
• Problematic fingerprint sensor
• Samsung One UI must improve
• So are the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy A72
• Samsung Galaxy A72: opinion
• Price of the Samsung Galaxy A72 and where to buy it

The best of the Samsung Galaxy A72

Elegant and elegant design

The latest Samsung mobiles launched within the Galaxy A series have something in common: they follow the design line of the Samsung Galaxy S21. It seems like a wise decision since the aesthetics of Samsung’s most advanced smartphones is a success by combining elegance and innovation, with a very particular rear photographic module and a matte rear that makes you fall in love at first sight.

The same we find in the design of the Samsung Galaxy A72, a beautiful matte back in white with straight lines in which the vertical photographic module, located in the upper left corner, blends in with the rest of the case. In fact, if you don’t see the rear from a side view, that camera system doesn’t seem to stick out at all.

The back of the Galaxy A72, available in black, white, light blue, and purple, is made of plastic, making it easier not to be a magnet for fingerprints and dirt. Furthermore, in our experience, neither the housing nor the camera module has shown weakness against drops, bumps, or scratches. However, we must mention that this plastic is too cheap a bet for a model that dances around 450 euros.

We are talking about a large terminal with dimensions of 165 x 77.4 x 8.4 mm and a weight of 203 grams, making it difficult to use it with one hand. However, it offers a secure grip that provides great peace of mind when using the terminal.

“Despite being a large terminal, the Galaxy A72 offers a secure hold in the hands.

The plastic is also present in the terminal frames and the buttons located on the right side. In addition, on the lower edge, this Galaxy A72 integrates stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio that can be heard clearly and powerfully, a 3.5 mm jack to connect headphones, and a USB Type-C port for the charger and other connectors. Do not look for a fingerprint reader on the back or the side, as it is located under the screen, offering a performance that we will dwell on later.

Design-wise, it’s the top edge that houses the SIM and microSD card slot. In addition, this mid-range is IP67 certified; that is, it can withstand immersion in water up to 1 meter deep for a period of 30 minutes.

Finally, and to link with the next point to highlight, we talk about the front of the Samsung Galaxy A72, with a screen that occupies 84% ​​of that front and a hole in the middle of the upper part that houses the front camera. As for the frames, from our point of view, a more reduced design would have reaffirmed the elegant aesthetics for which the back of the device is committed.

In short, despite being a large terminal and being made of plastic, the design of the Samsung Galaxy A72 is one of its most outstanding points as it is a beautiful smartphone, with straight lines and a matte back that give it that point of elegance that Conquer right out of the box.

A huge quality screen

We are used to the screen is one of the highest quality components of Samsung mobiles, and we already tell you that the same thing happens in this Samsung Galaxy A72. The terminal equips a 6.7-inch Infinity-O SuperAMOLED panel, with Full HD + resolution (1080 x 2400 px), 90 Hz refresh rate, 20: 9 format, and 393 PPI density.

In practice, the Galaxy A72 is a large, very large screen with good sharpness and a maximum brightness of 800 nits that allows it to be seen more than good when the sunlight is shining outdoors. In addition, the SuperAMOLED screen of the terminal shows very vivid colors.

As a negative detail of the screen of the Galaxy A72, we must mention that its viewing angles do not maintain the good level of the panel because it is enough to tilt the terminal to see how the vivid colors that we enjoy vary when we look at it completely from the front.

Its 90 Hz refresh rate, which is set at the factory, provides a remarkable fluidity compared to 60 Hz and does not affect the excellent performance of the phone’s battery, so you can keep that 90 Hz activated without fear. However, although the difference is minimal, it is striking that the South Korean firm has not provided it with the 120 Hz present in the lower model, the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G.

The fluidity of movements can be easily modified from Settings> Screen, a section in which you can also choose between an intense or natural screen mode, change the white balance between cold and warm, increase the touch sensitivity of the panel, activate the automatic brightness – it works precisely – or enables dark mode, among other options.

We can conclude that the Samsung Galaxy A72 is a very good quality screen, which is seen clearly and shows good color reproduction. In addition, the 90 Hz provides a smoothness that we can no longer do without. Therefore, you can trust this smartphone to receive a good multimedia content viewing experience with apps such as Netflix, HBO, YouTube, or Instagram.

Spectacular autonomy for two days

By looking at its technical characteristics, it is expected that autonomy is one of the points that invite you to buy this Samsung Galaxy A72. This hope has become a reality during our test weeks with the terminal, as its 5,000 mAh battery has lasted up to two days without having to go through the charger, reaching between 8 and 9 hours of screen on.

The autonomy can reach that the two days if we give a basic use to the Galaxy A72: chat on WhatsApp, watch Twitter, surf the Internet, watch videos on YouTube and listen to music. Specifically, when we have needed a more intensive use – playing Asphalt 9: Legends, for example – that autonomy has been reduced to a day and a half, a more than the positive figure.

This 5,000 mAh of capacity is perfectly complemented by a 25W fast charge that takes around an hour and a half for the battery to go from 0% to 100%. In addition, the 25W charger is included in the box, so you will not have to spend money on another charger that is compatible with maximum fast charging, as in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S21.

In short, you can expect a great performance from the battery of the Samsung Galaxy A72, which meets its two objectives with a good note: to stay away from the charger for as long as possible and, when you need it, it is for a short time.

The not so good the Samsung Galaxy A72

Insufficient processor for its price

We go into the guts of this Samsung Galaxy A72 to tell you about its Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor, with a G at the end that reveals that it is a chip focused on gaming. It is an eight-core chip, two of them capable of running at 2.3 GHz and six of them at 1.8 GHz.

We confirm its focus on gaming by testing some of the games with the best graphics of the moment, such as Asphalt 9: Legends, which “runs” well – never better said – in the terminal, without lags that greatly hinder the game or the appearance of bass overheating after long periods of play.

In short, the Snapdragon 720G meets the basic tasks of the terminal well, and with some more demanding, such as the aforementioned games, but not in an excellent way. We expected a more powerful processor for a terminal with a considerably high price, such as this Samsung Galaxy A72. After all, it is the same chip that we can find in cheaper models, such as the realme 8 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy A52 itself.

In addition to that extra power, the Galaxy A72 lacks 5G connectivity since its chip lacks an integrated 5G modem. We return to the issue of price, but it would have been appreciated if the South Korean firm had opted for a processor with a 5G modem considering the 449 euros for which this smartphone goes on the market.

“The Samsung Galaxy A72 performs well, but we should ask for extra power considering its high price.

In terms of memory, the Samsung Galaxy A72 can have 6 or 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of internal storage. If we use the microSD card slot, we can expand that internal memory up to 1 TB.

The protagonist of this analysis comes with One UI 3.1 based on Android 11. In addition, Samsung promises three years of Android updates and four years of security updates, so you can buy the Samsung Galaxy A72 knowing that it will be covered in updates for a good period of time.

Closing the performance issue, we can conclude that the Samsung Galaxy A72 generally offers good performance, even running games with advanced graphics without any problems. However, we cannot ignore that it costs 449 euros, a price for which we should demand even better performance, without lags or slowness when moving certain apps.

Problematic fingerprint sensor

During these weeks of testing, we were not convinced by the operation of the Galaxy A72’s optical fingerprint sensor located under the screen.

It is indeed in the correct place to position the finger. Still, it shows more common problems than we would like when it comes to recognizing the fingerprint, which can sometimes lead to a temporary blockage of the terminal that forces us to wait 30 seconds to retry its unlocking. To this, we must add the slowness since, as was the case with the Galaxy A71, the fingerprint sensor of the Galaxy A72 is not suitable for the impatient.

For those occasions when the under-screen fingerprint reader does not work quite well, you can opt for facial recognition. This system, which is not excessively fast, is necessary in most cases when it comes to recognizing the face to unlock the terminal.

Samsung One UI must improve.

As mentioned previously, the Samsung Galaxy A72 arrives with One UI 3.1 based on Android 11. It is a layer of personalization with outstanding features, such as a more modern design and a range of tools that reinforce the use of the terminal: the sound equalizer, the secure folder, the integrated scanner within the camera app, the Edge Content sidebar, the options to play with the animations of One UI or apps like Samsung Health and Samsung Pass, for example.

However, during our experience, the drawbacks of this customization layer outweigh more, as it needs better optimization to avoid those specific lags that appear when running some Galaxy A72 tools. In addition, it is incomprehensible that the Samsung advertising that appears on it appears on a 450 euro mobile, both in some pre-installed applications and in the notification bar.

On the other hand, although it does not reach the level of Xiaomi, One UI arrives with the pre-installation of more apps than we would like. Although some of them can be easily uninstalled, it would be best if Samsung dispensed with them to offer a cleaner system from the start. Of course, all this with the touch of fluidity would provide that better optimization that we miss.

So are the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy A72

The Samsung Galaxy A72 has a rear photographic module made up of four cameras, while on the front, we find a front camera in the hole in the screen. These are the characteristics of the five sensors:

• 64 MP main camera with f / 1.8 aperture and optical stabilizer (OIS).
• Camera wide-angle 12 MP with f / 2.2.
• 8 MP telephoto with f / 2.4 aperture, OIS, and 3x optical zoom.
• Camera macro of 5 MP with aperture f / 2.4.
• Camera front of 32 MP with f / 2.2.
• 4K video recording.

To use these sensors, we resort to the Samsung camera app, with a simple but beautiful interface. From the “More” section, you can configure which modes appear in the main bar; for example, night mode, portrait mode, or professional do not appear there by default; you must move them manually.

HDR appears automatically enabled, although you can disable it from the app settings. It is in this same section where you can activate the composition suggestions, the scene optimizer, the grid, change the shooting methods, or add a watermark. In general, it is a simple app that performs well and masters after a few minutes of use.

The main sensor, with the addition of the optical stabilizer, achieves good quality captures with a good level of detail and sharpness. We must mention, yes, that on some occasions, it “sins” of excessively saturating the colors, a fact that is not surprising when it comes to Samsung. The work he does with portraits is especially interesting since he can clearly differentiate the main subject from the background to make the blur.

The second sensor of this Samsung Galaxy A72 is the 12 MP wide-angle, which takes good shots whenever the conditions play in favor. When the light is falling, this lens has a harder time maintaining a decent level of detail, so the sharpness is not as desired when the lighting is not good.

It is appreciated that the South Korean firm has chosen to introduce a telephoto sensor in this terminal instead of the depth sensor so common in the current market, which usually adds little value to the camera system. In this case, you can capture images with optical zoom of up to 3x with good quality, suffering, of course, when night falls. As far as the macro sensor is concerned, we can say that it is not very useful, although it does take good images.

They are photographs with a good level of detail that do not lose too much sharpness and show a good representation of the color. The good level is maintained in the night images, which are almost of the same quality by opting for the night mode as we are helped by the automatic scene optimizer. Unsurprisingly, portrait mode costs you more in these night situations, just like zoom.

The 32 MP front camera also falls short in this mid-range, with 32 MP and an f / 2.2 aperture. Selfies look great, with precise details and a faithful representation of detail. In addition, the portrait mode does a good job of cropping the main subject and blurring the background. By the way, when the lighting drops, this front sensor gets substandard selfies, although they are still more than decent.

We finish talking about the video recording of the Samsung Galaxy A72, which can be done at 4K at 30 fps and with the “Super stable ” function activated to take full advantage of the optical stabilizer that the terminal integrates. It can also be recorded with FHD resolution at 60 fps and 30 fps and HD resolution at 30 fps. In addition, there is the possibility of doing it in fast motion and slow motion. In general, the video recording of the Galaxy A72 is remarkable, although we once again “suffer” from excessive color saturation.

As a summary, we can say that the Samsung Galaxy A72’s photographic system is noted for being complete and versatile, with a 64 MP main sensor that captures sharp and detailed images -and with too much saturation at times-. It is accompanied by a telephoto sensor that provides a differential touch against rivals in the same segment, with a night mode that achieves good images and quality video recording.

Samsung Galaxy A72: opinion

The Samsung Galaxy A72 is a great terminal if we talk about its screen, its design, and, especially, its autonomy. And the panel that it equips looks really good, its design is elegant and careful, and its battery for two days of use is simply excellent. In addition, it comes with a versatile camera system that takes good photos and videos.

However, throughout the analysis, we have been referring to defects and absences that are difficult to understand if we consider that we are talking about a terminal that costs 449 euros. First of all, we cannot ignore that its screen has 90 Hz and not 120 Hz and that, after all, it is made of plastic and not a more “premium” material.

In addition, One UI weighs down the user experience in some situations, and it does not have 5G connectivity. If we get even more demanding, Samsung could have opted for a more advanced processor than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G that brings this smartphone to life.

Considering that there are terminals in the mid-range that offer better performance, Samsung should have opted for a more powerful chip and better optimization of the customization layer or simply a lower launch price.

Price of the Samsung Galaxy A72 and where to buy it

The Samsung Galaxy A72 is on sale with a starting price of 459 euros in its version with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. If you prefer the higher memory configuration, with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, the price rises to 509 euros. As for colors, then choose between black, white, blue, and purple.

You can buy the Samsung Galaxy A72 on the official Samsung website, where the possibility of handing over an old mobile is offered to obtain a discount of up to 50 euros. The Samsung terminal is also available in electronic stores such as Amazon and PcComponentes, and physical stores such as MediaMarkt.