If you want to buy a cheap 5G smartphone, your search will soon end up with the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. Apart from the price and 5G connectivity, the smartphone also has a large battery and three rear cameras. Is the Galaxy A32 the best smartphone for you?
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
MSRP € 279, –
Colors Black, White, Purple, Blue
OS Android 11 (OneUI)
Screen 6.5 inch tft (1600 x 720, 60hz)
Processor 2 Ghz octacore (MediaTek Dimensity 720 5G)
RAM 4GB
Storage 128GB (expandable with memory card)
Battery 5,000 mAh
Camera 48, 8.5 megapixels (rear), 20 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 5G, 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi, GPS, NFC
Format 16.4 x 7.6 x 0.9 cm
Weight 205 grams
Other Fingerprint scanner, audio port
Website www.samsung.com/uk
7 Score 70 
- Pros
- Affordable 5G smartphone
- Battery life
- Support
- Negatives
- Bloatware
- Image quality
- Wide angle and macro camera
The Samsung Galaxy A32 is an affordable 5G smartphone, with a price tag below 300 euros. With an affordable device from a familiar person like Samsung, 5G is slowly but surely becoming more widely available to everyone. However, if you already have a well-functioning smartphone without 5G, then the new network technology is still coming home from a somewhat rude awakening. If you are in the market for a new smartphone, you can consider 5G as a future-proof feature. You are pretty good at Samsung, since the smartphone maker has its Android update policy in order. For an affordable smartphone, a positive update policy and 5G are a fairly unique, future-proof combination.
Large smartphone
The Galaxy A32 does not look as luxurious as a top smartphone, due to the somewhat chubby design and (especially for Samsung) reasonably large border below and above the screen. Nevertheless, the finish is neat and the smartphone does not look cheap. Due to the somewhat heavier weight of the smartphone and the fingerprint sensitivity of the back, it is advisable to place a cover around the smartphone that can take a beating.
The fingerprint scanner is located in the power button on the side of the Galaxy A32. Many more luxurious Samsung smartphones have this fingerprint scanner under the screen. However, this physical scanner on the side works faster and more accurately in practice than the hidden fingerprint scanners.
Screen
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A32 has a teardrop-shaped notch on the top for the front camera. Here too, Samsung deviates somewhat, since it usually opts for a camera hole in the top corner of the screen.
The chosen screen panel is clear and the contrast is decent. Still, the TFT screen panel falls a bit short compared to smartphones in the same price range. For example, the image is not razor-sharp due to a 720p resolution and eyes turn a bit gray.
Battery life
The main reason why the Samsung A32 5G is a bit large and heavy is due to the large battery that has been installed. This battery has a capacity of 5,000 mAh, which is substantial. The advantage of the mediocre screen panel is that it requires less battery. Depending on your use, you can safely use the battery for two to three days, which is nice. If you use 5G, the battery life can be a bit lower.
The chipset is not an energy guzzler, but also not a speed monster. However, the basic apps run smoothly, as you would expect with little loading times. So you will not notice any bottlenecks that your 5G connection does not cause loading times, but your device.
Android 11 with OneUI
As you would expect, the Samsung Galaxy A32 runs on the most recent Android version (Android 11), on which Samsung’s OneUI shell has been rolled out. In recent years, Samsung has invested heavily in this skin and the long-term support of version and security updates, making it one of the better Android manufacturers if you are looking for a smartphone with which you can move forward. With this, it puts competitors like Motorola and OnePlus to look, which are performing worse and worse in the area of update.
Samsung’s OneUI skin offers a lot, but runs smoothly at all times. But unfortunately, Samsung has a hand of too much to offer, for example, you get a large batch of bloatware in the form of almost the entire Microsoft app portfolio, Facebook, a second app and theme store and an unnecessary McAfee virus scanner that hides in the smartphone settings.
Camera
On the back of the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G you will find three cameras, flanked by a depth sensor and flash. By switching lenses, you can also take wide-angle and macro photos in addition to regular photos. The normal camera takes high-quality photos and videos, for its price range it is one of the better cameras. With backlighting or when there is little light available, you will soon run into the limitations of the sensor.
Whenever possible, however, always opt for the regular lens, because switching to the wide-angle or macro camera produces a visible difference in quality. It is the same as with other smartphones in comparable price ranges: the photos are not only of noticeably poor quality, even when the lighting conditions are difficult, the photos fail. One good sensor is more useful than a nice lens flanked by these two pretty redundant cameras. But it is probably easier for smartphone makers to market smartphones with as many cameras as possible. Quantity of functions over quality of lenses.
From left to right: wide angle lens, regular lens, macro lens
Alternatives to the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G
The Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a decent smartphone, which plays a few trump cards that the competition does not have in the same price range. Samsung’s update support and 5G. This trumps competition such as OnePlus’ Nord N10 and Motorola’s Moto G 5G, which offer 5G and good quality smartphones, but are definitely not future-proof due to their poor update policy. Xiaomi still offers the best alternative. Qualitatively, the Poco X3 NFC is a more powerful and versatile smartphone and the support duration is comparable. The disadvantage, however, is that the Poco X3 NFC does not have 5G and the MIUI software shell from Xiaomi is a big step back from Samsung’s OneUI.
If the camera and software are really an important part for an affordable smartphone, then you can look at the Google Pixel 4A. The disadvantage is that this device is not officially available in the Netherlands.
Conclusion: buy Samsung Galaxy A32 5G?
The choice for a Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a safe one. You choose a trusted brand and a smartphone that does not fail. The battery life is remarkably good, 5G and the support make the smartphone future-proof. As a smartphone, the device does not have much to offer for its price when you look at computing power, image quality and cameras.
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