The Samsung Galaxy A80 Flips Over the Competition!
Staff Writer / 21-10-2020 / Reviews
It’s an understatement to say that Samsung’s A-Series line of smartphones have become a huge hit since their release. There’s no sign that the Korean tech giant will be stopping anytime soon, and one of the best examples of their continued ingenuity is the brilliant Samsung Galaxy A80, a smartphone that features a big, gorgeous screen without a notch, made possible through a motorised hinge that flips the rear cameras over to the front of the device for selfies.
Let’s take a closer look.
Under the Hood
The Samsung Galaxy A80 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 Octa-Core processor. You’re guaranteed to enjoy apps and gaming experiences without any lag. In terms of memory, the device packs in 8GB of RAM, which is more than sufficient for most smartphone uses. This is accompanied by 128GB of internal storage. Unfortunately, there is no slot for a microSD card, but there’s always cloud storage if you happen to run over.
The software experience is great overall with the inclusion of Android 9 and Samsung One UI, which offers features such as Bixby Routines and Digital Wellbeing. As part of the software on the Galaxy A80, you have the options of a blue-light filter, one-handed mode, a complete system-wide night-mode and navigation bar gestures.
Screen and Body
This is where the Galaxy A80 sets itself apart from other smartphones. Samsung decided to remove any bezels, notches or punch-holes in the screen to provide you with a true full-screen experience. Samsung calls it the Full HD+ Super AMOLED New Infinity Display - a 6.7-inch screen that makes games and videos a joy to consume.
The device is 165.2-millimetres tall and weighs 220-grams, which may not be suitable for dainty hands. The rear of the device is adorned in glass instead of the more common plastic used in the A series, so it’s more like Samsung’s flagships than mid-tier phones. The A80 is available in Black and Gold.
A Camera Setup to Make You Flip
We’ve come to expect a front-facing camera with all smartphones thanks to the popularity of selfies, but Samsung changed it up with the Galaxy A80. The front of the device doesn’t actually have any cameras. When you activate the selfie camera on the screen, the camera unit slides up from the back and rotates the camera module to face the user. Effectively, you’re using the same triple camera module at the rear for your selfies.
In terms of camera quality, you get a 3D Depth camera, an 8MP Ultra-Wide camera and a 48MP main lens that covers all the types of photos you could want. Samsung included its Live Focus feature that lets you focus on the subject of an image and blur out the background.
Battery Life
Surprisingly, Samsung only equipped the Galaxy A80 with a 3,700mAh battery. You might struggle to last an entire day without charging if you’re a heavy user. However, it does support 25W super-fast charging which allows you to juice up the A80 in about 80 minutes. Still, given the gorgeous display, you’ll want to consume a lot of content on this phone, but it seems the battery may become a hindrance.
Other Features
The Samsung Galaxy A80 comes with an optical in-screen fingerprint sensor to provide added security. The company has removed the 3.5-mm headphone input and replaced it with Dolby Atmos-enabled USB Type-C headphones, which are more than sufficient for daily use.
Verdict
Samsung has packed quite a bit into the Galaxy A80 with the cameras being the standout feature. Its big and bold screen is extremely appealing, while its overall appearance just shouts “flagship” without actually costing as much. If you can live without the 3.5-mm headphone jack and contend with a smaller battery, it’s a worthy device that deserves your attention.
View Samsung Galaxy A80 deals here.
