Last year, Samsung’s midrange offering in Galaxy A34 (our review here) was met with a lukewarm reception. This was largely because of the phone’s dated build and design. This year, Samsung has rectified these gaping flaws in the newly launched Galaxy A35 and produced a device that will undeniably attract a lot of attention in its price segment. Launched alongside the Galaxy A55 (our review here), the Galaxy A35 is currently priced at Rs 31,000. We have been using this smartphone for the last week. Here is our in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy A35.
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In This Article
Samsung Galaxy A35 Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside Galaxy A35’s retail package:
- Smartphone
- USB Type-C to Type-C cable
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick Start Guide
- Regional Lock Guide
The lack of a power adapter inside the box is disappointing, especially when you take into account that most buyers likely do not possess an adapter with a Type-C slot. Regarding the unboxing experience, Samsung is way behind OEMs like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Vivo.
Unboxing assigned, the design and build of the Galaxy A35 have seen significant improvements this year. It is good to see that Samsung has ditched the plastic back for a glass panel. The frame remains plastic but has been trimmed to an acceptable size. Its matte-like texture offers a nice in-hand feel.
The design of the Samsung Galaxy A35 is identical to the Galaxy A55. The vertical camera layout for the rear cameras is something that has been a running theme across all Samsung smartphones since 2023. It is a safe choice on Samsung’s part, but it does rob the smartphones of individual flair and personality.
The right edge of the frame houses the volume rocker and the side button on a slightly raised surface, just like the A55. The USB slot, primary speaker, and two microphones are placed on the bottom edge. Up top, you get the hybrid SIM slot and the third microphone. The earpiece doubles up as the secondary speaker.
Samsung Galaxy A35’s display is identical to its predecessor. This 6.6-inch AMOLED display has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and can hit 1,000 nits of brightness under direct sunlight. The touch response of this AMOLED panel is very fluid and smooth. The punch hole cutout for the selfie camera replacing the waterdrop notch on the display is another big improvement on the A35. The bezels surrounding the display are still thick, though. Hopefully, Samsung will trim them down in the next iteration of the smartphone.
We used the Samsung Galaxy A35 as our primary media device during the review period, streaming content across different OTT apps like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar. The viewing experience was very enjoyable. The images produced by the display were vivid and filled with punchy colours. The stereo speaker produces a well-rounded output that sounds full. It could have been a little louder, but the distortion in sound is minimal when you reach the highest volume level.
The front panel on the Galaxy A35 offers Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, an improvement over the Gorilla Glass 5 on its predecessor. The smartphone is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance. It can withstand being submerged up to 1m in water for 30 minutes.
Samsung Galaxy A35 Review: Performance and Cameras
Samsung Galaxy A54’s (our review here) Exynos 1380 SoC powers this year’s Galaxy A35. This 5nm chipset is an upgrade over the 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC on the Galaxy A34.
The Exynos chipset comes with its challenges but handles routine tasks easily. During the review period, we used the Samsung Galaxy A35 for video calling, instant messaging, media streaming, navigation, emailing, web browsing and other tasks. We did not experience any lags while performing these tasks. The LPDDR4X RAM and UFC 2.2 cut down on the app loading time and ensure that toggling multiple apps at once is a seamless process on the device. Having said that, it is about time that Samsung made the jump in RAM and storage standards in this price bracket.
The gaming performance of the Galaxy A35 is bang average, which is something we’ve come to expect from Exynos-powered smartphones. It can play titles like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI, but the frame rate is capped at 60fps. Playing Call of Duty Mobile in high graphics led to the smartphone warming up within 30 minutes. Throttling and frame drops became more frequent as the phone got warmer. On the Geekbench 6 app, the smartphone scored 1,015 points in the single-core test and 2,889 points in the multi-core test. This is a similar performance to last year’s Galaxy A54, which scored 1,010 and 2,761 points respectively.
One UI 6.1 delivers a very pleasant software experience on the Galaxy A35. The only drawback is that there is significant bloatware on the device. The Galaxy widget on the home screen exists solely to display ads. Thankfully, you can add useful stacks to this widget and get rid of the panel that displays the ads. Other bloatware apps on the device can also be deleted.
The overall software experience is very snappy and fun. One UI 6.1 is perfectly optimised and feels very quick. You also get a range of customisation options for the home screen, AOD, and lock screen. However, premium One UI features like Samsung DeX and Galaxy AI are held back on the A series. On the bright side, Samsung has promised 4 years of major OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches for this device.
Moving on, the battery performance on offer here is pretty average. The 5,000 mAh battery pack offers enough juice for the smartphone to last an entire day with a screen time of 6-7 hours. The smartphone supports 25W charging speed, which is significantly lower than its OnePlus and Xiaomi counterparts. It took up almost 90 minutes to fully charge the smartphone.
Samsung has upgraded the main camera sensor on the Galaxy A35 to a 50MP lens. The rest of the setup has been carried forward from the Galaxy A34. In outdoor daylight conditions, the main sensor captures detailed images that are packed with vivid colours. If you like Samsung’s photo processing skills, you will not be disappointed by this camera. The images are neither oversaturated nor are their colours boosted to a high degree.
The 8MP ultrawide camera does a fine job as well. The images taken using this camera are on the softer side, but we were impressed by their deep colours. There is no significant difference between the colour profiles of the two sensors. The 5MP macro lens produces bang-average results with mediocre colours. The smartphone could have greatly benefited from an entry-level telephoto lens.
In limited lighting conditions, the primary sensor does a good job of letting in a lot of light and correctly exposing the subject. The brightness level in the images is optimum even when the Night Mode isn’t turned on. However, the pictures taken at night are a little grainy. The Night Mode gets rid of the noise to a great extent. The grain is much more noticeable in images taken with the ultrawide camera, even with the Night Mode turned on.
Portrait shots taken with the Galaxy A35 are colour-accurate but the smartphone struggles with edge detection. You will need to take a series of images in Portrait Mode to make sure you get the desired shot. The blur effect applied to the background needs to be stronger as well. The 13MP front-facing camera takes good selfies and does not do anything dramatic to the skin texture and skin tone. It can record 4K videos at 30 fps, similar to the primary camera at the back.
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Verdict
It is nice to see Samsung make the necessary changes to the Galaxy A35 and turn it into a real competitor in its price segment. Even though its overall design feels a bit ‘safe’, its form factor and build quality leave no room for complaints. The Exynos 1380 SoC under its hood is more than capable of handling everyday tasks. However, if you’re a serious gamer, you may want to consider other options. If you’re more interested in the camera performance, the Galaxy A35 will not disappoint you with its 50MP primary shooter and advanced photo processing chops. At Rs 31,000, this smartphone is a good buy.
Samsung Galaxy A35: Pros
- Glass back panel
- Great display
- Good primary camera
Samsung Galaxy A35: Cons
- Does not ship with a charger inside the box
- Slow charging speed
