Samsung Galaxy A34 review: Inspired design, reliable package; is it enough?

Samsung A-series is extremely popular among the masses. The phones in this series are competitive, packed with features and add a bit of rhythm to an otherwise bland palette. Samsung's target audience with the A34 is evident, young college-goers, interns and corporate socialites. For the executive category, Samsung has its flagship series, which the company is careful about not stepping over.

Samsung Galaxy A34 comes in two variants, 8GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB, priced at Rs 30,999 and Rs 32,999. Sparing two grand extra for double the storage is a fair deal. That's not the interesting bit. The choice of colours the A34 offers is quite attractive. It comes in Awesome Lime, Awesome Graphite and Awesome Silver. We'll let Samsung keep the Awesome moniker just for the way it has delivered on the looks front.

Design

Samsung Galaxy A34 looks fantastic and is a major step up from its predecessor. The main credit goes to the floating camera design, which replaces the island packing camera lenses inside. We carried the A34 in silver, and it fooled many into thinking it is the S23 Plus. That's just the rear design.

But once you hold the phone, you'll know the difference between A34 and S23. The back panel is plastic but doesn't feel cheap. The silver variant managed to keep fingerprint smudges at bay, which is something of a boon for phones with plastic back. The frame is quite thick, but the soft matte curve makes it handy enough. The volume and power buttons take their regular position on the right, the USB Type-C port and speaker sit at the bottom and the SIM card tray is on the top.

What's impressive is that despite the lack of premium materials used in the phone's construction, the A34 offers IP67 certification for dust and water resistance. That's something.

Display

We loved how the design aspect rose in rank, only to be met with an obstacle with the display. Samsung Galaxy A34 still uses an Infinity-U display, which has an ageing notch design. Coming to the display itself, it's a 6.6-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. Samsung knows its displays and it's a decent panel for multipurpose use. The colours and vibrant and punchy, the touch responsiveness is great and the viewing angles are good too. The only setback is that the refresh rate isn't adaptive as seen in the flagship models.

We used the phone to watch video content, browse the internet and social media and play some games - all of which seemed great on that 6.6-inch display. If only Samsung had ditched those bezels and the U-shaped notch.

Another important aspect of the display is the fingerprint scanner, which is an ultrasonic one. It worked great. A simple touch of a finger accurately detected and unlocked the phone.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy A34 has a triple rear camera setup, featuring 48MP primary sensor with OIS, 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP macro sensor. Samsung's signature touch can be sensed in the shots captured using the A34. The shots taken from the main sensor in well-lit scenes are dynamic, with decent detailing and sharpness. The colours are a bit on the vibrant side, and evenly distributed across the frame.

In low light, the photos lose out on details, but retain natural colours and decent dynamic range. Portrait mode struggles in low light as subject outlining is all over the place. But with ample light, you can get good portrait shots for your Instagram page. The macro, though not the best, is usable in some sense. At least, it's not the same as some 2MP macro sensors that are offered in phones to fill out the spec sheets. Finally, the ultra-wide sensor captures a wider area with little distortion and colour mismatch. It can be used to create some dramatic shots. But again, low light is a bit tricky for the 8MP sensor. The night mode does little to help. The 2x zoom delivered some really good shots, and worked for us while capturing things from a distance.

We don't see any major improvements in terms of the camera as compared to the A33 5G, but it hasn't dipped as well. Check out some samples below:

Performance

Samsung Galaxy A34 is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset, which is a surprising decision. But the performance keeps up with our daily tasks without showing much strain. The multitasking was handled with quite an ease, and mild gaming and binge-watching were a delight just the same. Even with extended use, the phone kept its cool.

The A34 was used primarily for calls, IMs, social media, internet browsing, camera and emails. Music, gaming and OTT streaming were not a regular affair. But it managed it all quite well. The software, which is OneUI 5.1 out of the box, worked well without any major glitches. But certain things like the Glance On Samsung feature and pre-loaded software were a bit annoying. If you can work around that, the software is a familiar one so any Samsung user should get it right away.

Battery

Samsung Galaxy A34 is packing a large 5,000mAh battery but only supports 25W charging speed. While the phone can outlast your daily usage, the slow charging can be daunting. With mixed usage, when we weren't putting the phone through intense tests, the A34 lasted close to two days. But you'll have to patiently sit through 90 minutes of charging. Even with heavy usage, the phone survived a whole day. It's a missed opportunity for Samsung here without a faster charging tech, high time it gets on board with the competition.

Verdict

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G is a capable smartphone, which faces stiff competition from the likes of OnePlus, Google, Nothing and Xiaomi. But you'll need to spare a few extra bucks to get that premium touch. If you can live with an average camera and slow charging, the A34 is a good overall package. The design aspect is something you cannot ignore, it looks a lot like the S23, if public image matters to you. Had the smartphone been priced more aggressively, it would've been easier to recommend.