Samsung Galaxy A03s Review 2022: Must Read Before Buying

The Samsung Galaxy A03s is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy A02s, one of the company’s most affordable smartphones.

The Galaxy A03s from Samsung make a few baby steps toward adulthood. The fingerprint reader and updated base RAM and storage give it a slight boost, but they aren’t quite sufficient to make up for the slow performance and inadequate cameras. A decent choice for a first smartphone, but it lacks strength in key areas.

For more information on the Samsung galaxy A03s, keep reading our review.

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Pros And Cons Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

Pros

• Higher base RAM and storage
• Finally, a fingerprint reader
• Long-term software support
• Attractive design
• Strong battery life

Cons

• Laggy performance
• Secondary cameras are lacking
• The plastic build feels cheap
• Very slow charging
• Unreliable fingerprint scanner
• Poor camera

Features Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

• Battery: The large 5000mAh battery has a near two-day endurance. However, the phone lacks fast charging.
• Expandable storage: By today’s standards, the Samsung Galaxy A03s has a meager 32 gigabytes of internal storage, but the microSD card slot allows you to expand that amount. Many more expensive phones have given up on that feature.
• Headphone jack: Do you prefer wireless to wired headphones? One of the few phones with a headphone jack currently on the market is this one.

Who Is Samsung Galaxy A03s For?

Despite all of its flaws, the Galaxy A03s would make a great first phone for a teenager or perhaps someone who travels frequently and values long battery life above all else.

The Galaxy A03s might be right for you if you’re willing to give up top performance for financial savings. It meets all the essential requirements and is the least expensive phone in our rankings.

What’s Good?

It’s good to see Samsung making slight improvements after the Galaxy A02s from a year ago, which had the barest of smartphone features. The Galaxy A03s introduces a side-mounted fingerprint reader to the mix as a start. It seemed to work fairly well, and I had no trouble quickly unlocking the phone. You can also use a PIN, a pattern-drawing device, or software-based facial recognition if you’d prefer to avoid the fingerprint reader.

Thank goodness, Samsung’s design upgrades didn’t eliminate the headphone jack. The 3.5mm port on the bottom allows you to continue using your wired headphones for another year. It is placed opposite the mono down-firing speaker, which has a sizable output. If I turned up the volume to its maximum level, I did notice some distortion, but you should be happy with the results below that.

What’s Not So Good?

The Galaxy A03s’s hardware has undergone a few significant changes from last year, but the majority of the design is still present. For a 2022 device, the top and bottom bezels are thick, and the plastic construction could be improved. This is not to say that we would expect glass or metal from a $159 device, but the plastic used feels a little flimsy and could break if dropped.

The camera setup from the Galaxy A02s was also retained by Samsung, with the same set of issues. The primary camera performs admirably inadequate lighting, but the two backup cameras—a 2MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens—are largely redundant. Additionally, there is no night mode of any kind, making it impossible to take photos in low light. To get usable macros, you’ll need a very steady hand and lots of light, and the poor resolution means you won’t get much detail. Note the edges of my hat and the finer details on the swan fountain in the selfie examples in the following section. Samsung’s portrait mode also still has issues with edge detection.

The Galaxy A03s has also been affected by a now-familiar Samsung bug: the device doesn’t come with a charger. Even if you already have a USB-C block lying around (and don’t discount the environmental benefits of the choice), it’s not always a guarantee, especially for first-time smartphone buyers who represent a key market for low-cost devices.

Design And Screen Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

• Ridged plastic chassis
• 6.5-inch, 1600 x 720 display
• Erratic fingerprint scanner

Don’t fix something if it isn’t broken. Although it has a more traditional single-tone color scheme, the Samsung Galaxy A03s looks almost identical to the A02s.

The lightly ridged plastic chassis has a nice feel and appearance, and it does a great job of hiding unsightly fingerprints.

The triple array of camera sensors is housed within a dark rectangular module that, crucially for some users, sits almost perfectly flush with the chassis, allowing the phone to lie flat on a tabletop.

In addition to serving as a fingerprint scanner, the power button is located next to the volume keys along the right edge of the phone. But it’s so unreliable that I quickly stopped using it because of it.

This is problematic because the fingerprint scanner—the primary feature that sets the Galaxy A03s apart from the A02s—raises the price by 20 pounds. There is also a face unlock feature that uses the selfie camera, but it is just as unreliable as the fingerprint scanner.

It will be best to completely omit the biometrics and use a PIN or pattern instead in order to prevent experiencing excruciating frustration each time you attempt to unlock the A03s.

The 6.5-inch, 1600 x 720 PLS LCD panel used by the Galaxy A03s is the same as that of its predecessor. It is large and sharp enough to satisfy the needs of the majority of people, with an aspect ratio of 20:9 and a pixel density of 270ppi. Again, direct sunlight presents a challenge for maximum brightness.

The selfie camera is incorporated into a teardrop-shaped notch at the top of the screen, which is surrounded by a bezel that is reasonably thick.

Some potential buyers will appreciate the headphone jack’s inclusion, as well as the ability to support two SIM cards. It’s a great addition to the MicroSD card slot. On the bottom edge of the phone, next to the USB-C charging port, is a downward-firing mono speaker.

Camera Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

• Triple rear cameras
• 13-megapixel main camera
• No Night mode

A 13-megapixel main sensor serves as the foundation for the Galaxy A03s’ triple rear camera system. The set is finished off with a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

The reason that any of that may sound familiar to you is probably that the camera array on the more affordable A02s is exactly the same.

Performance Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

• MediaTek Helio P35 chip
• 3GB of RAM
• Android 12 with Samsung OneUI

The Samsung Galaxy A03s gives the Samsung Galaxy A12 a serious run for its money, even though I recently referred to it as the slowest phone I’ve ever used. Lag is one thing, but the Galaxy A03s is another.

The MediaTek Helio P35 processor powers it. The Motorola G8 Power Lite, which wasn’t impressive in 2020, used the same hardware.

Even the most basic actions take a second or even longer to register, like unlocking the Galaxy A03s, opening an app, or typing. Waiting for the phone to judder into action after that will only take a fraction of a second.

When multiple apps are open at once, simple multi-step tasks like finding directions or researching something online appear to move slowly.

Even when you only have the barest of expectations for the Galaxy A03s, using it is a real chore. People who are used to quick-responding phones with multiple functions should stay far away from this.

Similar to the A12 and A02s, which both have Snapdragon 450 processors and are similarly sluggish, the Galaxy A03s, however, handles demanding games surprisingly well.

In light of what you’ve just read, Asphalt 8 isn’t nearly as juddery as you might worry. Even though it’s not buttery smooth, it’s still more than acceptable.

Streaming of movies and TV shows goes off without a hitch, but the handset can get uncomfortably warm after an hour.

Although the Galaxy A03s also comes with 4GB of RAM, the model used for this review only has 3GB of RAM.

Battery Life Of Samsung Galaxy A03s

• 5000mAh battery
• Phone can last two days
• Slow to charge

The Galaxy A03s excels in one particular area: battery life. It can easily run for more than a day, sometimes even two, on a single charge, though it takes time to power it back up.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy A03s was unable to complete the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, one of TR’s main battery life benchmarks, but real-world usage produced impressive results.

The Galaxy A03s used 13% of its battery life during an hour of Netflix streaming, 7% more during a half-hour of Asphalt 8’s intense gameplay, and 2% more during a half-hour of Threes’ light gameplay.

Its battery was depleted by 5% after an hour of online music streaming and by 4% after an hour of listening to downloaded music.

But the 5000mAh battery has a drawback. Since the Galaxy A03s doesn’t support fast charging, recharging it again requires a lot of patience. The phone needed a whopping 4 hours and 8 minutes to charge completely, taking 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach 50%.

That’s going to be a problem if you’re ever caught off guard.

Should I Buy Samsung Galaxy A03s?

The Samsung Galaxy A03s is a respectable choice among sub-$200 smartphones and a good fit for those considering the Galaxy A03s as their first smartphone or as a price-conscious option. One UI is feature-rich and has excellent support for those looking to own a phone for a long time, making it the most affordable way to join Samsung’s Galaxy ecosystem. A fingerprint reader is a nice touch for added convenience in terms of security. Although these are two essential components of any modern phone, the processor and overall camera setup still need improvement.

Although Samsung’s new fingerprint reader and enhanced RAM and storage provide just enough to justify the price increase, the Galaxy A03s lacks strength in key areas.

With a price increase from the previous year, the Samsung Galaxy A03s now has even more competitors to contend with. The closest rival is probably Motorola’s Moto G Play ($169), which has a slightly stronger Snapdragon 460 processor and a set of cameras that is nearly identical. However, it provides even slower charging, has less RAM and storage out of the box, and does not support NFC for contactless payments. The Moto G Pure ($159), which comes pre-installed with Android 11 and a basic IP rating, is a slightly upgraded Motorola option.

The Samsung Galaxy A13 5G ($249) and Nokia X100 ($252) are reasonably priced ways to add 5G to the mix if you don’t mind spending a little more. The 48MP primary camera and crisp Full HD+ display on Nokia’s device are welcome additions, but the device lacks software updates. On the other hand, Samsung’s Galaxy A13 5G offers a 50MP camera with a robust update policy and a svelte, minimalist design. The $282 OnePlus Nord N20 is also available from T-Mobile. The device has a 64MP triple camera setup and 128GB of storage. In the competition as an improvement over the Galaxy A13 is Samsung’s Galaxy A23 5G ($299). It has a flexible quad-camera array, a faster 25W charging battery, and a capacity of 5,000mAh.

Our Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A03s is a basic smartphone that is neither inexpensive nor worthwhile to purchase. Although it looks good and has a respectable battery life, the performance and camera quality are very poor.

With Samsung’s older and less expensive Galaxy A02s, you can practically get the same user experience. Don’t be fooled by the naming convention if you’re looking to upgrade from the A02s; there is no advancement with the A03s.

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