The Galaxy A80 serves up a unique take on sliders, but it’s missing a few core features.
Samsung is positioning the Galaxy A series as the growth driver for the budget and mid-range segments, and while we’ve seen the likes of the Galaxy A50, the Galaxy A80 is the company’s most ambitious showing yet in this space. The Galaxy A80 was unveiled earlier today in Thailand, and it has a notchless display with three cameras at the back.
Samsung was able to achieve an all-screen panel by using a crazy rotating camera that flips over from the back when you want to take a selfie. It’s pretty wild:
A rotating camera that’s epic on both sides. #GalaxyA80 #SamsungEventLearn more: https://t.co/bbVzsoWlIW pic.twitter.com/g2xxDZ39hn
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) April 10, 2019
There’s a 48MP primary camera that’s joined by an 8MP wide-angle lens and a time-of-flight sensor. By using a rotating camera, Samsung is able to eliminate a cutout on the screen, and offer a higher-res sensor for taking selfies. It’s a win-win.
The Galaxy A80 has a 6.7-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) Super AMOLED panel and is powered by Qualcomm’s latest mid-range Snapdragon 730G. You get 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3700mAh battery with 25W fast charging, which is the fastest we’ve seen on a Samsung phone to date.
The phone runs One UI based on Android 9.0 Pie out of the box, and will be available in three color options: Phantom Black, Angel Gold, Ghost White. While the device is definitely intriguing, Samsung had to make a few sacrifices along the way. The MicroSD slot is gone, as is the 3.5mm jack. There’s no facial recognition either as it just isn’t feasible to rotate the camera in time.
Another question will be the durability of the slider. With no front camera sensors, the rotating camera has to kick in every time you want to take a selfie, and we’ll just have to wait and see if that slider holds up after a few months of use. There’s no details on global availability just yet, but we should know more in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the Galaxy A80?
