Samsung Galaxy A40

The Samsung Galaxy A40 is not only a looker but arrives as a performer as well. Priced at Rs. 19,500, the phone makes it worth the money due to its excellent performance.

However, you need to understand why you are buying this phone. It does not have the power of a gaming phone and so trims down on graphics performance. Similarly, since it boosts its selfie camera, the rear cameras take a slight hit. Otherwise, the Samsung Galaxy A40 is a hardy phone and suitable for all your basic and even intensive tasks.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 has a case which is very different from the Samsung M series. It has more appeal visually and is also of better quality. When the light falls on it at a specific angle, it glitters and changes colours, which is one premium touch that it has. Plus, the phone is quite sturdy, and even under pressure, it kept its strength. There are no gaps between the different materials. At 140 grams, the phone is lightweight too. All in all, the phone has excellent workmanship and enough to keep your eyes glued to it. However, the volume rocker and power button are a bit higher and difficult to reach.

Samsung Galaxy A40 has an Infinity-U display in front which has minimal bezels and a water-drop notch. While the bezel at the bottom is wider than the Galaxy A6 (2018), the screen is large enough to work on. The phone arrives with an AMOLED display, bringing a resolution of 2340×1080 pixels. However, the brightness of the phone is not convincing, coming at a 379 cd/m² max brightness. The brightness is evenly distributed, which is a plus, coming up to 94%. The phone allows different modes like Cinema Mode, which has accurate colours. The Adjustable Display mode gives a slightly bluish tint. The brightness problem shows outdoors since it is hardly legible in sunlight. The AMOLED display helps with the viewing angles, which remains quite good even in acute angles. The colours are kept right.

The phone arrives with the Samsung Exynos 7904. It is not as good as the Redmi Note 7, but the performance is quite capable. Surfing speed of the phone was much better than Galaxy A6 208. App switching was easy and smooth. You can also run multiple apps on this phone without facing many issues. The phone, however, has a weak GPU, and cannot run Asphalt 9 as a result. Playing casual games are excellent. Casual games can run at 60Hz, but at high settings, stutters can be noticed at times.

In terms of cameras, the phone comes with a dual-camera system with a 16MP primary lens supported by a 5MP secondary wide-angle lens of 123-degree. The camera app provides bokeh effects too. The overall performance of the camera is quite strong. In daylight, the camera captures plenty of details. The images appear punchy and hold strong colours. The dynamic range could have been better. In low-light scenarios, the brightness of the photos take a hit, and visual noise comes in. The cameras can shoot 1080p videos at 30fps, and they turn out decent.

The main feature of Galaxy A40 is its selfie camera. The 25MP selfie camera has fantastic dynamic exposure, which changes based on contrasting light conditions. The image quality is quite good, though the lack of auto-focus makes it a problem. The sharpness might be lacking, but the overall colour of the selfies are decent. However, sometimes, the images may appear overexposed. In general, the selfies are social-media worthy and are better than the rear camera shots.

Samsung Galaxy A40 is fitted with a 3100 mAh battery. It is a weak battery and does not keep its juice for long. In an internet surfing test, the phone lasts for about 10 hours and 43 minutes. Pushing the phone with games, video streaming, etc. would make it go out within 4 hours and 37 minutes. It makes the phone a difficult model to recommend in terms of battery life. The phone also takes some time to charge, getting from 0% to 100% within 2 hours.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 is a handy phone which is quite compact and comes with all the necessary hardware required for any mid-range phone. It has excellent performance as well as the brilliant AMOLED display of Samsung. The battery of the phone is one drawback since it does not keep the phone chugging adequately. The Galaxy A40 has a dual-camera setup which clicks decent photos. However, the selfie camera steals the limelight from the rear cameras by producing better quality shots. In general, the Galaxy A40 is a reliable phone, but if you want to go for performance, the Galaxy M20 can be a good alternative.