The Samsung Galaxy A34 5G was announced in Brazil alongside the Galaxy A54, with some cost cuts compared to its ‘brother’ and a more attractive price. The intermediary has a plastic back, slightly inferior cameras and a less powerful chip.
Samsung has tried to keep the same look in this model, but with less premium material. And it hit the spot on what we expect from a good intermediary: cost-effectiveness, since the experience is excellent when considering the price of the device, which is in the range of R$ 1,800.
I tested the Samsung Galaxy A34 and I detail every aspect of this phone in this review. Understand the reasons why I consider the device an excellent intermediary in all aspects.
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pros
- balanced set
- Cost benefit
- Cameras better than competitors
- good battery life
Contras
- Stereo sound disappoints a bit
- No headphone jack
Design, build, screen and sound
- Dimensions: 161,3 x 78,1 x 8,2 mm
- Weight: 199 grams
- Bodies: 6.6 inch Super AMOLED
- Resolution: Full HD (1080 x 2340 pixels), 120 Hz;
Like the Galaxy A54, the A34 also looks similar to the Galaxy S23 line. The cameras are slightly popped, one by one, on the back cover, in three circles in the upper left corner. The LED flash is on the side, between the first and second lens.
This model has plastic sides and back, always in the same color, but with a slightly darker tone on the frame. In Brazil, you can choose between black, violet, lime green or silver. The device has a USB-C connector at the bottom, buttons on the right side and a chip drawer at the top.
The Galaxy A34 is IP67 certified, with good protection against dust and submersion in up to one meter of water for 30 minutes. Fingerprint unlocking is done with a sensor under the screen, something still uncommon in mid-range cell phones. The display has few edges and features a drop cutout for the front camera.
The screen of this cell phone is slightly larger than that of the Galaxy A54. It’s the same type of Super AMOLED panel, Full HD resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate, but without HDR10+ support. That is, it is similar for much of the use, but it does not bring additional detail in content that supports HDR.
The brightness rate is very good, just a little bit lower at the maximum than the A54. It can be used comfortably in all environments, even outside on sunny days. The color quality is excellent, but it obviously doesn’t compare to high-end cell phone screens.
As with the Galaxy A54, the A34 has very good stereo sound. But the focus is all on the mids, with a little loss of bass and treble as the volume approaches maximum.
The Galaxy A34 is a good intermediary, with the difference of withstanding accidents with water – the idea is to protect it in case of accidental submersion, not use it in swimming pools.
— Felipe Junqueira
Configuration, performance and usability
- Operational system: Android 13 sob One UI 5.1;
- Platform: MediaTek Dimensity 1080 (6 nm);
- Processor: Octa-core (2x 2,6 GHz Cortex-A78 + 6x 2,0 GHz Cortex-A55);
- GPU: Mali-G68 MC4;
- RAM and storage: 8/128 GB, 8/256 GB.
It’s been a while since MediaTek’s chips stopped being problematic. The Dimensity 1080 is quite competent, and offers very good performance for the intermediate category, with the ability to run the most popular games without major scares.
In addition to good performance, the chip also has good energy efficiency, but I talk about that in the battery topic. Here, the important thing is to know that the Galaxy A34 manages to perform day-to-day tasks with aplomb. It was a little slow after the test, but it returned to normal when I closed all open apps.
The Samsung cell phone has 8 GB of RAM memory, which you can double with the RAM Plus feature. For that, you have to reserve part of the internal storage, which can be 128 GB or 256 GB.
Result in AnTuTu
The Dimensity 1080 inside the Galaxy A34 was around 480 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark. Memory and interface scores were similar to the Galaxy A54, while GPU was around 10,000 points behind. The CPU had a slightly bigger difference, around 20,000 points.
That is, we have a cell phone here that is almost as competent as the most powerful intermediary from Samsung itself. And better than competitors like Poco X5, Moto G73 and the like.
software and connectivity
The Galaxy A34 runs Android 13 on top of One UI 5.1. The interface score is one of the highlights in AnTuTu, which demonstrates that Samsung has achieved an excellent level of optimization — turning the tables, after years being considered one of the heaviest UIs in the Android world.
This model also supports 5G and offers proximity payment via NFC. The Samsung Wallet app is even installed natively. In it, you can use Samsung Pay and store important documents, protected with a password.
Outdoor main camera
Felipe Junqueira/Canaltech
cameras
- Principal: 48 MP, f/1.8 aperture;
- Ultrawide: 8 MP, f/2.2 aperture;
- Macro: 5 MP, f/2.4 aperture;
- Selfies: 13 MP, f/2.2 aperture;
- Videos: up to 4K at 30 fps.
The Galaxy A34’s cameras are different from its more powerful sibling, the Galaxy A54. With that, the photographic quality is a little below, but not so much that you can easily notice when looking at the images.
In summary, the A34 has reasonable color accuracy, great levels of texture and sharpness. And the dynamic range is very good, with details in light and dark areas without going overboard so as to leave shadow areas greyed out.
The ‘Nightography’, however, leaves a little to be desired when compared to more advanced models. There’s still a good level of noise reduction and sharpness improvement, but I noticed that focus is easily lost. Still, it’s well above competitors in the same price range.
Selfies are also very good, despite the front camera resolution being only 13 MP. The level of textures is quite satisfactory, and I liked the tone of my white skin in the images. I found it quite accurate without lightening it further.
Video recording is also good, with 4K resolution and up to 30 frames per second in both the main and front. I thought the noise reduction could be a little better, but the voice is still very audible. Stabilization is also good.
The Galaxy A34 also has a super video stabilization mode, which reduces the resolution to Full HD with 30 fps. The image is much more stable, with excellent quality to use on social networks.
The Galaxy A34’s cameras are slightly below those of the Galaxy A54, but this Samsung intermediary is still better than any competitor in this regard.
— Felipe Junqueira
Battery and Charging
- Battery capacity: 5.000 mAh;
- Recharge: up to 25W wired.
I mentioned there in the performance topic that the Dimensity 1080 has good energy efficiency. This statement is possible because I compared the result of the Galaxy A34 in the Canaltech battery test with the A54.
The model of this analysis consumed only 25% of charge in the six hours of use, against 28% of the “brother”. And that’s with a 0.2 inch larger screen. The expected use of the A34 was 24 hours, about two and a half hours longer than the A54.
The result is much better than other intermediates, which usually consume more than 30% in this test. Interestingly, the Galaxy A34 tied with the Poco X5, but it was much better than the Galaxy A25 5G, which consumed 35%.
Good to remember that battery life tests, whatever they are, are just estimates. They serve as a basis for comparison between devices tested in a similar situation.
But, depending on its use, a cell phone that had a lower result in a test may be better than another with a better result in the same test. It all depends on optimizing the interface and also the chip for each type of use.
For recharging, the Galaxy A34 supports up to 25 W of power. But the charger that comes in the box is 15 W. With it, it takes about two hours to fill it up completely, from 0% to 100%.
direct competitors
The Galaxy A34 is a middleman in the truest sense of the word: it’s in the middle even within this category. Considering its AnTuTu score and Dimensity 1080 chip, its main competitors are Redmi Note 12 Pro, Realme 10 Pro and Moto G73.
Xiaomi’s model has similar power, inferior cameras and battery life a little below. And price in the same range, around R$ 2,000 — with importers, that is, warranty only from the seller (generally 3 months or less).
Realme’s performance is a little lower, but it comes closer in the quality of the cameras. Battery life, on the other hand, is considerably less. The price is around R$1,200, but you can only find it in Chinese stores at the moment.
Finally, the Moto G73 is inferior in all aspects: performance, cameras and battery life is pretty bad compared to the other three. The price is also lower, around R$ 1,600.
? See the price of the Redmi Note 12 Pro on Zoom
? See the price of Realme 10 Pro on AliExpress
? See the Moto G73 price on Zoom
Samsung Galaxy A34 5G
Ivo Meneghel Jr/Canaltech
Samsung Galaxy A34: vale a pena?
Samsung has done an impressive job with its Galaxy A lineup, especially in terms of cameras. There are no competitors for the South Korean brand in this segment currently, as these mid-range models are just below top-of-the-line models.
With that in mind, I recommend the Galaxy A34 to anyone who wants a cheaper intermediary than the A54. The cameras aren’t as good, but they’re still better than other devices in the R$1,500 to R$2,000 range. Performance is good, and battery life is as expected.
In addition, the Galaxy A34 has a Super AMOLED screen, while some brands still insist on LCD for the mid-range category. The price may seem a little high, around R$ 1,800. But there’s still room to download as 2023 progresses.
In short, if you prioritize cameras, the Galaxy A34 is a good option among the intermediaries. In addition, it offers good performance, satisfactory battery life and a better screen than many models in the same price range.
? See the price of the Galaxy A34 5G in Magalu