Samsung Galaxy A06 (SM-A065F) Review, Price And Specifications.

 

 

 

Samsung Galaxy A06 (SM-A065F) Quick Specs:

Display: 6.7" Full-HD+ (1600×720) U-Cut PLS-LCD Display.

Software: Android 14 OS, One UI 6.1 Skin.

CPU: Helio G85 (12nm).

RAM: 4GB/6GB (And up to 4GB of Virtual RAM).

Storage: 64GB/128GB (expandable up to 1TB).

Rear Camera: Dual-lens (50MP+2MP).

Front Camera: Single-lens (8MP).

Security: Side-mounted fingerprint reader, Face Unlock.

Port: USB Type-C.

Network: 4G.

Speaker: Single.

Battery: 5,000mAh.

Charging Speed: 25W.

Starting Price:

€99, £92, $89. ₦143,000, KSh 11,349, UGX 345,000, GHc 1,449,  R 2,070, EGP 5,081.

If you are in the market for a cheap phone that has a good build quality, decent performance, decent camera, and an assurance of major software updates, you might want to check out the Samsung Galaxy A06 (A065F). In addition to those listed ones, the phone also sports a nice-looking display.

However, the base version of the phone comes with half of inbuilt storage of the competition. Besides, the A06 is a no frills phone. You don't get the stereo speakers or high screen refresh rate, which some of the competition offer, on the Galaxy A06.

 

By the way, the Galaxy A06 preserves the looks and most of other attributes of the Samsung Galaxy A05. In short, the only few things that distinguish the latest phone from the earlier one are its flat sides, Key Island (more on that later), a side-mounted fingerprint reader, pre-loaded recent OS and new custom UI.

Price And Design Colours:

Samsung Galaxy A06 is available in colour options of Black, Gold, Light Blue and Light Green. Currently, the price of the base version is about 143,000 Naira.

The Competing Phones:
Though the Xiaomi Redmi 14C is powered by a more recent CPU, yet the CPU packs the same processing power as the one inside the Galaxy A06. The Redmi phone also features the same amount of RAM and it's running on the same Android version. The 14C also comes with an assurance of major software updates. And it also has a mono speaker.
However, the base version of the 14C features twice storage space of the A06. The display of the Redmi phone is also more bigger and supports high refresh rate. The front camera of the phone also has a higher megapixel sensor. And selfies taken with the phone look better. But, as a result of the same main rear sensor, photos from the 14C look like the ones from the A06. The charging speed of the Redmi phone is also lower than that of the Samsung. But the Redmi phone has a slightly bigger battery.
 

The Tecno Spark 30C also features a high refresh rate display like the Redmi 14C. And it also has the same CPU and internal storage space. Yet, the amount of RAM, Android version, camera set-up, and battery capacity are like those of the Galaxy A06. Even, unlike both of the A06 and 14C, the Spark 30C wears a more stylish looks and has an IP Rating. The Spark 30C also features stereo speakers and comes with an Infrared port.

However, unlike the Samsung and Redmi phones, there's no promise of OS updates from the Spark 30C. Also despite having the same camera set-up as the A06, photos taken with the Tecno phone are a little less detailed. The Depth sensing lens is also missing on the Spark 30C. Also despite having the same battery capacity as the Galaxy A06, the Tecno phone features the same lower quick charging as the Redmi phone.

In addition to the Spark 30C and Redmi 14C, there's also the Infinix Hot 50i. Unfortunately, this Infinix phone shares almost everything with the Tecno phone. In short, except for its square-shaped camera bump, better rear camera sensor and lack of Infrared port, the Hot 50i would have been the same phone as the Spark 30C. 

 

Same Design But More Appealing:

Samsung Mobile maintains the unassuming design (which we've gotten used to) of its budget phones on the Galaxy A06. Even, putting the new phone and the earlier Samsung Galaxy A05 side by side, they look very much alike. Still, they're not identical, because the A06 has received two subtle cosmetic updates. Firstly, the sides of the new phone are completely flat, compared to slightly curved ones of the earlier phone. Also, i said mentioned earlier, the new phone comes with Key Island. The Samsung Key Island is a slightly elevated (or bumpy) area on the right side of the A06. And on the Key Island are the power button and volume keys.
It should be noted that most of the recently unveiled Samsung phones come with Key Islands.
By the way, as a result of its minor updates, the A06 looks a little more appealing than the A05, just like the way the A05 looks a little more appealing than the Galaxy A04 after receiving updates.

 

Meanwhile, the Galaxy A06 comes in size and preserves all other attributes of the Galaxy A05. The phone is made of plastics and has a 6.7-inch U-notched display, round (screen) corners, 20:9 aspect ratio, and flat rear panel as the earlier phone. There's also a pair of vertically placed camera rings and an LED Flash on the back of the new phone.

Although the Galaxy A06 is a little lighter (189g) than the 195g Galaxy A05, it preserves the earlier phone's impressive build quality. Even the new phone feels sturdier at hand. It is more closely put together and solid. However, like its predecessor, there's no official IP Rating for the A06. Nonetheless, i prefer the build quality of this phone to those of the competition that have IP Ratings. The Samsung A06 sports a non-reflective glossy finish with a texture of fine (and faint) vertical stripes on its rear panel.

The arrangements of ports (and buttons) on the Galaxy A06 are exactly like the ones on the earlier model and other budget phones. You still have the power button (which now doubles as a fingerprint reader) and volume keys on the right side (precisely on the Key Island) of the phone. While its dual nano-SIM 4G SIM+microSD card slot (and tray) is located on the left side. The phone's USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, mono speaker, and primary mic are located on its bottom side. And you have only secondary microphone (or noise cancel mic) on the top side of the Galaxy A06.

By the way, the audio output of the A06 mono speaker is not that impressive. If you are more interested on a more louder audio output, i'd say you should go for the Tecno Spark 30C.

 

A Nice-Looking Display, Standard Refresh Rate:

Same as that of the Galaxy A05, the 6.71-inch U-notched display of the Galaxy A06 has a 720p resolution of 1600-by-720p pixels (262ppi) and it also features a PLS-LCD panel; which looks slightly more appealing than the IPS-LCD panels on most competition. Unfortunately, while the competing phones feature higher screen refresh rates, the A06 inherits its predecessor 60Hz or standard screen refresh rate.

 

Still, as the screen inherits the weakness (60Hz) of its predecessor, it also inherits its strength, which is nice picture quality. Though as expected of a 720p display, the A06 display is not impressively sharp and detailed, ye the level clarity is decent. Texts and images appear crisp and vibrant. Colour reproduction is also decent. Colours are vibrant and moderately saturated. Even the latest screen offers slightly more saturated colours than the earlier one. And it also appears to have a better white balance.
 

The display is noticeably bright too. And it's slightly brighter than its predecessor. The peak brightness is about 564nit. Which is more than enough for normal lighting conditions. But it's not enough for outdoor usage, especially if you are under direct sunlight. Notwithstanding, the display is manageable under direct sunlight; thanks to its high contrast level. Which causes the screen to appear a little more vibrant, or viewable.

By the way, among the competition, it's only the Redmi 14C display that attains a slightly higher peak brightness than the Galaxy A06. Colour reproduction of the Redmi phone's display also rivals that of the Samsung.

Decent Camera:

Like the one on the Galaxy A05, the dual rear camera on the Galaxy A06 is made of a 50MP main sensor and a 2MP depth sensor (for portrait photos or photos with blur backgrounds). And there's also an 8MP camera on the front of the phone.
Generally, like the ones taken with the competition (and most phones at this price point), photos taken by the Galaxy A06 are not impressively detailed. And secondly, you need good lighting conditions to get a more pleasing outcome from the cameras. And finally you need to switch to 50MP mode, to enjoy clearer and detail photos, because the phone shoot at 12MP by default. And at that, photos are not that detail.

Meanwhile, at a glance, photos taken with the Galaxy A06 look like the ones from the Galaxy A05, on a closer look, however, i started noticing the differences. Firstly, photos from the latest phone have better dynamic range. There's a good balance between brightness and contrast level. Subject separation and background blurring of Portrait shots also look impressive.

Also photos taken with the A06 are more detailed. The blurry issue which i complained about, when you zoom up to 10x on the A05 photos have been resolved on the A06. And lastly, photos from the A06 have slightly richer and more vibrant colours (perhaps, as a result of its better dynamic range). Yet the colours are moderately saturated and life-like. However, in some photos, i still notice the tinge of magenta (pinkish); which also affected photos taken with the A05.

Generally, and when compared to the ones taken with the competition, photos from the Galaxy A06 are more vibrant, clearer and colours are impressively more true to life. Dynamic range and portrait shorts also look better. In short, among the competing phones, it's only the Redmi 14C that delivers similar impressive photos. Even, photos from the Redmi phone appear slighlty more detailed. But colour rendition of the Samsung photos seems a little more balanced. Generally, photos from the rear cameras of the A06 and Redmi phone look alike.
 

Turning to the front, selfies taken with the A06 are bright, clear and moderately detailed. Colours also look exciting and vibrant. However, the magenta tinge (which, some times, affect the rear shots) is a little more glaring on the selfies skin tone. Still, the selfies are clearer and have better colour rendition than most of the ones taken by the competition. However, the Redmi 14C outshines the A06 on this. The skin tone of the Redmi selfie is more accurate and life-like. Also as result of its higher megapixel sensor, the Redmi phone's selfies are more detailed. In short, of all the competing phones, the Redmi 14C has the best looking selfies.
Meanwhile, with both of its front and rear cameras, the Galaxy A06 can shoot videos up to 1080p at 30fps (frame per second). And there's no video stabilization. 

By the way, among the competing phones, it's only the Tecno Spark 30C (or Infinix Hot 50i) that can shoot videos up to 2K at 30fps.

Same Hardware, But Recent OS And Latest One UI:

While the Galaxy A05 was pre-installed with One UI 5.1 on top of Android 13, the A06 is pre-installed with new One UI 6.1 on top of Android 14. Even the new phone is running the full version of the latest custom UI, unlike its predecessor that featured the Core version (of One UI 5.1).

The latest custom UI introduces a more appealing Quick Panel and an easier to use camera app. It also has more options to customize icons and wallpapers.

 

Meanwhile, as usual, Samsung promises up to two years of OS updates (Android 15 and Android 16) and four years of security patches for the Galaxy A06. But as i mentioned earlier, the hardware configuration remains as that of the Galaxy A05.

In detail, the Galaxy A06 preserves the Helio G85 CPU of its predecessor. The base model of latest phone also features 4GB of RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage as the earlier phone. The inbuilt storage can also be expanded, via microSD card, up to 1TB (One Terabyte).

That said, because the Helio G85 CPU that powered this phone is a 12nm entry-level gaming processor, the A25 is best suited for regular tasks and moderate gaming.

Though in real life situation, even despite its latest software, the Galaxy A06 handles day-to-day tasks like quick multitasking, internet browsing, and video streaming without issue. Notwithstanding, if you're the type of person who likes to open multiple apps and jump in-between them quickly, i'd say you should look for the 6GB of RAM version of the phone; to ensure consistent and smooth performance.

Also despite that it's not a gaming phone, yet, due to its CPU's gaming potentiality, the A06 managed to play most of the demanding games fairly. But many of the games had to be played at medium Graphics and low Frame rate settings. To reduce lagging or stuttering.

Furthermore, though all the competing phones are powered by a recently unveiled Helio G81 CPU and their base models have twice storage space of the Galaxy A06, but those phones pack the same processing power as the A06. Because the Helio G81 (that's inside them) is just a modified version of the Helio G85. In other words, both of the CPUs are technically the same. In short, there are only two small differences between them. The Helio G81 supports Bluetooth 5.4 (compared to 5.0 of the earlier CPU). However, the new CPU has a slightly lower GPU clock speed of 950MHz, compared to 1000MHz of the Helio G85.
Even in real life situation, the Galaxy A06 is slightly more responsive than all the competing phones (and the earlier A05), and the phone scores a little higher than them in the performance tests.

 

Same Battery, Same Fast Charging, Yet Improved Battery Life:

Though, the Samsung Galaxy A06 features a 5,000mAh battery like its predecessor, yet the battery life is slightly better. Perhaps, it's as a result of its more optimized latest One UI and recent Android OS. Generally, the A06 has a good battery life, even slightly better than the competition's. The phone is also the only one among the competing phones that offers 25W quick charging (like its predecessor), the rest of them feature 18W fast charging. However, unlike those phones, the Galaxy A06 doesn't come with a charger.  Still, with a 25W proprietary (Samsung's) charger, bought separately, it took about 1hr 30mins minutes to fully charge the phone battery from zero percent.

And by the way, off all the competing phones, the Redmi 14C is the one with the highest battery capacity of 5,160mAh. But it should be known that it's also the Redmi phone that has the largest display.
 

Samsung Galaxy A06 (SM-A065F) Full Specs:

GENERAL

Maker: Samsung Mobile.

Name: Galaxy A06 (SM-A065F).

Year Released: August, 2024.

Dimensions: 167.3x77.3x8mm.

Weight: 189g (6.67oz).   

Colour: Blue,  White, & Gold.

DISPLAY
Screen Type: PLS-LCD Capacitive Touch-screen.

Size and Resolution: 6.71-inch, HD+, 1600-by-720 pixels, 60Hz (standard) Refresh Rate.

Aspect ratio & Pixel Densities: 20:9, 262PPI.

Protection: Tampered Glass.

PORTS:

3.5mm Audio Jack: Yes.

USB Type-C Port: Yes.

MicroUSB port: No.

Lightning Connector: No.

Google Assistant Button: No.

PERFORMANCE

Chipset: MediaTek Helio G85, 12nm Octa-Core Processor, 2.0GHz.

GPU: Mali-G52 MC2.

RAM: 4GB/6GB (With up to 4GB of Virtual RAM).

Operating System: Android 14, One UI 6.1.

STORAGE

Internal Storage: 128GB/256GB.

Micro-SD card slot: Yes, up to 1TB (One Terabyte).

SIM AND NETWORK

SIM: Nano, Dual SIM slots.

Network:  GSM, HSPA+, & LTE.

CAMERA

Rear camera: Dual-lens; 50MP (Wide)+ 2MP (Depth), Dual-Flash.

Front camera: Single-lens, 8MP.

VIDEO RECORDING:

Rear Cameras: 720p, 1080p @ 30 fps.

Front Camera: 720p, 1080p @ 30 fps.

CONNECTIVITY:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, HotSpots, USB-OTG, NFC.

BIOMETRIC, SENSORS & LOCATION: 

Security: Face Unlock, Side-mounted Fingerprint Reader.

Sensors: Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, G-sensor, Accelerometer And

Barometer sensor

Others: GPS, Location (Geo, Glonass).

BATTERY

Battery Capacity: 5,000mAh.

Reverse (Wired) Charging: N/a

Qi Wireless-Charging: N/a.

Fast Charging: 25W (Wired).