Samsung Galaxy A34 Review: The Verdict
Thanks to a sleek design, long software support, and reliable battery life, the Galaxy A34 is more than worth its $600 price tag.
What we love
- Great value
- Long software support policy
- Lovely design and screen
What could be improved
- Camera is a bit meh
The essentials
- Performance: Not the fastest phone around, but smooth enough for any day-to-day task.
- Battery: Pretty reliable. Up to five hours of screen time per charge, which represents a day of moderate usage with a comfortable buffer.
- Screen: The best we've seen on a phone in this price bracket.
- Camera: Underwhelming. It can take a decent photo in ideal conditions, but results vary otherwise.
80/100
It goes without saying that you can’t compare a $600 phone to a $1,500 phone. Different price tags naturally have different expectations.
Spending more money typically gets you a better device, so when assessing more affordable handsets, it’s not a question of whether they’re as good as the latest iPhone or top-tier Samsung, but whether they’re good for the money.
Priced at $599 outright, Samsung’s mid-tier Galaxy A34 isn’t just good for the money, it’s excellent.
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To start, the Galaxy A34’s fit and finish are great. It uses the same design language as the Galaxy S23 family, which makes the phone feel premium even though it’s a much more affordable alternative. It doesn’t have the same heft to it as a more expensive device, but it still feels solid and looks the part. I’m a big fan of the green finish my review unit came in. It’s always nice to see colour options other than black and white, especially at more affordable price points.
The notched display gives the Galaxy A34’s budget status away, but it’s barely a trade-off compared to the hole-punch displays that have become ubiquitous among Android phones. It doesn’t cost you usable screen real estate. The screen itself is stunning however; it’s bright, vibrant, and has a super smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy A34 easily has one of the best displays in this price category, which is unsurprising given Samsung’s pedigree in the field. The Galaxy A34 screen even outshines the more expensive Pixel 7a.
There are a few other premium design trimmings worth noting. You get IP67 water resistance, which means it can survive being submerged in water as deep as one metre for up to 30 minutes. This makes the Galaxy A34 one of the cheapest water-resistant phones on the market - unless you manage to find last year’s Galaxy A33 on clearance.
Samsung promises Galaxy A34 will get four years of operating system upgrades and five years of security updates. This is the best software support policy on a phone in this price bracket. You really have to give to Samsung here, and I can only hope other manufacturers follow its lead.
The one nice-to-have the Galaxy A34 misses out on is wireless charging. You typically have to spend a little more to get this feature, however.
On the performance front, the Galaxy A34 is perfectly fine. It isn’t as zippy as Google’s Pixel 7a, but it still more than does the job. While apps could take a little longer to initially load, the overall experience still felt responsive, and the Galaxy A34 was even able to handle more demanding games like Diablo: Immortal.
The Galaxy A34 is also a solid performer on the battery front. You should be able to get about five hours of screen time per charge, which translates to about a day of moderate usage with a comfortable buffer at the end of the day. It’s definitely better than average when it comes to Android phones these days.
The Galaxy A34’s main weakness is photo quality; the camera is a bit mid. Anything but ideal lighting conditions are a challenge for it. If you’re shooting in too bright sun, you’ll get blowout or exposure issues, while low light environments result in very noisy photos. The shots you get on the Galaxy A34 aren’t bad, but they can be inconsistent. Getting the shot you want can take a few attempts, especially if motion is involved. I’m obviously not expecting the same kind of results as I would from a flagship phone, but when the Pixel 7a has raised the bar for mid-tier phone photography so high, it’s hard not to want a little more from the Galaxy A34.
Samsung Galaxy A34 - Final Thoughts
Samsung’s Galaxy A34 is excellent value, plain and simple. If camera isn’t your key consideration in a new phone, the Galaxy A34 is hard to fault. Sure spending more gets you more, but the Galaxy A34 is an affordable phone that doesn’t feel cheap. It makes surprisingly few compromises. If you only want to spend $600 on a phone, the Galaxy A34 is the device to get.
Samsung Galaxy A34 camera samples
Alex Choros
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