Although the newest and finest Galaxy S series from Samsung is admired by everybody, many individuals find these expensive gadgets to be either useless or unaffordable. It’s evident from the sales numbers that Samsung’s A series outsells the S series in terms of sales volume, and as such, it merits our consideration as a review. The new Galaxy A06 is the least expensive smartphone in the A series right now.
Compared to the Galaxy A05 of last year, not much has changed. Distinct from the Galaxy A05s, which is a little more advanced gadget. A solitary loudspeaker, a tiny 6.7-inch, 60Hz LCD display, a paltry MediaTek Helio G85 CPU, a basic plastic frame with no certified ingress protection, and only 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable eMMC 5.1 storage in the base tier are all included with the Galaxy A06.
The camera configuration remains same, with a 50MP primary camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and a simple 8MP selfie lens up front. Like last year, you still get a 5,000 mAh battery and 25W charging. To be honest, the color variations and the addition of a side-mounted fingerprint scanner in the power button are the only noticeable differences between the Galaxy A05 and A06 from last year.
That, along with the inherent reality that you are receiving a more recent gadget that runs Android 14 out of the box and is anticipated to receive two more significant software upgrades. Apart from that, the Galaxy A05 is essentially the same phone at a lower cost. Nevertheless, we cannot just draw that conclusion from the specs and call it a day. On the upcoming pages, we will delve further into what the Galaxy A06 has to offer.
In addition, considering that we never got to view the Galaxy A05 in our office the previous year, this is a terrific chance to see the advancements made in Samsung’s entry-level hardware. The Galaxy A06 comes packaged in a two-part cardboard box that slides out. All of the inside is cardboard, and soy ink is used for printing. Although we are grateful for the environmentally responsible approach, this is perhaps the weakest argument we have seen in a long time.
Simply said, the cardboard is just too thin to ship. When our review unit came, the package was completely destroyed. To be honest, considering the condition of the package, the fact that the phone itself was unharmed and in good working order seems like a little miracle. There are no bonus points for the unpacking experience of the Galaxy A06 accessories bundle.
You only get a SIM ejector tool, some paperwork, and a passive USB Type-C to Type-C connection in addition to the phone itself. And that’s it. Not a case, not a charger, nothing. Although this is by no means a novel development, we believe that Samsung has let us down in comparison to some of the competitors. The Galaxy A06’s general design is maybe best characterized as modest.
Samsung has somewhat updated the design for 2024, although it is still rather similar to the Galaxy A05 from the previous year. The buttons on the right, which are located in an elevated area of the frame, are arguably the most noticeable feature. kind of like an island. That’s pretty much Samsung’s preferred look right now, and we value device families’ continuity. Apart than that, there’s not much to talk about in terms of design.
The Galaxy A06 features extremely small chamfers on the central frame and tastefully rounded edges on all sides. Both components improve handling and feel in the hand. With a weight of only 195 grams, the phone seems quite light. It is neither top-heavy nor bottom-heavy, and its weight distribution is quite even. The phone feels rather substantial despite being primarily composed of plastic, including the back and central frame.
Remarkably, the chassis exhibits very little flex and no hollowness at all. When we talk about materials, we should mention that the plastic back has a type of vertical stripe design and is somewhat rough. Since it’s neither terribly awful in terms of appearance nor feel, nor very exceptional either, we can’t say we’re all that fond of it. There are three colors available for the Galaxy A06: Blue, White, and the gold variant that we are using.
Although we think ours is a little garish, we can understand why someone may find it appealing. Much more subdued hues should be used for the other two. Glass does get on the phone’s front. It’s not ideal that Samsung doesn’t say exactly what kind, but it’s probably some form of toughened glass. Either way, it is far superior than regular plastic, which is prone to scratches.
In relation to scratching, we were unable to do any damage to our unit app throughout the evaluation procedure, suggesting that it is rather robust. We will keep praising plastic as a building material, as we have in the past. It is not as high-end as metal or glass, to be sure, but it doesn’t scratch or break as easily. It is also incredibly lightweight, strong, and structurally sound.
We are particularly pleased to report that very little dirt or filth is collected by the textured plastic of the rear panel or the simulated brushed finish on the central frame. Cleaning the Galaxy A06 is not that difficult. Let’s take a brief look at the Galaxy A06’s controls. As previously shown, the buttons are located on their small “island” on the center frame on the right. The fingerprint reader built into the power button is new for this year.
They are your typical capacitive reader, and they are now essentially fully developed. The volume rocker has excellent tactile feedback, stability, and is lovely and clicky. With the exception of the SIM/microSD card tray, the left side of the Galaxy A06 is largely barren. With two nano-SIM slots and a separate microSD card, the tray is very spacious.
Samsung truly means it when they state that the phone has no IP certification because there is no gasket on the tray. Except for the additional noise-canceling microphone, the phone’s top is almost barren. The Galaxy A06’s single speaker, the primary microphone, the Type-C port, and a dependable 3.5mm audio jack are all accessible from the bottom.
With its somewhat large bezels and teardrop selfie camera cutout, the Galaxy A06 clearly has a low budget aesthetic. Samsung appears to have reduced the size of those bezels from the previous year. The Galaxy A06’s screen-to-body ratio is 83.8%, up from 82.1% in the Galaxy A05 of the previous year. No sensors are visible. A handful are tucked away in the upper frame, to the right of the earpiece, above the display.
There’s nothing very remarkable or captivating about the Galaxy A06’s screen. It is as simple as they get these days. With a basic HD 720 x 1600 pixel resolution, it’s a straightforward PLS LCD. Its refresh rate is limited to 60Hz. Quite basic, as we have indicated. Additionally, the panel in question doesn’t become very bright. We recorded a maximum brightness of 564 nits throughout our testing.
All that had to be done was to push the brightness slider to its maximum. There is no further max auto overburn setting available for the Galaxy A06. At the very least, an ambient light sensor expertly regulates the automated display brightness. At point white, we recorded a minimum brightness of 7 nits, which is also not optimal. Nor can the display go too dark. Blacks have some light leakage, but not a lot. At about 1484:1, the contrast isn’t too awful.
More subjectively speaking, the Galaxy A06’s display is rather awful in person. Its excessive reflection adds to its relatively low maximum brightness. There is a lot of ghosting on screen and a poor pixel response rate. As anticipated, the Galaxy A06 is not HDR compatible. Moreover, HDR decoder support is nonexistent. Positively, the phone does have the highest possible certification for Widevine L1 DRM.
It’s not really necessary because Netflix and other streaming services will still be able to provide HD broadcasts and fill the phone’s screen to the brim. These days, 5,000 mAh batteries are considered typical, and that is what the Galaxy A06 has. In our tests, the phone received a strong Active Use Score of 13:50 hours. For what it’s worth, the Galaxy A06 performed especially well in the voice call portion of the test.
Regretfully, we encountered several difficulties during our Galaxy A06 charging test. We attempted testing with two distinct Samsung 25W chargers as well as a reliable 65W third-party SFC-compatible charger. Our review product refused to charge at a power of greater than 2W, regardless of the charger we selected. It’s strange because even while the phone showed “Super fast charging” and had a blue charging ring, it never really used the extra energy from the charger.
We really doubt that the item we received was faulty; this shouldn’t be the case. We anticipate that the Galaxy A06 will charge at a rate comparable to the Galaxy A05s. It should be able to charge completely in around 1:30 hours, going from dead to roughly 25% in fifteen minutes, and 43% in thirty minutes. There is only one bottom-firing speaker on the Galaxy A06. That makes perfect sense for a low-cost phone.
However, other phones in this range, such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G and the Galaxy A25 from last year, provide stereo speakers at a reasonable price. Furthermore lacking in quality is the Galaxy A06’s speaker. Although it just provides enough for a respectable grade in our rating, it produces a fair volume. It’s fantastic that the mids sound decent and have clear conversation. At greater volume levels, the highs are prone to distortion, and the bass is essentially absent.
Even with this, Samsung has included some more sophisticated audio capabilities, like as Dolby Atmos and Bluetooth’s clever separate app sound function. This is a twin nano-SIM device, the Galaxy A06. Our review unit, anyhow. In certain areas, the phone is available with a single SIM card, so be sure to check that out. The Galaxy A06 only supports LTE connection; 5G is not supported. Additionally, eSIM support is lacking.
The Galaxy A06 may be located using GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, and BDS. Dual-band Wi-Fi 5/ac and Bluetooth 5.2 with LE compatibility provide local connectivity. It’s a shame that there isn’t an NFC. It’s fantastic that the Galaxy A06 features a 3.5mm audio jack. It features an FM radio receiver as well. Basic Type-C connector and a basic USB 2.0 data connection provide the Galaxy A06’s features. This translates to a maximum possible transmission rate of 480 Mbps.
While OTG/USB Host connectivity is provided, there is no fancy support for video output. Although the Galaxy A06’s sensor lineup is somewhat small, the essentials are still covered. The stk3a5x light and proximity combination and the stk83xx accelerometer are both present. That the proximity sensor appears to be physical hardware rather than virtual hardware is fantastic to see on a gadget of this kind for the price.
No barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, or compass are present. Android 14 is topped with Samsung’s One UI 6.1 on the Galaxy A06. In a technical sense, this is the most recent version of the One UI that the Korean behemoth offers; it is essentially the same version as is used on the flagship S24 series, save a few tweaks. Just in case you were wondering, the A06 does not have Samsung’s Galaxy AI.
It is currently limited to flagship devices mostly, however Samsung has recently expanded the functionality of the features. But not quite this much. An additional feature exclusive to Samsung flagships is the incredible seven-year software support. Four years of security fixes and two significant Android upgrades are in store for the Galaxy A06. It is what it is since it is Samsung’s basic support window at the moment.
Redesigned Quick Panel, enhanced notification presentation, streamlined and enhanced camera app, enhanced gallery and editing features, and more are just a few of the noteworthy One UI 6 innovations. One UI 6.1 is given to the Galaxy A06 with a largely feature-complete version. You will have the same overall user experience as well as the majority of the Galaxy S series features.
Good news for all Galaxy users: Samsung DeX and other specialized software are presently included in the list of software features that are exclusive to flagship models, which has been getting smaller over the last several years. Everything else is standard. Lock-screen, home-screen, widgets and icons, theme management, pop-up and split-screen multitasking, and default programs are all part of one user interface.
It is unrealistic to anticipate much raw performance from a low-cost gadget like as the Galaxy A06. For the A06, Samsung chose a MediaTek processor over one of its own. It’s the Helio G85, a rather simple 12nm component. With two Cortex-A75 cores operating at up to 2.0 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores operating at up to 1.8 GHz, the Helio G85 offers a rather simple octa-core CPU configuration. Additionally, the onboard GPU is a dual-core Mali-G52 device, which is rather basic.
The Galaxy A06 has more processing and graphics capability than that. Additionally, there is a slight memory deficit. The majority of Galaxy A06 versions only come with 4GB of RAM. There is a variant with 6GB of RAM, although we doubt its affordability. With only 64GB of storage in its base model, the Galaxy A06 is severely lacking in capacity. Positively, there is a specific microSD card slot for expanding the amount of storage.
Still, just to be safe, we would most likely receive a 128GB version. Regretfully, the storage is eMMC 5.1, which makes it quite sluggish by today’s standards. That undoubtedly reduces the UI experience’s overall responsiveness and smoothness. The CPU performance of the Galaxy A06’s Helio G85 is essentially subpar. In terms of CPU power, the Snapdragon 680 4G chipset found in the Galaxy A05s may be equivalent, and the widely available Helio G88 is perhaps not too far off.
Other than that, though, the Galaxy A06 outperforms nearly every CPU in this price range. The Galaxy A06 isn’t treated any better by AnTuTu either. Once more, even in the entry-level market, you are essentially receiving as little performance as possible from a contemporary smartphone. For its price range, the Galaxy A06’s Mali-G52MC2 GPU offers somewhat better raw performance, at least. It outperforms Adreno 613 and 610, two entry-level Adreno GPUs.
While the Galaxy A06 manages to get by with a little less taxing GPU thanks to its HD display, it is by no means a great GPU performer. Practically speaking, the Galaxy A06’s performance isn’t very good. The user interface can occasionally be sluggish and even jerky, and we don’t anticipate significant improvements from any software upgrades. It’s not the best experience right out of the box. It just doesn’t work to combine a low-end processor, little RAM, and quite sluggish storage.
On the positive side, the MediaTek Helio G85 within the Galaxy A06 doesn’t produce a lot of heat, even though it may not be that powerful. Under extended stress loads, the phone maintains a very stable state with very little gradual performance degradation from thermal throttling. Nor does the surface of Galaxy A06 warm up all that much. Even after a protracted stress test, it is still quite pleasant to handle.
Samsung hasn’t made any significant changes to the photography division. There are still two rear-facing cameras on the Galaxy A06, but only the 50MP camera is really useful. In a way, the 2MP macro is complimentary. The Galaxy A06’s camera configuration is really simple. The primary snapper is an internal 50MP device called the ISOCELL (S5K)JN1, or JN1. At the very least, it is not as massive as the Samsung ISOCESS S5KGN8, which is included in some of the company’s most expensive phones.
The only additional feature it has is phase detection autofocus. There is just 1080p video capture available, and there is no OIS. But rather than being a sensor constraint, that appears to be a chipset limitation. The camera app is identical to what’s on any modern Samsung phone. Night mode is compatible with both the primary and selfie cameras, however Pro mode is exclusive to the primary camera. By default, the Galaxy A06’s primary camera records 12.5MP binned stills.
These appear OK but rather lackluster. Although there’s not too much information in the frame, the colors seem a little odd. Both dynamic range and contrast are lacking. Noise levels are rather high, particularly on homogeneous surfaces. The Galaxy A06 struggles to handle facial expressions and skin tones. Even with plenty of light, you seldom obtain a good mugshot.
While subject identification and separation in portrait shots are not too awful, the phone frequently has trouble taking clear, focus-able pictures. The Galaxy A06 can be made to take pictures in 50MP mode. That’s not normally something you want to do with most phones, but in this instance, the 50MP photos are substantially better. They’re cleaner, sharper, and include a lot more fine detail. It might be best to shoot in 50MP mode if you can handle the larger file sizes.
The Galaxy A06’s primary 50MP camera has digital zoom even though it does not have a separate telephoto lens. The camera user interface features a 2x toggle. Photos are distinctly softer and slightly grainy when enlarged to 2x. You are usually better off avoiding zoom pictures unless absolutely necessary. Considering the technology we are using, the 8MP front-facing camera takes really good selfies. The focal plane is rather forgiving and broad.
Faces emerge with decent skin tones and a natural appearance. Although the skin texture isn’t very detailed, some detail can still be seen. Without a doubt, dynamic range might be improved. The Galaxy A06 performs rather poorly in low light. Although there is a lot of noise and softness across the frame, the detail is passable. The phone also has trouble concentrating. To answer your question, no, a 2x zoom is not better.
As predicted, these photos are really still a little worse. It is possible to use the Galaxy A06 in night mode. The phone won’t toggle it for you automatically; you have to do it by hand. You should definitely make the extra effort because night mode improves quality significantly. It does a commendable job of eliminating much of the noise in the frame. Selfies in low light seem fairly awful. Once again, the primary problem is noise.
Fortunately, night mode greatly improves quality and is also functional with the selfie camera. The majority of the noise has disappeared, and some skin tones and texture are visible. The Galaxy A06’s primary and selfie cameras have a 1080p maximum video resolution. Videos are recorded in an MP4 container using a normal h.264/AVC video stream at about 20 Mbps and 48 kHz AAC audio. Sadly, the Galaxy A06 only records mono audio.
Another option is to use h.265/HEVC video encoding to conserve space. Regretfully, there is no stabilizing of any type on the Galaxy A06. Both OIS and EIS are absent. The primary camera’s Full-HD footage has severe over-sharpening and an inaccurate color rendering. Furthermore, there is absolutely no video stabilization present. Videos of people taking themselves seem to lack contrast and dynamic range. Additionally, colors aren’t really accurate to life.
As I write this review, the Galaxy A06 hasn’t been officially released in Europe. Nonetheless, it is being sold in India and the US. We discovered authentic Amazon listings for the basic 4GB/64GB model for $169/INR 11,500. A 4GB/128GB version is also listed on Amazon India, with a suggested retail price of INR 12,500. In the US, a 6GB/128GB version is available for $157. We should restrict the budget at about $200 or €200.
There are many excellent low-cost gadgets available. There is the Galaxy A15, which is marginally older but maybe superior in Samsung’s own range. If 5G is important to you, however, there is a 5G model in addition to the 4G one. Samsung promises three major OS upgrades for the A15 instead of just two, as for the A06, despite the fact that it is from last year. To mention a few benefits, you also receive a stronger MediaTek Helio G99 CPU and a far superior Full-HD, 90Hz, Super AMOLED display.
It is also worth mentioning that the Galaxy A25 is somewhat more expensive, albeit not much. With four significant OS upgrades, a brighter Super AMOLED display at 120Hz, and OIS on the primary camera, it is even better. You could just as easily save a good deal of money and choose the Galaxy A05, which is basically the same hardware, if you don’t really care about updates and running the newest version of Android OS and enjoy what the Galaxy A06 has to offer as a package.
There are at least a few formidable rivals in the Xiaomi camp to take into account. Immediately, the Redmi Note 13 4G came to mind. Among its characteristics are a 120Hz Full-HD AMOLED display with a dazzling brightness, dual speakers, a 108MP primary camera, and an 8MP ultrawide. Even in the cheapest model, you get 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage and 6GB of RAM. Not to be overlooked is the Redmi Note 13 5G model.
Stereo speakers are not included, and it is a little more expensive, but that is the trade-off for 5G. It’s unnecessary to waste words on this; overall, the Galaxy A06 failed us. Instead of enhancing its budget offering this year, as we had hoped, Samsung essentially gave us the same hardware package as the Galaxy A05 from the previous year. Even a year ago, the bundle was not really remarkable. In particular, the PLS LCD display let us down.
It is undoubtedly large enough to be comfortable at 6.7 inches diagonally, but that is its sole advantage. With its HD resolution, it is not very crisp. However, we may ignore even that. It is more difficult to deal with the panel’s low maximum brightness level and its general sluggishness, which results in a lot of ghosting and smearing. Additionally, the Galaxy A06 has a single, quite mediocre speaker.
No ingress protection at all, but we appreciate the overall build quality—despite the fact that it is largely made of plastic. Additionally, there is not nearly enough power in the MediaTek Helio G85 chipset to support the One UI. The UI is slow and not very responsive or snappy, however we’re not sure if that’s all on the CPU or if the eMMC 5.1 storage is also degrading the overall experience. And that’s without the accumulation of months of continuous use on top of the box.
Additionally, we find it disappointing that the majority of Galaxy A06 models only come with 4GB of RAM. Even with a dedicated microSD card slot, the 64GB of storage in the basic model is far from perfect. For the class, the Galaxy A06’s photography experience is passable but generally lackluster. Although good, the battery’s durability is nothing to get too excited about.
The new side-mounted fingerprint reader, which functions flawlessly, and the dedicated microSD card slot are the only items we really enjoyed. When everything is taken into account, this list has far more shortcomings than advantages. We would most likely avoid dealing with the Galaxy A06. We would recommend the A15 or, even better, the A25 if you are dead bent on the Samsung experience. since an alternative, compare prices with other manufacturers since some do offer better terms.
