Samsung has just unveiled the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, the latest addition to their A-series lineup, and it’s a real budget-friendly smartphone for those who don’t want to break the bank. For only $200, you get a big screen, lightning-fast 5G internet, a new design that will make your friends jealous, and a camera that will make even the grumpiest cat look cute.
Usually, smartphone manufacturers focus their resources on hyping up their flagship devices, but with the Galaxy A14 5G, Samsung decided to aim for the mid-range market segment, where the competition is fierce.
Don’t let its simple look fool you, this budget phone is a total powerhouse! Sure, it doesn’t have all the fancy extras, but it’s got all the basic necessities to keep you connected and looking good.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G was officially announced on January 4th, 2023, and it’s already the talk of the town. And why shouldn’t it be? With its S22 Ultra-style design on the back and impressive specs, it’s no surprise that everyone is talking about it.
In the mid-range market segment, the competition is fierce, but Samsung has decided to approach it with a different strategy. Instead of going all out with bells and whistles, they focused on what really matters in a budget smartphone: a good design, fast internet, and a camera that won’t make your pictures look like a blurry mess. With the Galaxy A14 5G, you’ll get a phone that feels like a flagship phone, even though it only costs 200 bucks.
The screen is big enough to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy without having to squint. Of course, it’s not the best quality screen out there, but it’s still an LCD screen, and it might give you a little bit of glare, just like your sunglasses on a sunny day.
This $200 unlocked Android phone (Samsung Galaxy A14) is, frankly, phenomenal. For two Benjamins, you can get a smartphone that can handle most day-to-day tasks without acting frustratingly slow, a surprisingly decent camera system, a lengthy software update cycle, plus more than two-day battery life.
Julian Chokkattu (Wired)
Let’s talk about Samsung Galaxy A14 5G Review Simplified right now.
Table of Contents
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Most affordable 5G smartphone
- Impressive main camera
- Up to 2 day battery life
- Can expand memory up to 1TB
- Vibrant LCD display
Cons
- Not waterproof
- No Gorilla glass protection
- Average front camera
- 15W charging
Design
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is a sleek and stylish phone that might make you do a double take when you see its price tag. Despite its budget-friendly cost, it still manages to look pretty fancy.
It comes in four colors: black, light green, dark red, and silver. The light green is particularly chic, with a textured back that gives it a shimmery effect. Just don’t be surprised if everyone thinks you’re using a high-end phone!
One thing that might make you do a triple take is the bezels around the screen. They’re pretty noticeable, especially the bottom chin. The 6.6-inch display is still pretty big, but the bezels make it look a bit smaller. There’s a front-facing camera, too, hiding behind a teardrop notch.
Unfortunately, the screen doesn’t have any extra protection like Gorilla Glass, but it does have a layer of film and an oleophobic coating to protect it from light scratches and fingerprints. You might want to apply your own screen protector, just in case.
The back of the phone has three cameras and an LED flash, all standing vertically and without any camera bumps or islands. It’s a minimalist look that’s both stylish and practical.
Now, here’s the part where we let you down gently: the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G doesn’t have an IP rating, which means it’s not officially dust or water-resistant. But hey, who needs an IP rating when you have a sense of adventure? Just kidding, be careful with your phone near water.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy A14 comes equipped with a massive 6.6-inch FHD+ PLS LCD display with a 1080-pixel resolution that’s guaranteed to make your eyes happy.
This display supports a refresh rate of up to 90Hz, which means you’ll have a buttery smooth experience while swiping and scrolling through TikToks, playing games or binging your favorite shows. It’s like having a personal masseuse for your fingers!
The display on the Samsung Galaxy A14 has got a fancy HDR10 certification! That means your pictures and videos will look super bright and sharp, even when you’re outside on a sunny day. We checked it out and it looks great! The only thing that might be a little tricky is seeing the darker parts of videos when you’re outside, but everything else looks amazing!
You might be thinking, “An LCD screen? How good can it really be?” Well, let us tell you, it’s good enough to satisfy even the pickiest of techies. Sure, it might have a little bit of glare, but who cares? It’s still plenty sharp for gaming, reading, and watching TikToks.
Cameras
The Smasung Galaxy A14 5G features a triple camera system on the rear, consisting of a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The front of the phone is equipped with a 13-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls.
With this camera setup, you’ll be able to snap stunning photos no matter what kind of lighting you’re in.
Just don’t expect to fit an entire football stadium in the shot – this phone doesn’t come with an ultra-wide camera, but its 50MP main camera is pretty good at squeezing in as much as possible!
Photo
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The main camera on this phone comes with Phase Detection Auto Focus (PDAF) technology which helps it focus on what you’re trying to take a picture of. And let me tell you, it takes some seriously amazing photos – especially when it’s bright out!
The pictures come out bright and clear, and you can see all sorts of details. But sometimes, when the light isn’t as good, the pictures might look a little too smooth. But don’t worry, the camera still does a great job of capturing all the different levels of light.
And it is plausible for the manufacturer to improve the overall performance of the camera in the future.
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When you take a picture in portrait mode, the camera will help you keep your focus on the person you’re taking a picture of and make the background look all blurry and cool.
And that’s not all – you can also have some fun with different special effects! You can make the picture spin, zoom in and out, or even change the colors to make it even more unique and special.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 phone has a front camera that isn’t as powerful as some others because it only has a 13MP lens. So, if you’re someone who loves taking selfies, you might not love this camera as much.
But to be honest, the camera still takes pretty good pictures considering the price. The pictures come out with lots of details and the colors look right.
And sometimes the camera makes your face look a little too bright, but that’s a problem that a lot of other cheap phones have too.
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At night, the camera might have a bit of trouble getting great pictures. They might look a little fuzzy, but don’t worry, they’re still good enough to show your friends.
The phone has a Night mode that can help, but it’s obvious that the pictures have been changed a lot. And, the Night mode makes the camera work a little slower than usual. But that’s okay! Lots of other cheap phones have the same problem when taking pictures at night.
Video
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is capable of recording 1080p videos through its 50MP main camera as well as its front camera. Both cameras can capture videos at a frame rate of up to 30 frames per second.
And don’t worry about shaky videos, the A14 got some sort of EIS to help with that. But it might not work as well as we’d like it to.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy A14 is a pretty impressive device when it comes to performance. I’ve had no problem hopping from app to app, and it’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it pretty well.
The phone runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor, but in some areas, it might come with Samsung’s own Exynos 1330. Despite being a budget-friendly chip, it still provides plenty of power for everyday use and light gaming.
In my geeky benchmark tests, the A14 5G shows a noticeable improvement over the A13 5G, even though they have the same chipset and RAM. It’s like the A14 5G is on a healthy diet and gym regimen.
The device handles games like Alto’s Odyssey like a champ and even tackles more demanding games like Asphalt 9 and Call of Duty Mobile at 60fps (although at low graphic settings).
Sure, you might still encounter some hiccups when switching between apps, but for the most part, using the A14 5G is a smooth experience, whether you’re catching up on Reddit and Twitter, responding to emails on the go, keeping tabs on your work tasks, or just making calls.
You know what they say, “More RAM, more fun!”.
And with the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G’s “RAM Plus”, you can give your phone a boost of extra memory, so it can keep up with all your awesome adventures. Think of it like giving your phone a caffeine shot! Whether you start with 4GB RAM or go all out with 8GB, you can upgrade to a whopping 12GB or even 16GB if you’ve got the space.
With RAM Plus, you’ll be able to load apps faster and tackle other tasks on your phone with ease. Now, that’s what I call a smartphone!
Battery Life and Charging
The battery life on the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is pretty impressive, and we’re not just saying that because we’re impressed easily! With a 5000mAh battery, you can enjoy a long day of fun and games without having to worry about finding an outlet.
We were able to get over 8-10 hours of screen time, even with heavy usage like watching videos, browsing the internet, and gaming. And when we turned on the Power Saving mode, the phone made sure to conserve energy and last even longer. In fact, after three hours of standby, it only lost two percent of its battery.
And one more thing, just in case you were wondering when you get your Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, the box will only have a Type-C cable. But don’t worry, you can easily borrow a charger from an older phone or just go ahead and treat yourself to a brand-new one!
Operating System
The Samsung Galaxy A14 runs on OneUI 5. This means you get Android 13 right away when you turn on the phone, which is great! OneUI 5 is one of the better versions of OneUI, even though some people might not like it. The Galaxy A14 has all the best parts of OneUI 5, but it’s not as fancy as phones like the S22 Ultra or the Galaxy Fold 4.
There are some bloatware apps, mainly from Samsung on the phone. If you have the version with 128GB of storage, it’s not a big deal. But if you have the version with 64GB, you might want to get a microSD card to have more space for your own apps and files.
TL;DR
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is a phone that costs $200 and has great features such as a big screen, fast 5G internet, a stylish design, and a good camera.
You can choose from four different colors: black, light green, dark red, and silver.
However, the phone does not have an IP rating, which means it’s not officially protected from dust or water.
The screen doesn’t have a strong protection like Gorilla Glass, but it has a layer of film and a coating that stops it from getting too many fingerprints.
The display provides a smooth experience with a refresh rate of up to 90Hz.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G does not have a camera that can take really wide photos.
The camera takes bright and clear photos with lots of details, but sometimes the pictures might look too smooth in low light.
The phone can make 1080p videos with both its 50MP main camera and its front camera.
The A14 5G has a 5000mAh battery that lets you do all your favorite activities without worrying about running out of power.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 the good parts of OneUI 5, but it’s not as fancy as other phones like the S22 Ultra or the Galaxy Fold 4.
Source: FirstPost, TechTrimmer, DigitalTrends, Wired, Specsera, DeccanHerald, AndroidAuthority, AndroidPolice
