With a large, clear display, above-average battery life, expandable storage, and competitive performance, Samsung’s $199.99 Galaxy A15 5G is hard to beat for the price. This phone is also subject to his four years of system updates, so you won’t have to replace it for a while. The Galaxy A15 5G may be better at some things in terms of build quality, but it’s a step ahead of its similarly priced competitors, winning our Editors’ Choice Award for being the best budget-friendly Android smartphone. I am.
Design: Mainly plastic
The Galaxy A15 is very similar to Samsung’s other devices. At 6.30 x 3.02 x 0.33 inches (HWD) and 7.09 ounces, it compares favorably with the mid-range $599 Galaxy S23 FE (6.22 x 3.01 x 0.32 inches, 7.37 ounces) and the high-end $999 Samsung Galaxy S24+ (6.24 x 3.0 x 0.30 inches) , 6.95 oz). The shape is also similar to these phones, with rounded corners and flat sides.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)In the hand, the A15 feels sturdy, but it lacks the refinement of the more expensive Galaxy S models. Dragontrail Pro glass protects the display, but the back and frame are plastic. The front glass is slightly raised from the frame, and the plastic on the back is slightly inset.
Like most other phones in this price range, the A15 doesn’t have an IP rating. That means you have to avoid dust and water. Some affordable Motorola smartphones are great in this regard. The $169.99 Moto G Play is IP52 rated, meaning it can withstand at least light splashes.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)Samsung calls the small protrusion that houses the volume rocker and power button the key island. The volume rocker sticks out a bit, but the power button is recessed. Of the two buttons, the volume rocker is easier to find and use. This is important because the power button also acts as a fingerprint reader. At first, I tended to rest my thumb on the raised frame around the power button rather than on the button itself, but eventually I was able to adjust the fingerprint sensor to use it reliably.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)The left side has a combined SIM and microSD card tray, while the bottom has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port (USB 2.0), and a down-firing speaker. It’s nice to see a headphone jack and microSD slot here. These features are largely missing from mid-range and high-end devices.
Three cameras are arranged vertically on the back. As is common with Samsung’s latest phones, the camera doesn’t have a protrusion. The individual lenses protrude directly from the back. The selfie camera appears in his U-shaped notch built into the top of the screen.
As for colors, Samsung sells the A15 in blue-black or light blue. I tried the blue black model.
brighter display
A 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen takes up most of the phone’s surface, but it’s surrounded by noticeable bezels that are thicker than you’d normally see on more expensive phones. The display has a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080 pixels, a fixed refresh rate of 90Hz, and a maximum brightness of 800 nits.
For comparison, the upcoming A14 has a larger 6.6-inch display, but is considerably darker at 500 nits. TCL’s $179.99 40 X 5G also sports a 6.56-inch panel and the same 90Hz refresh rate, but with a much lower resolution of 1,612 x 720 pixels. For something more expensive, there’s the $299.99 OnePlus Nord N30 5G, which has a 6.7-inch display with 2,400 x 1,080 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate, and 680 nits maximum brightness.
Indoors, the screen looks bright and clear, with smooth animations. Outdoors, the display is visible under normal conditions, but reflections can get in the way at off-angles, especially during the day.
Performance: Get what you need
Samsung uses a MediaTek 6835 system-on-chip (SoC) with 128GB of internal storage and 4GB of RAM in the A15. As mentioned earlier, you can expand your storage by adding a microSD card of up to 1TB. The A14 has just 64GB of storage, so this is a welcome upgrade.
You shouldn’t expect incredible performance from a $200 phone, but the A15 is very capable. It handles everyday tasks like email, web browsing, and media playback with ease, but you may experience some lag when switching between apps.
(Credit: Geekbench/PCMark/GFXBench)To get a better idea of the phone’s power, we used benchmarks that simulate typical phone usage. In Geekbench 6, a series of tests that quantify raw computing power, the A15 had a single-core score of 704 and a multi-core score of 1,855. TCL 40X running on MediaTek Dimensity 700 does slightly better at 718 and 1,959. For comparison, the $599 Galaxy S23 FE had scores of 1,520 and 3,143, while the $799 Galaxy S24 had scores of 2,260 and 6,893. These expensive Galaxy models are equipped with Qualcomm’s top chips.
In the PCMark Work 3.0 test, which assesses performance on common mobile tasks, the A15 scored 8,734. This is better than the results of the Galaxy A14 and 40X, which scored 7,886 and 7,428 points, respectively. The Nord N30, equipped with the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor, topped all of these with a score of 10,245.
To quantify graphics performance, we ran the GFXBench Aztec Ruins test at a resolution of 2,267 x 1,041 pixels. Here, the A15 pushed out 8.6 frames per second (fps). In the same test, the TCL 40 X recorded 5.7fps, while the S23 FE reached 35fps and the S24 reached 85fps. Frame rate directly affects game performance.
From an actual performance standpoint, you can play the graphics-intensive Genshin smoothly if you stick with the default options, but with medium settings and bumping up to 60fps, you’ll experience a lot of choppy gameplay. Animation will occur. The more casual Mario Kart Tour plays well overall, but I did encounter occasional slowdowns when there was a lot of action happening. Basic Alto’s Odyssey and word-based games worked perfectly.
Battery life: better than A14
Battery life is much better on the A15 than the A14. In a battery drain test with the screen at maximum brightness and streaming Full HD video over Wi-Fi, the A15 lasted his 14 hours and 3 minutes, significantly beating his 9 hours and 40 minutes on its predecessor. . The TCL 40 X sits between the two at 11 hours and 13 minutes, while the Nord N30 lasted 11 hours and 18 minutes. It’s worth noting that each of these phones has a 5,000mAh battery.
Wireless charging is not available, but the A15 supports 25W wired charging (up from 15W on the A14). Using a 25W charger, it took about 90 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%. Charging the phone for 15 minutes brought the battery to 28%, and charging for 30 minutes brought the battery to 49%. Samsung doesn’t come with a charging brick, so you’ll have to provide your own.
Average connectivity and call quality
I tested the AT&T version of the phone, but Samsung also sells versions compatible with T-Mobile, UScular, and Verizon. The phone supports C-band 5G, which is widely available across the country, but not the faster mmWave type used in some urban areas. Like other budget phones, the A15 does not support eSIM, so you will have to use your real SIM card.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)On AT&T’s 5G network in New York City, the Galaxy A15 reached peak speeds of 397Mbps download and 72.4Mbps upload. For comparison, the $599.99 Motorola Edge reached 401 Mbps down and 82.3 Mbps up on the same network in the same location.
To enhance wireless connectivity, A15 supports Wi-Fi 5. When I connected the phone to a Wi-Fi 6 access point, I reached maximum speeds of 412Mbps download and 9.71Mbps upload. (The slower upload speeds are more a function of the internet service provider than the phone.) The Moto Edge, which supports Wi-Fi 6E, reached similar speeds at 462Mbps download and 19.6Mbps upload. When I moved the A15 as far away from my apartment’s access point as possible, speeds dropped to 162Mbps down and 20.6Mbps up. The Moto Edge performed much worse, with 57.8Mbps download and 7.42Mbps upload.
Call quality could be improved. When I tested the phone’s ability to filter background music, my voice sounded slightly muffled to the person on the other end of the call. Without background music playing, call clarity was only slightly improved.
The earphone speakers reached up to 75.8dB in our tests, so you should be able to hear calls in most situations. The speakerphone has a maximum volume of 65.2dB, so you may not be able to hear it above the surrounding noise. Generally, in moderately noisy locations, volumes above 70dB are easiest to hear.
This phone uses the same single down-firing speaker for both speakerphone functionality and media playback. When playing Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, the maximum volume was recorded at 97.5 dB. Despite the high volume, the song sounded a little thin and lacked bass. Knife’s “Silent Shout” also lacks low-end power. For better sound quality, use Bluetooth or wired headphones.
To complete the connectivity options, the phone supports Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC is available for mobile payments.
Camera: Pretty good for the price
Samsung has made a few camera changes here from the A14. The A15 includes a 50MP f/1.8 main camera, a 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. The A14 has the same main and macro cameras, but instead of an ultra-wide camera, it has a 2MP depth camera. There are no AI-based tricks like the premium Galaxy S24 series.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)The primary camera produces the best images from the rear trio. By default, via pixel binning he captures 12MP images, but you can also capture full 50MP shots if you wish. Colors look a little more saturated than they really are, but details are sharp. A small lens flare was evident in some photos.
The ultra-wide camera also produces enhanced colors. That said, details are blurred in wide-angle shots, with obvious fisheye distortion along the edges.
Macro camera results will be grainy unless there is plenty of light.
The 13MP selfie camera retains a fair amount of detail, but tends to be over-saturated. Portrait mode was aggressive by default, making it a bit difficult to find edges in crowded areas such as hair. You can adjust the amount of blur in the Samsung Gallery app.
Video capture tops out at 1080p and 30fps. This system doesn’t have optical image stabilization, so footage taken handheld while walking will look jerky. The video quality itself is good, with sharp details and accurate colors.
When it comes to camera phones, you usually get what you pay for. I’m pretty happy with the image and video quality of his $200 A15, but creative types want to spend more for a wider range of features and sharper results. You might think that.
Software: Samsung does its best
Galaxy A15 runs Android 14 and Samsung One UI 6.0. Samsung’s software overlay unlocks the Edge panel (a customizable taskbar that you can swipe), allows you to stack widgets on your home screen, and allows you to connect other Galaxy devices like laptops and tablets from your phone. control methods).
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)More importantly, Samsung is backing this phone with the promise of four OS upgrades and five years of security updates. This is a solid effort for any device, and especially good for a budget-friendly phone. For comparison, TCL will only be pushing security patches to 40X for two years and will not commit to any OS upgrades beyond Android 14. OnePlus promises only one Android upgrade for the Nord N30 5G, but security updates he will provide for three years.
Cheap mobile phone to win
Samsung’s $199 Galaxy A15 5G offers several advantages over the A14, including twice the storage, a brighter screen, and significantly improved battery life. It also outperforms similarly priced competitors thanks to stable overall performance, long battery life, and Samsung’s excellent software upgrade efforts. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G replaces his A14 as the winner of our Editors’ Choice for low-cost Android smartphones.
