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MagyarSamsung Galaxy A02s smartphone review – Korean smartphone with a WLAN problem
Although the even more affordable Galaxy A02 is available in Asia, the Galaxy A02s is currently the entry-level model of Samsung's Galaxy A series in central Europe. For the manufacturer's price of barely 165 Euros (~$197), you get a simple smartphone that is is supposed to fulfill your basic needs, but might also satisfy some more demanding users by including NFC, a triple camera setup, and quick charging.
We evaluate how the Samsung Galaxy A02s fares in our test, considering that it also has some powerful competitors. Those not only come from other manufacturers, but at this point Samsung also offers some smartphones in the entry-level segment that should not be too different in terms of their price.
Possible competitors in comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Drive | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72.5 % | 03/2021 | Samsung Galaxy A02s SD 450, Adreno 506 | 196 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 75.2 % | 02/2021 | Samsung Galaxy A12 Helio P35 MT6765, PowerVR GE8320 | 205 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 | |
| 77.2 % | 01/2021 | OnePlus Nord N100 SD 460, Adreno 610 | 188 g | 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash | 6.52" | 1600x720 | |
| 74.4 % | 12/2020 | Samsung Galaxy M11 SD 450, Adreno 506 | 197 g | 32 GB eMMC Flash | 6.40" | 1560x720 | |
| 77.2 % | 02/2021 | realme 7i Helio G85, Mali-G52 MP2 | 208 g | 64 GB eMMC Flash | 6.50" | 1600x720 |
Case – A smartphone with clean workmanship
Since the Galaxy A02s is a fairly affordable smartphone, the fact that it has a plastic case is okay. With the slightly offset diamond pattern, Samsung made some effort to provide the device with a high-quality look. The workmanship is also clean, the smartphone feels good in the hand, and pressure on the back has almost no effect on the smartphone. However, if you press on the screen, it can be seen in the display.
In central Europe, you can only get the black model, but there are also a blue and a white model internationally, the latter also being the color of our test unit. In terms of the design language, Samsung offers rounded corners and clear and pleasing shapes. The front is framed by bezels with a significant chin below the screen, and a waterdrop notch contains the camera. Almost 81% of the front consists of the display, which is an average value for this price class.
Equipment – A Galaxy smartphone with a microSD slot
All of this year's affordable Samsung smartphones offer NFC for mobile payment services and other applications. This is an advantage compared to the entry-level phones from OnePlus or realme. On the other hand, the 32 GB of storage space are rather tight, and with its 3 GB of RAM, the Galaxy A02s will also not get a very enthusiastic reception. But this equipment is not completely unusual for this price class.
You can expand the storage by up to 1 TB via microSD and in addition also insert two SIM cards, since the microSD card has its own slot. The Galaxy A02s does not include a fingerprint sensor, though.
Software – OneUI with slightly aged security
Google's Android 10 forms the basis for Samsung's own OneUI, which is installed in version 2.5 and with security patches from January 2021. Since this is just barely sufficiently current at the time of our test, a security update would be desirable, but this might still take some time in this price range.
Samsung has preinstalled several of its own apps and also several third-party apps. Not all of those can be uninstalled, and the Galaxy Store, which is really only a copy of the Google Play Store, is anchored deep in the system, so that you cannot even deactivate it.
Since there is a DRM-L1 certification, streaming contents can also be watched in HD resolution.
Communication and GPS – WLAN is the problem
As for the LTE frequencies, the Galaxy A02s offers only what is necessary, and in terms of WLAN, even only WiFi 4. In addition, the smartphone has some difficulties with the speed with our Netgear Nighthawk AX12 reference router in the test, only offering one of the lowest data transfer rates that we ever measured.
While the reception of the WLAN module is still decent at a distance further apart from the router, the speed is also very slow in practice.
| Networking | |
| iperf3 transmit AX12 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (16.9 - 1368, n=70, last 2 years) | |
| realme 7i | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| iperf3 receive AX12 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (32.7 - 953, n=71, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
Indoors, it is unable to determine our location. Outdoors it takes a while, but after that, the system achieves a very good accuracy of 3 meters (~10 ft). This is due to the amount of supported satellite networks: in addition to GPS, also Galileo, Beidou, and Glonass.
In our practical test consisting of a bike tour where we also take the Garmin Edge 520 professional navigation device, the Galaxy A02s initially has some difficulties, but those are quickly overcome. After that, the smartphone does a really good job for such an affordable device. The smartphone almost always locates us accurately, and you can even follow which side of the high-traffic road we took.
Phone Functions and Voice Quality – The microphone is not very good
Samsung's own phone app, which is clearly arranged and can be learned quickly, is used, and VoLTE and VoWiFi are supported.
When making a test call using the smartphone, the earpiece sounds quite okay, and you can only hear a slight booming at maximum volume. The microphone on the other hand, transfers our voices with some raspy noises and quickly distorts loud voices. Using the hands-free function shows a similar result: while our conversation partner sounds quite acceptable, our own voice is not transferred at all when we speak too quietly and there are distortions when we speak too loudly.
Cameras – The Galaxy A02s has some autofocus problems
Whether you are able to get some sharp pictures from the 13-Megapixel camera of the Galaxy A02s is a matter of luck to some extent, since the autofocus is not very accurate and works quite slowly. Even if it succeeds, there are some significant impurities in larger areas and the level of detail is mediocre at best.
There are two additional lenses in the back, but one of them only delivers additional information for portrait recordings. The other is a macro lens that can only be used in a particular mode.
Videos can be recorded in 1080p resolution and at 30 fps. While the autofocus is a little more accurate in video mode, the exposure is adjusted in some noticeable steps. The level of detail is okay for this price class.
At first glance, the front camera takes acceptable selfies. However, you shouldn't look too closely, since the reproduction of details is very coarse.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
Hauptobjektiv BlumeHauptobjektiv UmgebungHauptobjektiv Low Light
In our test lab the camera produces washed out colors, but the contrast is acceptable. In addition, the edges of objects show some slight borders. Towards the edges of the image, the sharpness is also slightly reduced. However, this is only the case as long as the object is illuminated very well. With an illumination of 1 Lux, the camera almost does not record anything anymore.
Accessories and Warranty – Quick charger not included
A USB cable, SIM tool, and charger are of course included. However, even though the Galaxy A02s supports quick-charging at up to 15 watts, the included charger only provides a weak 7.8-Watt charge, forcing you to buy an additional charger for quick charging.
Samsung offers a 24-month warranty for its smartphones.
Input Devices and Operation – Unlocking using face recognition
Basically, the Galaxy A02s can be operated easily, and the touchscreen also responds to inputs in the corners and on the edges. While the physical keys on the right side of the case are nothing special, they offer a good, easily noticeable pressure point.
There is no fingerprint sensor, neither a physical one on the back or side of the case, nor one underneath the display. You can use face recognition to unlock the phone, which works fairly reasonably but is not as secure, since it only uses the conventional front camera.
Display – No PWM in the Galaxy A02s
The display resolution of an expanded 720p corresponds to the standard in this price class. We already know the PLS LCD display from other affordable Samsung smartphones. In our test unit, it also offers a decent brightness, but the black value is only average, resulting in a contrast ratio that is also at an average level.
A positive point is the lack of any PWM flickering.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 92 %
Center on Battery: 482 cd/m²
Contrast: 1095:1 (Black: 0.44 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 5.52 | 0.55-29.43 Ø5.2
ΔE Greyscale 6.3 | 0.57-98 Ø5.4
95.5% sRGB (Calman 2D)
Gamma: 2.54
| Samsung Galaxy A02s PLS, 1600x720, 6.50 | Samsung Galaxy A12 PLS-LCD, 1600x720, 6.50 | OnePlus Nord N100 IPS, 1600x720, 6.52 | Samsung Galaxy M11 PLS TFT LCD, 1560x720, 6.40 | realme 7i IPS, 1600x720, 6.50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 0% | 24% | -5% | -14% | |
| Brightness middle | 482 | 458 -5% | 474 -2% | 430 -11% | 597 24% |
| Brightness | 460 | 427 -7% | 456 -1% | 406 -12% | 569 24% |
| Brightness Distribution | 92 | 85 -8% | 86 -7% | 91 -1% | 91 -1% |
| Black Level * | 0.44 | 0.53 -20% | 0.35 20% | 0.52 -18% | 0.74 -68% |
| Contrast | 1095 | 864 -21% | 1354 24% | 827 -24% | 807 -26% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 5.52 | 4.04 27% | 2.7 51% | 4.55 18% | 5.47 1% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 7.78 | 6.84 12% | 4.89 37% | 7.93 -2% | 12.11 -56% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 6.3 | 4.8 24% | 1.9 70% | 5.4 14% | 6.9 -10% |
| Gamma | 2.54 87% | 2.293 96% | 2.31 95% | 2.103 105% | 2.363 93% |
| CCT | 7882 82% | 7535 86% | 6430 101% | 7793 83% | 8091 80% |
* ... smaller is better
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18889 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. | |||
The color reproduction that we measure with a spectral photometer and the CalMAN software in our test is average. For most color tones, the deviation from the reference colors is also noticeable with your bare eyes. There is a strong, noticeable blue tint in the grayscale. This can be corrected using the blue filter in the smartphone menu, or you can also reduce it gradually using a control.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 26 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 11 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 15 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows relatively slow response rates in our tests and may be too slow for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 54 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (22.3 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 48 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 25 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 23 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 79 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (35.2 ms). | ||
While you can still recognize the contents on the display on cloudy days, you will probably have some problems in bright sunlight.
There is nothing to complain about the viewing angles, and you can still recognize what is happening on the screen when looking at it from the sides.
Performance – An aging and slow SoC
The Snapdragon 450 is already a slightly aging SoC for entry-level devices with 8 processor cores and a maximum clock speed of 1800 MHz. In our benchmarks, the realme 7i shows that at this point, considerably more performance is also possible in this price class. The Galaxy A12, which is only slightly more expensive than the Galaxy A02s, offers significantly more power in some scenarios.
While the SoC is sufficient for fairly smooth navigation in everyday operation, as soon as you want to adjust the volume in demanding apps or run several apps simultaneously, you will quickly notice the limits of the processor.
| Geekbench 5.4 | |
| Single-Core (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (131 - 159, n=3) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (119 - 1885, n=241, last 2 years) | |
| Multi-Core (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (493 - 902, n=3) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (473 - 5538, n=241, last 2 years) | |
| OpenCL Score (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (259 - 274, n=3) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (368 - 10711, n=167, last 2 years) | |
| PCMark for Android | |
| Work performance score (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (4836 - 6062, n=14) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (9875 - 19297, n=4, last 2 years) | |
| Work 2.0 performance score (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| realme 7i | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (4171 - 4759, n=14) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (5279 - 13282, n=28, last 2 years) | |
| GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 | |
| T-Rex Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (20 - 34, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (22 - 165, n=187, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (21 - 23, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (19 - 497, n=187, last 2 years) | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (8.7 - 18, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (6.8 - 161, n=188, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (9.2 - 9.4, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (9.2 - 331, n=189, last 2 years) | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (5.7 - 13, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (3.7 - 143, n=189, last 2 years) | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (6 - 6.9, n=13) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (6.2 - 223, n=189, last 2 years) | |
| AnTuTu v8 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (89022 - 97624, n=3) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (101336 - 725649, n=40, last 2 years) | |
| AImark - Score v2.x (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 | |
| Average of class Smartphone (1043 - 286905, n=121, last 2 years) | |
The Galaxy A02s is unable to convince in the browser benchmarks. It always only achieves one of the last places in the comparison field. In everyday operation, this means that websites will need a long time to load and you have to wait for images even longer.
However, for more demanding HTML-5 applications, the performance is mostly sufficient, as long as they have been programmed cleanly.
| Jetstream 2 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (16.9 - 282, n=165, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (14.6 - 16.5, n=4) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s (Chrome 89) | |
| JetStream 1.1 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (26.7 - 414, n=79, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (22 - 22.7, n=13) | |
| Speedometer 2.0 - Result | |
| Average of class Smartphone (13.3 - 375, n=154, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (12.4 - 14.6, n=4) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s (Chome 89) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| WebXPRT 3 - --- | |
| Average of class Smartphone (28 - 292, n=145, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (28 - 34, n=8) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s (Chrome 89) | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score | |
| Average of class Smartphone (4633 - 74261, n=194, last 2 years) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chrome 87) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (3470 - 4115, n=14) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s (Chrome 89) | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total Score | |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s (Chrome 89) | |
| Samsung Galaxy M11 (Chrome 87) | |
| Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 (11012 - 11863, n=14) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 (Chrome 88) | |
| OnePlus Nord N100 (Chrome 87) | |
| Average of class Smartphone (414 - 10797, n=168, last 2 years) | |
* ... smaller is better
Slow eMMC flash is the standard in this price class, and only the OnePlus Nord N100 is able to offer UFS storage here. However, the Galaxy A02s makes pretty good use of the possibilities of its storage in terms of read and write speeds.
The read and write speeds of microSD cards are also good.
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | Samsung Galaxy A12 | OnePlus Nord N100 | Samsung Galaxy M11 | realme 7i | Average 32 GB eMMC Flash | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | -1% | 39% | -10% | 11% | -31% | 299% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 299 | 269.7 -10% | 504 69% | 297.6 0% | 316.4 6% | 242 ? -19% | 1180 ? 295% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 103.9 | 211.6 104% | 219 111% | 81.4 -22% | 187.2 80% | 100 ? -4% | 741 ? 613% |
| Random Read 4KB | 84.8 | 65.4 -23% | 106.1 25% | 73.9 -13% | 77.4 -9% | 42.9 ? -49% | 207 ? 144% |
| Random Write 4KB | 88.5 | 39.1 -56% | 120.8 36% | 78.1 -12% | 89.5 1% | 21.8 ? -75% | 217 ? 145% |
| Sequential Read 256KB SDCard | 86.4 ? | 77.4 ? -10% | 85.2 ? -1% | 82.4 ? -5% | 83.9 ? -3% | 71.8 ? -17% | |
| Sequential Write 256KB SDCard | 69.4 ? | 61.6 ? -11% | 64.3 ? -7% | 64.5 ? -7% | 63.5 ? -9% | 52.9 ? -24% |
Games – Hardly any gaming power
The Galaxy A02s will only conquer the hearts of those gamers who have very low demands. Even though "League of Legends: Wild Rift" starts running at 60 fps in both settings, the frame rate will quickly drop to around 50. That is still very playable, but the more demanding "PUBG Mobile" will show the limits. It is only able to maintain the 30 fps with some trouble, and there are frequent stutters, particularly when starting a new game. We test the fps using the GameBench software.
While the control via touchscreen works well, the position sensor is not quite as reliable.
Emissions – Low heat development
Temperature
You don't have to worry about heat development in the Galaxy A02s. Even under longer load, the smartphone hardly warms up and can be operated without any problems even in very hot environments in summer, for example.
The GFXBench battery test shows hardly noticeable drops in the frame rate after longer operation, so that you don't have to expect any throttling.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 35.7 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 34.9 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 52.9 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 35.2 °C / 95 F, compared to the average of 33.7 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 28.7 °C / 84 F, compared to the device average of 32.6 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
The small mono speaker produces strongly emphasized highs, but they still sound fairly pleasant even at maximum volume. While the sound is fairly clear, it lacks bass and low mids.
You can output the sound to external devices using the 3.5-mm audio port or via Bluetooth. In both cases, the sound output is clean. In terms of Bluetooth, aptX is supported but not the HD version.
Samsung Galaxy A02s audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 33.9% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (9.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 6.6% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (7.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 4.4% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (6% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (25% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 66% of all tested devices in this class were better, 10% similar, 24% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 79% of all tested devices were better, 5% similar, 15% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%
Samsung Galaxy A12 audio analysis
(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (80.9 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 27.1% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (13.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 6.1% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (8.1% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 7.7% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (8.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (26.2% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 74% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 19% worse
» The best had a delta of 11%, average was 23%, worst was 65%
Compared to all devices tested
» 84% of all tested devices were better, 4% similar, 12% worse
» The best had a delta of 3%, average was 20%, worst was 65%
Battery Life – Long lasting fun
Power Consumption
Looking at the power consumption of the smartphone, the values are relatively similar to those of other smartphones in this price range.
| Off / Standby |   0 / 0.1 Watt |
| Idle |  0.8 / 1.9 / 2.5 Watt |
| Load |
4.2 / 5.1 Watt |
    
| |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s 5000 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A12 5000 mAh | OnePlus Nord N100 5000 mAh | Samsung Galaxy M11 5000 mAh | Average Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 | Average of class Smartphone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -12% | 8% | -20% | -3% | 0% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 0.8 | 1.1 -38% | 0.56 30% | 1 -25% | 0.794 ? 1% | 0.884 ? -11% |
| Idle Average * | 1.9 | 1.6 16% | 1.8 5% | 1.3 32% | 2.27 ? -19% | 1.485 ? 22% |
| Idle Maximum * | 2.5 | 2.6 -4% | 2.3 8% | 1.6 36% | 2.48 ? 1% | 1.699 ? 32% |
| Load Average * | 4.2 | 4.5 -7% | 3.9 7% | 7.1 -69% | 3.95 ? 6% | 4.27 ? -2% |
| Load Maximum * | 5.1 | 6.4 -25% | 5.6 -10% | 8.8 -73% | 5.38 ? -5% | 7.08 ? -39% |
* ... smaller is better
Battery Life
At this point, the 5000-mAh battery is typical for this price range. Among our comparison devices, only the realme 7i offers slightly more battery power. The Galaxy A02s achieves a really good battery life, lasting for almost exactly 20 hours in our WiFi test. Under load, you can use the smartphone for almost 5:30 hours. This means that with regular usage, it should be completely sufficient for several days without a recharge.
While a 15-Watt quick-charge function is supported, you have to purchase the corresponding charger separately, since the box only contains a 7.8-Watt charger that takes a full 2 hours for a complete recharge.
| Samsung Galaxy A02s 5000 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A12 5000 mAh | OnePlus Nord N100 5000 mAh | Samsung Galaxy M11 5000 mAh | realme 7i 6000 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 3% | -10% | -15% | 9% | |
| Reader / Idle | 2746 | 3743 36% | 2513 -8% | 2024 -26% | |
| H.264 | 1295 | 887 -32% | 1206 -7% | 1046 -19% | |
| WiFi v1.3 | 1201 | 1288 7% | 1149 -4% | 880 -27% | 1307 9% |
| Load | 329 | 336 2% | 267 -19% | 369 12% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict – Significant problems with the affordable smartphone
The Samsung Galaxy A02s has some significant problems with its WLAN module, and while you would be able to use it for Internet surfing, you will get 20 times the speed with some other similarly priced devices. That is annoying, and even though Samsung might improve this with a software update at some point, it is rather unlikely in such an affordable device.
However, in some areas the Galaxy A02s also offers very good achievements, such as the locating accuracy or the low heat development of its case. While the performance isn't really very high, the full performance also remains constantly available even after a longer load. The camera does not see very well in the dark, and is otherwise also more suited for snapshots. Particularly the autofocus has some noticeable problems.
While the Samsung Galaxy A02s is a solid entry-level device with a good battery life, it has some difficulties with its WLAN module.
The Galaxy A02s has some strong competitors, not only from other manufacturers but also from Samsung itself, such as the Galaxy A12, which offers more performance and an even longer battery life.
Overall, the Galaxy A02s is a solid entry-level smartphone. However, those who want to invest their money in the best device of this price range should better look elsewhere. The slow WLAN module might even be a good reason to avoid the device altogether.
Price and Availability
At the time of our testing, the Samsung Galaxy A02s is available from many vendors online. In the US, it currently costs $150 at Amazon.com.
Samsung Galaxy A02s
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03/15/2021 v7
Florian Schmitt
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