Samsung’s budget A series has always offered great value for money while including some premium features that we don’t see in phones twice the price. The Samsung Galaxy A35 improves on many of our complaints about the more expensive Galaxy A25 this year, but the price increase puts it among serious competitors.
In my testing of the Galaxy A35, I found it more than adequate for all my daily tasks. Its gorgeous display was perfect for watching media, while the massive battery meant I never ran out of charge mid-day. However, this comes at the cost of sluggish performance across the board and some annoying overheating issues.
Samsung Galaxy A35 5G
The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G makes a lot of compromises to reach its $400 price point, but thanks to its powerful 5,000mAh battery, it will last you all day for calls, photography, gaming, and media, even if it is a bit slow to do so.
- Camera quality is good.
- big screen
- OLED screen
- slow performance
- Heats up quickly
- Pre-installed unwanted programs
Price, availability and specifications
The Samsung Galaxy A35 is available for $400 in the US via Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung. It comes in one size, 128GB, and two colors: navy blue and purple. There’s one storage option (128GB) and one RAM option (6GB).
Network support is spotty. There is no millimeter wave support, and while there is mid-band coverage for the n77 and n41, there is no support for the low-band n2 and n71. However, it does cover most of the major 4G bands. So while 5G support is spotty, you shouldn’t have a problem connecting over 4G.
What are the great features of the Samsung Galaxy A35?
A great screen that will last you all day.
The 6.6-inch, 120Hz Super AMOLED display looks great on paper and is just as good in real life. The 1,000 nits peak brightness helps with visibility in direct sunlight, and the OLED panel keeps colours vibrant while offering plenty of blacks. Samsung has kept the bezels slim on this phone, with the overall look almost identical to the Galaxy A54, from which this phone takes a lot of inspiration.
The rest of the phone is a solid piece of metal and glass. I received the “Awesome Lilac” version of the Galaxy A35 for review, and while the back did a mediocre job of hiding fingerprints, it did an excellent job of reflecting the rainbow colors.
Aside from the weird prismatic glass back cover, the other notable feature is the raised hump that houses the volume and power buttons. This addition doesn’t change much in terms of the phone’s silhouette, but I found it to work as an excellent thumb rest when holding the phone. It’s also a big phone, so this little addition did wonders for comfort. Still, I’d recommend putting a case on the Galaxy A35 as soon as possible; it’s the slipperiest phone I’ve used in a while.
The Galaxy A35 comes with Android 14 with Samsung’s One UI 6.1 on top. You’ll find all the usual Samsung features here, except for Galaxy AI, which supports features like Browsing Assist and Circle to Search. However, it does include Samsung Knox Vault, a first for an A-series phone.
What stood out to me during testing was the battery life. By the end of the day, when I was using the phone for media viewing, texting, browsing Instagram, and some gaming, the battery was usually hovering around the 30% mark. While the phone has a relatively weak 25W charging speed, it took 30 minutes to charge to 50%, 65 minutes to charge to 90%, and 90 minutes to charge to 100%. In addition to the long-lasting battery, I only needed to charge the phone during my morning shower; I didn’t need to leave it overnight.
The Galaxy A35’s cameras are impressive in terms of their average quality. While the photos weren’t quite as impressive as those taken by the Pixel phones, they were more than adequate for everyday photography. The only problem is that the results vary significantly in lighting, so you’ll need to think a little more about the photos you take than you would with other phones.
What’s bad about the Samsung Galaxy A35?
Slow performance with overheating issues
Performance isn’t expected to be fast from a budget phone, but the $400 price tag means the Samsung Galaxy A35 is starting to compete with the powerful mid-range phones you can find for less. That makes the slow performance particularly noticeable, and the constant heating issues I encountered were frustrating.
The Galaxy A35’s display has a 120Hz refresh rate, but swiping across the home screen doesn’t make up for the lag that constantly bothered me during testing. Whether it’s setup, opening apps, or taking photos, waiting a few seconds for actions to complete became extremely frustrating. The Exynos 1380 processor can’t deliver a smooth experience, which makes me wonder why Samsung bothered to put a 120Hz refresh rate on the device.
The transition from smooth animations while scrolling through apps to stuttering animations while shooting was annoying. However, it was rarely worse than mild frustration, so if you’re willing to put up with slow loading and animations, you shouldn’t have a problem here.
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The overheating issue became a problem very quickly. The phone was running light puzzle games like Railbound with little heat, but holding the phone while playing Pocket City 2 became uncomfortable after just 15 minutes. I also noticed heat while streaming music or video over data, but it wasn’t enough to run demanding games on the phone.
Samsung is expected to release unwanted software, but it is still very annoying. Removing pre-installed apps like Temu and TikTok is a common experience on Samsung phones, but it is still frustrating. And it can negatively affect battery life if you don’t uninstall them immediately.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A35?
Where are you willing to compromise?
The Samsung Galaxy A35 is similar to this year’s Galaxy A25, but it’s $100 less. Phones like the Pixel 7a, which offer better hardware and software, are on sale for just $350, and you’ll only need to spend $100 more to get the OnePlus 12R with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
However, the impressive battery life, OLED display and good cameras mean that the phone can perform adequately across the board. If you use your phone for almost everything, it’s a good choice. However, users looking to save money are better off sticking with a Pixel or Galaxy S series phone on sale.
Originally, this review referred to the Galaxy A25 as a predecessor to the A35 and not a cheaper 2024 model. We’ve edited the review and apologize for the error.
Samsung Galaxy A35 5G
The Galaxy A35’s $400 price tag is a bit steep, given the slight improvements it has seen over last year, but its battery life and display are among the best of any budget Android phone.
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