Samsung Galaxy A04s review

Design and handling

The phone's design is quite simple and minimalist. The Galaxy A04s has a plastic unibody design with pleasantly rounded edges providing a comfortable grip. The front panel is also slightly rounded, eliminating any protrusions or gaps. It's almost as if the chassis was made of one whole piece - we like that.

However, the plastic surface on the back is a fingerprint magnet, and it's fairly easy to scratch. We got the Green color, which appears to be a lot darker than what we see on the official product photos. The phone is also available in Black, White and Copper paint jobs.

Another good thing about the build is that plastic tends to be less slippery and the glossy surface of the A04s makes good contact with the skin. It's definitely less slippery than your average glass sandwich phone. Not that Samsung had any wiggle room with materials, though. We doubt that the price target of the Galaxy A04s can be achieved with a glass or metal build.

Going around the sides, we find the power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, which resides in a small indentation. It's conveniently placed right within thumb's reach, but you have to stretch a little to reach the volume rocker that sits right above the power key. The bottom end houses the USB-C connector, speaker grille and the 3.5mm audio jack.

Samsung Galaxy A04s

The SIM card tray is placed on the left side of the frame near the upper-left edge of the A40s. It holds two SIM card slots and a dedicated microSD card slot.

On the front, the Galaxy A04s flaunts a 6.5-inch display with a teardrop-shaped notch for the front-facing camera. The side bezels are decently thin, but the bottom lip is noticeably thicker. That's par for the course in this price bracket.

It's interesting to note that the device is somewhat hefty for a 6.5-inch smartphone with an all-plastic build. Not that this is a big issue, but 195 grams usually constitutes a bigger device or glass build.

All in all, the Galaxy A04s has a nice build quality and is nice and easy to handle. It doesn't punch above its weight, but we weren't expecting premium materials and innovative design in this price range anyway.