Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) review

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Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy A-series are going through a bit of an identity crisis with J-style metal replacing the glass in the lower end of the lineup. But we already knew that - we had the A6 (2018) in for review just last month. Now it's the plus's turn - the Galaxy A6+ (2018) brings more than just a bigger display.

Well, for one, it's also higher-res - 1080p vs. the non-plus's 720p, and it's one of those Samsung-style 1080p's with an 18.5:9 aspect. Super AMOLED, naturally, and notchelss too - yay!

There's also a secondary camera on the back - a 5MP depth-sensing module is there to assist the main 16MP shooter (shared between this year's As) in taking blurred background portraits. Meanwhile, a 50% bump in pixel count sees the A6+ sporting a 24MP front-facing camera - all of a sudden the 16MP selfies of the A6 don't look that impressive.

With a larger display comes the need for a higher battery capacity and the plus delivers - 3,500mAh sounds plenty. Couple that with an efficient, if not too brawny, 14nm Snapdragon 450 chipset and we could be looking at some pretty great endurance.

The Galaxy A6+ (2018) ticks some other important checkboxes too - there's a dedicated microSD slot on top of the twin nano SIM bay, a fingerprint reader on the back ensures some security, and a 3.5mm jack means you can connect your choice of headphones. And use them as the antenna for the FM radio, because there's a receiver for that, too.

Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) specs

• Body: Aluminum back; 160.2 x 75.7 x 7.9mm, 186g; Black, Gold, Blue and Lavender color schemes (market dependent);
• Display: 6.0" Super AMOLED, FullHD+ 2,220x1,080px resolution Infinity display (18.5:9 aspect ratio), 411ppi pixel density.
• Rear camera: Primary 16MP, f/1.7 aperture; phase detection autofocus. Secondary 5MP, f/1.9 aperture, fixed focus, depth detection only. LED flash. 1080p/30fps video recording.
• Front camera: 24MP, f/1.9 aperture; fixed focus; LED flash. 1080p/30fps video recording.
• OS/Software: Android 8.0 Oreo; Samsung Experience 9.0 custom overlay.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 450: octa-core 1.8GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 506 GPU.
• Memory: 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (our review unit) or 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage; dedicated microSD slot for expansion.
• Battery: 3,500 mAh Li-Po (sealed).
• Connectivity: Dual SIM; LTE Cat. 6 (300Mbps download); microUSB port; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n; GPS, GLONASS, Beidou; NFC; Bluetooth 4.2; FM radio.
• Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; single speaker on the side; 3.5mm jack.

A few niceties we were used to seeing in the A-series remain exclusive to the A8 (2018) and A8+ (2018) - the IP68 rating, for example. The higher-end models also come with two front-facing cameras, but then the A6+ (2018) beats each of them 2 to 1 in rear camera count. The A8s do feature more powerful Exynos 7885 chips, USB-C ports, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5 - but you'll be paying for those.

The thing is, though, the Galaxy A6+ (2018) isn't exactly super affordable itself, yet Samsung didn't feel the need to at least fit a USB-C port - not cool! Anyway, let's have a look at the J-series design of the Galaxy A6+ (2018) on the next page.