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<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re looking for a 5G Android phone and want to spend as little as possible, you can stop right here. At $279, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is your best bet right now, especially if you\u2019re in the US where such options are scarce. It offers good 5G support (including the all-important C-band!), a huge battery, and four years of security updates. That\u2019s a compelling package for under $300.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s perfect. The A32 5G\u2019s screen isn\u2019t great, performance is a little laggy, and though capable, its camera is limited. If you can spend just a bit more, you can get a phone that does better in at least one of these areas. And if you can hold off on your phone purchase for even a few more months, we should see many more very affordable 5G phones on the market to choose from, like the OnePlus N200. But if you don\u2019t have time to wait and can\u2019t spare the extra cash, I can\u2019t find a good reason to talk you out of the A32 5G. <\/p>\n
Verge Score<\/p>\n
7.5 out of 10<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Buy for $280.00 from Samsung<\/p>\n
Buy for $230.00 from Best Buy<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
The A32 5G features a big 6.5-inch 720p LCD panel that\u2019s best described as nothing special. Colors look a little flat and washed out, and though it gets bright enough to see in direct sunlight, the screen\u2019s reflective plastic protective panel makes it challenging. It\u2019s also a low resolution to be stretched across such a large screen, so you\u2019ll see a little pixelization if you look close.<\/p>\n
The phone uses a MediaTek Dimensity 720 5G processor that compares well with Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon 690 5G chipset for budget 5G phones, used by OnePlus Nord N10 5G. The Galaxy A32 5G combines the MediaTek processor with 4GB of RAM (decent) and 64GB of storage (skimpy but just enough to get by, and you can throw in a microSD card to expand it), and it performs well enough for its class. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s noticeable hiccuping with media-dense pages, brief pauses when diving into a demanding task like starting Google Maps navigation, and noticeable camera shutter lag. For the most part, though, I just didn\u2019t notice slowdowns as I jumped between apps, scrolled through Instagram, and just generally went about using the phone normally. That\u2019s about all I\u2019d ask for from a sub-$300 phone.<\/p>\n The phone\u2019s headline feature, 5G, still isn\u2019t something we\u2019d recommend you run out and buy a new phone to get. But the A32 5G has a couple of features that make it worth your time, even considering that good 5G is still a year or two away in the US. Crucially, the A32 5G has been cleared by the Federal Communications Commission to use C-band frequencies that Verizon and AT&T, in particular, will be utilizing for 5G in the coming years. Not all 5G phones can use C-band, so that\u2019s a big ol\u2019 checkmark in the A32 5G\u2019s favor. There\u2019s no mmWave support here, which is the fastest and scarcest flavor of 5G, but that\u2019s no great loss.<\/p>\n The second factor here is that you can reasonably expect to keep using this phone for enough years to actually see 5G that\u2019s meaningfully better than LTE because Samsung will keep offering security updates for four years. Many budget devices only get about two years of security update support, but the A32 5G\u2019s lengthy lifespan should see it through to the actual 5G age in a few years.<\/p>\n Battery life is one of the A32 5G\u2019s strengths. Its 5,000mAh capacity battery is big indeed, and I had no trouble getting two full days of moderate use out of it. My usage was more battery-friendly than someone else\u2019s might be, with battery optimization on and the bulk of my time spent on Wi-Fi, but even the most power-hungry user would be able to get a full day \u2014 if not more \u2014 out of the A32 5G.<\/p>\n With a 6.5-inch screen, the A32 5G is a big phone for sure. It\u2019s a little too bulky and awkward-feeling in my hand. What I dislike even more is that it feels slippery to me \u2014 the back panel plastic feels hard to get a decent grip on. On one occasion, I set the phone down on a softcover book, and it somehow shimmied itself across the cover and off of a side table when I wasn\u2019t looking. (There\u2019s a happy ending, though: it only fell about a foot into a box filled with hand-me-down baby clothes waiting to be put away, so there\u2019s a good argument for keeping clutter around your house.) Anyway, get a case for it if you buy this phone, and know that if your hands are small, it won\u2019t be very comfortable to use.<\/p>\n There are two cameras of consequence on the A32 5G\u2019s rear panel: a 48-megapixel standard wide and an 8-megapixel ultrawide. There\u2019s a 5-megapixel macro camera that\u2019s not very good and a 2-megapixel depth sensor that may or may not help with portrait mode photos. There\u2019s also a 13-megapixel selfie camera around front.<\/p>\n The A32 5G features a big 6.5-inch 720p LCD panel that\u2019s best described as nothing special<\/q><\/aside>\n
The A32 5G\u2019s lengthy lifespan should see it through to the actual 5G age in a few years<\/q><\/aside>\n
Samsung Galaxy A32 5G camera<\/h2>\n