To start with, what are the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G reviews?
This Android phone might not look all that great—its plasticky build feels cheap and attracts so many fingerprints—but I’ve used it for almost a month without experiencing many issues. The A13 5G has the essentials down for a surprisingly low price if you detest spending money on phones and don’t care about having the best cameras.
CHEAP PHONES ARE IN VOGUE RIGHT NOW. For the first time, you can pay a mere $250 for a smartphone and expect it to receive security updates for four years. You’ll find fluid performance that can easily handle the majority of smartphone tasks, including gaming, and take agreeable photos that won’t make you want to stab your eyes out. With Samsung’s Galaxy A13 5G, that is how I found it to work.
Please continue reading for more information.
Table of Contents
Overview Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
You must have a device that can run all of your favorite apps and games on cheap phones at the very least without too much lag or stuttering. The Galaxy A13 5G’s Mediatek Dimensity 700 processor does well in this regard. I hardly ever experience any lag time on this phone, and apps open fairly quickly and switch between them quickly. Even games like Pako Forever and Dead Cells performed admirably on the device.
The A13 5G is powered by a 5,000-mAh battery cell, which keeps it running for more than a day. However, most of the time I ended up with a full day and a half of battery life. If you’re cautious enough, you can get two full days out of this phone. There is no wireless charging, and you shouldn’t anticipate a quick charge to 100% like with most low-cost phones.
Although the 64 gigs of storage are on the small side for a phone at this price, there is a MicroSD card slot that allows you to expand that space if you need more. A headphone jack, a power button that serves as a fingerprint sensor, and NFC—which is a necessity for contactless payments with Google Pay on any phone, in my opinion—are additional benefits.
There are many Samsung apps, and the software interface isn’t as straightforward as it is on devices like the Moto G Stylus 2022 or OnePlus Nord N20 5G, but there is still a lot of customization available. With regard to software support, Samsung has an edge over its rivals: In addition to four years of security updates, it guarantees two OS upgrades. Other phones in this price range are unmatched. (The A13 5G started out with Android 11 but has already received updates to Android 12 and will soon receive Android 13.)
One of the few elements of this phone that disappoints is the screen. A 90-Hz screen refresh rate is used on the low-resolution LCD panel. Yes, using the display is fairly slick. However, if you look closely, some details may appear hazy. This did not significantly alter how I used the phone, but the dim screen did. When you’re outside in direct sunlight, it can be challenging to read the screen, and the slow response time of Samsung’s auto-brightness feature doesn’t help. I had to manually adjust the screen brightness the majority of the time.
Good Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
The Galaxy A12 came in six different configurations, as was mentioned. Now that there is just one, taking the Galaxy A13 5G with you wherever you go is much simpler. The combination of 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage is more than the Galaxy A12’s base model, and it feels like the right amount to keep up with daily tasks on a budget phone like this. In the end, if you need more storage, you can always use the microSD slot to add more.
Of course, the addition of 5G support is the biggest change Samsung made to the Galaxy A13. Even though the degree of future-proofing came with a price increase, it’s nice to see it on a cost-effective device. As I hardly noticed any lag or stuttering this time around, Mediatek’s Dimensity 700 chipset feels like a much better match for the Galaxy A13 than last year’s Helio P35.
With a respectable amount of power and future-proofing, the Galaxy A13 5G balances its affordable price tag.
Samsung made the wise decision to retain the side-mounted fingerprint reader from the Galaxy A12. It’s quick and simple to get to, and it responded well to my commands, I found.
Also included is a sizable 5,000mAh battery in the Galaxy A13 5G. During my testing, I had no trouble getting the device to last two full days before I needed to find a charger. This phone can still last several days on a single charge despite Samsung’s new 5G support, which may have slightly increased battery consumption.
The performance of Samsung’s primary rear camera also really impressed me. Although the images are pixel binned to 12.5MP by default, the camera has a 50MP resolution. In good lighting, I discovered that it produced sharp results, and the portrait mode’s edge detection was impressive, especially with regard to static objects; you can see an illustration of this in the image above. Due to Samsung’s propensity to turn up the contrast (as we’ll see later), the color reproduction is generally satisfactory as well, though it isn’t always flawless. In either case, it looks great for those who want to upload colorful pictures to social media.
Not So Good Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
Over the past few years, Samsung has gradually eliminated chargers from its packaging; the Galaxy A13 is the latest example. Even though there are valid reasons why plugs shouldn’t be included in boxes, this change is disappointing given the price of the device. For someone getting their first smartphone, the Galaxy A13 is ideal. They might therefore need to spend more money if they don’t already have a USB-C charging block. The 15W charging speeds aren’t particularly impressive either. I discovered that charging for a full two hours takes longer than a half-hour while plugged in, which results in about a 20% charge.
Additionally, Samsung made an intriguing design choice by adding ridges to the back of the Galaxy A12 last year and then removing them this year. Although the Galaxy A13 has some texture, it feels more like pebbles due to the light texture on the back panel. Don’t actually get the phone wet, though; there is no IP rating of any kind. It becomes quite slippery when handled with slightly wet fingers. Samsung chose plastic for the overall construction, which doesn’t feel particularly premium or durable despite the increased retail price.
The Galaxy A13 tends to compete below the $249 price tag, not above it, thanks to its plastic construction and simplified design.
The Galaxy A13 5G’s primary camera from Samsung performs admirably, but the complement of accessories could be better. First, Samsung kept the 2MP macro lens but got rid of the 5MP ultrawide lens from the previous model year. Positively, you can get that 5MP ultrawide shooter back, but it will cost you 5G. Even though you get what you pay for, I can’t imagine that many people would prefer a low-resolution macro shooter to the ability to fit more in an image. The selfie lens also decreased in resolution from 8MP to 5MP, but it still produces high-quality images and has a wider aperture for better portrait photos.
Samsung’s processing can be excessive, despite the fact that the phone’s main camera—which was already mentioned—is undoubtedly one of its strengths. Take a look at the No Parking totes in the example above. They appear to be very red in the image, but in reality, they were more of an orange traffic cone color. However, all of my other images displayed excellent color accuracy.
The Galaxy A13 performs poorly in low light conditions as well. Because there isn’t a dedicated night mode, you will have to rely heavily on ambient light and post-processing magic. As you can see in the sample below, images typically lose detail fairly quickly and produce a lot of grain.
I find it difficult to argue that Samsung’s 6.5-inch HD+ panel needed to have a 90Hz refresh rate, despite the fact that Samsung added one. The panel itself isn’t particularly sharp or bright, so the smoother animations feel like an extra boost when there are more pressing issues to take care of. Unfortunately, the top and bottom bezels are also rather large for a $200+ device in 2022.
My last issue with the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G is related to its $249 price. The upgrades don’t quite make up for the $70 price increase over the Galaxy A12, though. The lack of an ultrawide camera really stands out, and neither the design nor the display feels more high-end than they did last year. It would be a different story if Samsung had managed to keep the price constant or raise it by just $20. See more about Samsung Galaxy A01 Review
Design & Hardware Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
The A13’s design isn’t all that sophisticated; it resembles an ordinary Android phone about as much as I could hope. A 6.5-inch display with teardrop notch and an extra-thick chin is surrounded by thick-for-2022 bezels.
On the screen, I’m a little conflicted. It’s fantastic that Samsung was able to create a $250 phone with a 90Hz display, but as with the most recent Moto G Power, nothing else about that display stands out. Given the price, I actually don’t mind that it has a 720p LCD panel; however, the lack of vibrant colors gives the entire phone a somewhat lifeless appearance. Despite the fact that I enjoy high refresh rates, I believe a better 60Hz panel would have been a better choice than the one used in the A13. There also doesn’t seem to be any kind of oleophobic coating applied, so it collects a lot of fingerprints that aren’t easy to wipe off. Also, I’ve noticed that the seam between the phone’s screen and body tends to collect more lint than it does on most phones.
The three cameras and flash are located in the top-left corner of the eggshell-finish black plastic back, and a Samsung logo is located at the bottom. A combo SIM/microSD card tray is on the left, a downward-firing speaker, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, and a fingerprint sensor mounted on the right edge of the volume rocker are on the right edge of the device. The bottom has a USB-C port. The A13 has only one speaker, and it doesn’t sound very good. Although it can be heard clearly, it has a harsh quality and doesn’t produce much bass.
The A13 is not a particularly well made piece of hardware as a whole. Its low-quality screen is challenging to keep clean, and it is plasticky, flexes, and creaks. But the fact that it feels cheap is tempered by the fact that it actually is cheap; it’s not any worse than At this price range, I’d anticipate.
The box doesn’t include a charger.
Along with some manuals, a cheap SIM ejector tool, and a USB-C to C cable, the phone also comes with some literature. The box doesn’t contain a charger. Although I recognize that at this price, including a charger may have increased the cost of the phone, the trend of flagships no longer including chargers doesn’t particularly bother me. However, shoppers for $250 phones are probably not buried in extra chargers the way enthusiasts who spend $900 on a new phone every year are. Samsung ought to have provided one.
Software, Performance, & Battery Life Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
There aren’t many surprises because One UI 3.1 is being used instead of Android 11. It has all the typical Samsung features, such as the ability to multitask by putting apps in small windows (you might not want to do that on a phone-sized 720p display, but you can) and optional edge panels that add extra shortcuts.
The fact that Samsung is promising four years of security patches for the A13 is more intriguing than the software itself. Although it’s not out of the ordinary for Samsung in 2022, it’s still encouraging to see a cheap phone receiving good support.
The A13 5G performs better than I anticipated thanks to its MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset and four gigabytes of RAM. It was seamless to navigate between home screens, launch and switch between apps, and even play fairly demanding games like Call of Duty Mobile. Even though there may be the occasional stutter or hang and you’ll need to spend a little more time viewing app splash screens than you would on a more powerful device, I believe the user experience this hardware provides is more than adequate for a low-cost phone. It really is quite good.
Also fantastic is the battery life. During my time with the A13, I’ve been a little bit more of a homebody than usual, but the phone still produced about seven hours of mixed-use screen time over just over 48 hours between full charges. During that period, I did a lot of 5G-enabled YouTube video watching as well as web browsing, messaging, a little light gaming, and messaging. This thing would be extremely difficult to eliminate in a single day.
Cameras Of Samsung Galaxy A13 5G
There are three cameras on the Galaxy A13’s back: a 50-megapixel primary accompanied by two two-megapixel shooters, one macro, one depth. In good lighting, the primary camera produces passable images. With its 50 megapixels binned down to 12.5, fine detail begins to resemble a watercolor painting as you zoom in. However, unedited photos that are taken in good lighting look good enough for social media.
As you might expect, the A13 struggles in low light. Although ISO can reach thousands of in extremely dark conditions, there is no dedicated low-light mode, and shutter speed is simply too slow. The shutter speed was a tenth of a second and ISO was set to 5000 in the last image above. An unstabilized camera won’t produce sharp images with such long exposures, plain and simple.
It’s better that the two extra cameras aren’t even there. The first one is a dedicated depth camera that allegedly helps in portrait mode, and the second one is a fixed-focus macro camera. Good macro cameras can be a lot of fun, but this is not one of them.
The A13’s macro camera takes pictures that are only two megapixels in size: just 1,600 by 1,200 pixels. Intense sharpening is also applied to them. Simply put, they’re bad. It doesn’t hurt the phone to have features you won’t use, but it’s never a good look to add more cameras just to have a certain number. A single, excellent camera is something I much prefer. See more about Samsung Q80A Review
Samsung Galaxy A13 5G Specs At A Glance
- Body: 165.1×76.4×8.8mm, 195g; Plastic back, frame, and glass front (Gorilla Glass 5).
- Display: 6.60″ PLS LCD with a resolution of 1080×2408 pixels and a 20.07:9 aspect ratio.
- Chipset: Octa-core (4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) Exynos 850 (8nm); Mali-G52
- Memory: 32GB 3GB RAM: 64GB 4GB, 128GB 4GB, and 128GB 6GB; eMMC 5.1; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- OS/Software: One UI 4.1 on Android 12.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 5 MP, f/2.2, 123-degree, 1/5″, 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.2, (wide).
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 15W.
- Misc: 3.5mm jack; virtual proximity sensing; side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Should You Buy It?
The Galaxy A13 5G from Samsung provides the most comprehensive package of any A10 series device to date, but at a price. The 50MP primary camera produces pleasing results in good lighting, and the addition of 5G makes it more powerful than ever and longer lasting than previous models. However, the weak display, the bland design, the absence of an ultrawide shooter, and the lack of peripheral camera upgrades raise some concerns about the $70 price increase. I can’t help but think that Samsung would have been better off skipping 5G and improving the rest of the package instead to make it a better overall starter smartphone.
Even though it can be challenging to defend buying an unlocked Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, US carrier access tells a slightly different tale. It is currently offered by T-Mobile for free or by AT&T for $2 per month for 36 months. It is much simpler to justify paying $72 than $249 up front.
In terms of low-cost smartphones, Samsung might have a real winner with improvements to its camera system or plastic finish.
However, the Galaxy A13 5G now competes with a new category of low-cost gadgets due to the price increase. Despite being a T-Mobile exclusive, it is still about $30 less expensive than the OnePlus Nord N20 ($282). The most recent model in the Nord lineup has a Snapdragon 695 processor inside and a 64MP primary camera. Along with faster 33W wired charging, it has a single configuration with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
The Galaxy A23 5G is a brand-new competitor for the Galaxy A13 5G from Samsung. With a 5,000mAh battery, 25W wired charging, and an exact replica of the Galaxy A53’s design, it costs just $50 more, or $299. That entails the addition of a fourth rear camera, and it does not even take away from the headphone jack.
The price difference between Samsung’s entry-level device and Motorola’s Moto G 5G (2022) ($399) is now even greater. The Mediatek Dimensity 700 processor is standard on that phone. Although the Moto G 5G ships with Android 12 out of the box, don’t expect too many updates in the future, nor should you count on NFC or high-quality video recording options. Motorola’s primary camera is comparable to Samsung’s 50MP model. Overall, we still think the Galaxy A13 5G is the best choice, even though you might prefer the OnePlus or Motorola software experiences.
The End
It’s important to note that Samsung also offers a Galaxy A13 4G LTE model with slightly different specifications. This model has not been tested by me, so I cannot confidently endorse it.
The Moto G Stylus 2022, a competitor from Motorola, lacks even 5G access and has a fraction of Samsung’s software support coverage. While AT&T only offers 4G LTE connectivity, Verizon does not support the OnePlus Nord N20 5G, which has a nicer screen.
While being less expensive than those two devices, the A13 5G avoids these problems. Despite the fact that it is simple, it is universally functional and requires little hassle. This is without a doubt the best sub-$300 phone I’ve seen, and it’ll satisfy the majority of people.
Thank you for reading, and good luck.