Samsung A35 5G 2024 – lots of great features at a low price (smartphone review)
The Samsung A35 5G 2024 is a feature-rich phone at a reasonable price. It and the A55 5G 2024 are largely responsible for Samsung’s leading market share. Samsung may push the Galaxy S, but its bread and butter is the A-series.
That is a good segue into the difference between the Galaxy S-series and A-series moving forward. The S-series is promoting AI, although that is really limited to some photo editing tricks and AI search. It will be a few years before we see real on-device AI processing. By that time, the A-series may have some off-device AI cloud processing.
New review format
We are experimenting with our review format. Where we used to put all the raw data in tables at the end, we will now break them up and briefly comment on the various parts. Why? Readers who want to know more will paw over the tables. Readers who want to see if it’s a good phone can just read the comments.
We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.
We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.
Australian Review: Samsung A35 5G 2024 6/128GB model SN-A356/DS (dual sim/hybrid)
| Brand | Samsung |
| Model | Samsung A35 5G 2024 |
| Model Number | SM-A356E |
| Price Base | 6/128GB |
| Price base | $549 |
| Warranty months | 24 |
| Tier | lower mid-range |
| Website | Product Page |
| From | Samsung Online and approved retailers – see Made for Australia and Don’t buy a grey market smartphone |
| Country of Origin | Not disclosed – China or Vietnam |
| Company | Samsung is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. Samsung Electronics (the world’s largest information technology company, consumer electronics maker and chipmaker. |
| Test date | 1-7 April 2024 |
| Ambient temp | 18-26° |
| Release | April 2024 |
| Other models not for Australia (Don’t buy) | B, N, or U model. E is for Australia. |
| More | CyberShack Samsung news and reviews CyberShack smartphone news and reviews |
Screen – Pass+
This is a good, bright, reasonably colour-accurate 1080p sAMOLED screen for the price. It is daylight-readable and bright enough for some HDR content to show decent detail in dark and light areas. It uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) dimming, which will be evident to people who are not tolerant.
| Size | 6.6″ |
| Type | sAMOLED |
| Flat, Curve | Flat, centre O-hole |
| Resolution | 2340 x 1080 |
| PPI | 390 |
| Ratio | 19.5:9 |
| Screen to Body % | 84.8% |
| Colours bits | 8-bit 16.7M colours |
| Refresh Hz, adaptive | Fixed 60Hz or Adaptive stepped 60 or 120Hz |
| Touch response | 240Hz |
| Nits typical, test | Not disclosed (436) |
| Nits max, test | 1000 nits HDR/HBM (High Brightness Mode). Tested 937 nits. Peak Brightness: Not disclosed (Tested 1600 nits 2-5% window) |
| Contrast | Infinite |
| sRGB | Not disclosed, but assume 100% |
| DCI-P3 | Not disclosed, but assume 100% of the 16.7 million gamut. |
| Rec.2020 | N/A |
| Delta E (<4 is excellent) | 2.8 – Colours are reasonably accurate. |
| HDR Level | HDR10+ but most streaming content shows as SDR or HDR. |
| SDR Upscale | No |
| Blue Light Control | Yes |
| PWM dimming | All Samsung AMOLED use PWM 240-250Hz approx. and then at 480-500Hz. This is critical for PWM-intolerant people. |
| Daylight readable | Yes |
| Always on Display | Yes |
| Edge display | Yes |
| Accessibility | Full suite of enhancements |
| DRM | Widevine L1 FOR 1080P SDR. You can get HDR10 on YouTube. |
| Gaming | Not Tested. |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus+ |
| Comment | See DXOMARK Display Test Poor palm rejection It often requires more than one touch. Noticeable PWM flicker Off-angle colour tints Photo preview colours are off Low-cost AMOLED on a low-cost phone with lower performance. |
Processor – Pass
This is a low-cost System-on-a-Chip. It performs well for simple tasks, but it slows down as you load it up (video, photos, and games). Not for gamers. RAM and storage speeds seem slower than specified.
| Brand, Model | Samsung Exynos 1380 used in 2023 A54 |
| nm | 5nm |
| Cores | 4 x2.4GHz & 4 x 2.0Ghz |
| Modem | Samsung |
| AI TOPS | NPU 4.9 |
| Geekbench 6 Single-core | 903 |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 2852 |
| Like | Full Benchmarks Like SD6 Gen 1 or MediaTek Dimensity 920 |
| GPU | Mali G68 MP5 |
| GPU Test | |
| Open CL | 2983 |
| Vulcan | 3040 |
| RAM, type | 6GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage, free, type | 128GB 3.1 (seems slower like UFS 2.2) 92GB free. |
| micro-SD | Yes – a hybrid with SIM 2 to 1TB |
| CPDT internal seq. Read MBps sustained | 525 (Jazz 532.22) |
| CPDT internal seq. write MBps sustained | 330 (Jazz 389.95) |
| CPDT microSD read, write MBps | 75/50MBps |
| CPDT external (mountable?) MBps | Seen in ‘Files’ but not mountable. |
| Comment | It is fit for purpose. Exynos gives reasonable performance. Videographers and vloggers will soon run out of space without mountable storage, which is seen as internal storage. |
Throttle test – Pass
It throttles 23% under load – acceptable for typical use.
| Max GIPS | 249906 |
| Average GIPS | 214919 |
| Minimum GIPS | 186929 |
| % Throttle | 23% |
| CPU Temp | 50 |
| Comment | It has acceptable throttling but shows this SoC is not for gamers. |
Comms – Pass
It has Wi-Fi 2.4/5GHz, 6, 2 x 2 MIMO and can connect at a maximum of 1200/1200Mbps. It holds the connection quite well to 10m from the router.
| Wi-Fi Type, model | Wi-Fi 6 AX 2×2 MIMO |
| Test 2m -dBm, Rx/Tx Mbps | -24/1200/1150 (See tests below) |
| Test 5m | -40/1160/1200 |
| Test 10m | -53/915/816 |
| BT Type | 5.3 |
| GPS single, dual | Single – 2m accuracy fine for in-car use. |
| USB type | USB-C 2.0 |
| ALT DP, DeX, Ready For | No |
| NFC | Yes |
| Ultra-wideband | No |
| Sensors | |
| Accelerometer | Yes – combo with Gyro |
| Gyro | Yes – combo with Gyro |
| e-Compass | Yes |
| Barometer | |
| Gravity | |
| Pedometer | |
| Ambient light | Yes |
| Hall sensor | Yes |
| Proximity | Virtual |
| Other | Fingerprint |
| Comment | It is Wi-Fi 6 AX 2×2 MIMO, with a maximum connection speed of 1200/1200. Overall, it performed to spec but there was quite a difference in maximum and minimum speeds over three distance tests. |
LTE and 5G
| SIM | Dual Sim hybrid micro-SD (double-sided) DS model. No eSIM. |
| Active | One at a time |
| Ring tone single, dual | Single |
| VoLTE | Carrier Dependent |
| Wi-Fi calling | Carrier Dependent |
| 4G Bands | B1, 2, 3, 4, 5,7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 25, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41 66 |
| Comment | All Australian bands and most world bands |
| 5G sub-6Ghz | N1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 26 28, 40, 66, 77, 78 |
| Comment | All Australian sub-6GHz and low bands |
| mmWave | No |
| Test Boost Mobile, Telstra | |
| DL/UL, ms | 34.4/22.7/30 – good speed but slow ping |
| Tower 1 -dBm, fW or pW | From -76 to -85 and 3.2 to 25.1pW – very strong single tower strength. |
| Tower 2 | No |
| Tower 3 | No |
| Tower 4 | No |
| Comment | It has a very strong single-tower signal, but as we have come to expect from Exynos modems, they won’t find the following three nearest towers. For city and suburban use. |
Battery – Pass
Typical users will get a full day’s use, but heavy users may need to top up more frequently.
It can charge in 90 minutes with a 9V/2.77AA/25W charger (Samsung genuine but not supplied). it is a little slower with a 25W or more PD charger.
The battery is rated for 500 recharge cycles, so it should give three years of more use.
| mAh | 5000mAh. 4905mAh/19.04Wh actual installed 500 recharge cycles |
| Charger, type, supplied | No Samsung suggests 90 minutes with its 25W (9V/2.77A/25W) |
| PD, QC level | 25W capable or any PD/PPS charger |
| Qi, wattage | N/A |
| Reverse Qi or cable. | No |
| Test (60Hz or adaptive) | Adaptive refresh |
| Charge 0-100% | Genuine Samsung 25W charger: 1 hour 21 minutes GaN PD3 charger: 1 hour 45 minutes |
| Charge 5V, 2A | 3 hours 6 minutes |
| Video loop 50%, aeroplane mode | 14 hours 47 minutes (Claimed 24 hours) |
| PC Mark 3 battery | 14 hours 11 minutes Accubattery 17 hours 49 minutes |
| GFX Bench Manhattan battery | Would not run |
| GFX Bench T-Rex | 446.3 minutes (7.44 hours) 4515 frames |
| Drain 100-0% full load screen on | 5 hours 47 minutes Accubattery 4 hours 54 minutes |
| mA full load | 2200-2300mA – reasonably high accounting for shorter battery life |
| mA Watt idle Screen on | 250-300mA |
| Estimate loss at max refresh | 20% |
| Estimate typical use | Typical users will get 24 hours plus. |
| Comment | Unless you use the Samsung charger with a fixed 9V/2.77A/25W output, PD/PPS chargers will take longer as they vary the voltage to better care for the battery. |
Sound – Pass
It gets quite loud at 84dB, but the lack of bass and some clipping mean you should use Bluetooth headphones.
It has Dolby Atmos decode and its EQ for better sound.
| Speakers | Stereo – top earpiece and bottom down-firing. |
| Tuning | No |
| AMP | 2 x TFA9879 MPX Class-D stereo amp and DPS 1.6, 2.65W@8, 4OHM .2% THD |
| Dolby Atmos decode | Yes |
| Hi-Res | No |
| 3.5mm | No |
| BT Codecs | SBC, AAC, aptX (free), LDAC, and SSC (Samsung scalable codec for Samsung devices only). 16-bit/44100Hz/Stereo |
| Multipoint | Should be |
| Dolby Atmos (DA) | Yes, and DA gaming |
| EQ | Dolby – Normal, Pop, Classic, Jazz, Rock and custom |
| Mics | One top and two bottom |
| Test dB – all on EQ flat DA off | |
| Volume max | 84 – louder than average |
| Media (music) | 80 |
| Ring | 80 |
| Alarm | 80 |
| Notifications | 80 |
| Earpiece | 55 |
| Hands-free | The bottom two mics are for voice only, and the top is for noise reduction. It has good hands-free pick-up to about 600mm and good speaker loudness. |
| BT headphones | Excellent separation and volume. |
Samsung A35 5G 2024 Sound Quality – Passable
Read: How to tell if you have good music – sound signature is the key
| Deep Bass 20-40Hz | No |
| Middle Bass 40-100Hz | No |
| High Bass 100-200Hz | Building slowly past 200Hz to 300Hz |
| Low Mid 200-400Hz | Flattening |
| Mid 4000-1000Hz | Flattening |
| High-Mid 1-2kHz | Flat |
| Low Treble 2-4kHz | Flat but choppy |
| Mid Treble 4-6kHz | Flat |
| High Treble 6-10kHz | Linear decline to 10Hz |
| Dog Whistle 10-20kHz | Linear decline to 20Hz |
| Sound Signature type | Bright Vocal (bass recessed, mid, treble boosted) – for vocal tracks and string instruments, but can make them harsh. |
| Soundstage | Stereo: as wide as the phone Dolby Atmos: wider by about 10cm with some 3D height and better clarity. |
| Comment | I am pleasantly surprised at 84dB (loud), but as usual, the lack of bass makes this a candidate for listening via headphones (no 3.5mm). |
Build – Pass+
You do not expect Gorilla Glass Victus+ at this price level. IP67 is also a bonus.
| Size (H X W x D) | 161.7 x 78 x 8.2 |
| Weight grams | 209 – quite heavy for this class |
| Front glass | GG Victus+ |
| Rear material | Glass (could be Acrylic Glass PMMA) |
| Frame | Plastic |
| IP rating | IPX4 10L water spray for 5 minutes IP67 1m water for 30 minutes Not warranted for water ingress |
| Colours | Awesome Navy Awesome Ice blue |
| Pen, Stylus support | No |
| Repairability | easy to repair |
In the box – Passable
No matter how much we criticise a manufacturer for not including a charger (and it costs $99 to buy a 65W Samsung one plus $20 for 3W cable), people only focus on the phone’s price. This is really a $669 phone!
| Charger | No |
| USB cable | No (possibly on the retail version) |
| Buds | No |
| Bumper cover | No |
| Comment | More Samsung penny-pinching |
Operating System – Pass+
Here is the strength of this device: it has a two-year warranty, four OS upgrades, and five years of regular security patches.
But there is about 10GB of Bloatware that Samsung receives payment to pre-load. We recommend using Google Apps instead and removing Samsung-specific apps. This makes it easy to swap to any brand of Android device.
We are also concerned that there are massive privacy implications of accepting all of Samsung’s seven legal ‘policies’ totalling 25,214 words – just to use a phone. That is on top of Google Android policies, any app policies, and Microsoft 365 and OneDrive if you use those for backup. The policies are at the end of the document. Our take – extreme arse covering! You can also use the phone without a Samsung account but it does nag you.
| Android | 14 |
| Security patch date | 1 February 2024 (we would expect quarterly) |
| UI | 6.1 (No AI as on the S24-series) |
| OS upgrade policy | Up to 4 OS upgrades |
| Security patch policy | Up to 5 years |
| Bloatware | It has 92GB free, and about 10GB is from bloatware. There are 33 Samsung Apps (we recommend using Google equivalents also loaded), Facebook, Galaxy Store, Gaming Hub, Microsoft 365, LinkedIn, Netflix, Spotify, etc. |
| Comment | Samsung has an excellent upgrade policy, and One UI is easy to use. Privacy can be an issue, as Samsung encourages you to log in and create a Samsung account, but you can avoid that. You can’t avoid Google! |
| Security | |
| Fingerprint sensor location, type | Optical under glass – lots of fails |
| Face ID | 2D |
| Other | Knox and Secure folder |
| Comment | One of the more secure Android phones. |
Samsung A35 5G 2024 rear camera – Pass
What do you want from a $549 smartphone camera? The answer should be decent daylight and office light images with some low-light capability.
Yes, you get all this, but not a lot more. The DXOMARK test rated it 104 or 125th in the ranking. That is average all around, and it is flanked by smartphone cameras from 2021-22.
Our take
- Decent outdoor photos
- Struggles in low light.
- Post-processing is weak and slow (courtesy of low Exynos TOPs).
- The photo preview is way off the finished shot.
- Video is only successful at 1080p.
| Rear Primary | Wide |
| MP | 50MP bins to 12.5MP |
| Sensor | S5KGN8 |
| Focus | PDAF |
| f-stop | 1.8 |
| um | .8 bins to 1.6 |
| FOV° (stated, actual) | 69.7 (H) x 82 (D) |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Zoom | 10X digital zoom |
| Rear 2 | Ultra-wide |
| MP | 8MP |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC08A3 |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | 1.12 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 96.2 (H) X 108.7 (D) |
| Stabilisation | Super Steady 1080p |
| Zoom | 8X digital |
| Rear 3 | Macro |
| MP | 5MP |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC5035 |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.4 |
| um | 1.12 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 4cm focus |
| Stabilisation | No |
| Zoom | No |
| Special | |
| Video max | 4K@30fps No Zoom and 1080p with Zoom |
| Flash | Yes |
| Auto-HDR | Yes |
| QR code reader | Yes |
| Night mode | Nightography (binning) |
| Comment DXOMARK is pretty spot on – this is an average camera producing average shots on good day and in office light. We tried 4K@30fps video on both the selfie and primary camera. Results were average. 1080p at 30fps is far better with OIS and EIS. |
Samsung A35 5G 2024 Front Camera – Pass
Selfie has decent natural skin tones but its tight field of view and fixed focus make is a single selfie lens.
| MP | 13MP (Actually 12.8MP and images are cropped to 9.5MP) |
| Sensor | Samsung SK53L6 |
| Focus | Fixed |
| f-stop | 2.2 |
| um | 1.12 |
| FOV (stated, actual) | 62.7 (H) x 73 (D) – more for single selfies |
| Stabilisation | EIS |
| Flash | Screen fill |
| Zoom | No |
| Video max | 4K@30fps, but don’t try. |
CyberShack’s view – Samsung A35 5G 2024 is a good all-rounder
I can see why Samsung sells bucketloads of A-series. It has all you need, and people trust a non-Chinese brand.
It looks good, feels nice in the hand, and the AMOLED screen is a cut above average for the price.
Competition
At $549 (plus $119 for Samsung’s charger and cable—a total of $668), it is not really low-cost, but people will pay a premium for the name.
I would suggest you look at
- Motorola g82 5G 2023 128GB $499 with a Qualcomm SD695 SoC and 30W charger inbox. Motorola g82 5G – exceptional value/features
- OPPO Reno IIF 5G 2024 256GB $599 (review coming) with a very impressive camera and charger inbox
- OPPO A98 2024 256GB $649 OPPO A98 5G 2023 – a class leader in many ways with charger inbox.
Samsung A35 5G 2024 ratings
This uses a new scale where Pass is closer to 70/100 and we mark up or down from there.
| Features | 80 |
| It has everything you need | |
| Value | 80 |
| It is the same price as the 2022 A34 | |
| Performance | 75 |
| The Exynos is an average-performance chip. Phone signal strengths make this a city, suburbs phone. | |
| Ease of Use | 90 |
| Excellent 4-year OS upgrade, 5-year update policy, and 2-year warranty but take time to read the privacy policies. | |
| Design | 80 |
| Nice, but a little bland | |
| Rating out of 10 | 8 |
| Final comment | It is a worthy successor to the 2023 A34 5G and a safe buy for the price. AMOLED screen and excellent updates – no downside. |
| Pro | |
| 1 | Decent all-day battery life and faster charging capability |
| 2 | 2-year warranty, OS updates for four years, security updates for five years |
| 3 | Bright sAMOLED screen |
| 4 | Privacy policies are ridiculously complex. |
| 5 | AMOLED, IP67 and NFC are not usually found at this price. |
| Con | |
| 1 | The 2024 A35 is an incremental update to the A34 |
| 2 | No charger inbox |
| 3 | Privacy polices are ridiculously complex. |
| 4 | Phone signal strengths are good but limited to one tower. |
| 5 | Samsung is becoming more of its own ecosystem with a little too much Samsung bloatware – Apple-like. |
Samsung A35 5G 2024
$549 plus charger and 3W cable
Pros
- Decent all-day battery life and faster charging capability
- 2-year warranty, OS updates for four years, security updates for five years
- Bright sAMOLED screen
- The camera is suitable for daylight shots but is an average performer all around.
- AMOLED, IP67 and NFC are not usually found at this price.
Cons
- The 2024 A35 is an incremental update to the A34
- No charger inbox
- Privacy polices are ridiculously complex.
- Phone signal strengths are good but limited to one tower.
- Samsung is becoming more of its own ecosystem with a little too much Samsung bloatware – Apple-like.
