Samsung Galaxy A40 Review UK

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Overview & Price

So you’re interested in the Samsung Galaxy A40? Great, you’re in the right place!

In this Samsung Galaxy A40 review, we go over everything you need to know about the phone, and even showcase the best Samsung Galaxy A40 deals.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 release date was back on April 10^th, alongside the Samsung A20e & Samsung A80.

The Samsung A40 offers some impressive features, here are some of its specs;

• 3100mAh battery
• 4GB of RAM
• Android 9.0 Pie
• AMOLED display
• Dual camera setup

This phone aims to bring 2019 features to a cheap handset that won’t break the bank, and it certainly delivers this promise.

Check out the cheapest Samsung Galaxy A40 contract deals in the UK…

The Samsung Galaxy A40 price is currently £220 here in the UK, making it affordable yet high spec.

You may be wondering is the Samsung Galaxy A40 waterproof? Find out shortly in this review.

Let’s take a closer look at what this phone brings to the table…

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Design & Display

The Samsung Galaxy A40 design is super slim and aesthetic, making it easy to hold in one hand comfortably.

The phone measured 144.3 x 69.0 x 7.9mm, ensuring you can hold it easily without the fear of it slipping out of your hand.

The design does look premium, however, when picking the phone up we soon realised that the plastic and glass combination feels cheaper than some of the more premium Samsung devices.

However, the phone still looks great, and is available in three different colours, Blue, Coral or White. We were lucky enough to get our hands on the Blue variant of the phone to conduct out Samsung Galaxy A40 review.

The phone reflects the light and gives the phone a sort of rainbow look, the colours seem to change depending on which angle the light shines from.

Although the phone is blue, we could see the colours Red, Green, Yellow and more when the light hit the device.

Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy A40 is not waterproof, so be sure not to drop this device whilst in the tub or around water or the phone will be damaged.

On the back of the phone you will find the dual camera set up in the corner, as well as the central fingerprint sensor that is used to keep your device secure.

Just underneath this sensor is the Samsung branding, whilst the rest of the back is plain and slick.

On the right side of the phone is where you will find the volume keys and the power button, whilst at the bottom is the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C used for charging and a single firing speaker that is surprisingly loud.

The front of the phone is covered in glass for the display but more on that in a second. As a whole, the Samsung Galaxy A40 design is impressive, although not quite the same build quality is what you would find with the more premium S range, although for this price tag this was to be expected.

The Samsung A40 display is a 5.9-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED panel with a 1080 x 2220 resolution.

This display is completely flat, unlike the curved displays you will find on the more expensive S range devices.

At the top of the display is a small notch, which Samsung calls its “Infinity-U display”, we found that this isn’t intrusive but if you do feel it is becoming annoying, it can easily be hidden by a black bar in the settings.

The Samsung A40 display has around 437ppi, which ensures you get incredible picture quality with great colour accuracy.

This is fantastic for such a cheap device, and if you are someone that loves to watch Netflix and YouTube then you will definitely enjoy this phone.

We found ourselves immersed in Netflix episodes for long periods and thoroughly enjoyed the media experience this phone provides.

Brightness levels are great, the display goes to 410nits in manual mode and 548nits in max auto mode, meaning you won’t have any issues viewing the panel in direct sunlight.

One thing we should note is that unfortunately, the display doesn’t offer an always-on mode, so to find the date and time you will need to actually unlock the phone, which can become kind of annoying after a while.

As well as this there is no notification LED, so waking up the phone is a must if you wish to check your notifications.

The Samsung A40 also has a face unlock feature, which used the front-facing camera to map your face and keep your phone secure. This works great for ensuring nobody else can get in your phone, and a photograph can’t trick it either.

Throughout this Samsung Galaxy A40 review, we found the display to be our favourite feature, perfect for media lovers.

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Performance

So what are the Samsung A40 specs like?

Well, firstly it has a decent speaker at the bottom of the phone that compliments the AMOLED display nicely.

The speaker isn’t going to blow you away, as volume levels are fantastic and sound does get a little distorted when over 70% volume.

The A40 comes with 64GB of internal storage that we feel is more than enough for the average user.

However, if you do happen to store tons of music and photos on your phone, then you have the option to add a microSD card and top the storage up to 512GB, this is a little excessive but we feel it is nice to have the option if needed.

See Related:

*Samsung Galaxy A80 Review*
*Samsung Galaxy A50 Review*
*Samsung Galaxy A70 Review*
*Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Review*

The phone is powered by Samsung’s very own Exynos 7885 chipset with an impressive 4GB of RAM.

This combination is impressive for such a budget phone, and it ensures that you get smooth scrolling and navigating through the UI.

If you are a gamer, you may want to check out our Samsung Galaxy A70 review, as the A40 will lag slightly when gaming, especially when in high graphic settings.

Gaming is still possible on this phone but if you’re someone who likes to play PUBG in max settings, then this won’t be the phone for you.

We did play some games like Asphalt that ran perfectly fine, and for the most part scrolling through the UI was smooth and effortless.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 runs on Android 9.0 Pie with One UI, this is more optimised for one-handed use, simply swipe down to pull the notification panel down rather than swiping from the top.

As well as this the quick toggles are closer to the bottom making them easier to reach with one hand.

There are tons of Samsung apps pre-installed on the phone that perform most of the functions you will need from the device.

Unfortunately, there is no Bixby app on this phone, and you don’t get the luxury of holding down the power button to activate Bixby.

We love One UI because we feel it is super easy to get used to and understand. We have recently switched to a Samsung device for our personal phone and found it was easy to get to grips with especially coming from an iPhone.

The icons are nice and big too which ensure those with chubby fingers or bad eyesight won’t miss the apps.

All in all, we were impressed with the Samsung Galaxy A40 performance, especially for such a cheap budget phone.

The device is smooth and operates fine for social media and general web browsing, although skip this phone if you’re a big gamer on your smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy A40 camera is a 16MP f/1.7 and a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle.

This combination is pretty strong for a mid-range device and when shooting images in the day we found shots to come out looking great.

Colours are punchy and detail is high, dynamic range is decent but you can sometimes end up with over blown-up images.

There is a scene optimiser, however, we found that it doesn’t work too well and does not make much difference to your images.

The camera app has the same default settings as what it used on other One UI devices, ensuring it is easy and convenient to snap an Instagram worthy shot.

Shutter speed is fast, we didn’t notice any delay between pressing the shooter and the image being taken, this makes for great photos of moving objects or if you’re in a hurry.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 camera has multiple different modes to play around with, one of our favourites being Pro Mode, this makes it easy to capture great-looking images without needing to dive into the settings and adjust them manually.

Nighttime photos are pretty strong too; with little to no noise images come out looking detailed and clear.

However, we wouldn’t waste time messing around with the scene optimiser, as it doesn’t make any difference to the shots when shooting in low light.

The 5MP ultra-wide lens is great for taking group selfies, as it has a great field of view to ensure everyone can fit in the shot without having to bunch up too tight.

That being said, don’t expect the same level of detail and clarity as you will find on the main lens.

The ultra-wide lens does also struggle in low light, so we recommend just sticking with the main shooter when in a dark setting.

Portrait mode does well to produce social media-ready images, and we love the Bokeh effect that blurs out the background to make the subject of the photo clearer.

The Samsung A40 camera lets you adjust the strength of the Bokeh in real-time too, ensuring you get the best portrait shot possible ready for the gram.

Around the front of the camera, you will find the 25MP selfie cam, again this works well in low light however does struggle in low light situations.

Portrait mode works well on this camera too, ensuring you look as handsome as possible with minimal effort.

The selfie cam is definitely one of the strong points of the Samsung A40 camera, ideal for those who blog on their phone or simply use their selfie camera more often than the average user.

When it comes to video recording the A40 can record in 1080p at 30fps, which is pretty impressive for such a budget phone.

Now the footage won’t blow your socks off, however, it is certainly good enough for the odd video here and there.

The footage is clear with plenty of detail and barely any noise, however doesn’t shoot with the wide-angle lens as it gives much less detail.

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Battery Life

The Samsung Galaxy A40 battery is 3100mAh, which is simply average for its price range.

The phone will get you through a full day of use without any issues, but it is certainly not a two-day phone, well depending on how you use it anyway.

The A40 does support 15W fast charging, and the phone does charge up pretty quickly, you can expect 0-100% in around 1.5 hours.

We found that the battery does drain pretty quickly though, this being because of the AMOLED display sucking all of the power.

We found on average we would get around 9 hours of screen on time, which is rather impressive for a phone of this calibre.

Thanks to the Samsung Galaxy A40 using One UI, the phone also offers multiple power-saving modes too, these modes will help you hold on to that last 20% charge.

As a whole, the battery life wasn’t anything to shout and scream about, it’s certainly nothing to be overly concerned about as we are confident it will last you a full day like most 2019 smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Summary

So should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A40?

Well if you are looking for a good looking 2019 smartphone that won’t break the bank then this could be the one for you.

The A40 has a fantastic AMOLED display that is ideal for those that love to binge-watch Netflix and YouTube on their smartphone.

Throughout this Samsung Galaxy A40 review, we found the display to be one of the most impressive aspects of the phone.

That being said when it comes to gaming the A40 is not great, we found that there is significant lag when running on high graphics and fps drops are frequent.

Other than that the Samsung A40 specs are impressive, with One UI helping you navigate around the phone easily.

The Samsung A40 camera is decent too, although it won’t win any gold awards its still certainly good enough to produce social media-ready images, especially the selfie cam.

Considering the Samsung Galaxy A80 is so much more expensive we loved how similar the two phones are, with the A40 offering a similar design and setup.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 is not waterproof, which means you will need to be careful when using this phone around water as if you drop it in, it will break.

Battery life isn’t bad either; you can expect the phone to comfortably get you through a full day of use without any issue.

We hope you have enjoyed our Samsung Galaxy A40 review, feel free to comment and share if you have enjoyed the content.

You can also check out the cheapest Samsung Galaxy A40 deals at the top of the post.

Samsung Galaxy A40 Review: Full Specification

Launch: 2019, March

Body:

• Dimension: 144.4 x 69.2 x 7.9mm (5.69 x 2.72 x 0.31 in)
• Weight: 140g (4.94 oz)
• Build: Front glass, plastic body
• Sim: Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)

Display:

• Type: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
• Size: 5.9 inches, 85.5cm² (-85.5% screen-to-body ratio)
• Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (437 ppi density)
• Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 3

Platform:

• OS: Android 9.0 (Pie)
• Chipset: Exynos 7904 (14nm)
• CPU: Octa-core (2×1.77 GHz Cortex-A73 & 6×1.59 GHz Cortex-A53)
• GPU: Mali-G71 MP2

Memory:

• Card slot: microSD, up to 1TB (dedicated slot)
• Internal: 64GB, 4GB RAM

Camera:

• Primary:
  – 16MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), PDAF
  – 5MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide)
• Features: LED flash, panorama, HDR
• Video: 1080p@30fps
• Single:
  – 25MP, f/2.0, 25mm (wide)
• Video: 1080p@30fps

Sound:

• Loudspeaker: Yes
• 3.5mm Jack: Yes
  – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

Comms:

• WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
• Bluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE
• GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS
• NFC: Yes
• Radio: FM Radio
• USB: 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector

Features:

• Sensors: Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, ANT+

Battery:

• Non-removeable Li-Pro 3100mAh battery
• Charging: Fast battery charging 15W

Misc:

• Colours: Black, White, Blue, Coral
• Price: As seen in above post

Tests:

• Performance: Basemark OS ||: 1804 / Basemark OS || 2.0: 1723  / Basemark X: 12098
• Display: Contrast ratio: infinite
• Camera: Photo / Video
• Loudspeaker:  Voice 66dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 73dB
• Audio Quality: Noise -91.0dB / Crosstalk -85.9dB
• Battery Life: Endurance rating 73h