Samsung has done it again with their newest addition to the A series lineup – the Galaxy A14 5G. Released in early 2023, this phone brings some exciting upgrades while maintaining that sweet sub-$200 price tag. I took the A14 for a test drive to give you the full low-down on Samsung‘s latest affordable smartphone. Read on for the details!
Overview and Specs
Right off the bat, the A14 5G impresses with its large 6.6" LCD display sporting a 1080×2408 resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and graphics. The Exynos 1330 chipset keeps things humming along nicely with octa-core processing speeds up to 2.4GHz.
You‘ll also get a very respectable 4GB or 6GB RAM option plus 64GB or 128GB of storage, with the ability to add up to 1TB more via microSD card slot. The phone ships with the latest Android 13 operating system and One UI 5 interface.
On the back, a 50MP main camera leads the triple camera setup, with added depth and macro lenses rounding things out. The front-facing camera receives a bump up to 13MP over previous models. A 5,000mAh battery keeps power flowing well into a second day of use in most cases.
Display and Design
While made of plastic, the Galaxy A14 presents a very premium aesthetic reminiscent of the S series flagship devices. The rear design sports a striking circular patterned texture in the top corner, giving it a bit more visual flair over a flat black slab. Despite the larger screen, it still feels slim and sleek in the hand.
The 6.6” LCD display sees a resolution bump to Full HD+ 1080 x 2408 pixels. This delivers excellent sharpness with a density of 401 pixels per inch. Images and text showcase high clarity as a result.
Brightness comes in at a peak of 519 nits, allowing easy outdoor visibility. Contrast ratio hits a very solid 1500:1 as well, providing relatively inky blacks for an LCD panel.
The one shortcoming on the display relates to color, which skews slightly blue overall. sRGB coverage hits 112% but lacks accuracy compared to flagship phones. Most users would be hard pressed to notice though.
By switching to Natural mode, color temperature drops to align closer to reference white points. Vivid saturates more for extra vibrance.
How does the A14 display stack up against the competition?
| Phone | Brightness (nits) | Contrast Ratio | sRGB Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galaxy A14 | 519 | 1500:1 | 112% |
| Moto G Power 2023 | 430 | 1200:1 | 104% |
| Galaxy A53 5G | 800 | Infinite | 100% |
As you can see, the AMOLED screen on the Galaxy A53 tops them all in brightness and contrast due to its OLED tech. But for an LCD, the A14 holds its own rather well at this price point.
The waterfall style edges give a seamless feel when swiping off the sides of the screen too. Despite the larger display over its predecessor, the phone itself remains fairly compact at 167.7 x 78 x 9.1mm. Combined with the grippy plastic back, it feels secure in hand.
Performance and Benchmark Results
Under the hood, MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 chipset delivers excellent response and speed for a budget smartphone. The octa-core CPU arrangement consists of two high-power Arm Cortex-A76 cores operating at 2.2GHz paired with six efficiency Cortex-A55 cores at 2 GHz.
The Mali-G57 MC2 graphics processor handles rendering the display interface and graphics smoothly even during intense 3D gaming. Plus you get either 4GB or 6GB of quick LPDDR4x RAM to power through demanding multitasking.
In real world use, the Galaxy A14 zips through tasks like launching and switching between messaging apps, social media, and news sites without hesitation. Even with 10+ Chrome tabs plus multiple heavy games open, very minimal lag occurred.
Gaming provides solid fun on the A14 too. Titles like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty run at mostly consistent 30+ fps on medium graphics settings. Asphalt 9 at max settings sees only occasional barely perceptible stutter. Lighter 2D games perform flawlessly.
Let’s examine some benchmark results:
Geekbench 5
- Single Core Score: 687
- Multi Core Score: 2,091
Beating out last year’s Galaxy A13 and the latest Moto G Power, the A14’s scores come impressively close to 2021’s flagship Galaxy S21 phone thanks to software and architectural optimizations by Samsung.
3DMark Wild Life
- Overall: 1232
- Graphics Score: 1442
Its 3D graphics chops even exceed the Pixel 6a by a small margin, again demonstrating the surprising gaming abilities of this budget contender.
PCMark
- Work 3.0 Score: 7947
This test evaluates overall everyday usage performance including photo editing, video calls, web browsing, writing, and light gaming. The A14 achieves excellent results surpassing most phones at twice its cost.
Needless to say, the Dimensity 700 SoC punches far above its weight class. Paired with Samsung’s software optimizations, it feels years ahead of the competition on responsiveness and capability. Casual users and gamers alike with thrill at the speed and fluidity on tap.
Top Tier Triple Camera System
Continuing their trend of bringing premium features to affordable price points, the A14 sports an impressive array of cameras. The star of the show resides on the back – a 50MP wide angle lens using the capable Isocell JN1 sensor.
In bright lighting, images showcase fantastic fine detail and texture. 4-in-1 pixel binning yields vibrant 12.5MP shots. HDR processing does a nice job retaining highlights and shadows for balanced exposures featuring rich contrast.
Portraits shot with the 2MP depth sensor illustrate accurate edge detection and subject isolation from the backgrounds. The depth mapping when enables portrait mode works near perfectly for both human and pets subjects alike.
If you want to get creative, the 2MP macro lens facilitates extreme close up photography showcasing tiny details and unique abstract compositions other phones couldn’t achieve.
In dim indoor conditions, noise becomes more visible and fine details soften slightly. But color and exposure accuracy remain solid. This outperforms flagship phones from just 2-3 years ago.
Activating Night Mode makes a big difference through multi-frame processing and AI enhancements. It managed to brighten up nearly pitch black scenes while keeping noise to a minimum. Still not at Pixel 6a night sight levels, but impressive nonetheless from a sub-$200 device.
Around front, the upgraded 13MP selfie camera does an admirable job in all lighting. There’s a good amount of fine detail suitable even for portrait shots. It also handles skin tones nicely. The background de-focus effect looks quite natural as well.
All around, this is one of the best camera systems found on an ultra-budget Android phone. While not matching current flagship versatility, it exceeds expectations and outdoes mid-range devices from just a couple years ago.
Next Generation Connectivity
As its namesake denotes, the Galaxy A14 5G delivers lightning fast uploads and downloads over 5G cellular networks. My tester A14 model supports sub-6 GHz 5G, though a separate mmWave compatible version will come later.
In timed speed tests using Fast.com, the A14 averaged 650 Mbps down on full signal T-Mobile 5G UC compared to 450 Mbps on a strong LTE connection. Uploads over 5G came in around 38 Mbps vs 27 Mbps on LTE.
Streaming YouTube at 1440p over 5G barely paused for buffering even once during a 30 minute video. And downloading the 1.8GB game Call of Duty Mobile took just 35 seconds!
But there are some caveats to note regarding the current state of 5G:
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Coverage remains limited to urban metros right now. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T continue expanding networks across the country but many rural regions still lack access. For buyers there, LTE will likely serve you fine still.
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Differences in speed shrink if not under direct outdoor line of sight conditions. From inside stores and buildings, LTE and 5G downloads only showed around a 15% advantage to 5G.
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Uploads did not demonstrate as drastic speed jumps likely due to using lower spectrum bands optimized for downlink traffic by carriers.
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Battery life takes a small hit when continuously using 5G. However with so few locations providing maximum reception, the differences should prove marginal for most users.
In summary – buyers in 5G coverage zones will surely appreciate quicker access to cloud storage and streaming media. But current real world experience often still feels quite comparable to 4G LTE networks in daily use. We likely need another generation or two of infrastructure expansion before 5G’s capabilities are fully realized.
But at least the Galaxy A14 gives buyers a foot in the door on future proof next-gen connectivity as carriers boost speeds over the next 2-3 years.
All Day Endurance Battery
The Galaxy A14 sees another bump up in battery capacity from last year‘s model to an ample 5000 mAh cell. Even under heavy daily use cases spans lasting 12-14 hours per charge. More moderate users can likely go 1.5 – 2 days before needing to plug in.
In our video streaming rundown test over Wi-Fi with brightness set to 50%, the A14 lasted just a few minutes shy of 16 hours before shutting down. In comparisons, the Moto G Power 2023 made it around 18 hours and Galaxy A53 hit 20 hours in the same test.
So while the A14 battery trails the longevity champ G Power by a couple hours, it still offers excellent runtime suitable for even the most demanding smartphone addicts. Standby power efficiency seems excellent as well thanks to Exynos SoC optimizations. Over a 3 day period with light intermittent use, the phone only drained about 25% charge.
Charging does require some patience unfortunately. With the included cable and 15W adapter, I clocked 120 minutes to full. At least Samsung includes fast charging support up to 25W. So if you buy a compatible brick, juice up times can be nearly cut in half.
Overall for a phone at this price, having the ability to potentially go days between charges makes the A14 a great pick for battery-conscious shoppers.
One UI 5 and Android 13
The Galaxy A14 launches with the most up to date Android 13 operating system and Samsung’s tailored One UI 5 software overlay. That means you can take advantage of the latest features and security right out of the box.
Lockscreen customization sees a major improvement allowing fun new ways of making your phone uniquely you. Stack widgets vertically to get info at a glance before unlocking. Apply filters and animation effects to the wallpaper to really make it pop. Switch up fonts and colors all around as well for extra personalization.
Notifications also become more intuitive to manage. Less disruptive alerts appear collected at the bottom rather than crowding up the screen. This really cleans up the interface for only your most relevant messages occupying prime space.
Improved connectivity round out the changes. Quick Share enables fast nearby file transfers to friends and seamless syncing across your Galaxy devices. You also gain more granular control over app permissions to dial in privacy and security exactly how you want.
One UI 5 proves once again Samsung can match and even exceed stock Android functionally. longtime Galaxy phone users should feel right at home. And Android newcomers can rest easy with excellent default settings requiring little setup.
Who Should (and Shouldn‘t) Buy the Galaxy A14
If you want excellent bang for buck value packed with features typically reserved for mid-range phones, the Galaxy A14 5G delivers in spades. Performance can keep up with all but the most demanding power users. The cameras outpace other brands‘ budget offerings. And best of all, you still get that signature polished Samsung design.
Battery warriors and media mavens will also appreciate the large screen real estate and 2+ day battery endurance. Improved gaming chops make it a great casual gaming companion as well, though hardcore mobile gamers may want to step up to a higher-powered device.
Those focused primarily on photography or wanting more premium flagship features should look elsewhere however. The new Galaxy S23 line provides much more photographic versatility starting at $800.
And shoppers demanding top computing performance for competitive gaming or intensive creative workloads do better to consider something like the ROG Phone 6 at around $900.
But for just $200? The Galaxy A14 5G punches far above its weight, besting numerous higher cost rivals. For budget buyers wanting all essential features without major compromises, Samsung‘s latest affordably priced A series entry emerges the undisputed frontrunner.
