I really liked last year’s Galaxy A33. I called it the best, hidden gem in the sea of smartphones because of its value. And now, we have the new Galaxy A34 with us. What has changed and can I call this new one a hidden gem too?
We’ll go through our usual points and then evaluate again if we can call it a hidden gem. We will also be comparing it with the Galaxy A54 – so watch that review first if you haven’t already.
Design
The design language is literally the same as the A54. From afar, I’m sure many people will see this and think that it’s the new S23 because they’re all using the same individual protruding circle for each camera. I’m not complaining because this design looks absolutely minimalistic and gorgeous – but it’ll get boring real soon since so many devices are using the same design.
The colors available are also the same between the A34 and A54. They’re available in violet, lime, silver, and graphite colors.
What’s different though, is the finish on the back panel. The Galaxy A34 retains the matte plastic finish – and I like this more than the glossy finish on the A54.
Also, I need to point this out – the Galaxy A34 is much larger than the A33 from last year, and even larger than the A54 too. For that, we’ll have to talk about the display.
Display
It’s now using a massive 6.6-inch Super AMOLED screen with 2340×1080 pixels in resolution. While that 0.2-inch increase doesn’t sound like much, I can assure you that it feels massive when you actually hold it in your hands.
The display itself got a massive upgrade too. It now has 120Hz refresh rate. The maximum possible brightness on this device is also impressive. I used this phone under the bright sun and I can clearly see what’s on the screen. Our colorimeter reports that this screen can go up to around 1000 nits maximum.
The colorimeter also reports the color accuracy of this screen is impressive, covering 100% sRGB and 99.95% of DCI-P3 color gamuts but the ΔE number is rather high at 3.795.
All of those numbers aside, I’m still going to say that this is going to be one of the best screens for a mid-range phone. However, I do want to nitpick about the under-display fingerprint scanner location – it’s placed a little too low to be comfortable to use.
Performance
The performance is also rather weird. It’s no slouch, honestly. So for whatever reason, Samsung decided to stuff in a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset to the A34.
And… surprisingly, this chipset can get about 50fps on Genshin Impact at the highest graphical settings. Of course, it does fluctuate a bit and has a few major stutters here and there – but overall, very good gaming experience overall.
I can’t check the render resolution since GPU Watch is not working on this phone – but hey, they look great to me.
Battery life
Then comes the battery life. Using our standardized testing method of PCMark at locked at 100 nits brightness, we can get about 14 and a half hours. By that, I’m really impressed by the efficiency of the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset.
Oh – before I forget, the Galaxy A34 also has the battery bypass feature. Just remember to perform the ritual, and the feature will appear.
To know how to perform the ritual, watch the video down below where we take you step by step on how to do it.
Charging
As for the charging time of this phone, we’re using our usual Ugreen 100W charger and it takes about 75 minutes to charge from 15% to completion – and I’m going to say the same thing as the A54.
I think Samsung can push the charging speed higher because the temperature is always kept below 37.5°C. There is some headroom to charge faster since other phone companies that push the charging speed higher only reach about 40°C at most
Cameras
Okay, let’s talk about the cameras now. From what I can find out, they’re using the same cameras between the A33 and A34, but Samsung removed the useless depth sensor. Thanks for doing this.
To have a look at all of the pictures and videos taken with the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G, watch our video at the top of this review.
Software
Now for the software. We don’t really have much to talk about here since it’s using the same One UI 5.1 on top of Android 13, just like the A54.
It does have all of the features that I use nearly daily – Edge Panel and also Modes and Routines.
I can’t check if Samsung Pay works or not since this is a “final version but not retail” unit and I have no idea what region’s firmware it is using. However, I checked the phone’s user manual on Samsung’s website, it does have Samsung Pay support.
Few more things to mention
Alright, a few more things to mention. The Galaxy A34 still has IP67 rating which is fantastic.
It also has one dedicated nano SIM card slot and another combo slot so you can stuff in a microSD card slot if you want to.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G?
And so, that leaves us with the conclusion. I do not have the price for this phone at the time of this recording, so I’ll leave all of the information in the description below when I have it. Obviously, I do think that the A34 has to be lower in price than the A54 but from what I’ve tested, I do think that the A34 is better than the A54.
Yes, we’ll have a bigger camera notch but I can live with that. We have better battery life, better performance for gaming, and an arguably better matte finish for the back panel too.
Other parts of these two phones remain pretty much identical and that makes me think that the A34 is better in terms of value when compared with the A54.
Remember to check back later when we have the price because we’ll be updating the prices and holistically concluding our review of this phone.
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