Starring the ol’ reliable MediaTek Helio G99
You’ve seen the camera, now you will see how well it performs for a casual user. In this section, we will cover the benchmarks, battery life and charging, and real-life gaming usage of the Samsung Galaxy A07 4G and show you how it feels using this phone as a gaming device (spoiler: you shouldn’t).
Benchmarks: As Expected
To recall, the Samsung Galaxy A07 4G features the ageing, but quite reliable, MediaTek Helio G99 made with a 6nm process, so while using it for longer periods, the phone does not feel tense. This chipset comprises of two Cortex A-76 performance cores at 2.2GHz, and six Cortex A-55 efficiency cores clocked at 2GHz. This type of arrangement is somewhat dated, but it works well for budget phones because it is a good balance of performance and power efficiency, and it is relatively affordable to construct. The Helio G99 also uses a manufacturer favorite, if not overused, Mali-G57 MC2 GPU.
The phone comes paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, plus a dedicated MicroSD Card Slot for up to 1TB to store videos, photos, and important files. Perfect for those who are studying and doing TikTok or making videos at once. Another good news for the technical researchers reading is that the Galaxy A07 4G is upgraded from eMMC 5.1 to UFS 2.2, allowing for faster read and write times, which is always a welcome in prices like these.
On Geekbench’s CPU test, the Galaxy A07 4G came with 726 points for Single-core and 1966 for multi-core. This is within the realm of reality for the MediaTek Helio G99.
On AnTuTu, the Galaxy A07 4G has a score of 546,248 points. Which is nothing out of expectations for the Galaxy A07 4G. This should be the minimum for phones within this price range and not phones priced PHP 15,999. Though, you can blame rising RAM prices for absurd phone prices for that.
Normally we would be running a heat test alongside. However, we actually forgot to do it for this phone because we were too busy examining other things. Based on experience however, the phone did not feel hot under normal use, and even while gaming, say Mobile Legends (see below), the temperature rose, as expected, but nothing alarming. This is all thanks to how Galaxy UI Core is designed for low power, low-performance phones such as the Galaxy A07 4G and its 5G counterpart.
In terms of casual performance, we found no issues scrolling, using Facebook and YouTube, listening to music, or opening multiple apps via overlays (e.g. Messenger’s chat bubbles, or YouTube’s PiP mode). Upon first use, we were already impressed on how snappy it is. If you’re getting the phone for that metric alone, you won’t be disappointed.
ACTUAL GAMING PERFORMANCE (at least out of the box):
Clearly, with its 4GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 internal storage, the Galaxy A07 4G is a budget phone of all intent and it’s not exactly meant for gaming. Not especially when it uses a MediaTek Helio G99 which is designed more for snappy casual usage or social media scrolling. Also evident in that chipset is the use of the Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, which also never seem to die out.
We are able to at least play Mobile Legends on to this thing with no problems, albeit in low settings. Because the phone uses a cheap display, the overall graphics feel soft as well. To a casual user, as long it can play well (and we’re confident that users know what they’re paying for), the lower-than-expected graphics should not be 100% concerning. The game did have some stuttering when intense situations, such as teamfights, occur.
What’s great about the Galaxy A07 4G is that it can pick up Wi-Fi signals well and we didn’t lag in a single game. This also applies to data. Although this will depend on where you are so if there are weak signals in your area, then the game might lag.
Due to its low storage, there’s not a lot we can play, and we have to delete some apps and move some videos and photos we’ve taken to another storage. The phone cannot even launch Genshin Impact nor Wuthering Waves without these games running in… let’s just say 1 frame per year.
In conclusion. No, it’s not a gaming phone and it’s not designed to be one.
BATTERY TEST: It Just Works.
We cannot end a performance test without talking about battery life. The Samsung Galaxy A07 4G includes a 5000mAh battery with 25W fast charging. As we mentioned before, there is no charging brick, only the cable. Instead, it is disappointingly given as a freebie instead of being included as-is in the box. The one that was given to is thankfully the legit 25W C-to-C adapter (seen above), and the cable also charges at its maximum, 25W.
According to our battery tests, via PCMark 3.0, the Samsung Galaxy A07 4G is able to last 15 hours from full to 20%. That means it can last an entire day should you try to drain it until it’s dead. This is true on our casual usage wherein we used the phone for taking photos, viewing YouTube via mobile data and hotspot, using Wi-Fi, and gaming, all throughout an entire day. From nearly half a day of use, we were impressed to see at least 40% of charge left through that torture. Indeed, this level of battery life is practical, especially to people who use it for their Angkas rides, deliveries, and emergency situations
While it takes long to drain, it also equally takes so long to charge. Truly a balanced phone in all respects. But seriously though, this phone takes an abysmal 90-minute charge, or 1 hour and 30 minutes even with 25W of charging capacity. However, we see this as still fit for a phone for its price range, and we certainly still expect it, especially during this time when batteries are getting bigger or at least bigger capacity.
Part 4 (and the last part) is up next. We will discuss the speakers and other features. The wrap-up is also in part 4. We can’t wait to see you!