Amid the rumours of Samsung abandoning the budget segment for good in India, the company recently launched two back to back affordable phones-- Galaxy F13 and M13 series.
DH has received both the review units. First up, we are bringing the Galaxy F13 review. I used the device for close to a week and here are my thoughts on Samsung's Android phone.
Build quality, design, and display
Our Galaxy F13 review unit is a waterfall blue model. It has a visually appealing textured shell on the back. It features a fingerprint pattern and this does two jobs good-- one, it offers a fine grip for the fingers to hold on to the big phone, and two, it ensures the phone remains stain-free from fingerprint smudges.
Samsung also offers two more colour variants--sky green, sunrise copper. They too, look good.
On the front, it features 6.6-inch full HD+ (1080 x 2408p) LCD display with Infinity-V design language. The camera occupies a small space at the top and doesn't obstruct much while viewing contents as such. The screen is bright and has a pixel density of 400 ppi (pixels per inch) and features 84.5 per cent screen-to-body ratio.
The interesting thing to note is that the screen is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 shield, really rare for a phone in sub-Rs 15,000 to boast such good screen shield. Most of the budget phones don Gorilla Glass 3 or sometimes some unknown glass protection and may not do the job of protecting the screen from daily wear-and-tear.
With Gorilla Glass 5 series, the Galaxy F13 is more resistant to damage. It can even survive drops of up to 1.6 meters (approx. 5.2 feet) on hard and rough surfaces.
As far as the viewing experience is concerned, I had no pressing issue to complain about. I was able to read news articles and watch YouTube clips outdoors without any problems.
Also, there is an eye comfort shield option in the Display settings. Once enabled, it will lower the blue light emitted on the screen, and this way, it will lessen the impact on the eyes while reading at night. Users can schedule it by selecting the option- sundown to sunrise option or customised time slot as well.
The device comes with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor just below the volume rockers. It is easily reachable for the thumb or any finger to reach for to unlock the screen. And, it has a low rejection rate.
Another notable aspect of the device is the triple-slot tray option, which offers options for users to install two nano-type SIMs and a microSD card. This way, users need not have to compromise on a second SIM or for extra storage, which is common complaint among new phone buyers in the budget and mid-range segment.
Photography
Samsung Galaxy F13 features a dual-camera module-- wide 50 MP (f/1.8, PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus) with a 5MP 123-degree (f/2.2) wide-angle sensor with LED flash on the back.
The phone takes really good pictures in normal sunlight conditions. In the photos, the subjects particularly the flowers look a tad warmer than natural. But, it is actually visually better to the eyes. Also, it retains the details.
Even the ultra-wide angle photos cover a lot of area within the frame. The portrait mode too works great. Not just the human face, but also it was able to do a fine job in capturing a bottle, flowers with good differentiation between background bokeh effect and foreground with clear-cut edge detection.
But, there is no dedicated Night mode. Also, in dark conditions, the focus loses speed. However, if you have steady hand and switch on the LED flash, as you can see in the sample photo, the result pictures are actually decent in the budget class of phones.
On the front, it houses 2 MP (f/2.4) and it takes fine selfies. If you want to superficially enhance the photo, Samsung offers a good number of tools and effects.
The Galaxy F13 takes decent videos in the full HD (1080p) at 30 fps (frames per second). It can also take HD (720p) at 30 fps.
Performance
The Galaxy F13 is powered by Samsung's 8nm class Exynos 850 octa-core chipset with a Mali-G52 graphics processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB / 128GB storage (expandable up to 1TB) options. The device also supports Ram Plus and can extend up to 8GB, provided there is enough storage space in the phone.
The phone works fine in terms of day-to-day chores such as opening apps, operating the camera, and streaming videos. While playing graphics-rich games such as Asphalt 9: Legends, the Galaxy F13's performance was decent.
With a 6,000mAh battery, the Samsung handset was able to consistently offer one and half days of normal usage. Even if you go on extended sessions of binge-watching OTT content, the device will still be able to last a full day without any anxiety of battery draining dry before you could reach home from the office.
Another notable aspect is that Samsung is once again started including chargers with the retail box. With this device, the company is offering a 15W charger. It takes a little over two hours to fully charge from zero to 100 per cent.
Final verdict
Pros
Good build quality and display
Decent performance
Excellent battery life
Three dedicated slots for two nano SIMs and a microSD card
Cons
Lacks night mode, but with a steady hand and LED flash on, you can get decent low-light photos and better most of the competition in its class
Samsung Galaxy F13 comes in two configurations-- 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 4GB RAM + 128GB storage-- for Rs 11,999 and Rs 12,999, respectively.
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