My Galaxy A17 Review: Samsung's $200 Phone Does It All… Slowly

Professionals

• Massive and shiny display screen
• Good photographs for the worth
• Six years of software program and safety assist

Cons

• Multitasking may be tough
• Noticeably sluggish

Samsung’s $200 Galaxy A17 5G makes me grateful that Android is so versatile. That is as a result of throughout my three weeks utilizing probably the most reasonably priced 2026 Galaxy telephone, I stored working into roadblocks with the telephone’s underpowered {hardware}.

Each time I attempted to run a navigation app on the telephone similtaneously streaming music, I discovered that both the track had noticeable pauses and dips or the navigation app would mechanically stop with none discover. This was particularly irritating after I realized I missed my subway cease whereas making an attempt to make it to my pal’s live performance. When the telephone is doing simply considered one of these duties, the A17 hundreds them up quick and even feels easy.

It’s a disgrace as a result of the telephone in any other case appears like an awesome worth. It has entry to almost all the identical apps and providers discovered on costlier Galaxy telephones. I appreciated having Samsung’s Now bar, with dynamic notifications exhibiting how a lot time is left on timers and vital boarding move data for my flights. Samsung’s Good View lets me use Miracast to stream my telephone’s show to a Roku TV, whereas most Android telephones recently solely embrace Chromecast assist. Plus Samsung’s six-year promise of software program and safety updates is unmatched on this value vary.

So whereas I do really feel the Galaxy A17 is likely one of the greatest telephones accessible for most individuals in search of a brand new machine that is below $200, it isn’t an enthusiastic advice.

This telephone may very well be nice for somebody who simply needs a tool that retains issues easy: Sure, you can also make calls, ship texts, take respectable photographs and stream movies out of your favourite social media app for a low value. Simply do not anticipate the Galaxy A17 to excel at duties that require some app juggling.

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My Galaxy A17 navigation and music repair

I found a fast repair for when holding a number of apps open places an excessive amount of pressure on the telephone, like after I used Google Maps and Apple Music on the identical time. Open Settings: Seek for Reminiscence and you may carry up a web page that allows you to record your most vital background apps as Excluded apps. This tells the Galaxy A17 to cease policing how a lot reminiscence these take up, because the telephone is actively checking and turning off apps that you just may not want within the background. And with a restricted 4GB of reminiscence, I hit this pressure always. 

Whereas Samsung does allow you to convert a few of its onboard storage into a further 4GB of reminiscence, the Galaxy A17 merely doesn’t have sufficient area to make multitasking simple. Whereas it isn’t unusual for telephones on this value tier to wrestle with advanced duties, it is irritating to see the Galaxy A17 stumble in frequent multitasking processes similar to navigation or listening to music. 

Samsung Galaxy A17 design, software program, battery

The Samsung Galaxy A17 may not have the stylish vegan leather-based look of the Moto G, however the A17 does make plastic look pretty much as good as you will get. My evaluate unit got here in black, and there is additionally a blue possibility. The design mimics the newer Galaxy telephones by assembling its rear cameras right into a vertically aligned oval digicam bar.

Alongside the entrance is the telephone’s good and shiny 6.7-inch show, which runs at a 1,080p decision. For its reasonably priced value, the telephone’s show is a spotlight, and it runs easily at a 90Hz refresh fee. This made the telephone significantly good for watching movies and searching the online. Whereas video games seemed good, the telephone’s restricted reminiscence and processing energy obtained in the best way of them working nicely.

The Galaxy A17 comes with 4GB of reminiscence and 128GB of storage, which have turn out to be pretty normal for telephones on the $200 value vary. However what bugs me is that this configuration is similar as what the Galaxy A15 supplied two years in the past, and after I reviewed that telephone I additionally felt just like the machine struggled with some duties. Whereas Samsung has a RAM Plus setting to just about increase the reminiscence by “borrowing” from predominant storage, the restricted area rapidly grew to become obvious every time I attempted to make use of the telephone for a number of duties.

The Galaxy A17 makes use of Samsung’s Exynos 1330 processor. In benchmark checks, it scored barely decrease than the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 powering the $180 Moto G Play that I just lately examined. Even with out the checks, it is clear that it’s essential take issues simple with the Galaxy A17. The telephone would typically crawl after I used it for fundamental duties: Once I swipe down from the highest of the display screen to take a look at notifications, there is a noticeable delay between the swipe and the motion on the display screen. Taking part in music whereas texting generally works, and generally does not. And generally when opening an app, I would be greeted with a clean white display screen whereas I waited for belongings to load.

However when the telephone works, I have been delighted by the best way Samsung has been capable of scale down its myriad of providers to its $200 telephone. Samsung Well being, Samsung Pockets and Samsung’s Climate app are absolutely useful and even colourful. Whereas audio performs solely from a single speaker, it will get fairly loud after I placed on my information podcasts in the lounge. Samsung not offers a headphone jack for its under-$200 telephone, which started with final yr’s A16, however it’s simple sufficient to pay attention by means of a  Bluetooth-connected pair of wi-fi earbuds or a forged audio to a speaker. 

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The 5,000-mAh battery helps the telephone final a bit of longer than a day of regular use. I sometimes ended a day with 30% to 40% of battery left. You will in all probability wish to cost the telephone each day and fortuitously it is 25W wired charging pace crammed the battery from 0% to 54% in half-hour. That is fairly good for the worth, and sure means you’ll cost the telephone up whereas preparing for the day.

In our 3-hour YouTube streaming battery check, the Galaxy A17 performs a hair higher than Motorola’s $160 Moto G Play. It depleted to 81% by the point I would completed testing its 5,000-mAh battery. The Play has a barely larger 5,200-mAh battery, which dropped to 79% throughout testing.

Galaxy A17 cameras

The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G carry out pretty nicely for the telephone’s value. There is a 50-megapixel wide-angle digicam, a 5-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro for taking pictures close-up topics. The photographs I took on the pirate-themed Gasparilla Pageant in Tampa, Florida managed to seize all of the motion with out an excessive amount of blurring. That mentioned, the photographs themselves aren’t very detailed, exhibiting the digicam suite’s restricted capabilities.

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The overcast day helped make colours come out, nevertheless it is clear that the cameras haven’t got a large dynamic vary and are not superior sufficient to separate out darkish hair from shadows. However for this value, that is acceptable, as I am glad to see so little movement blur.

The cameras have been challenged extra when making an attempt to zoom in. Photos taken with the preset 2x zoom had an abundance of crushed shadows making darkish colours and textures, like hair, seem to mix collectively.

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With a extra steady topic below respectable lighting, such because the hen stir fry bowl I obtained on the parade, the pictures have quite a lot of element after I did not use the zoom.

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The telephone’s autofocus was on the hen, rice and greens, however the grass behind it and the fallen beads on the bottom mix collectively as a result of the primary lens’ pure bokeh, which seems crunchy (as a substitute of buttery easy and dreamy).

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This ultrawide picture of the identical topic fares higher, with some lack of element on the dish. The background seems clearer because the ultrawide lens retains extra of the picture, the grass, beads and trash in focus.

Like many telephones on this value vary, you may get the perfect ends in environments with good lighting. On this picture from The Ebook Lounge in St. Petersburg, Florida, the bookshelves are on full show and the A17’s cameras are capable of depict the textual content of many of the guide covers. It does wrestle with a couple of: Pores and skin within the Recreation by William Miller within the top-right is barely out of focus, which might be as a result of decrease high quality of the primary digicam’s optics.

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And on this 2x picture, the shelf seems softer as a result of the A17 has to crop in since there’s not a devoted zoom lens. However the number of the guide colours nonetheless seems true to life.

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Selfie photographs taken with the 13-megapixel front-facing digicam get the job carried out, however they are not nice. I would share them with group chats, however in all probability would not put up them publicly. I took the selfie under in a well-lit Manhattan diner. The picture has quite a lot of element in my face: Notice my pores and skin texture and hair.

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Samsung Galaxy A17 5G: The underside line

The Samsung Galaxy A17 5G’s huge promoting level is its $200 value and entry to many fashionable Galaxy options. This telephone would possibly even be supplied without spending a dime with a service deal. With regards to fundamental duties, the Galaxy A17 is able to doing most of them, together with telephone calls, texting, tapping into the subway utilizing Samsung Pockets, internet searching and easy images in well-lit environments. 

But when you end up multitasking, simply know that the Galaxy A17 rapidly turns into irritating. 

When you want a less expensive telephone, the Galaxy A17 is at present the selection I would suggest most for its number of options. Simply be simple with it.

How we check telephones

Each telephone examined by CNET’s opinions crew was really utilized in the true world. We check a telephone’s options, play video games and take photographs. We look at the show to see if it is shiny, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and construct to see how it’s to carry and whether or not it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s efficiency to the extremes utilizing standardized benchmark instruments like GeekBench and 3DMark, together with our personal anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution movies and taking part in graphically intense video games at excessive refresh charges.

All of the cameras are examined in quite a lot of situations from shiny daylight to darkish indoor scenes. We check out particular options like night time mode and portrait mode and evaluate our findings in opposition to equally priced competing telephones. We additionally try the battery life by utilizing it day by day in addition to working a sequence of battery drain checks.

We bear in mind extra options like assist for 5G, satellite tv for pc connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus assist, quick charging speeds and foldable shows, amongst others that may be helpful. We steadiness all of this in opposition to the worth to provide the verdict on whether or not that telephone, no matter value it’s, really represents good worth. Whereas these checks could not all the time be mirrored in CNET’s preliminary evaluate, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.