OnePlus has been faithful for long. No matter what part of the world we have travelled to, connectivity has never been an issue... not until late April. Another assignment, another trip. What could possibly go wrong? Everything.

After landing in Philadelphia, the phone came alive but there was zero data connectivity, and tinkering with the settings didn’t help. At that point, no data meant bad news... from accessing travel documents stored in the mailbox to calling an Uber went for a toss.

Just when the chips were down and my fingers fumbled inside the bag for a strip of chewing gum, a solution popped up — a review unit that had accidentally stayed behind. It was the Samsung Galaxy A70, which in way of specs rival OnePlus 6 and 6T, among other devices. Here’s an account of what followed.

Samsung Galaxy A70 Picture: Samsung

Setting it up

Luckily, I had activated the phone a couple of days earlier. But none of the important apps required during an assignment trip had been downloaded. The SIM card slips in and voila, within a few seconds, the roaming sign comes on and a few seconds hence, data. All hassle-free.

The next 30 minutes were dedicated to downloading the required apps. Even with a 6.7-inch (6.5-inch with rounded corners) display (full HD+sAMOLED), the new device slipped into the hand like an old friend.

The next worry popped up — the device had 30 per cent charge but was that enough to download the required apps? It did and while that was happening, one could not help but fiddle around with the device. The first thing that caught the eye was the shiny rear panel, even though it’s not glass. But it is advisable to use the transparent case that comes in the box, without which smudges would be all over the place.

The small teardrop-like notch has allowed the South Korean company to maintain a great screen-to-body ratio. Needless to say, Samsung has the best display panel in the market and that means colour reproduction is just spot on.

Picture perfect?

Philadelphia is an old city with a lot of big heritage buildings and also at its heart are some fine museums with huge artworks. Here’s how the triple shooter 32MP+5MP+ 8MP) set up on the back fared.

Pictures taken in daylight are all winners. There is depth and the colour reproduction is absolutely up to scratch. But it is the wide-angle shots that impressed most. The fish-eye effect is so slight that focusing on it would be nothing but nitpicking. Even at night, the wide-angle lens did wonders, capturing every detail of buildings, landscape and museum artefacts.

Performance

Full marks for incorporating a 4,500mAh battery. With each full charge, we were able to achieve more than a day’s use. A usual day involved taking hundreds of photographs, video editing and lots of social media activities.

Of course, credit goes to the Snapdragon 675 octa-core chip for powering the device. All the usual games run on full speed, with zero lag and at the same time, the device doesn’t heat up. Besides, six gigs of RAM ensures smooth usage when one works on multiple apps simultaneously.

Another interesting feature is that the phone is the first in the Galaxy A series to offer Samsung Pay (not Samsung Pay Mini), which allows contactless payment.

Verdict

Outstanding display. Great battery life. Perfect camera set up. The Galaxy A70 is big yet comfortably pocketable... it is a competition-beating device.

At a glance

Display: 17.03cm (6.7”) FHD+ (1080x2400) super AMOLED Infinity-U display

Camera: Rear — 32MP (F1.7) + 8MP (F2.2) + 5MP (F2.2); front — 32MP (F2.0)

Memory: 6GB RAM and 128GB storage (expandable up to 512GB)

Battery: 4,500mAh (25W super-fast charging; USB Type C)

Processor: Snapdragon 675

Price: Rs 28,990