Galaxy A13 5G does not offer many surprises, good or bad. For $ 249, this is a reliable device with good performance, healthy battery life and a decent camera. None of this is a surprise, because Samsung produces many of these types of phones, and that’s something the company is very good at.
The phone launched in the US as an exclusive of AT&T; you can now buy it unlocked or through T-Mobile. But this initial connection to the operator plays the role of what may be the most compelling reason to look at the A13 5G right now: it is certified to use AT&T’s recently activated C-band spectrum. This is the 5G variety, which promises faster than 4G speeds and good signal range – a combination that some US 5G networks have lacked so far. The list of C-band-enabled devices at startup was short and dominated by expensive flagships, with the exception of the Galaxy A13 5G.
More phones at different price points will join the C-band club this year, but for now the A13 5G offers the lowest access price if you’re at AT&T. This in itself is not a good reason to buy the A13 5G, especially since AT&T’s C-band launch is limited to just eight US cities and launch will be slow, but that’s a point in favor of the A13 if you are already considering it.
Galaxy A13 5G has a 6.5-inch 720p screen – low resolution for a relatively large display. It’s also an LCD panel that’s common in the $ 300 range and looks a bit washed out compared to the richer OLED displays you’ll find on mid-range phones like the Galaxy A52 5G. It has a refresh rate of up to 90Hz, which makes scrolling and animations look a little smoother than the standard 60Hz. But overall, poor resolution and low contrast mean the screen isn’t one of the A13 5G’s strengths.
However, the MediaTek 700 5G chipset and its 4 GB RAM are strengths. For a phone at this price, it handles everyday tasks very well, allowing me to jump quickly between apps and is reluctant to close apps in the background too diligently. It stutters a bit on more intense tasks like scaling / scrolling around Google maps or Zillow, but overall the A13 handles everything I wanted to do in my daily life.
The A13 5G includes only 64 GB of internal memory. This is not uncommon in the budget class and is enough to handle if you are very careful with storage options and downloads in the cloud, but not much. You may need to include an additional $ 10-20 for a microSD card in your purchase.
There’s a fingerprint sensor built into the power button on the side of the phone, and it’s very fast – so fast that I actually double-checked that the phone actually locked properly (that was). It’s not as sleek as the display readers of high-end phones, but it actually feels more reliable and easier to use. Long live the side-mounted fingerprint reader, I say.
Battery life is another strength of the A13. The 5000 mAh cell on my phone lasts for several days of moderate Wi-Fi usage; a heavy user will probably spend a whole day and then a few.
The A13 5G’s camera setup is basic: it has a 50-megapixel main camera with an f / 1.8 lens, which is joined by 2-megapixel macro and depth sensors. These 2-megapixel cameras are mostly useless, so you really only work with the standard wide-angle rear camera and 5-megapixel selfie camera. There’s no ultra-wide – you’ll need to upgrade to Samsung’s A32 5G – and there’s no night mode in the camera app.
Photos in bright daylight look good, and even images in moderate light look good enough for social media, although images in very low light are a blur of noise reduction. The live preview in the camera app while taking pictures looks terribly washed out, but the end product almost always looks much better. This makes it difficult to know exactly what you’re getting, so you just have to trust the A13’s camera to do its thing.
Galaxy A13 5G is a good budget device that makes sense for those who are more interested in daily performance and long battery life than a high quality screen or flexible camera. If you have a tight budget and are an AT&T customer, these are two more reasons to consider the A13. The operator’s C-band 5G is now limited to a few markets, but the phone will be supported by three years of security updates and two years of operating system upgrades – long enough to see the network expand to more major cities.
If any of the above criteria do not apply to you, then there are better options for the same price – even less! The $ 239 OnePlus N200 5G is a great choice if you’re using T-Mobile – it offers comparable performance and a better screen for $ 10 less than the retail price of the A13. The N200 doesn’t work on Verizon’s AT&T or 5G networks, so it’s only a 4G phone if you’re with one of these carriers – not a bad deal for the price, but you’ll miss the better 5G speeds that will come in the next few years .
As of this writing, the price of the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G has dropped to $ 249 if purchased through AT&T (from $ 399), offering a better screen and an equally healthy battery life. It’s not currently certified for the AT&T C-band, but it’s a good buy if you’re still out of one of these eight starting cities.
If you don’t like these alternatives, then the A13 5G will do you good – it’s a reliable device for well under $ 300, fully prepared for the next generation of wireless technology, without any unpleasant (or pleasant) surprises.
Photo by Alison Johnson / The Verge