“Samsung’s latest smartphone takes on the selfie-centric OPPO F7 and Vivo V9”
The launch of the Samsung Galaxy A6 has brought some interesting competition in the Rs 25k smartphone price band. This segment already has compelling offerings such as the selfie-oriented OPPO F7 (review) and Vivo V9 (review), which are targeted at millennials and come with several AI capabilities for enhancing the imaging experience. Samsung too, has equipped its new smartphone with a high-res front camera. Moreover, the Galaxy A6 comes with a range of new software features that you might find appealing. So which smartphone should you go for? We find that out by pitting these devices against each other.
Table of Contents
Design and display
The Samsung Galaxy A6 comes with a metal unibody design. Its rear looks similar to the Galaxy S9 (review) due to the similar placement of the camera module and the fingerprint scanner. While both the OPPO F7 and Vivo V9 also come with unibody designs, they don’t come across as premium as Samsung’s handset. The OPPO and Vivo smartphones have integrated the necessary sensors by taking the assistance of a notch, while the Galaxy A6 goes for an Infinity Display-toting design, offering a uniform, bezel-free look.
Coming to the display, the Samsung Galaxy A6 will be preferred by those who’re looking for a compact smartphone, as it comes with a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED screen with an aspect ratio of 18:9. However, its comparatively lower screen resolution of 1,480 x 720 pixels is a concern. On the other hand, OPPO and Vivo’s smartphones offer a resolution of 2,280 x 1,080 pixels with their similarly-sized 6.23-inch and 6.3-inch panels respectively. In this price range, the Galaxy A6 will definitely face some backlash for its low-res display.
Hardware and software
The Galaxy A6 is powered by a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 CPU, which has been paired with either 3 or 4GB of RAM. As for the OPPO F7, a 2GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P60 processor runs the show, taking assistance from 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The V9 is the only device to feature a Qualcomm chipset, with its 2.2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 626 SoC doing the heavy lifting. There’s 4GB of RAM on offer in this device.
As far as the storage is concerned, the Galaxy A6 comes in 32GB and 64GB storage options, while the Vivo V9 offers 64GB built-in memory. The F7 edges ahead of the competition as it comes with 64GB or 128GB of storage onboard. What’s good to know is that all three of them provide dedicated microSD card slots, that ensure that you don’t need to compromise upon dual-SIM capabilities.
Coming to the software side of things, the trio ship with custom skins atop Android Oreo, and offer the face unlock feature. The Galaxy A6 comes equipped with some neat new software tricks. These include Chat Over Video which provides a translucent chat window for you to reply to your messages when you’re busy watching a video. And then there’s Samsung Mall which enables you to get e-commerce links of any product you click a photo of. The OPPO F7 also features some interesting features such as iPhone X-like swipe gestures, pop-up chat bubbles and a host of camera AI features like face beauty enhancements, AI stickers, and machine learning to predict your selfie-editing habits.
Lastly, the Vivo V9 also offers a beauty mode and AR stickers. It even comes with a selfie lighting feature that brings iPhone-like dramatic lighting effects into the mix. There’s an AI Bokeh mode as well, to take advantage of the dual cameras resting on the back of the handset.
Camera and battery
The Samsung Galaxy A6 features a 16MP rear sensor with an aperture of f/1.7, which promises great low-light shots. The F7 also has a single sensor on its back in the form of a 16MP f/1.8 unit. The V9 on the other hand, has opted for a dual-camera setup consisting of 16MP and 5MP sensors that are able to offer bokeh effects for your photographs. Additionally, it’s the only device among the three to offer 4K video recording capabilities.
The main focus of these smartphones however, is on selfies. The Galaxy A6 sports a 16MP f/1.9 front camera with an LED flash, while the OPPO handset has a whopping 25MP f/2.0 front sensor. The selfie camera on the V9 is pretty similar, as it features a 24MP f/2.0 unit.
It’s disheartening to see that all three of these phones lack fast charging support. That said, their batteries are powerful enough to last a full working day with moderate use. The Galaxy A6’s battery is rated the lowest among the three at 3,000mAh, whereas the OPPO F7 offers the most powerful one at 3,400mAh. The Vivo V9 settles in the middle with a 3,260mAh pack.
Closing thoughts
All three of these smartphones are pretty alluring in terms of their specs and prices. The pricing of the Galaxy A6 and the OPPO F7 starts at Rs 21990, while the Vivo V9 is available for Rs 22,990. This makes it a very close fight between the three. While Samsung’s offering has the big brand name on its side, OPPO and Vivo’s phones pack better all-round specs.
