Samsung Galaxy A06 review

Design, build quality, handling

The Galaxy A06 has what can probably best be described as an unassuming overall design. It is quite similar to last year's Galaxy A05, but Samsung has somewhat refreshed the design for 2024. The most obvious bit is probably the buttons on the right-hand side, which reside in an elevated portion of the frame. An island of sorts. That is quite typical of Samsung's current aesthetic of choice, and we appreciate the consistency of device families.

Other than that, there is not much to discuss design-wise. The Galaxy A06 has nicely rounded corners on all sides and very slight chamfers on the middle frame. Both elements are beneficial to handling and in-hand feel.

The phone feels pretty light, tipping the scale at 195 grams. It has a pretty great, uniform weight distribution and is not top or bottom-heavy. Even though the phone is mostly made of plastic, including the back and the middle frame, it feels quite solid. There is hardly any flex in the chassis, and surprisingly, there is no hollowness either.

Speaking of materials, we should not that the plastic back is slightly textured and has a vertical stripe pattern of sorts. It neither looks nor feels particularly bad, but it isn't anything special either, so we are kind of impartial to it, honestly.

The Galaxy A06 comes in a trio of colors: Blue, White and the Gold version that we have. Ours is kind of tacky, at least to our eye, but we can see how it might appeal to someone. The other two colors should be a lot more subtle.

You do get glass on the front of the phone. Samsung doesn't specify exactly what kind, which is not ideal, but presumably, it is some sort of hardened glass. In any case, it is a lot better than simple plastic that scratches very easily.

Speaking of scratching, we didn't manage to scuff our unit app during the review process, which is a good indicator that it is decently resilient. We've praised plastic as a building material in the past and will continue to do so. Sure, it is not as premium as glass or metal, but it doesn't quite shatter like the former or dent like the latter. Plus, it is tough and structurally sound while being very lightweight.

We are also happy to say that neither the imitation brushed finish on the middle frame nor the textured plastic of the back panel gathers too much dirt and grime. The Galaxy A06 is fairly easy to keep clean.

Let's do a quick control overview of the Galaxy A06. As mentioned, the buttons reside on the right-hand side in their little "island" on the middle frame. New this year is the fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. It is a standard capacitive reader, and they have pretty much matured at this point.

The one inside the Galaxy A06 is both very speedy and accurate. We have no complaints about it.

Samsung Galaxy A06

The volume rocker is nice and clicky, with good tactile feedback and stability. The left-hand side of the Galaxy A06 is mostly empty, except for the SIM/microSD card tray. The tray is rather large since it houses two nano-SIM slots and a dedicated microSD one. There is no gasket on the tray, so when Samsung gives no IP rating to the phone, they really mean it.

The top of the phone is pretty empty sans for the secondary noise-canceling microphone. The bottom has an opening for the sole speaker on the Galaxy A06, the main microphone, the Type-C port and a trusty old 3.5mm audio jack.

The Galaxy A06 looks unmistakenly budget from the front, from the teardrop selfie camera notch to the rather sizeable bezels. Samsung seems to have slimmed down said bezels a bit from last year. The Galaxy A06 has an 83.8% screen-to-body ratio, compared to 82.1% in last year's Galaxy A05. There are no visible sensors. There are a couple hidden away in the top frame above the display, to the right of the earpiece.