Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) review: Bite-sized

Game launcher

This is your go-to place for play time, you can even hide game shortcuts from the regular app drawer and have them only in the Game launcher. A floating button offers essential features - you can lock the capacitive keys (to prevent accidental presses), mute notifications, start recording a video and there's even an app switcher.

Game launcher • In-game options • The in-game options can be disabled

You can record gameplay and include video of view from the selfie camera if you want to upload to YouTube (you can't livestream, though). You can select lower resolutions and bitrates if you're strapped for storage.

Video recording • Changing video resolution • Camera and mic settings • Recorded videos

The launcher will also keep statistics on what you've played. It clocks individual games as well as genres (e.g. it can tell if you've played more racing games or more puzzles).

My Diary knows what kind of games you like

This app usually has an option to help boost the performance of a game by limiting the resolution or save battery by capping the frame rate. These are not available on the Galaxy A3 (2017) - to be fair, the screen is already 720p (the lowest resolution option), but we still would have liked the 30fps option.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) is powered by an Exynos 7870 Octa chipset. Built on a 14nm process, this chip puts efficiency first and uses eight Cortex-A53 cores (clocked at 1.6GHz) and a Mali-T830 MP2 GPU (that's a dual-core). The chipset is paired with a conservative 2GB of RAM (hey, it's enough for the iPhone, right?).

The overall performance is nothing stellar, though to be fair there are few phones in this category. The iPhone 7 has one of the fastest mobile chipsets and this mid-range Exynos is no match for it. The Huawei nova and Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime represent an alternative - the Snapdragon 625 (14nm), which is in the same class as the Exynos. The Sony Xperia X Compact uses the Snapdragon 650 instead - a 28nm chip, but with two powerful Cortex-A57 cores and a better GPU.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  76731
• Huawei nova
  65021
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  62316
• Sony Xperia XA
  47170
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  45742
• Oppo F1
  35353

Like AnTuTu, Basemark OS 2.0 gives the edge to the Huawei nova even though all the tested phones ran Android 6.0 Marshmallow (except for the Oppo F1, which was on 5.1 Lollipop).

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  1738
• Huawei nova
  1218
• Sony Xperia XA
  1013
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  999
• Oppo F1
  961

For multicore performance, the Samsung-made chip impresses as it matches the X Compact. Single core performance is not that great, however, as the Snapdragon 625 has its A53 cores clocked at 2GHz instead.

The non-techy summary is this - well written apps and games have access to plenty of performance (keep in mind the Xperia and nova are priced higher than the Galaxy A3).

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3363
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  3294
• Huawei nova
  3105
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3016

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  1404
• Huawei nova
  842
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  819
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  681

The Mali-T830 MP2 is on the low end of GPUs. Here's GFX 3.1 in 1080p offscreen mode to show raw performance. Here, the Snapdragon-powered Huawei nova and Redmi 4 Prime show a small advantage, but remember that they have to drive 1080p screens while the A3 has a 720p screen.

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  5.3
• Huawei nova
  3.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.5
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  1.9

So let's look at on-screen performance instead. The Galaxy A3 (2017) is no champ, but it matches the performance of the Snapdragon 625-based phones. Even the Sony Xperia XA (Helio P10, 720p screen) offers higher frame rates.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  29
• Sony Xperia XA
  15
• Oppo F1
  11
• Huawei nova
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  9.6
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  9.6

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  21
• Sony Xperia XA
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  7.3
• Huawei nova
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  6.1

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  12
• Sony Xperia XA
  5.4
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  3.9
• Huawei nova
  3.7
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4

Basemark X confirms that games will have to trim down the graphics quality (even the medium quality test isn't very impressive).

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  15415
• Huawei nova
  10511
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  10424
• Sony Xperia XA
  6420
• Oppo F1
  5314
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  5160

Basemark X (medium)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Compact
  25970
• Huawei nova
  21345
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  20921
• Sony Xperia XA
  14635
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  10792

We have appreciation for 14nm chipsets like the Exynos 7870 Octa and Snapdragon 625. We've reached a point where extra performance is often more of a bragging right than something you need daily, but they save tons of battery power - and that is something you use daily.