Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy A17 or not? I want to answer every single one of your questions, so stay with me until the end. Let’s get into reviewing the 4G and 5G versions of this phone.
Design
Well, as always, I will start with the design. The Galaxy A17 has an all-plastic body, and the front and back panels along with the frame are completely flat. I can say it looks a lot like the Galaxy A07.
The main difference is that, unlike the A07, the back panel no longer features that corrugated design. Samsung tried to make the Galaxy A17 look a bit more mature, and its camera module now has 3 lenses. It has a 50MP main camera exactly like the lens in the A07, a 5MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. I will explain their performance fully in the camera section.
The camera module looks pretty much like what we saw on the Galaxy A56. It is kind of inheriting that same design, and right next to it is an LED flash which is extremely bright.
On the right frame, the power button integrated into the fingerprint sensor, and I can say this sensor has good speed and performance, and right next to it are the volume buttons. At the top, there is only a secondary microphone hole for calls that cancels out noise.
On the left side of the phone, there is a dual SIM slot where you can choose not to use the second SIM and put a microSD card instead. The bottom part houses a speaker, a USB Type-C port, and a main microphone, and there is no sign of a 3.5mm headphone jack, meaning you lose this feature compared to the A07.
You can get the A17 in different colors. The 4G version comes in 3 colors: black, gray, and light blue. In the 5G version, it is the same gray and black, but instead of light blue, a blue option has been added. The only design difference between these two 4G and 5G versions is the colored ring around the camera on the 5G version.
Both versions are identical in dimensions. Only the 5G version, weighing 192 grams, is 2 grams heavier than the 4G version, which you will not even notice when you hold the phone in your hand.
As for the screen bezels, they are thin on the left, right, and top sides, but the bottom part, or the chin, has a thicker bezel. But know that it has smaller bezels compared to the A07, meaning the A17 has a higher screen-to-body ratio and gives you a better experience. However, this notch at the top of the screen comes down way too much and takes up a lot of space. Honestly, I didn’t like it, and I think Samsung should move towards a punch-hole for this series.
Display
On the front of the Galaxy A17, we have a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display. Its refresh rate is 90Hz and it reaches a peak brightness of 800 nits, which will not bother you outdoors and under direct sunlight, so you won’t need to cup your hand over the screen like an umbrella and squint to see the details.
The minimum brightness is also good, but you just have to manually adjust it at night or in dark places, otherwise, too much light will hit your eyes, which might give you a headache and annoy you.
Also, know that the 90Hz isn’t just for show, and you can totally feel the smoothness of the animations, but there is a catch that I will talk about later in the processor section, which is very important.
The difference here is that the 4G version has Gorilla Glass Victus+, while the 5G version is a step lower and has Gorilla Glass Victus. But don’t look too deeply into this, because in terms of scratch resistance and drop protection, I can say they are the same and have no special difference, it’s purely a marketing gimmick. Both are glass and glass breaks, so definitely get both a case and a screen protector for this phone.
Performance
Alright, let’s go to the Galaxy A17 processor. The 4G version uses the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, exactly like the Galaxy A07, and the 5G version of the A17 uses the Samsung Exynos 1330. This chip is almost 25 to 30% more powerful than the Helio G99 in single-core performance. But in the multi-core section, the gap isn’t huge, and the Exynos 1330 is about 5% more powerful.
The minimum RAM you can get for both models is 4GB, and the maximum is 8GB. The internal storage also comes in 128GB and 256GB versions. As I said before, you can use the second SIM slot to expand the internal storage using a microSD card.
To test this phone, I decided to test it under two conditions: with the storage full and empty to see how the phone performed.
In the 4G version, when the storage is empty, everything’s okay, but when the internal storage gets full, or at least close to full, it lags so much that I can say it’ll drive you crazy. But in the A17 5G, the situation is better and you see fewer lags. I think the main reason you see so much lag on the Galaxy A17 4G with the Helio G99 but no lag on the Galaxy A07, might be because here we have a Full HD display and the processing load on the phone has increased. The phone can’t handle this higher resolution, and well, this makes the final output very annoying.
Now let me tell you about its gaming performance. With the Galaxy A17 4G in Call of Duty, I ran the game on medium graphics settings and a high frame rate. In my opinion, it had a very good performance, almost the same as the Galaxy A07. It had no lag in the game, and I didn’t see any weird frame drops. The game was totally playable and it didn’t affect the competitive mode at all. It was the same for the 5G version, and they had no difference. Their output is exactly the same, and you won’t see a different gaming experience on the 5G version.
Switching between apps also isn’t great at all on the 4G version and has a lot of lag, while the 5G version is much better and I can say it’s more tolerable. On this A17 5G, the hardware performance, meaning what you use daily in terms of lag and similar things, is very similar to the Galaxy A07 performance. Because the A07 had a lower resolution display, it performed well. But the 4G version? No, it’s absolutely a world full of lag and delay, to the point where it genuinely annoys you.
Battery & Charger
The Galaxy A17 has a 5000mAh battery and gives you very good battery life. I mean, for every 1 hour you watch videos on YouTube, it drains about 5% of the battery, and with 1 hour of playing Call of Duty, it drains about 10%. I can say I’m very satisfied with the battery of both the 4G and 5G versions of this phone, and it’s even better than the A07.
This phone supports a maximum of 25W charging and gets fully charged to 100% in almost 80 minutes. There’s no charger in the box, so keep in mind that you have to buy a charger alongside this phone.
Camera
As I said in the design section, the Galaxy A17 has 3 cameras: a 50MP main camera, a 5MP ultrawide camera, and a 2MP macro camera.
The main camera has no difference from the Galaxy A07. It has acceptable performance in different lighting conditions, but try not to take photos with it at night. It’s fine, you know, considering the money you’re paying for this phone and what you expect from the sensor, it performs okay, but don’t count on it for night photography. It’s mostly during the day that it gives you detailed photos.
The ultrawide camera, however, whether it’s day or night, doesn’t make a difference and doesn’t give you a good output. The resolution is just low and it lacks good details. You can just throw the macro camera away!
On the front, I can say the 13MP selfie camera’s performance isn’t bad, but I feel its photos are very watercolor-like, meaning it blends everything together and gives you a flat image. You shouldn’t expect much from it, it lacks detail, the color accuracy isn’t good, and its dynamic range is very weak.
Overall, regarding the camera, I can say the main camera takes good photos during the day, and it isn’t bad at night. And know that noise creeps into all your photos as the light decreases. Just throw the ultrawide and macro cameras away!
OS & Updates
The Galaxy A17 comes with Android 15 and One UI 7, and as soon as you take the phone out of the box and connect to the internet, you can install the latest version of Android and One UI.
One thing the Galaxy A07 didn’t have was the Edge panel, but fortunately, this phone has the Edge panel, and you can use those split-screen features and enjoy them. Another thing you should know is that Samsung will support the Galaxy A17 phone for 6 years.
Conclusion: Compare the Galaxy A17 With Its rivals
Now I want to wrap things up. Should you buy the Galaxy A17 4G? Absolutely not. I don’t recommend this phone at all because it’ll annoy you a lot. From the day you unbox the phone, it’ll annoy you until the day you sell it, which you might not even reach before smashing it into a wall!
If you want to buy a Galaxy A17, go for the 5G version. And if you want to buy the Galaxy A17 5G, don’t even look at the 4GB RAM version and go for at least 6GB of RAM.
But I want to tell you something even more important: the Galaxy A17 5G has no difference from the Galaxy A16 5G! I mean, in terms of hardware and software, there’s no difference between these two. The only difference is their software support, which is longer for the Galaxy A17, but who knows what situation we’ll be in 6 years from now. However, the A16 5G is cheaper than the A17 5G. So why should you pay more for the A17 5G, which is basically the same A16 5G and gives you an identical experience!
