WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.480 Budget phones have been getting really good over the last few years with the 00:00:03.400 --> 00:00:09.520 Nothing Phone A series, the CMF phone line, even the Pixel A series has really 00:00:07.400 --> 00:00:14.000 gotten quite good at very accessible prices. So, Samsung can't rest on their 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:19.480 laurels anymore. We are taking a look at the A17 5G. That's right, we're still 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.640 putting 5G at the end of phone names to make it seem more sophisticated. In the 00:00:22.360 --> 00:00:31.160 box here, we have our SIM popper, manual, and a USB-C to C cable. That's 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:32.800 about 3 and 1/2 ft long. Wow, this is a 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:36.920 cable, all right. And other than that, 00:00:34.480 --> 00:00:40.800 we got nothing. No plastic case included or anything like that. Just a cable, a 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:43.120 small booklet, and the phone itself. And right away, I got to say, I like that 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:46.440 they're not using plastic, they're using this like papery material. Honestly, I 00:00:45.160 --> 00:00:53.680 really like it. This feels nice. I'm just going to take it out of the bag. And here we have it. It is a 6.7-in 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.960 screen. This thing is massive. I don't know what the deal with budget phones 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:00.680 being so big is. It feels like that's that's a trend. Are big screens cheaper? 00:00:59.080 --> 00:01:05.400 Like, I I genuinely don't know. But, this thing is massive and it is 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:08.480 fingerprinty. My god, I just took this out. I do have gamer fingers, but I 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:13.600 don't think they're that bad. Okay, well, they are that bad, but it is just so fingerprinty. I'd say go for a white 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:17.600 model, but it only comes in this black as well as a light blue. Maybe the light 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:21.200 blue will fare a little bit better. Or, I guess maybe you're just not as like 00:01:19.160 --> 00:01:23.800 nervous as I am because I don't know, maybe I'm a little shy. Don't worry 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:32.440 about it. On the back here, we have our triple camera system. We have a 5-megapixel ultra-wide, a 50-megapixel 00:01:29.080 --> 00:01:34.760 main camera, and a 2-megapixel macro 00:01:32.440 --> 00:01:37.600 camera. I doubt that these two cameras are going to look very good, but we'll 00:01:36.160 --> 00:01:43.480 take a look. Maybe I'll be surprised. You know, back in the day, 5 megapixels was plenty. And in the big 2026, we're 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:47.080 going retro with it. Also, on the back, we have our flash and just the the 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:51.880 little Samsung logo. On the right side of the phone, we have our power button/fingerprint scanner and volume 00:01:50.080 --> 00:01:55.800 rocker. On the top, we have our microphone. On the left side, we have 00:01:53.880 --> 00:02:00.240 our SIM tray. Let's open it up. You know, budget phones sometimes have SD 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:05.080 card slots and maybe this one does as well. Oh, it does. Look at that. So, we 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:10.960 have an SD card slot as well as a nano SIM. And we can also see the rubber here 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:13.040 for water resistance cuz it is IP54. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:19.000 And on the bottom we have a microphone, USB 2, as well as a speaker port. You 00:02:16.160 --> 00:02:21.640 know, for phone design it it's a phone. I think the back looks quite nice 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:25.720 actually and I don't mind the feel of the plastic on the sides. The front looks a little dated with the bigger 00:02:24.480 --> 00:02:30.880 chin which on the screen see if it's that noticeable, but but I find this kind of gap in the front to be a little 00:02:29.800 --> 00:02:34.440 dated. I don't know, it just doesn't look super nice. But, for you know, the 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:39.240 couple hundred dollars you're spending it's not too bad. Well, the last thing for us to do is to turn it on, but not 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:42.680 before I turn you on to our sponsor. Thanks to Delta Hub for 00:02:41.040 --> 00:02:46.600 sponsoring this video. You're only human. You don't have infinite pockets. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.880 Our sponsor Delta Hub has a new way for you to carry around your gizmos, 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.400 gadgets, and whatchamacallits. Their Hold X two-part magnetic mount allows 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:57.840 you to adhere two things together when you're on the go. It was designed initially to stick your SSDs to your 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:02.200 laptops, which will stay protected thanks to its magnetic shielding layer, 00:02:59.519 --> 00:03:06.239 but the use cases truly are endless. Let your imagination run wild. Learn more 00:03:04.440 --> 00:03:09.480 and grab your Hold X with the QR code on screen or at the link down below. You 00:03:08.519 --> 00:03:14.600 know, typically right after I turn on the phone I want to talk about the screen, but first thing I notice is 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.360 performance is pretty slow. And I know the phone's just waking up, but it took 00:03:16.160 --> 00:03:24.600 a second to boot up, then it took a while for the clock to show up, and then just swiping around it feels a little 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:26.640 slow. Samsung flexes the 2.4 GHz 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:31.480 octa-core processor on the website, but when you actually look into it the Exynos 1330 that's powering the device 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:36.360 released in early 2023, which for a phone releasing in current year is a 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:39.519 little dated and it feels like it. We had Labs take a look at the performance 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:43.880 of the device and surprise surprise, it didn't perform great. The Exynos 1330 00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:49.680 paired with the four [music] gigs of RAM, that's right, four gigs of RAM in 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:55.400 this phone performed pretty poorly when compared to the CMF Phone Pro 2 as well 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:57.280 as the Pixel 9A. We're talking 40-ish 00:03:55.400 --> 00:04:01.800 percent of the CMF Phone 2 Pro's performance, as well as only 18% of the 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:05.920 Pixel 9A's performance in our stress test. >> [music] >> In our regular benchmarks, it did 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:10.040 better, getting nearly the same performance as the CMF Phone in single 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:13.920 core, and 70% of the CMF Phone's multi-core performance, but again, gets 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.959 absolutely demolished by the Pixel 9A. Sure, those phones are a little bit more 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:22.360 expensive, but when you're hopefully getting a device that's going to last a while, you want it to work well in that 00:04:20.840 --> 00:04:26.720 time. Anyways, back to the screen. This is a 1080 by 2340 screen, so full HD 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:30.240 plus, and yeah, it looks fine. It's a fine amount 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.680 of brightness, it's a fine amount of detail. Even though it's a big screen, 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:40.520 so you're not going to get the highest amount of detail when you get up close to it, I think it looks perfectly 00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:42.400 adequate. Wow, look at that full HD plus 00:04:40.520 --> 00:04:46.200 adequateness. It is an AMOLED though, so that's nice. Again, feels pretty 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:51.360 standard for a phone these days. It'd be odd if it wasn't, especially from Samsung, but yeah, it looks good. It 00:04:49.280 --> 00:04:55.440 also has Gorilla Glass Victus on it, so if you drop it face first, it should be 00:04:53.840 --> 00:04:58.480 okay. Please tell me it's okay. Please tell me it's okay. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:03.760 One thing to note [music] is that it's not an HDR screen. So, if you're trying to watch Oppenheimer the way Christopher 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:07.760 Nolan intended on a phone, you're not going to find the best experience here. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:11.360 But, it does get up to 1,150 nits, which is pretty darn bright. It 00:05:09.400 --> 00:05:15.600 also runs up to 90 Hz, so if you're, you know, trying to game at a high refresh 00:05:13.640 --> 00:05:18.919 rate on this old processor, you can dream of 90 Hz. Though, I'm not even 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.840 getting it when scrolling around and anything, so >> [music] >> again, your your mileage may vary. But, 00:05:21.840 --> 00:05:28.760 how does it sound? We see the speaker port on the bottom. Maybe it's going to really blow us away, and you can bring 00:05:25.840 --> 00:05:28.760 this to your next party. 00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:38.200 I hate to say it. For those who were excited, it is only out of this bottom 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:41.913 speaker, and it doesn't sound good. So, my right ear was pretty disappointed 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:45.680 with what I was hearing. Really just >> [music] >> awful showing out, honestly. Does not 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:48.720 sound good at at It's not even particularly loud. 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:55.520 Mhm. Hey, maybe the camera is excellent though, you know, 5 megapixels used to 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:59.800 be really impressive and maybe it will be here, too. We do have a 50 though. 00:05:57.800 --> 00:06:04.480 Wow, it couldn't even hold the app open. I just went to the camera for 2 seconds 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:08.680 and the a YouTube app closed. 4 gigs of RAM is crazy. I know we're in 00:06:06.400 --> 00:06:12.720 a crisis. It feels weird to use the word crisis when it's about the ability to 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:18.360 buy something for your computer, but 4 gigs of RAM in 2026 is insane. 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:22.919 I can't keep the YouTube app open and open the camera for 2 seconds and go 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:26.720 back to the YouTube app, something is wrong with your phone. Why would you Why 00:06:25.080 --> 00:06:30.280 would you sell this? That's crazy. Anyways, anyways, anyways. 00:06:28.080 --> 00:06:33.320 The camera. 50 megapixels sounds like a lot, so maybe it's good. Let's take a 00:06:31.640 --> 00:06:36.320 picture. They have built-in Snapchat filter. I should screen record. 00:06:34.919 --> 00:06:40.400 Does this phone not have the ability to screen record? That'd be crazy, right? 00:06:38.520 --> 00:06:43.320 I tried to screen record, uh, but there's no option and I'm wondering if 00:06:41.880 --> 00:06:47.120 it's cuz there's not enough RAM to screen record and do other things since 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:50.400 I can't open the camera while YouTube is open. 00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:54.840 That's crazy. But, look at this angle. We have Snapchat filters built into the 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:59.680 phone, finally. I've not wanted to use Snapchat since 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:03.000 2016, but, uh, I guess I can without an account now, which is nice. This is 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:06.200 awful. This is truly awful. Taking a photo without the filters 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:10.240 though, honestly, that's a that's a decent front camera. It feels like the appropriate amount of sharpness. My 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:15.160 beard looks a little crispy, but like otherwise, not bad at all. And it has 00:07:12.280 --> 00:07:19.160 the ability to get just the tiniest bit wider. If you just need a little teeny 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:23.120 bit more room. All right, let's try the main cameras. Here's our 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:26.840 1x, our 00:07:24.280 --> 00:07:31.440 ultra wide, and you can zoom up to 10x digital zoom 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:36.040 though. It's not It's not optical. What is nice though, I'll give it some credit, the main camera has optical 00:07:34.640 --> 00:07:38.919 image stabilization, which is great for low light or recording videos. Let's 00:07:37.840 --> 00:07:43.800 take a look at the photos. You know what? In the top down, it It look bad. In the top down when you actually look 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:46.840 at the photo, he looks a little bit like a painting, but actually there's no 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:50.280 butt. That That's not great. If it's 50 megapixels, it should look, in theory, [music] 00:07:48.880 --> 00:07:53.880 better than that. Uh let's take a look at other photos. You know what? If you 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:58.560 don't zoom in, this ultra photo is not bad. You do get fish eye, uh some some 00:07:56.880 --> 00:08:02.280 distortion on the edges of the photo, but it doesn't look bad quality-wise. 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:04.840 You When you zoom in, yeah, again, it's not the sharpest and and there's a 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:11.520 little bit of chromatic aberration around the lights, but this is a cool-looking photo. And for our main 00:08:08.320 --> 00:08:13.360 photo, again, perfectly adequate. It's 00:08:11.520 --> 00:08:16.200 not good, it's not bad, it's totally fine. If you don't zoom in, I'd be 00:08:14.960 --> 00:08:21.680 totally fine with this photo and the the level of detail it has. Let's put this into 50 megapixel mode. Maybe that'll 00:08:19.919 --> 00:08:26.400 make a huge difference. I do have to say though, I don't know if you'll be able to see on camera cuz I can't screen 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:28.400 record. The preview does not look good. I'm surprised that the photos are 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:32.479 turning out as well as they do considering the preview it does not look 00:08:30.520 --> 00:08:35.599 fantastic. Like, I don't know. Maybe I Maybe I'm just picky. Okay, throwing 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:40.000 into 50 megapixel mode, it does look a bit better. Look at it. You can see the wrinkles in Reese's face. Again, this is 00:08:38.520 --> 00:08:43.680 actually not a bad camera. I I went over with pretty low expectations, but this 00:08:41.560 --> 00:08:47.920 is totally fine. For recording, we get uh just a couple options. You can do 00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:52.360 full HD or HD, and you can only shoot at 30 FPS in either mode. So, this probably 00:08:51.280 --> 00:08:59.240 isn't going to look amazing, but let's take a video and see. Uh this is a video. I'm talking. I'm moving the 00:08:55.920 --> 00:09:01.360 camera a bit. I'm I'm jostling. 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:04.680 Not the name, I'm just jostling. And there's Reese. Hey, I'm going to try 00:09:02.839 --> 00:09:08.040 zooming in. How does it sound? You know what? The video, again, zooming in, it doesn't 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:16.160 look doesn't look that bad. It takes a second to like stop fizzling, but not bad. 00:09:13.160 --> 00:09:18.200 Oh, and there's the switch to 0.5. 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:22.400 Not bad. Jelly, but not not too bad. Again, I'm 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:25.960 actually pretty impressed by the video. The optical image stabilization works 00:09:23.839 --> 00:09:29.120 quite well, and even going to the 0.5, it did stutter a bit going back and 00:09:27.680 --> 00:09:32.720 forth. In fact, it skipped something I was saying just very briefly, but that's 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:36.000 that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Other than that, the specs are not 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:41.600 anything to write home about. It's got Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, uh it charges at 00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:45.560 25 W in that USB 2 port, and there's no wireless charging. So, I'm kind of just 00:09:42.920 --> 00:09:48.960 left wondering, who is this for? Cuz at $200, 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:54.120 there's a lot of competition. I'm a believer in just buying an old flagship. 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:58.680 Like, you can probably get an S23 FE for around this price. Uh the CMF Phone is 00:09:56.400 --> 00:10:02.520 only 70 bucks more. The Pixel A is, you know, 100 and some odd bucks more, which 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:06.200 is a bit of a jump. This does come with 6 years of security updates and 6 years 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:10.920 of major OS updates, which is nice. So, maybe this would be great for uh parent 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:15.400 or grandparent, you know, throw it into uh easy mode. I mean, look at this. My 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:19.600 grandma wouldn't be afraid of this. This is so approachable and friendly. But, 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:23.560 again, it just seems like Samsung is kind of fallen asleep at the wheel, as 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:28.400 there's so many phones coming out. There are so many great phones that have come 00:10:24.880 --> 00:10:29.840 out that are still great. At $200, 4 00:10:28.400 --> 00:10:34.000 gigs of RAM is just kind of embarrassing. No HDR kind of puts off 00:10:32.920 --> 00:10:38.120 the people who really want to watch media on this. The gaming performance, 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:43.360 don't play games on this unless it's cribbage or backgammon. 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:47.600 I've been a big fan of budget Samsungs in the past, but this one seems a bit 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:52.040 like a miss. But, what do you think? Does this design entice you enough to 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:57.480 look past its RAM woes? Let us know down below. Get subscribed, and go have a big 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:57.480 old glass of water on me.