Samsung Galaxy A27 review

Design, build quality, handling

Samsung didn't really change much when it comes to the Galaxy A27 design. Honestly, if you don't know what to look for in particular, you could easily confuse it for any other recent Samsung phone. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The vertical camera island design Samsung currently has going on is actually surprisingly distinctive. Plus, recessing the actual camera lenses slightly is not a bad idea at all.

Otherwise, you get a very clean "bar phone", very much following current design trends, which includes a wide and mostly flat middle frame, flat back and front sides and big curved display edges. As mentioned, the one big change in design this year is the move from a decidedly more retro teardrop selfie camera notch to a proper punch hole.

The overall design is the definition of "non-offensive", even bordering on bland. However, that's going to come down to personal preference and taste. Color options this year include: Black, Blue, Light Green and Light Pink. You don't expect every color on all markets. Again, the color selection is perfectly tame, making the Galaxy A27 easily blend into any environment.

While it objectively looks pretty good, the actual finish on the Galaxy A27 is a fingerprint and dust magnet. Our Black review unit, in particular, doesn't hide dirt and smudges at all. The surface is very slippery as well.

Speaking of the finish, both the front and the back of the Galaxy A27 are covered with Gorilla Glass Victus+, which is a solid choice. The middle frame, however, is made of plastic. Still, the phone feels perfectly solid in the hand with practically no flex or hollowness.

It is, however, worth noting that Samsung downgraded the ingress protection rating this year, going from IP67 in the Galaxy A26 to the much less confidence-inducing IP64 rating. We really can't say why Samsung decided to cut corners in this way, but it means the Galaxy A27 is rain-proof at best and definitely not rated for submersion.

There is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to controls and layout. The A27 has that distinctive Samsung raised "island" on the right side of the frame that houses the volume rocker and power button. Both are well-positioned and clicky.

Samsung Galaxy A27

The power button houses a capacitive fingerprint reader. So, despite the panel upgrade this year, Samsung is still reserving its under-display fingerprint tech for the Galaxy A37 and up. The side-mounted capacitive reader is both snappy and accurate, so we have no complaints there.

The left side of the frame only houses the SIM tray. By the way, despite the lowered ingress protection rating, the SIM tray still has a pretty large rubber gasket. Make of that what you will. The top side is pretty empty. There is just a single small microphone hole. The bottom side houses another microphone, the bottom-firing speaker and the Type-C port. Overall, like we said, nothing special.

As mentioned, the punch hole design definitely makes for a more modern look. Samsung says that it has slimmed down the display bezels a bit since the A26, but it's hardly noticeable. Based on the bezels alone, you would definitely not confuse the A27 for a modern flagship, but they are still perfectly reasonable in our book. Budget designs have come a long way. Plus, there are no visible sensors anywhere. Everything is either nicely tucked away underneath the panel or, in the case of the earpiece, above the display.