Samsung Galaxy A02s/M02s review

One regular camera, two 2MP sidekicks

The Galaxy A02s has a triple camera on the back consisting of a 13MP f/2.2 primary module, a 2MP macro shooter, and another 2MP unit for depth detection. In this sense, it's a notable downgrade compared to the A12, which has an ultra-wide camera and its primary unit uses a larger 48MP Quad Bayer sensor.

Over on the front, the A02s gets a basic 5MP f/2.2 selfie camera, here too Samsung taking a step back from the A12's 8MP unit.

Modest as the hardware at hand may be, the camera app on the A02 is the same as on any other Samsung (well, minus a few modes), which is a good thing since it's straightforward and easy to use. The basics are as usual - swiping left and right will switch between available modes, and there's an option to re-arrange, add or remove some of the modes from the viewfinder. Vertical swipes in either direction will switch between front and rear cameras.

The familiar tree designation for zoom control is here, too, even though the A02s only has one real camera. You get two trees for its native zoom level, but also a single tree selector for 2x digital zoom. Whether you tap on that or use the pinch gesture, additional preset zoom levels appear at 4x and 8x.

The viewfinder has the standard set of icons with the settings cog wheel located in the upper left corner of the screen. The usual stuff like video resolution, grid lines, location data, etc., can be found in the menu. Much like on the A12, there is no Scene optimizer on the A02s - Samsung's AI-powered scene-based processing enhancement feature is reserved for models higher up the lineup.

There's a Pro mode, but it's the very basic implementation that only lets you pick ISO (100-800) and white balance (by light temperature with icons for common light sources), as well as dial in exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 0.1EV increments). A metering mode selector also made the cut (center-weighted, matrix and spot). There's no manual focusing option, sadly.

Camera UI

Daylight image quality

Daylight photos from the A02s are sharp and detailed, certainly good enough for the glass. There's some grain in uniformly colored areas, but we've seen noisier images from much more expensive phones, so that's not an issue either.

Less likable is the limited dynamic range that will leave you with clipped highlights more often than not. Additionally, we're not fans of the prevailing cold green color cast to these images.

Daylight samples, main cam (1x)

Despite the lack of a tele camera, there is a slightly misleading tree toggle to get you to a digitally zoomed-in 2x level. Its existence is actually pretty justified, though - the A02s takes quite decent 2x zoom shots, certainly better than the A12's.

Daylight samples, main cam (2x zoom)

Low-light image quality

In low light, the A02s can't quite maintain that relative strong performance and its images are characterized by very narrow dynamic range, underexposed shadows and blow out highlights. The detail in the darker areas is particularly mushy. The A12 does perform better in such conditions, thanks to its larger sensor. However, in more balanced lighting (like the first sample below), the A02s delivers usable images.

Low-light samples, main cam (1x)

Zooming in, you may not strictly like the 2x images when examining them from up close, but they will do just fine for fit-to-screen viewing and sharing online. If anything, the tighter field of view means the subjects you are zooming in will be exposed better.

Low-light samples, main cam (2x zoom)

Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Samsung Galaxy A02s stacks up against the competition.

Samsung Galaxy A02s against the Redmi 9 and the Galaxy A12 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

Similarly to the A12, the A02s does a good job with portraits in its Live focus mode. Subject detection leaves little to complain about - there's the occasional iffy handling of border areas when the phone gets fooled by similar colors in subject and background, but it's consistently good overall. Once again, we need to point out that HDR isn't available in Live focus mode, so in backlit scenes, you're likely to end up with grossly overexposed highlights as the phone meters for the face in the frame (the correct trad-off, of course).

Live focus (Portrait mode) samples

Non-human subjects pose no issue for the A02's Live focus mode, and you can use it to isolate your inanimate subject. The sharp building outline in the last sample is a classic misstep, however.

Live focus (Portrait mode) samples, non-human subjects

Close-ups

The A02s' 'macro' camera takes unimpressive 2MP close-ups. They're not especially detailed because of the low resolution, plus the fixed focus is somewhat limiting in what you can capture with this camera. The images do look interesting in the viewfinder, but they don't stand up well to scrutiny.

Close-up samples

Selfies

The selfie camera is similarly underwhelming. It takes somewhat soft images with little facial detail despite our best efforts at disabling all the skin softening. Noise is fairly prominent too. Colors could use a saturation boost, but at least dynamic range is good for the hardware.

Selfie samples

Having said that in backlit scenes, you might need to tap on your face for proper exposure unless you want to capture just a shadow of yourself.

Selfie samples: Auto exposure • Tap on face exposure

There's no saving the highlights in Live focus mode, where HDR is missing, just like on the rear camera. Subject detection is alright though not infallible, we did lose an ear in one sample, and border regions can be hazy, as the phone chooses to not make abrupt transitions from sharp to blurry.

Selfie samples, Live focus (Portrait) mode

Video recording

The Galaxy A02s is one of the most basic video recording devices - it tops out at 1080p at 30fps and has no image stabilization. Having said that, the A02s' videos are sharper and have finer detail in them without all the excessive processing that the A12 exhibited. The greenish tint is still there in video as well, and dynamic range is fairly limited, but all things considered, it's not a bad 1080p performance.

Here's a glimpse of how the Samsung Galaxy A02s compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Samsung Galaxy A02s against the Redmi 9 and the Galaxy A12 in our Video compare tool