Samsung's new Galaxy: A80 kills the notch with popup rotating camera
Samsung has unveiled its new mid-range Galaxy A80, which has a three rear camera array on a horizontal bar, which automatically slides up and rotates to become a selfie camera.
The achievement of Samsung's novel design is to remove the need for any type of cutout, be it a notch or even Samsung's subtle Infinity-O punch hole in the Galaxy S10.
Mobility
Continuing with its mid-range first strategy, the rotating camera design makes the Galaxy A80 the first Samsung phone to feature its 'New Infinity' full-screen display.
The camera module includes a 48-megapixel camera, an ultra-wide eight-megapixel camera, and a 3D depth camera. The slide and rotate mechanism doesn't lend itself to facial-recognition unlocking. That task instead is handled by the in-screen fingerprint reader.
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The Galaxy A80 features a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display at 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of in-built storage. There is no microSD card for additional storage.
It also has a 3,700mAh battery with 25W super-fast charging with some smarts that optimize power consumption based on a user's habits and usage patterns.
The Galaxy A80 is available in Phantom Black, Angel Gold, and Ghost White.
The Galaxy A80 is the top member of Samsung's 2019 Galaxy A lineup, seen in this YouTube video, and follows the announcement of the Galaxy A70 featuring an Infinity-O display and three rear cameras arranged vertically.
According to Sammobile, the Galaxy A80 will be available on May 29 for €649 ($730) across Europe. It will also be available in the Middle East, Russia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Hong Kong.
Other Galaxy A phones announced in the UK today include the entry level Galaxy A20e and the Galaxy A40. Samsung in February also announced the Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50.
Samsung has provided a summary of the Galaxy A80's specs in this graphic.
More on Samsung's Galaxy smartphone range
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- Galaxy S10 first look: All the models and colors up close
- Galaxy Fold: A $2,000 smartphone becomes a reality, but is it worth the money?
- Those Galaxy S10 prices: Why expensive smartphone upgrades without 5G are just plain dumb
- Galaxy Fold: I want the specs, but no clue what to do with a $1,980 foldable phone
- Samsung Galaxy Fold, S10, S10 Plus and S10e: A cheat sheet TechRepublic
- New Galaxy S10 phones bring it: 4 rear cameras, 1TB of storage, in-screen fingerprint scanner and 5G CNET