Samsung Galaxy A52 Review

A great Awesomess to a mid ranger phone

Introduction

Back few weeks ago, Samsung has introduce the new Galaxy A series 2021 line ups that is targeted towards mid tired users with budget below RM2000. The A Series is also being known for fitting most users usage with good performance. This follow-up further enhances a few hardware upgrades compared to the last year A Series product. Lets look at the new Samsung Galaxy A52 and lets all find out what it can do in this review.

So as a start, this year’s Galaxy A series comes in 4 models, the Galaxy A32 LTE and 5G, A52 and A72, all of the mentioned models does come with mid range equipped Mediatek or Qualcomm Snapdragon 7xx series of SOC, the notable difference are the screen sizes, memory configurations and the SOC used. So no matter with model variant that you choose, you will still get the same Awesome experience. Do take note that certain countries also offer the 5G variant of A52 and A72, particularly in the Europe and US regions.

Design

The Galaxy A52 is built similarly to the flagship S series which made of hard plastic at the back with chromed color matching on the sides and buttons. The back part of the phone is completely in plastic, but the material feel is smooth, giving an elegant feel although its a mid range phone. On the camera side, Samsung gave it a new island design fitting in all quad lenses, sensor and the flash. Overall the color blend pretty well. I personally love the Awesome Blue, the color is really refreshing and fitting the youth targeted audience.

The bottom of the phone you will spot the speaker, one USB C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Over the top you will spot the dual SIM tray with the microphone. Specifically on the speaker, when playing music, streaming or games, both bottom firing speakers and the front earpiece will work together, giving it a total audio experience surrounding it.

Display

Over the display department, the Galaxy A52 is powered by a 6.5 Inch FHD+ 90Hz screen SUPER AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 5 that supports HDR10+ and peaked at 800nits . Display is vibrant, clear, colors were display at a fairly accurate level with minimal color washed out. It does not have adaptive refresh rate however given the screen quality and its refresh rate speed, it is completely acceptable since turning it on will not impact much on battery life. Such refresh rate will benefit over usage such as scrolling on a document, web browser and especially gaming which in return giving faster touch and responses. This also fits with growing number of Android games that supports high refresh rates.

Camera

The Galaxy A52 continues to improve the camera performance and features , some carried over from the S21 series. The selfie images are well bright and good, and night shots works very well with its 32MP sensor. Over the rear camera you have one 64MP wide lens, one 12MP ultra wide lens and a pair of 5MP macro and depth lens accompanied with a flash. A few shots were taken as above and the results is truly works well. A sample of 10x zoom, normal, 64MP and automatic shots taken were balanced, however sometimes the colors may be inconsistent when taking the same scene, which we hope it can be resolved with a software update, with some noise when capturing at night. On video recording you get support up to UHD 30FPS or FHD at 60FPS, which considering powered by the SOC and coupled with the camera capability, it is performing fine without issues. FHD video is awesome with stabilization features.

Performance

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G , 256GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM. For such configuration, it is considerably very generous specially on the internal storage, which is also expandable via MicroSD card. No complains over Call quality whether its a 3G call or even via VOLTE, WoWIFI option is available as well when enabled, delivering crystal clear voice quality. The absence of 5G connectivity on this phone is not an issue, but if you really need 5G but at a slightly lower specification, the Galaxy A32 5G is a good option also. the Galaxy A52 comes with dual band AC WiFi ensuring stable connectivity on all your work and entertainment needs.

Over to the gaming side, this phone performs great on mobile esports title such as PUBG and Mobile Legends, which also support the phone’s 90Hz refresh rates. Much intensive titles like Call Of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact might need to lower down the graphical settings while maintaining the 60FPS refresh rates to keep things smooth. But no matter what games you throw it on, the Galaxy A52 will be able to run it as the Snapdragon 730G is known for its performance with an affordable pricetag.

Benchmark performance meets expectation, delivering mid tier range performance as shown above. Such score is acceptable as a work life balance device. While it is just a synthetic score, if you are currently using an older Snapdragon by 2 to 3 generations, or coming from the Snapdragon 400 series, this phone is absolutely recommended.

Battery performance wise, you will get around 10 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Mobile Legends matches and Genshin Impact . Turn on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2.5 hours of conservative usage. While it is known that the Galaxy A52 does come with a charger, you can always get any third party compatible PD charger. An included 15w charger will charge up the phone from 0% to 50% in about 50 minutes.

Specifications

Conclusion 

The Samsung Galaxy A52 is a great device for those who look for an upgrade from an older generation SOC phones, and it is also suitable for casual entertainment, social media, and daily work use. If you wished to use as a secondary or backup device, this may be a good choice as well. At RM1499, its budget mid tier pricing is well suitable for most users that needed a modern smartphone camera setup with a good screen refresh rate, not to mention its a Super AMOLED display also.

Pros

• 90Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Affordable price to performance device
• Very bright AMOLED display
• IP67 Water and Dust Resistance

Cons

• Slightly heavy
• Plastic back/rear