You may have saw the 2021 Galaxy A series advertisement, awesome camera, awesome display and so on. This time, I have the Samsung Galaxy A52 review unit here to experience. So, does the Galaxy A52 is an awesome device? Now, let’s find out and do watch the video as well.
Design – Inspired by Galaxy S21 series with IP67 dust/water resistant to last long
This time, you can noticed there is a striking resemblance on the Galaxy A52 like the Galaxy S21 series and I think Samsung pulled off awesomely well. The back plastic cover on the A52 has an awesome matte finish that helps reducing smudges and you won’t be easily slipping the phone. The phone is also designed with IP67 dust/water resistant as well.
The right side of the phone positioned the volume button and power button. The sim card tray is located on top of the phone, while at the bottom it has the 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port and bottom firing speaker. On the front, a 6.5inch inch display is covered by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and has punch hole front camera with chrome ring. I don’t really like front camera with chrome ring design but that is up to each individual taste. Overall, the phone has the design to suit with younger audience who wants a balanced design.
Performance – Awesome device for work, content creation and play
On the performance department, my review unit is rocking the Snapdragon 732G with 8GB RAM. This awesome chip is still good for daily task and gaming without any ease. The A52 definitely can offer good gaming experience but don’t expect to maxed out settings on demanding title like Genshin Impact if you want to have a smooth gaming experience. The device is running One UI 3.1 and Android 11 so it will definitely offers a professional feel for casual users.
Battery – Definitely last you an awesome day with a charger included
On the battery, Galaxy A52 has a 4500mAh battery which is sufficient to last the whole day depending on each individual usage. The phone also includes a 15W fast charger but it can support up to 25W fast charging and you need to purchase one to get the best charging speed.
Display and Audio
Over to to the display now, the 6.5 inches display is using a Super AMOLED panel. The Super AMOLED panel can output good quality viewing experience for binge watching videos and gaming. The display has 90hz fast refresh rate, so you get to scroll around smoothly with the A52. Max brightnness is maxed at 800 nits is good for indoor but for outdoor, it kind of difficult to look at during sunny weather.
The Galaxy A52 audio experience is good thanks to the top and bottom firing stereo speakers. The volume is loud but not as loud as some flagship smartphone. The stereo speakers still does a good job for immersive audio experience and you still can rely on the 3.5mm jack with Dolby Audio to enhance the audio experience.
Cameras (Photography) – The main camera is the best to capture all your awesome moment!
One of the main ‘awesome’ highlight of the A52 is the cameras. The quad camera setup feature a 64MP main cam with OIS, 12MP ultrawide cam, 5MP Macro cam and a 5MP depth sensor. For selfies, A52 uses a 32MP front camera for crisp selfies photo.
Let’s start with photography first. The 64MP main cam with OIS can shoot awesome photos at broad daylight and low light conditions. The main cam really captures a lot of light making it one of the best mid range phone for low-light photography.
The ultrawide angle camera can capture awesome wide shots during broad daylight but during low light condition it is soft and grainy. But don’t use it at dark area.
The 5MP macro cam photo quality is good and usable for sharing on social media.
The front camera can take good selfie in broad daylight however, during low light conditions, the photo quality start to be soft.
For Night mode, it is available for the main camera, ultrawide camera and front camera only. The photos taken in Night Mode is good but it tends to blow up the brightness a bit too much. Especially when signages with lighting, the night mode just brights up the light too much making it difficult to read the signage anymore.
You have a Fun mode for photography on the A52 where it uses filters from Snapchat. I’m not really into the filters but if you do, you can play with it. It also requires data when using Fun mode so take note on that.
Cameras (Videography) – A surprisingly good 4K smartphone camera!
As for the video, the main camera can shoot up to 4K 30fps but you’re losing out Electronic Image stabilization (EIS) at 4K format. EIS will only kick in at 1080p 30fps and the OIS only helps a little bit when shooting in 4K video in broad daylight and lowlight. The videos from the main cam in 4K looks good and you can still do some editing to improve the videos.
The ultrawide angle camera suprised me the most as it can do an awesome 4K 30fps video which looks good in broad daylight videos but not for low light conditions so bring a lighting equipment or device to assist. The macro camera can’t do any videos so it is a bit of shame as the competitor allows video recording on macro cam. I mostly loved the front camera on the A52 because it can shoot up to 4K 30fps but you can’t switch to the rear cameras.
The front camera video quality looks good in 4K and surprisingly in low light conditions, it still does a fairly good job though it still suffers noise and soft details. I do wished Samsung to include the Director’s View like the Galaxy S21 series for vlogging because the cameras does have a potential for vloggers and content creator.
Final Verdict – Easily to recommend because it does awesomeness without any frills
So let’s wrapped things up with my final verdict on Galaxy A52. The device in Malaysia is priced at RM 1499 and has great design with solid build quality, awesome cameras, good battery life, and amazing display and audio. I would give a solid 7.5 out of 10 on the A52 because it packs some serious awesome features despite being a mid range smartphone. The device suits for content creator, gamers and casual users who need a device that does an awesome job without paying a high price. Highly recommended if you want a mid range smartphone without any frills.
Special thanks to Samsung Malaysia for providing the device for content purpose. However, this is not a paid review content and there is no input or final approval is needed from Samsung. All the comments on the Galaxy A52 is solely based on 2 weeks usage. The review may varied upon on different software updates.