For 2022, Samsung is still maintaining the upbeat for its Galaxy A Series with the launch of the Galaxy A33, Galaxy A53 and Galaxy A73. So, Samsung has kindly provided a loan review unit of the Galaxy A53 for me to test out. After about 3 weeks of testing, I would have to say the Galaxy A53 had many positives that it was an A-lmost perfect mid-ranger. Now, let’s learn more why I say so at below.
Design – Same with new (minor) changes
The Galaxy A53 actually looks very similar to the predecessor, Galaxy A52, although with some minor details changed. With that said, the A53 has the same usual layout: a mic on the top, volume rocker and power button on the right, and sim card/microSD card slot, USB Type-C charging port and speaker grill at the bottom. However, the 3.5mm headphone jack has been omitted from the device.
The other minor changes are bigger side chassis a new camera bump design. These changes are not easily to spot but they added a more refinement looks to device. The phone’s official dimension are 159.6 x 74.8 x 8.1 (HxWxD, mm) and just weight at 189g which means the device is really comfortable to hold for a long period of time.
The phone has IP67 rating and uses Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. The back cover still retains the plastic cover which provides a high quality feel, allowing more confident to users to use it for a long period. It comes with four colours to choose from: Awesome Blue, Awesome White, Awesome Black and Awesome Peach. Overall, the phone’s design department is pretty solid.
Performance – Good but a bit more performance would be better
This time, the Galaxy A53 will only use one processor for global market, which is the Exynos 1280, a 5G mid range chip by Samsung. My review unit (and Malaysia specs) comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. The device has RAM Plus feature to give additional virtual RAM space up to 8GB and storage can be expand via microSD card up to 1TB.
The specs here are really adequate for daily usage. Most users will hardly find any fault with the performance. But for gaming purposes, heavy game title like Genshin Impact will not be suited to play at High settings and may have to revert to Low to Medium settings, depending on your frame rate liking. So, definitely it will be nice here if there is a little bit more performance on the processor and GPU.
Right out of the box, the A53 comes pre-installed with One UI 4.1 and Android 12. The software experience is nice and This year, Samsung has elected to bring few of the S series features to A series such as the Link to Windows and Bixby Routine. However, DeX is still not available for the A Series. One more thing for the software, Samsung is committed to support updates up to 4 years.
So, the performance department on the Galaxy A53 is averagely good but it certainly would be better if there is additional performance for mobile gamers.
Display and Audio – Near flagship immersive experience
An important aspect for modern smartphone is the display. The Galaxy A53 uses 6.3″ Super AMOLED display that supports up to 120hz refresh rate. The display outputs a 1080 x 2400 (FHD+) resolution and peaks brightness can reach up to 800 nits as well. The display is pretty good for content viewing and gaming as the colours are vivid with good contrast. The brightness on the device’s display is good for indoor but outdoor may struggle to look on.
As for the speakers, it has a stereo speakers which sounded quite loud and has some proper bass. The speakers also supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos for gaming which you don’t see much mid range phone provide such feature. Overall, the setup on the Galaxy A53’s display and audio is near to a flagship device experience but without paying more.
Camera – Good photos thanks to new AI tech and 4K video vlog-ready
As for the cameras on the Galaxy A53, the rear spots a quad camera setup featuring a 64MP OIS main camera, 12MP ultrawide camera, 5MP macro camera and 5MP depth camera while the front uses a 32MP selfie shooter. Samsung has claimed there are new AI camera that helps to take better images – even in low light.
For photography, the main camera does take amazing photos with nice saturation and details. However, I felt the main camera has a heavy side on blue tint as certain photos are feeling too cool than reality. Hopefully, Samsung could reduced the blue tint on the main camera with a software update. The ultrawide camera is capable to deliver amazing shots especially huge areas like like KLCC and Pavilion KL. Meanwhile, the macro camera is only useful if you need to capture closeup subjects which is quite rare. You can also rely on the selfie camera for some amazing selfie shots. Another thing to note, I noticed there are times the shutter will be lag and not responsive, which sometimes made me missed several shots. Hopefully, there is a software update to fix the issue.
For low light conditions, I highly recommend to use Night mode as it is available for the main camera, ultrawide camera and selfie camera. The portrait shots looks amazing but you need to adjust the bokeh effect to get a nice edge detection.
If you’re planning to vlog with the Galaxy A53, then you’re in luck as the main camera, ultrawide camera and selfie camera is capable of recording up to 4K 30fps video. You can even switch lens on the fly when recording as well. But, the macro camera will not work for videos. I do need to mentioned that if you’re shooting in 4K, there is no EIS so videos maybe shaky. The video quality is fantastic for a mid range smartphone and most of the time is ready to upload to social media. For low light condition video, expect noises appearing and prepare a lighting equipment if you want to reduce the noise.
Overall, the camera department on the Galaxy A53 is performing well for mid ranger. For those who are looking for a mid range smartphone for vlogs, the Galaxy A53 is one of the device to get right now in 2022.
Battery – Capable to last a whole day
The Galaxy A53 has a 5000 mAh battery that is capable to last a whole day with normal usage. Do expect the battery to drain quicker if you’re constantly heavy usage for gaming and recording 4K videos. The phone also supports 25W fast charging but the competition is offering even quicker charging speed, so, not much to comment here.
Final verdict – The pros outweighs the cons
Now, in the early part, I mentioned that the Galaxy A53 was an A-lmost perfect mid-ranger is partially due to the pros outweighs the cons. Priced at RM 1,849 (8GB+256GB), you really get a solid design, good for everyday performance, immersive display and audio, amazing camera and a whole day usage battery life. Don’t get me wrong, there are also downside such as not enough performance for mobile gaming heavy title, meagre 25W fast charging support, no EIS for 4K videos and occasional camera shutter lags. But if you can looked past through the downside, you’re actually getting an A-lmost perfect mid-range. You should consider this device if you want a mid range smartphone that does all while gives a longevity assurance with the 4 years of software update. You can get yours today in Malaysia as it is already available for purchase now.
Special thanks to Samsung for providing the device for review purposes. However, this is not a paid content, therefore, there is no editorial input nor final approval is needed. The review is done after using for 3 weeks with the device. Future updates to the device may give a differ experience than what is written here.