If you’ve been seeing a lot of the Samsung Galaxy A54 ads in Malaysia, then there is possible for you to pique some interest on the device. But for real life usage, does Galaxy A54 able to cope up with the demand from modern users?
Now, learn more the device with my review after over a month of usage at below.
Design – Bringing the Galaxy S23 Series’ iconic and minimalist design
Let’s start with the design of the Galaxy A54. This year, the device receives the similar look to Galaxy S23 Series, offering an iconic and minimalist design. The Floating Camera design has been a favourite for me and I was glad that it made it’s way on the Galaxy A Series.
With the weight of 202 g, the Galaxy A54 definitely feels light. The rounded corner and slight side curves on the Galaxy A54 provides a confident to grip the device for a long period. Galaxy A54 uses Gorilla Glass 5for the front and back glass, moving away from the Glasstic cover.
The Galaxy A54 is offered in Awesome Lime, Awesome Black, Awesome Violet and Awesome White. The Awesome Violet for the review unit is definitely striking for those who love a vibrant colour.
Performance – Slightly improved and runs Android 13 with ONE UI 5.1
The Galaxy A54 is powered by the Exynos 1380 and paired with 8GB RAM, which on paper is quite sufficient for most usage. In my real life usage, it is capable to perform render 4K videos on the go, browsing social media, receiving emails and gaming without any hassle. For heavy game title such as Genshin Impact, it is best to play at High settings and 30 fps. For other games, you won’t find any problem as it powers through most of them. While the performance has been upgraded, I do feel it needs to be a little bit more powerful especially for intense gaming.
I’m also glad to tell that Galaxy A54 is running Android 13 with ONE UI 5.1. Over a month of usage, I noticed there are some considerable software and securities updates provided by Samsung and hopefully it will be maintained this way throughout the Samsung commitment of supporting updates.
The 256GB internal storage on the device is pretty fast and can be expanded via microSD card.
Camera – Great for newbies in content creation; albeit with some caveat
I think that Galaxy A54 is using one of the great camera setup for a mid ranger in 2023. The triple rear camera features the new 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide camera and a 5MP macro camera as the front camera is using a 32MP selfie camera.
In the photography department, the 50MP main camera delivers almost similar photos to its S23 Series siblings. Photos are well-contrast with subtle saturation in bright daily while low light shots are usually producing less noise. You can also shoot in the full 50MP photo, which surprisingly looks good when you need to do zoom crop.
As for the 12MP ultrawide camera, you definitely can shoot considerably wider with 0.5X view of field. Photos from the ultrawide camera are excellent in bright daylight but suffers noises during low light situation. The 5MP macro camera is definitely the weakest link here because the photos aren’t colour accurate and details leave a lot to be desired.
The 32MP selfie camera takes a good selfie but definitely will suffer during low light conditions. You can take a full 32MP selfie, but do take note it will take up a lot of your memory space.
For low light conditions, it is best to use the night mode on the Galaxy A54 but make sure to have the subject to stay still or you could get blurry subject. Portrait photos are looking good for a mid range smartphone but definitely the edge cut out could be improved even better.
Those who are planning to record video content with the Galaxy A54, you can record up to 4K 30fps via the front and rear camera (main and ultrawide). The front and rear main and ultrawide camera 4K video delivers good quality for bright and well lit area but suffers noise during low light conditions. However, I would like report that the main camera footage also produced jello effect when you’re moving the camera.
You can switch lens on the go when recording video from the front to rear and vice versa. However, you can noticed there are some slight delay when switching the lens.
Display and audio – Enjoy the immersive entertainment
The Galaxy A54 rocks a 6.4 inches Super AMOLED display, which can deliver great vivid and contrast visual for a mid ranger device. The display also supports up to 120Hz refresh rate with HDR10+ certified, allowing smooth scrolling and enjoy amazing content. The display can goes up to 1000 nits of peak brightness.
In term of the audio, the stereo speakers still works like charm. It produces adequate loudness with balanced bass and clarity but definitely there are room for improvements.
Battery – All day for awesomeness
The Galaxy A54 uses a 5,000 mAh which definitely is sufficient to last you through a whole day of usage, unless you’re heavy gaming or shooting photos and 4K videos. Charging speed on the device is maxed out at 25W which can take around an hour to fully recharged.
Final verdict – Works almost like a flagship device with some caveat
With the asking price of RM1899 for the 8GB+256GB in Malaysia, I think it is well priced with what it can offer. Surely, there will be some that will be expecting the price point to include a flagship chipset but the features that it can provide are definitely near to a flagship device. Content creators will also enjoy the capability of shooting 4K videos on the front and rear camera and switching the lens while recording without any issue. On the design wise, the Galaxy A54 is definitely easily mistaken as the Galaxy S23 siblings.
The phone is highly recommended for youths and working adults who need a smartphone that performs it all while without the need to fork more than RM2,000. You can hardly go wrong if you get one today, so feel free to visit a Samsung store today to experience and get yours today. Galaxy A54 deserves a solid 8.5/10 score.