It’s laborious to dislike Samsung’s new Galaxy A53 5G. This Android telephone prices simply $450 and is all most people need, even besting our present prime decide, the Google Pixel 5A, in just a few areas. It’s look is a bit drab—the matte plastic design can be a haven for fingerprints—but when you do not need your telephone to stay out like a sore thumb, it is a fantastic reasonably priced possibility.
Samsung’s A Game
Put the A53 5G subsequent to its predecessor, the A52 5G, and also you may need a tough time telling them aside. Two areas the place the brand new A53 may disappoint are with the removing of the headphone jack and the shortage of a charging adapter in the box. These traits began with high-end flagships and at the moment are trickling down, which some customers aren’t glad about.
Thankfully, the A53 5G succeeds with the options that matter most. Take the display, for instance. The 6.5-inch OLED display will get a lot brighter than the show on Google’s $450 Pixel phone, making it pretty legible throughout sunny days right here in New York. It maintains a 120-Hz screen refresh rate too, so scrolling by apps and the interface feels responsive and buttery easy (simply ensure to show this on within the settings menu).
The giant display is nice for my massive paws, and the slim design helps for smaller arms. It’s paired with stereo audio system that really sound nice. My TV has been damaged for a little bit over every week, however I’ve been greater than OK catching up on reveals on the sofa with this telephone.
It has a 5,000-mAh cell, which is barely bigger than final 12 months’s A52, although real-world battery life is comparable. There are days I push it laborious and see it hit 30 % by midnight. But as a rule, it hangs someplace round 50 to 45 % by the day’s finish, leaving sufficient juice for most of the next day. Still, neither telephone fairly provides two full days of battery life.
This is likely one of the few Samsung telephones offered within the US that use its homegrown processor, the Exynos 1280, and it is paired with 6 gigabytes of RAM. Benchmark assessments present its efficiency is just like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G powering its predecessor, which is a little bit of a disgrace. Don’t get me unsuitable—identical to final 12 months’s model, the A53 5G handles most on a regular basis duties simply superb. There are, nonetheless, conditions the place you may huff and puff as you await it to load up instructions on Google Maps, or await the digicam app to launch. I do not recall experiencing such frustrations with the Pixel 5A.
The excellent news? This A53 will unusually get extra model upgrades and safety updates than its Pixel peer. (I nonetheless do not perceive how Google, which manages the Android working system, is letting Samsung eat its lunch on this division.) That means 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates, so it’s going to hold getting patched till 2027. That’s fairly gorgeous for a sub-$450 Android telephone.
Speaking of the software program, it is superb. Whenever I take a look at Samsung telephones, I begin to miss the clear Android software program expertise discovered on Pixels and Motorolas. The interface design right here is not my favourite (why do I’ve to scroll by my app drawer horizontally?!). Thankfully, like all Androids, you may customise and alter a lot of this through third-party apps and launchers.
The Cameras
Most cameras on Android telephones that value lower than $600 suck. The exception has been the Pixel A-series telephones—I’ve but to see a tool that may dethrone Google’s prowess right here. Samsung closes the hole and delivers a reasonably passable digicam system with this new mannequin, although it is not fairly reaching Pixel heights, significantly in low mild.
During the day, the 64-megapixel essential digicam can seize detailed photographs. The colours are the issue. Take the photograph of the hearth escape on a wet day within the gallery above. In Samsung’s photograph, the shade of the constructing is a lot lighter than it was in actual life (the Pixel 5A photograph is way nearer to actuality). In high-contrast scenes, particulars within the A53 5G’s photos endure a smidge too. When the solar units, you continue to get fairly nice photographs! But they’re usually grainier and haven’t got the sharpness or coloration accuracy of the Pixel 5A.
