Among mid-range smartphones, Samsung is looking to do well this year. While keeping the A range, reworked a few years ago now, it’s the turn of the A53. This Samsung Galaxy A53 5G looks like a real proposition in a very saturated price segment.
Our brief review of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
Looking at this smartphone, you will most certainly see the A52, or even the A72, again. You would be right, the back side design is exactly the same. It must be believed that this one was liked, because several smartphones in the 2022 range offer this design. Beyond that, there are also other interesting points, which you will discover below!
Technical sheet
64MP
12MP
5MP
5MP
6.5 Inches
2400×1080
120Hz
Super-AMOLED
Android 12
OneUI 4
128 GB
5000mAh
25W
Exynos 1280
6 GB
459€
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G detailed article
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G unboxing
You can find the unboxing below, on TikTok. I comment all the same a little, by specifying here, that this unboxing is really very poor in content. There is only the phone and the USB-C to USB-C cable. That’s all. This impoverishment of content was reserved for the high-end segment until then. But now, all ranges at Samsung seem to be affected.
It’s quite a shame, so you will have to reuse an old charger, wireless headphones, or USB-C headphones. Because, moreover, there is no jack. This is compensated by efforts made by Samsung, especially on updates. Indeed, this smartphone will be powered by 4 years of Android updates, and 5 years of security updates. It’s amazing, because only Samsung offers it today, on a price level like this.
Design and hardware of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
I have already talked about it a little, but this design does not renew itself compared to the previous generation. But is it really a problem? Personally, I think not, this design is very pleasing to the eye. It even offers itself the luxury of having a very good grip in the hand. This practicality is found in portrait mode, where we will never interfere with the camera with our fingers. But also in landscape mode, during a video game, our fingers do not dirty the photo block.
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G screen
Samsung is now the biggest seller of smartphones in the world. But beyond a smartphone manufacturer, Samsung is above all a manufacturer. The brand therefore builds its own screens, and even these processors. And it is frankly noticeable, Samsung today has a real know-how for screens. This smartphone is no exception to the rule.
In short, through a 1080p combo at 120Hz, you will have precision and fluidity. The screen is very well calibrated, and brings out the correct colors of the photos in particular. Unfortunately, there are still some fairly substantial bezels to note, but it’s still decent for everyday use. Unlike other competitors, it will therefore offer real quality, and a real fluidity of 120 Hz. Sometimes this announced fluidity of 120 Hz does not feel the same way depending on the smartphone. There, the user is not harmed.
Performance
On the performance side, we find the Exynos 1280, with 6 GB of RAM. We could expect good performances for nearly 500€. However, even for a mid-range, the performance is not the craziest. Samsung seems to have found a problem with these Exynos processors, after a year of hiatus. This is damaging for the brand and the users.
Concretely, this translates into rather average graphics performance. In very basic games, like those of SuperCell or Mario Kart Tour, there will be no problem. But in games that come to dig the performance of the phone, it is more problematic. Asphalt 9 will experience FPS drops, causing inconvenience in the middle of the game, for example.
Photo
Unlike the rest of the mid-range smartphones (or Google), Samsung seeks to offer good photo quality. Conversely, the Chinese manufacturers in particular, push the performance figures to the maximum, with lareview generation processors. But the photo part usually takes a hit. There, this is clearly not the case, I let you look below.
Ultra Wide Angle
Big angle
Zoom x2
x4
and x10
With the zoom gallery above, we quickly see the range of possibilities with this smartphone. On a landscape taken in photo, from ultra wide angle, to digital zoom in x10, the colorimetry remains almost the same. The variations are small enough to be ignored. Moreover, even in a fairly advanced zoom, the smartphone is not doing too badly. It won’t be the prettiest to share, but it can still do the trick in a x4 and x5 zoom. The x10 is clearly to be forgotten.
What is very often pleasing with Samsung’s photo algorithm is the colors. They are always both lively, but also faithful. The photos keep life in scenes that are very much alive in reality. Some smartphones unfortunately have treatments that give dull colors. There, they are very pleasant, and make you want to share them on social networks.
Autonomy and Battery
This is a weak point of this smartphone, the battery is not preferable. At least, it is not as much as last year’s smartphone. Indeed, the autonomy loses a little compared to its predecessor, the A52. Concretely, in a basic use of social networks, YouTube, and some very light games, we can reach around a day and a half of autonomy. In a much more basic use, by lowering all the battery consumption sliders, the two days are achievable.
However, as soon as you add somewhat long photo sessions, and more demanding video games, you will only last a day. This remains respectable compared to more high-end (but more efficient) smartphones. On the charging side, it will take 1h to 1h15 to fully charge the smartphone.
Conclusion: What is the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G worth?
This smartphone is placed like a UFO in its range. Marketed as the “Awesome Phone”, you could almost believe it actually is. Some promises are not perfectly kept by Samsung. This is the case of the battery, weaker than the 48 hours announced. But for all that, the performances remain correct, the photo is surprising, the design is pleasant. There are no major faults, just a good or even very good level almost everywhere.
