Samsung Galaxy A52s Review

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Samsung Galaxy A52s review summary:

Editor’s rating:3.75/5

Design

Display

Software

Performance

Camera

Battery

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Pros

  • Vibrant 120hz screen
  • Impressive performance
  • Good cameras
  • Stereo speakers
  • Dust and water resistance

Cons

  • Slow charging speeds
  • Average stereo speakers
  • Bloatware

Samsung launched an upgrade over its Galaxy A52 smartphone which launched in March 2021, in the form of Samsung Galaxy A52s. This is in tandem with Samsung expanding into budget smartphone series with its Galaxy A and Galaxy M series. The only thing which differentiates the A series from the M series is its increased focus on aesthetics. Ever since its launch, Galaxy A52 has been a good offering in the affordable category with features like IP67 rating and the base variant with 6GB RAM.

Now with the launch of Samsung Galaxy A52s, the company has added certain specs and features like 120Hz refresh rate, 5G connectivity, 778G Snapdragon chipset with a price increase too.

Navigate this article:


Specs Unboxing | Design | PerformanceDisplay | Features & Software Camera | Battery | Verdict |


Samsung Galaxy A52s Unboxing

The box contains:

  • Samsung Galaxy A52s handset
  • Ejection Pin
  • Manual
  • Data Cable
  • Travel Adaptor

Samsung Galaxy A52s Price & Availability

Just like its predecessor, Galaxy A52s comes in 2 storage variants. The base variant has a configuration of 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and is priced at Rs. 35,999 while the higher variant has a combination of 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

It costs Rs. 37,999. Both the models are available in 3 finishes- Awesome Black, Awesome White, and Awesome Violet. I variant I got was in white with 8GB RAM.

Samsung Galaxy A52s Specs

  • Display- 6.5-inch Super AMOLED (120Hz refresh rate)
  • OS- Android 11
  • Chipset- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
  • RAM- 6GB/8GB
  • Storage- 128GB
  • GPU- Adreno 642L
  • Rear Camera- 64MP+12MP+5MP+5MP
  • Front Camera- 32MP
  • Bluetooth- 5.0
  • Battery- 4500mAh (25W fast charging)
  • 5G bands- 1,3,5,7,8,20,28, 38,40,41,66,78, SA/NSA/Sub 6
  • Dimensions- 159.9×75.1×8.4mm
  • Weight- 189 grams

Samsung Galaxy A52s review: Design

Galaxy A52s is quite similar to Galaxy A52 and has a polycarbonate back panel with a plastic frame having a smoky finish. The back panel has a matte look that feels like marble when you touch it and doesn’t allow any smudges or fingerprints. It has a slim and light body which made it easy to use with a single hand. The camera module protrudes from the back but has a similar finish and color making the lens cut-outs stand out. All these give the smartphone a premium and modern experience. Even after holding my phone for hours, there were no fingerprint marks anywhere on its back panel.

A 3.5mm headphone jack is located at the bottom right next to the USB-Type C port and primary speaker. The phone’s earpiece is placed in such a way that it can perform dual functions- calls as well as a secondary speaker. It is rated IP67 too just like its predecessor which was good as I did not have to worry if my phone tripped into a water bucket or got drenched by rain.

Samsung Galaxy A52s review: Display

Samsung Galaxy A52s has a 6.5-inch full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a cut-out for the selfie camera. The size of the display is just fine, neither too big nor too small. The display is made of Gorilla Glass 5 too which prevented any kind of cracks on the screen if my smartphone slid out of my hand accidentally.

The bezels on the display are thicker than other smartphones, which is a downside, but that can be ignored because the display shows bright and rich colors without brightening them too much. 120Hz refresh rate allowed smoother scrolling and when I opted for 60Hz refresh rate, the difference could be felt.

Samsung Galaxy A52s review: Features & Software

In terms of chipset, it shares the same one as Realme GT Master Edition and the Moto Edge 20, which is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G SoC. The processor works fine and gives no lags or stutters during gaming. It gives up to 8GB of RAM which is great for a smartphone under a 40k budget. 8GB RAM makes sure multiple apps can run simultaneously and switch between apps is easy to do.

The dual-SIM tray is a hybrid one, so I could use it for microSD cards too when I needed to expand my internal storage up to 1TB. There is no dearth of connectivity features too as it supports Bluetooth 5, Dual-band Wi-Fi 6, NFC, and usual navigation features. There is no FM radio app, but then not many people use this app these days.

Galaxy A52s runs the company’s One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 with the latest August security update. The UI is customized and comes with quite a few pre-loaded third-party and Samsung apps. The third-party apps can be uninstalled if not needed, while the Samsung apps didn’t disturb my experiences, so I could let them lie there unattended. Overall the software experience was lag-free.

Samsung Galaxy A52s review: Performance

The 120Hz refresh panel is a good upgrade over A52 which had a 90Hz refresh rate. It was very useful while playing heavy games and using many apps simultaneously. The Super AMOLED display quality with good surround sound speakers made the video look rich, bright, and immersive with an amazing audio experience too. The display was visible under sunlight too which was a huge plus for me though HDR 10 support is something you might miss while streaming a high-quality video.

The processor gives a decent performance too though it’s no match for other smartphones with higher-end processors. The Galaxy A52s has got an AnTuTu score of 5,07,534 and the Geekbench scores are 739 (single-core) and 2733 (multi-core). Although the scores are quite less in comparison to the Realme GT, in actuality there are no worries about the gaming performance of the smartphone. Call of Duty at high graphics and frame rate settings ran well as there was no heating or lags. Touch sampling could have been better though.

One annoying thing the company has done is the wrong placement of the ambient light sensor of the display. It is placed at the left of the hole-punch camera which led to me blocking the sensor whenever I held the phone horizontally (mostly while playing games or watching videos). As a result, the display lit dimmed itself frequently which was a distraction. Flipping the phone could solve the problem but then the speaker grille got blocked by my fingers.

To resolve this issue, Samsung has provided a solution too. For a trouble-free gaming experience, open the ‘Game Launcher app’, tap on ‘Game performance’, then ‘Block during the game’ and flip the ‘Auto brightness toggle’.

The heavy amount of bloatware might be a deal-breaker for some as they want clean UI. Setting up of the smartphone is not very smooth too as Samsung keeps intruding in between asking various things to choose from and apps asking for various kinds of permissions.

Samsung Galaxy A52s Camera review

Galaxy A52s has a quad rear camera setup. The 4 cameras setup includes a 64MP primary, a 12MP ultrawide, a 5MP macro, and a 5MP depth camera. For selfies, there is a 32MP front camera. The camera’s controls are mostly accessible with a single tap and the camera modes can be customized as well. One slight hiccup is that the 12MP camera can shoot videos only at 30fps that too in both 1080p as well as 4k resolutions.

Daylight photos were amazing with Galaxy A52s. They were sharp, clear, and dynamic. Indoor photos were as good as my lighting was because the lack of artificial lighting meant poorer pictures.

The best part about the camera is its 64MP shooter that takes sharp, detailed, and rich colored pictures. The landscape after rainfall with a rainbow looked awesome as the colors were rich and bright. Details are caught well too. You will have to manually choose the 64MP camera mode to get better photographs.

I had some of my best selfie moments with this smartphone because its 32MP front camera captured sharp pictures with good details and edge detection. The only issue is that it adds slight beautification even with no optimization. The Galaxy A52s also has many features to play around like Single Take, built-in Snapchat filters, super slow-motion video recording, and AR doodles.

A slight hiccup was faced with the 12MP ultrawide lens. This is because while some shots were perfect in daylight, some others were distorted around the edges with purple fringing in extremely brighter areas. The photos looked blurred because of this and the auto-wide shape correction feature made things even worse. 5MP macro lens gave a decent performance in close-ups.

Low-light photography is a weak point and needs a good amount of work. The night mode works well but the problem crept up when it mechanically brightened up the dim image without any proper clarity otherwise. The shots looked artificial when Night mode was used to edit dimly lit pictures. A watercolor effect can be seen in Night mode photos which is similar to that with the Galaxy A52 camera too. Lots of noise can be seen in photos captured in the evening and at night.

Videos recorded show good detailing in broad daylight. The videos recorded at 1080p 30fps were with ok stabilization, while 1080p 60fps and 4k 30fps clips were very shaky. The low light quality of videos wasn’t good at all which is a major drawback.

Samsung Galaxy A52s Battery

The Battery life of the A52s smartphone is decent. The phone lasted me throughout the day even though I did stream videos and played games for a few hours. On days I had an office, there was no time for gaming or streaming, and the regular usage made it last for 1.5 days at a stretch. Though it supports 25W fast charging, the charger that comes in the box is a 15W fast charger. It took around 1 hour and 55 minutes to completely recharge the device. 25W charger will take even less time, but you will have to purchase it separately.

Review verdict: Should you buy Samsung Galaxy A52s?

Overall, the performance of the Samsung Galaxy A52s offers good performance but the problem is that it seems overpriced in comparison to other smartphones that are priced around the same but have better features. Smartphones like OnePlus Nord 2 give a way better performance than A52s although both are in the same price range.

Motorola Edge 20 has the same chipset but has a 108MP camera, 144Hz refresh rate, and slimmer body, all this for just Rs. 29,999. Realme GT offers Snapdragon 888 chipset with better camera specs at Rs. 37,999. Xiaomi’s Mi 11X Pro is a tough competitor too with way better display and camera features for Rs. 39,999.

The only reasons for you to buy this smartphone can be IP rating in under 40k price range or if you love Samsung as a brand and want to own a premium smartphone from the brand.

Reasons to buy

  • Vibrant 120hz screen
  • Impressive performance
  • Good cameras
  • Stereo speakers
  • Dust and water resistance

Reasons not to buy

  • Slow charging speeds
  • Average stereo speakers
  • Bloatware
Shivangi AgarwalShivangi Agarwal
Shivangi is an honours graduate in English from Delhi University with a passion for reading and writing. Always keen to know more about the latest gadgets, when she is not reading about tech, she loves listening to Hindi music and grooving to the latest Hindi beats.

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