Samsung Galaxy A52s review: two steps forward, one step back

Samsung’s Galaxy A52s is a mid-year upgrade to the Galaxy A52 which launched in March of this year. The Galaxy A52 has so far been a decent midrange offering and stands out with its IP67 rating, which most other midrange phones don’t have. With a starting price of Rs. 26,499 for the 6GB RAM variant, the Galaxy A52 still delivers decent value even though it’s not the most modern phone.

Now with the Galaxy A52s Samsung has added some improved features and specifications. There’s a 120Hz, 5G display, and a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC, which performs better than the Snapdragon 720G in the A52. While the Galaxy A52s seems like an overall improvement, its higher price tag means it’s not a direct replacement for the Galaxy A52 (Review).

Samsung Galaxy A52s price in India

The Samsung Galaxy A52s, like the Galaxy A52, is available in two variants but they are positioned considerably higher. The basic variant has 6 GB of RAM and is priced at Rs. 35,999. The high-end variant has 8 GB of RAM and is priced at Rs. 37,499. Both variants have 128 GB of internal storage. and are available in three finishes: Awesome Black, Awesome White and Awesome Violet. I received the 8GB RAM variant in Awesome White for this review.

Samsung Galaxy A52 design

The Galaxy A52s is pretty much identical to its predecessor in terms of design. The phone has a polycarbonate back panel with a plastic frame. The frame has a smoky chrome finish, while the rear panel has a matte white surface that resembles marble. The matte plastic back panel is effective in rejecting fingerprints and gives the phone a premium feel. One design element that stands out is the camera module, which protrudes slightly from the rear but has a similar finish and color. This brings out the lens cutouts and makes the phone look very modern.

The Samsung Galaxy A52s has a polycarbonate back panel

Unlike most smartphones in this segment, the Galaxy A52s has a 3.5mm headphone jack located on the bottom next to the USB Type-C port and the main speaker. The phone’s earpiece sits in a thin slot between the display glass and the plastic frame that protects it. In addition to being used for calls, it also serves as a secondary speaker.

Just like the Samsung Galaxy A52, the A52s has an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. It is one of the few smartphones to offer this premium functionality, and according to Samsung the phone can withstand submersion up to 1m in fresh water for 30 minutes.

The Galaxy A52s has a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED Full HD + display with a cutout for the selfie camera. The screen is made of Gorilla Glass 5 and is stain resistant. The bezels seem a bit thicker than on most Sub-R smartphones. 40,000 segments.

Samsung Galaxy A52s Specifications and Software

The Samsung Galaxy A52s uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G SoC. This mid-range processor is also found in Realme GT Master Edition and the Moto Edge 20, which are priced from Rs. 25,999 and Rs. 29,999 respectively. This processor is by no means underpowered, but the Galaxy A52 will be compared to other sub-Rs. 40,000 smartphones such as the Realme GT and the Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro, which are powered by Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon 888 processor.

The Samsung Galaxy A52s has a 3.5mm headphone jack

The Galaxy A52s offers up to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. There is a dual SIM hybrid tray that can accept microSD cards up to 1TB. There is support for Bluetooth 5, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, NFC and the usual set of navigation systems . Although the phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, there is no FM radio app.

Samsung’s One UI 3.1 is showcasing the Galaxy A52s. It is based on Android 11 and features the recent August security patch. It is highly personalized and comes with several Samsung branded apps as well as third party apps. Third-party apps can be uninstalled if you don’t need them. With the exception of the occasional Galaxy Store promotional notification, these apps didn’t interfere with my software experience, which was smooth and lag-free with regular use.

Samsung Galaxy A52 performance and battery life

The 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is an upgrade to the 90Hz panel on the Galaxy A52. The 120Hz refresh rate is useful when playing fast-paced games, and the Super AMOLED panel with its deep blacks makes the video content quite immersive, aided by the sound from the stereo speakers. The display is good at rejecting fingerprints and is readable in direct sunlight. What I missed with the Galaxy A52s was the HDR10 support when streaming video.

Galaxy A52s display does not support HDR10

The Samsung Galaxy A52s’ Snapdragon 778G performance isn’t bad, but it doesn’t live up to competing smartphones at the same price point. That said, the Galaxy A52s achieved an AnTuTu score of 5,07534, which is far lower than the Realme GT’s score of 8,02974. Geekbench saw a similar difference, with the Galaxy A52s scoring 739 (single-core) and 2,733 (multi-core), while the Realme GT managed 1,138 and 3,408, respectively.

Synthetic benchmarks aside, the Galaxy A52’s gaming performance wasn’t bad. I played Call of Duty: Mobile at very high graphics and frame rate settings, with no noticeable heating issues or lag. Touch sampling was a bit slow, but I didn’t lose any matches because of it.

What annoyed me was the placement of the screen’s ambient light sensor to the left of the punch hole camera, which meant I often ended up blocking it when holding the device horizontally while playing games. games or watching videos. This led to the display dimming frequently when not needed. The obvious solution is to flip the phone over, but I ended up blocking the speaker grille by holding it this way. Fortunately, Samsung has a solution. For trouble-free play, open the Game Launcher app, tap “Game performance”, then “Block while playing”, then toggle the “Automatic brightness” toggle.

The Galaxy A52s has four rear cameras

The Samsung Galaxy A52s lasted 15 hours and 43 minutes in our HD video loop battery test, which isn’t bad for a premium smartphone, but is surprisingly lower than what we got with the Galaxy A52. Fortunately, this was not the case with daily use as the phone easily lasted me a day and a half with games, photography, and video streaming. Charging the phone using the included 15W charger took 1 hour and 37 minutes, which isn’t bad. It could be improved if you use your own 25W charger, which this phone will support.

Samsung Galaxy A52s cameras

The Samsung Galaxy A52s has four rear cameras. This setup includes a 64-megapixel primary, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 5-megapixel depth camera. Selfie tasks are handled by a 32-megapixel front camera. The camera interface is uniquely Samsung and has all the important controls accessible with just one click. Camera modes can also be customized. One detail to note is that the ultra wide angle camera only shoots at 30 fps in 1080p and 4K resolution.

Samsung Galaxy A52s daytime camera samples. Top to bottom: close-up, wide, ultra-wide (tap to view full size)

The Galaxy A52s has proven to be quite capable of taking photos in daylight. These photos came out a bit saturated (which is typically Samsung) but crisp and clear with good dynamic range. The photos taken indoors were also clear, but this depended heavily on the quality of the artificial lighting; the absence of which has led to fewer details. The main rear camera takes crisp portraits with great detail and good edge detection. The 32-megapixel front camera also captures crisp selfies with excellent detail and impressive edge detection.

Examples of Samsung Galaxy A52s selfie camera. Top: automatic mode, bottom: portrait (press to view full size)

Some photos taken with the ultra wide-angle camera in daylight looked okay, but showed purple fringes in the brightest areas. Samsung’s ultra-wide shape correction camera feature only made matters worse. The 5-megapixel macro camera pulled off some good close-ups, but the details were a bit exaggerated.

Low light Samsung Galaxy A52s camera samples. Top: automatic mode, bottom: night mode (press to see full size)

Photos taken in low light showed significantly less detail and sharpness. Night mode was successful in correcting most of these problems, but was not very effective in dimly lit scenes, as it only succeeded in brightening up the image without any noticeable gain in clarity or reduction in light. noise. I also noticed a watercolor effect in most of the Night mode photos, with some flattened textures that are quite similar to what we saw in our Galaxy A52 review. The low-light selfies came out with a lot of noise, even with Night mode.

Video recorded at all resolutions showed good detail in daylight. However, only videos recorded at 1080p 30fps had good stabilization, while 1080p 60fps and 4K 30fps clips seemed very choppy. In low light, the quality dropped significantly with blurry textures and limited dynamic range, and stabilization wasn’t great either.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy A52s is a worthy upgrade if you’re a fan of the brand or looking for a high-end smartphone with an IP rating below R. 40,000 segments. However, when it comes to value, the Galaxy A52’s hefty price tag sees it being sandwiched by phones that cost much less or offer superior features and performance.

Motorola Edge 20 is based on the same processor, but also has a 108MP camera, 144Hz refresh rate display and super slim body, all at a lower price point (Rs. 29,999), while that the Realme GT (Review) offers a Snapdragon 888 processor as well as much better low-light camera performance at a similar price (Rs. 37,999). For a few thousand more rupees, Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro (Review) (from Rs. 39,999) has a larger screen, 108 MP main camera, and HDR10 + video streaming support, but no IP rating.

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