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Back in 2019, purchasing a phone that cost $500 or less seemed almost impossible. That was especially true if you wanted advanced features, like multi-lens cameras and 5G.
That's no longer the case in 2021, and Samsung is one of the major tech giants leading the charge toward decent budget phones with its recently launched Galaxy A series. The $500 Galaxy A52 5G is the lineup's top-of-the-line device, offering features that were rare even on the priciest phones until recently.
The Galaxy A52 5G is proof that the era of paying $1,000 or more for a smartphone is coming to an end. But that gap in price doesn't come without some trade-offs, although none of them are deal breakers.
For example, you shouldn't expect the Galaxy A52 5G to perform as fast as smartphones equipped with the latest cutting-edge processors. Otherwise, what you're really missing out on is technology that will be important for powering newer features that are nice to have, but aren't critical to the overall experience today.
Here's a closer look at what it's been like to use the Galaxy A52 5G.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G Specifications
Design and display
There's nothing about the Galaxy A52 5G's design that seems cheap. Its matte build makes the A52 5G almost feel like it could fit right at home in Samsung's high-end Galaxy S21 lineup.
As much as I appreciate the Galaxy A52 5G's aesthetic, the back panel does collect fingerprint smudges and dust fairly easily. I'd recommend using this phone with a case.
Samsung is known for its vivid display technology, and it hasn't compromised on this with the A52 5G. Samsung's $500 Galaxy phone comes with a 6.5-inch 1,080 x 2,400 resolution screen that uses Samsung's Super AMOLED technology.
Super AMOLED is a type of OLED display technology, meaning it should offer richer contrast and bolder colors than LCD panels like those found on some less expensive smartphones. Even the $600 iPhone 11 lacks an OLED screen. Super AMOLED also differs from a traditional OLED display in that it has the touch sensors incorporated directly into the display rather than on a separate layer, helping to keep the device thin.
Samsung's more expensive phones like the Galaxy S21, however, come with Dynamic OLED screens, which offer extra perks like HDR10+ certification for cinema-grade viewing.
Still, the viewing experience on the Galaxy A52 5G is more than enough to make reading and watching movies or TV enjoyable. When watching clips from "The Great British Baking Show," colors on the Galaxy A52 5G look slightly bolder and punchier than they do on Apple's $400 iPhone SE, which uses an LCD panel instead of OLED. Google's $700 Pixel 5, which also has an OLED display, looks almost as good as Samsung's phone, but seems a bit washed out in comparison during certain scenes.
Not to mention, the Galaxy A52 5G also has a nearly borderless screen with a selfie camera cutout that's barely visible, much like many of today's premium smartphones.
There's support for facial recognition and a fingerprint sensor that's built into the screen. However, I've noticed that it often takes several times for the scanner to read my finger, which can be an annoyance.
Camera
Smartphones have replaced dedicated cameras for most people, so it's no surprise that Samsung decided to go all-in when it comes to the Galaxy A52's camera quality.
The phone comes with four rear cameras: a 64-megapixel wide lens, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, a 5-megapixel macro lens, and a 5-megapixel depth lens. On the front, there's a 32-megapixel selfie camera. That's a lot of lenses for a $500 phone.
In practice, the Galaxy A52 has a great camera for the price, especially when it comes to low-light photos, zoom shots, and selfies. Based on my experience, the Galaxy A52 5G is better at taking photos in dim scenarios than the Google Pixel 5 and Apple iPhone SE, and it can also zoom in more closely when taking photos from far away.
Take a look at the photos taken in a dimly lit area below, and you'll notice the Galaxy A52's is the brightest.
However, the Galaxy A52 does produce photos that look a little washed out compared to the Pixel 5 and iPhone SE in bright scenes, and skin tones in portraits don't look as natural in the A52's photos as they did in pictures taken on Apple's and Google's phones. Take a look at the photo below and you'll notice Samsung's shot looks overexposed.
Otherwise, it also has many of the same shooting modes as the Galaxy S21, such as Single Take, panorama, pro video, portrait, and night mode among others. The Galaxy A52 lacks Director's View, which lets you record with multiple lenses at the same time, but comes with its own extra perks, like Snapchat filters built directly into the selfie camera.
Performance
But don't expect it to blow your mind with its speed, especially compared to the iPhone SE.
Based on our tests, the lower-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor inside the Galaxy A52 5G simply can't compare to the Apple's A13 Bionic chip.
The iPhone SE exported a 25-second 4K video clip to 1080p in Adobe Rush in a fraction of the amount of time it took for the Galaxy A52 to accomplish the same task. Benchmark tests show similar results, with the iPhone SE scoring significantly higher on tests meant to measure overall performance in everyday tasks (GeekBench 5) and graphics rendering in games (3DMark WildLife).
Anecdotally, I also noticed that the Galaxy A52 gets slightly warmer than the iPhone SE when running demanding games, and the camera doesn't launch as quickly. Otherwise, the differences in processing power aren't very noticeable.
Unless you really need to be able to export and edit video as quickly as possible on your phone, the Galaxy A52's performance should be powerful enough.
Plus, the Galaxy A52 5G also comes with the option to boost its screen refresh rate up to 120Hz, which makes scrolling feel more responsive.
Battery life
You can rest assured that the Galaxy A52 5G won't leave you scrambling to find a charger. Samsung's $500 phone lasted impressively long during our battery test, which consists of streaming video on YouTube continuously with the screen's brightness cranked all the way up.
The Galaxy A52 5G lasted for 13 hours and 25 minutes, just slightly beating the Pixel 5's time of 13 hours and 19 minutes. The much smaller iPhone SE, however, died at about five hours into our test. The Galaxy A52 5G even outlasted the pricier Galaxy S21, which died after 12 hours and 46 minutes when we put it through the same test in February.
For times when you do run out of battery, the Galaxy A52 5G supports 25-watt fast charging that should supply a 50% charge in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, you have to buy the 25W adapter separately.
Should you buy it?
Yes, the Galaxy A52 5G is an excellent option for Android fans that don't want to spend close to $1,000 on a new smartphone. With 5G support, long battery life, a large and vibrant screen, and a great camera, you won't be compromising much by going with Samsung's midrange Galaxy device.
The biggest features that are missing from the Galaxy A52 5G are capabilities that may be important in the future, but aren't deal breakers by any means.
For example, it lacks ultra wideband tech, a wireless protocol that gives phones better proximity detection. It's mostly used for sharing content to other nearby devices or using tracking accessories like Apple's AirTags or Samsung's Galaxy Tags.
It also doesn't have millimeter wave 5G, which is the superfast version of 5G that enables significantly speedier performance than 4G LTE. However, those networks aren't widely deployed and only operate at short distances.
What are your alternatives?
The $500 Google Pixel 4a 5G is the closest competitor to Samsung's Galaxy A52 5G. It has a slightly smaller screen with a lower refresh rate, two rear cameras instead of four, and no facial recognition. But it does support both types of 5G, receives Android updates quickly, and also gets exclusive Android features.
Samsung also sells a cheaper $400 phone called the Galaxy A42 5G that comes with both flavors of 5G, but has fewer cameras with lower resolutions and less memory.
For budget shoppers interested in the iPhone, there's the $400 iPhone SE. This phone only has one rear camera, significantly shorter battery life compared to the Galaxy A52 5G, and a smaller 4.7-inch screen. But it's packed with super powerful performance.
The bottom line
With high marks in all the areas that count — like battery life, camera capabilities, and display quality — the $500 Galaxy A52 makes it hard to justify paying close to $1,000 for a new phone. It doesn't have the fastest performance, and its camera does fall short in some areas. But for most people, it has the right balance of affordability and features.
Pros: Long battery life, vibrant screen with high refresh rate, good camera, overall great value
Cons: Performance lags behind cheaper iPhone SE, fingerprint sensor can be unreliable
The Link LonkMay 14, 2021 at 12:53AM
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Samsung's new $500 Galaxy phone makes me never want to pay $1,000 for a phone again - Business Insider
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