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In the Samsung Galaxy A54 test: a good representative of the middle class
We got the very popular Samsung Galaxy A54 5G series on the test table. The A series, believe it or not, is Samsung's best-selling phone family, especially the lower ranked A14. We will take a closer look at what their heavyweights have to offer in this class, and whether the improvements are significant enough compared to last year.
Samsung Galaxy A54 price in Slovenia?
- Samsung Galaxy A54 5G 8GB/128GB: €499
Design copied from the S23 series
The Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy A surprisingly share the same design with minor differences. This can be a double-edged sword. for the company. The Galaxy A phones undoubtedly look more premium than they actually are, but in doing so they undermine their brand, which is supposed to represent Samsung's best self.
At first glance, it's really hard to tell if you're holding a Samsung Galaxy A54, S23 or S23+. The culprit for this is the cameras, which are arranged vertically in an orderly line of individual protrusions instead of a single frame. This means that the phone is much friendlier on flat surfaces. It still tilts, but less than with a single frame.
Front and back we find glass, which is not often a material of choice in the mid-range. Plastic is a much more popular choice among manufacturers. It is also found here, but only on frames that are gently curved at the edges. But not everything is rosy when choosing glass. Fingerprints are very prominent on the back, at least in our black color. Since the cover is not included, you will have to put up with it or buy it over the counter. During use, we did not have the feeling that the phone could slip from our hands, but it is a different story on a table or other surfaces where the glass back has a habit of sliding.
The screen is excellent
Samsung screens are a very desirable product, especially in the higher class. Even with the Galaxy A54, we get a very popular Super AMOLED screen, which delivers very beautiful blacks, excellent contrasts for an in-depth multimedia experience and striking colors from the entire 6.4 inches. The content is displayed at a resolution of 1080p, which is more than as enough for the screen size and price of the phone. In fact, even with flagship phones, it is very difficult to see the difference between 1440p and 1080p.
It refreshes at an impressive 120 Hz, but can automatically switch to 60 Hz for security purposes.
Compared to last year's Galaxy A53, they specifically improved the brightness (1,000 nits vs. 800 nits). Last week the sun was not kind to us, so we cannot 100 % guarantee that the Galaxy A54 will be readable without problems in strong daylight. At least on paper and according to our experience, the brightness should be sufficient, except for those angles when the sun will directly bombard the phone with powerful rays.
It has a slightly worse screen-to-body ratio (82.9 %), which means that the blacks around the screen are quite prominent, but at the same time not too much. it bothers me. Samsung Galaxy A54 supports HDR standards HLG, HDR10+ and HDR10.
Another very responsive fingerprint reader is hidden under the screen. Unexpectedly, we needed significantly less time to register the fingerprint than we are used to with optical sensors.
Improved performance, and less disappointment on the software side.#141;
Learning from mistakes should be a virtue of every manufacturer. NiÄ it's not wrong if you miss the point with a certain model. Mistakes happen. It is important that the manufacturer puts his ear to the ground and listens to what the users tell him. With the Galaxy A53, a very big drawback was the lousy Exynos 1280 processor, which made the basic operation of the phone (launching applications, switching between them, taking pictures …) very slow.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is equipped with the newer Exynos 1380, which sacrificed two economical Cortex-A55 cores and added two powerful Cortex-78 processor cores. The result is noticeably better numbers on tests and smoother operation in everyday use and photography, where stuttering is rare and not commonplace.
It is still not an out-of-series performance. In the ranking, it is placed somewhere at the level of Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, which is also not famous for its infinite reservoir of performance. We played Genshin Impact most of the time on low-medium settings, and in populated cities and places with a lot of enemies, only awkwardness and laziness stopped us from lowering the settings a little more. We also tried Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG and Ni no Kuni Cross Worlds, where a similar story is written. As long as the phone does not warm up for a while, the experience is good, but after that we encounter occasional stuttering.
The 5,000 mAh battery lasted until the end of the day with mixed use (games, web, YouTube, reading …) without any problems. Samsung still hasn't figured out that there are charging speeds above 25W, and that more no more than an hour and a half acceptable time to charge the phone. Also the fact that the charger is not included in the packaging. Wireless charging is also missing, which is not a big deal for us personally.
What hurts more is the decision that we don't have access to the Samsung Dex function, which for us is the best way to project onto external screens. We don't know why this is the case, but we shouldn't be too confident. Surprised, because Dex is not even available in the Galaxy Z Fold4 foldable phone.
What are your photography skills?
- 50 MP (f/1.8) main camera with OIS
- 12 MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera (123°)
- 5 MP (f/2.4) macro camera
- 32 MP (f/2.2) front camera
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G uses three rear cameras that provide a good photographic experience. We have a 50 MP main sensor with image stabilization (OIS), a 12 MP ultra-wide lens and a 5 MP macro lens. Although the 5 MP depth sensor does not work anymore company's front 32 MP camera, this is not a reason to worry, as it copes well with selfies on its own.
Photos are extremely sharp in good lighting, with vivid colors and deep contrast. The main sensor successfully captures details in images, even in direct sunlight, without overpowering them. illuminated.
The front camera delivers surprisingly quite lively photos, which could easily be published on social networks. The weak point of the camera is poor light or night photography. There is quite a bit of noise, and if you really want to share a night photo, you should capture more; photos and extract the best. Or take the reins into your own hands and set all values manually in Pro mode.
Photo gallery
As expected, there is a slight drop in image quality when switching between the 50 MP main sensor and the 12 MP ultra-wide lens. Still, the ultra-wide lens can be useful for capturing large scenes, but photos will be noticeably paler and darker compared to the main sensor. Macro lenses should be avoided in most cases. The pictures aren't devastating, but you wouldn't point them out or praise them to your friends anyway.
Galaxy A54 enables recording of videos up to 4K resolution 30 frames per second. We wanted to use ÄŒe Great stabilization, we had to allow the camera to drop the resolution to 1080p 30 frames per second.
Final opinion
The Samsung Galaxy A54 5G is undoubtedly a good phone, but not everything is rosy. The screen is better, brighter, the design is more attractive, the cameras are improved, as well as the processor, which has gained two powerful cores, but in general, you might still want a generation newer phone more noticeable improvements compared to the Galaxy A53.
It also has some tough competition: Xiaomi 13 Lite, Pixel 6a and the latest Pixel 7a, Realme GT Neo 3, POCO X4 GT and many others.
