In 2020, the Galaxy A51 was & hairsp; - & hairsp; which Samsung is keen to boast of & hairsp; - & hairsp; the best-selling Android smartphone in the world. It also broke popularity records in Poland, occupying the top of the lists of the most popular models in operator offers.
Galaxy A52 is the perfect successor. Samsung has improved many things, basically did not break anything, and also implemented a handful of solutions that are in vain to find even in many competing smartphones from the Middle Kingdom. And all this without raising prices.
The smartphone is available in Poland in two variants. These are:
The more powerful version of the 5G came to me for testing, although this one shares the vast majority of & hairsp; - & hairsp; equipment, including & hairsp; - & hairsp; cameras with a cheaper model.
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G has a solid, repeatable camera
The rear panel has a quad camera with a fairly standard lens system. These are:
Optical image stabilization is a phenomenon in this price class. In addition, additional cameras have a higher resolution than most mid-range smartphones.
In good lighting conditions, the photos from the main camera are at a very high level and without a closer inspection, it's hard to say that they were not taken with a flagship. These are very Samsung photos, in a good sense.
The Galaxy A52 5G software dramatically extends the tonal range, minimizing burnouts and extracting tons of detail from the shadows. In addition, it increases the saturation of the sky or grass in a clear, but not used way. The result is photos that are pleasing to the eye and clearly pampered, but with a sense characteristic of Samsung phones.
Unfortunately, there is no telephoto lens. It's a pity, because the slightly more expensive Galaxy A72 can generate a 3x optical zoom. Fortunately, the 64 Mpix matrix partially compensates for this lack.
The software is clearly tailored in such a way that the photos with the zoom look acceptable on the phone screen. Algorithms smooth the edges and merge pixels of similar color together. Effect? Photos with a predefined 4x zoom can be uploaded to Insta Stories without shame, and in some scenes even 10x is still on the verge of usefulness.
In more difficult lighting conditions, the impression of the flagship level disappears, but the quality of photos is still above average. A large matrix in combination with optical image stabilization and a nice night mode can generate a photo that looks good even in deep darkness. It is a pity that the frames are noticeably trimmed in the night mode.
Night photos are more beautified than daytime photos, often becoming unnatural (which, however, will not be a disadvantage for everyone). The obvious downside, however, is that when a large part of the frame is dominated by the sky, the software tends to brighten it to an extreme, which makes the noise visible.
The ultra-wide angle lens is of course of much worse quality, but it has not been treated completely neglected, because it is still able to generate a good photo in various lighting conditions. Unfortunately, & hairsp; - & hairsp; unlike Samsung's flagships & hairsp; - & hairsp; often does not maintain color consistency with the main camera.
There is also a macro lens. Under it, there is a matrix with a relatively high resolution of 5 Mpix (in most cases it is a poor 2 Mpix). It allows you to get close to the subject, and the quality of the photos is not the worst, but 99 percent. in cases it is better to just turn on the 2x zoom on the main camera.
The Galaxy A line is aimed mainly at younger users, which has been emphasized by the exclusive Entertainment function. This is nothing more than augmented reality filters created in cooperation with Snapchat, which can be activated from the default camera application and used in both photo and video mode.
Users can also use functions known from other Samsung phones, including video ultrasound stabilization, One shot (automatically generating photos and videos with different effects) or manual mode (which is otherwise extremely extensive). 4K movies can be shot with the main, ultra-wide angle and front cameras.
Is the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G the king of mobile photography? Of course not. But in the range up to PLN 2,000 it is above average well, and probably no one expected anything more.
Repeatability is a strong advantage of the Galaxy A52 5G camera. Many phones can take 3 photos one after the other, and each looks like from a different parish. The new Samsung is more predictable in this field; you just need to take it out of your pocket, press the button and you have a guarantee of good quality photos.
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G has a brilliant screen and solid stereo speakers
Koreans used a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with 1080p resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. Already on paper, the smartphone outclasses the vast majority of competitors (manufacturers usually choose either LCD 120 Hz or OLED 90 Hz), and at the same time it is a very good panel not only on paper.
The Galaxy A52 5G generates beautiful, vivid colors. The range of maximum and minimum brightness is above-average, and the screen aperture is relatively small and non-invasive. Thanks to the animations displayed at 120 fps, simple scrolling of websites is pleasing to the eye.
The fingerprint reader built into the screen also works without any major reservations.
This display is actually made for watching movies, so silence that is complemented by very good speakers from Dolby Atmos. The sound they generate is loud and clear. In terms of fleshiness, it is inferior to the Galaxy S series, but this can be heard mainly in direct comparison.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G may be liked, although not everything is buttoned up to the last button
Visually, the smartphone fits in with the current trends, but Samsung designers have added a little bit from each other. A quite unique solution is that the entire back cover and the camera island form one whole. I also like the fact that the camera lenses are highly exposed and not blended with the black glass.
The housing is made of plastic, but has a matte, pleasant-to-touch finish that prevents dirt from collecting.
The only thing I do not like is the shiny frame that clumsily pretends to be metal and covers it quickly with fingerprints.
It is noteworthy that the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G received the IP67 certificate, which proves increased resistance to water and dust. It is a rarity among phones up to PLN 2,000.
Vibrations are neither heating nor chilling. They are free from cheesy, annoying buzzing, but they are also not the pleasant kicks that can be experienced in the much cheaper Redmi Note 10 Pro.
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is not the performance king, but it works fine
The Snapdragon 750G used is in theory positioned lower than the 765G unit popular in this segment, but in practice it twists even slightly higher results in synthetic tests.
With 1900 zlotys in your pocket, you can look for single smartphones from the flagship 8xx line (POCO F3), but in their case, high performance comes with numerous compromises. The Galaxy A52 5G maintains a reasonable level of power without drastic cuts in other respects.
In everyday use, the new Samsung performs very well, maintaining a satisfactory animation fluidity (even at 120 fps) and speed of operation. Browsing the web or switching between several apps is no challenge for the A52 5G.
The work culture is also at a high level. After 3 Geekbench tests in a row, the phone remained slightly warm, and the performance dropped by a mere 1 percent.
The challenge for this phone are more demanding games or tasks such as editing 4G movies. Not to the point of making 3D games unplayable, of course, but the A52 5G can't cope with keeping the frame rate high during longer sessions.
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G also took care of a solid battery
The housing contains a battery with a capacity of 4500 mAh. It is not a world record, but it allows you to get satisfactory results.
With my use (120 Hz, internet, Messenger, Instagram, taking photos, music) and the active dark mode, I stretched out up to 6, sometimes 7 hours on the screen during the day. I suspect this is enough for most people to reach for a charger every other day.
The loading speed is disappointing
Using the included Samsung Galaxy A52 5G power adapter, it charges for about 1.5 hours. This time can be shortened a bit by equipping the 25 W charger (this one is sold separately), but the results are still far from ideal.
The competitor OPPO Reno 5 is sold with a 65W power supply and has a charge of 34 minutes. realme 8 Pro takes 46 minutes and is a few hundred zlotys cheaper. In this field, the Galaxy A52 5G is far behind Chinese trends.
Samsung Galaxy S52 5G is a smartphone without any unpleasant surprises
When designing a phone for less than PLN 2,000, you have to look for savings, which many manufacturers cannot cope with. The market is flooded with monsters clearly tailored by accountants. I do not even count how many times I have seen a phone with a beautiful screen, but a poor mono speaker that kills all the fun of watching movies.
I do not see such inconsistency in the Galaxy A52 5G, and the overall experience of using it is close to the top level. Of course, the new Samsung does many things slower (performance) or worse (photos), but it rarely puts the user in front of the wall when something simply cannot be done. Probably the only really noticeable lack of flagships is inductive charging.
In addition, Samsung has such a well-established position that it rarely happens to give more than its rivals from the Middle Kingdom. Meanwhile, water resistance and 120 Hz OLED screens are a rarity in this price segment, and optical image stabilization is actually a phenomenon. Add to that 5G and the declared 3 large Android updates and it is in vain to look for a second so generously endowed phone at this price.
There are also no unexpected cuts in aspects that are not visible in promotional materials. OK, the vibration motor could be of better quality, but the quality of voice calls or Wi-Fi and LTE coverage are class.
In general, the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is a very successful, very consumer smartphone that gives no reason to complain. Simply a tailor-made phone.
At the same time, this model has strong internal competition in the form of the Galaxy S20 FE, which costs only PLN 300 more, and is much better. The operator market has its own rules, but in my opinion, in the free market, it is worth considering either paying extra for it or saving PLN 200 and reaching for the Galaxy A52 without the 5G mark.
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