Samsung has been investing in the mid-range for several years with products directly inspired by its premium models for the most part, but capable of making concessions to hold a lower price. The Galaxy A54 5G is no exception to the rule and once again tries to maintain South Korea’s position in this coveted market. For spending a price that has risen a bit (from 499 euros, or 40 euros more than the Galaxy A53), Samsung gives it some important advantages in terms of screen, design and performance, or even 5G compatibility (with the added bonus of support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3). Is it enough to continue being the king below 500 euros? We tested it for several weeks to verify.
Its advantages
A design reminiscent of the Galaxy S23
To seduce those who cannot fall in love with the Galaxy S23/S23+/S23 Ultra, Samsung has decided to offer similar lines to its mid-range. Like the Galaxy A14 and Galaxy A34, the Galaxy A54 5G sports a pretty similar look with its vertically aligned rear cameras embedded directly into the smooth colored (lime green, lavender, white or black) glass back. It’s quite stylish and the brushed aluminum plastic rounded edges add to this premium finished feel. Despite a 6.4-inch screen and fairly visible edges, the Galaxy A54 holds well in the hand and shows a balanced size, without being too imposing (15.8 cm high and 7.67 cm wide by 8 .2mm thick).
Two little things to know: It’s not light, even if its weight is well distributed (202g), and its glass back will love your fingerprints. But everything is sober and efficient, the buttons lie well under the fingers, as does the rather reactive fingerprint reader under the screen. And it can accommodate two SIMs in the top drawer, or a SIM card and a microSD card to add up to 1TB of storage to the 128 or 256GB already present.
the burning screen
Whether it is to play games, consult applications, look at photos or videos, read your emails or browse the internet, the screen of the Galaxy A54 is of excellent quality. It has a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Amoled panel (slightly smaller than the 6.5-inch Galaxy A53), with a 120Hz refresh rate (variable to 60Hz if necessary).
A Samsung strong point for a long time, the screen does not disappoint and is rather premium for the mid-range. It is very bright in all circumstances (1000 cd/m² peak is advertised), especially in direct sunlight. Remember to go to settings to disable Vivid mode and switch to Natural if you find the colors too bright.
The honest photo, but…
If its predecessor had four sensors on the back, the Galaxy A54 plays a humbler game by settling for three: 50 Mpx main sensor (compared to the previous 64 Mpx), 12 Mpx ultra-wide angle and 5 Mpx macro . Photos with the main sensor are quite beautiful and detailed, vivid with realistic colors. We can also find them a bit too blue and the device has an unfortunate tendency to be much more flattering to reality by delivering a sometimes a bit extreme light hit when the sky is quite gray.
Ultra-wide-angle photos are quite nice, but not extremely sharp. Macro mode isn’t terrible, and as is often the case, not very useful, even when you’re very close. If that’s your photography priority, this isn’t the smartphone for you.
The Galaxy A54 is very good at taking standard-quality photos, but it lacks a bit of versatility. The oft-lauded portrait mode doesn’t do too badly with successful background blurs that put the subject much further forward. But we are far from making photophones or smartphones a bit more expensive.
At night, the newcomer’s prowess is quite honest. The low-light photo tends to catch a lot of light and the algorithm makes it look too bright, even in the dark, causing it to lose some of its true composition and warmth. It’s a bit lifeless or even blurry. With the 50 Mpx mode (found in the camera settings, it is not automatic), we do not get a better result.
Selfies thanks to the 32 Mpx front sensor are honest, but on condition that you are in a fairly bright or well-lit environment. Otherwise, even the help of the AI to beautify the rendering won’t be enough to make it your next high-flying passport photo. The blur can be adjusted to make it look a bit more natural.
The Galaxy A54 5G shoots up to 4K/30 frames per second.
Power and fluidity worthy of the top of the range
Being mid-range, the Galaxy A54 is obviously not based on the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 like the Galaxy S23, but on the (most likely) latest in-house designed chip, the Exynos 1380 (with 8GB of RAM). It is more than enough for this type of smartphone and ticks all the boxes, supporting mobile gaming and photography. Of course, it does the bare minimum for the device, but it does it well.
We will find faster and more efficient chips at Xiaomi or Google with the Pixel 6a. Its main advantage is to perfectly run One UI 5, Samsung’s interface based on Android 13 (not to be disturbed, routines to configure, widgets, multi-windows, etc.).
our reservations
Not very fast charging and passable autonomy
Samsung has put a 5000 mAh battery in its Galaxy A54 5G. A capacity that has become standard, but still depends on its optimization and its charging quality. The manufacturer has limited it to 25 W and it shows. It takes between 1h20 and 1h30 to fully recharge it (we had recovered 50% autonomy in less than 30 minutes). In addition, it does not offer wireless charging or even a charger in the box when others still do, especially in the mid-range. Autonomy side, it is average with a good day, even a little more if you are not a heavy user.
A smartphone that heats up in the game
Be careful if you are a fan of Fortnite or Gershin Impact, or any other game that demands device performance. It tends to get hot quickly and your fingers will feel it quickly. Screen also with some observed freezes.
no cat
Wanting to do as its top of the range, Samsung has eliminated an element that is usually the strong point and the decision in consumer purchases in this price segment: the wired headphone jack. It is true that the Galaxy A54 benefits from an excellent Bluetooth 5.3 connection, but if you still have wired headphones, you will not be able to use them with this smartphone, unless you have a USB-C/jack adapter. Obviously additional.
Conclusion
Once again, Samsung’s Galaxy A5X range is a huge success. The Galaxy A54 5G is undoubtedly very high on the list of smartphones to put in all hands if you are not looking for premium and cutting-edge features in photos or otherwise. It does the job more than well in all areas.
However, in the very competitive mid-range segment, if you get it right, you should also know that small compromises will have to be made to stay at this price. The AMOLED screen is of very good quality, the correct autonomy, the photo also for all the arrivals and basic photos. But if you’re starting to want to do macro photography or take advantage of an effective ultra-wide angle, you’re better off turning to the Oppo Reno 8 or the beefier Motorola Edge 30. But, compared to other serious competitors, it’s got a long way to go at four years. of Android updates and five years of guaranteed security updates. Well, for a long time.
Source: BFM TV
