As you may have noticed, we've been testing Samsung phones for you for quite some time now Galaxy A53 5G a Galaxy A33 5G, the successor to last year's successful models Galaxy A52 5G a Galaxy A32 5G. In the past weeks, you could read a comparison of their parameters and equipment on our website, as well as how capable their cameras are. Now it's time to look at them "globally". First up is Galaxy A53 5G. And we can immediately reveal that it is a very good smartphone that mixes the right ingredients of the middle class and adds something extra. However, it differs very little from its predecessor.
Samsung won't buy the packaging for the frame
The phone came to us in a rather thin white box, in which there was only a charging/data USB-C cable, a needle for pulling out the SIM card tray (more precisely, for two SIM cards or one SIM card and a memory card) and a user manual manuals. Yes, Samsung continues the "eco-trend" that is not very understandable for us and does not include a charger in the package. The packaging is really minimalist and you won't find anything extra in it. We almost want to write that such a good phone does not deserve such poor packaging.
First class design and workmanship
Galaxy The A53 5G is a very good looking smartphone at first and second glance. We tested the white color variant, which is elegant and understated, so it should suit almost everyone. In addition to white, the phone is also available in black, blue and orange. Although it may not look like that at first glance, the back and the frame are made of plastic (the frame is a shiny plastic that resembles metal), but this does not affect the quality of the phone in any way - it does not bend anywhere, everything fits perfectly. As is usual with Samsung.
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The front is dominated by a large flat Infinity-O type display with not quite symmetrical frames. The back has a matte finish, thanks to which the smartphone does not slip in the hand and fingerprints practically do not stick to it. It really feels very comfortable in the hand. A distinctive design element is the camera module that seems to grow from the back and is surrounded by shadows, which looks efficient and elegant at the same time. More importantly, however, it does not protrude too much from it, so the phone does wobble when placed down, but within tolerable limits.
The smartphone otherwise measures a fairly standard 159,6 x 74,8 x 8,1 mm and weighs 189 g (so you'll know about it in your pocket). Overall, it can be concluded that Galaxy The A53 5G is almost indistinguishable from its predecessor in terms of design, perhaps the only difference is a slightly thinner and shorter body (specifically by 0,3 mm) and a smoother connection of the photo module to the back. Let's also add that the phone offers increased resistance according to the IP67 standard (so it should withstand immersion to a depth of 1 meter for 30 minutes), which is still rare in this class.
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The display is a pleasure to look at
Displays have always been a strong point of Samsung smartphones and Galaxy A53 5G is no different. The phone received a Super AMOLED panel with a size of 6,5 inches, a resolution of 1080 x 2400 px, a maximum brightness of 800 nits and a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which can boast of beautifully saturated colors, really dark blacks, great viewing angles and very good readability on direct sunlight. The 120Hz refresh rate is literally addictive, especially when watching videos and playing games. Not to mention the fluidity of the animations. However, it must be taken into account that it consumes more energy than the 60Hz frequency. However, the difference in consumption is not fundamental and in our opinion there is no reason to ever switch to a lower frequency. Of course, the screen has automatic brightness control, which works well.
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The Eye Comfort function is also worth mentioning, where you can set a blue light filter to ease your eyes. You will use the function mainly in the evening hours. Of course, you can also use the dark mode to protect your eyes. It is worth adding that there is a fingerprint reader built into the display, which works reliably and is very fast (the phone can also be unlocked using the face, which also works perfectly).
It has enough power in its class, freezes overheating
The phone is powered by Samsung's Exynos 1280 chipset, which is roughly 10-15% faster than the Snapdragon 750G chip powering its predecessor. In combination with 8 GB of operating memory (a variant with 6 GB is also available), the phone provides quite sufficient performance, which is also evidenced by the very solid 440 points it obtained in the popular AnTuTu benchmark. In practice, everything is smooth, the system's response is practically immediate, and there is no problem playing more graphically demanding games, of course not at the highest details. We tested the popular titles Asphalt 558: Legends and Call of Duty Mobile, which moved surprisingly quickly at lower details and maintained a stable framerate. However, the price for this is quite significant overheating, which has been the bane of Exynos chips for a long time. At this point, it should be noted that we also felt some heat on the back during other activities, such as browsing the Internet, which surprised us quite a bit. In short, Samsung still needs to work on the energy efficiency of its chips.
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Photos and videos will not embarrass you
Galaxy The A53 5G has a quad rear camera with a resolution of 64, 12, 5 and 5 MPx, with the second acting as a "wide-angle", the third acting as a macro camera and the last one used to capture depth of field. The main sensor boasts optical image stabilization. In good lighting conditions, the phone takes above-average photos with pleasing saturated colors and higher contrast, a high degree of detail and a relatively wide dynamic range. At night, the images look more than decent, the photos are sharp enough, the noise level is reasonable and the color rendering is (in most cases) not completely far from reality. We will not focus more on the camera here, as we have already discussed this topic in a separate article article (and also here).
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You can videos with Galaxy The A53 5G can record up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, if you want to record at 60 fps, you have to make do with Full HD resolution. In favorable lighting conditions, videos are very nice, detailed and, like photos, have more saturated (ie more pleasant and less realistic) colors. It's just a shame that the videos recorded in 4K are quite shaky, because the stabilization only works up to Full HD resolution at 30 fps. As with photos, you can use up to 10x digital zoom, but from our experience, a maximum of double is usable.
At night or in poor lighting conditions, video quality drops rapidly. The shots are no longer so sharp, there is quite a lot of noise and details are blurred. But by far the biggest problem is unstable focus. This is what we would expect from a lower-end phone and a non-Samsung brand rather than a smartphone that aspires to be a new mid-range hit.
It is worth noting that in all resolutions with 30 fps it is possible to smoothly switch between the wide-angle lens, the main camera and double zoom, in Full HD at 60 fps recording via "wide" is not supported and the default double zoom is missing.
An operating system characterized by adaptability
The phone is powered by software Android 12 with the One UI superstructure in version 4.1. The system is exemplarily fine-tuned and fast, its navigation is extremely intuitive and it offers a wide range of personalization options – from the ability to customize the appearance with your own themes, wallpapers or icons to the Bixby Routines function, which works similarly to Shortcuts in the system iOS and thanks to which you can automate a number of activities that you perform on your smartphone. For example, you can set that a dark mode or blue light filter is activated at a certain time, that Wi-Fi is turned on when you arrive home, or that your favorite music application starts when you connect headphones. There are really many options. Also worth noting is the partially customizable side button (specifically, you can double-tap it to launch the camera or the selected application).
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The system uses enhanced privacy protection Androidu 12 including notifications and icons when you turn on the microphone or camera, and your data is protected by the Samsung Knox security platform. And the best of this chapter to end - the phone will get four upgrades in the future Androidua for five years, Samsung will supply it with security updates. This is called sample software support.
Two days on one charge are possible
The phone is powered by a 5000 mAh battery, which is 500 mAh more than its predecessor. And in practice it is quite recognizable. While Galaxy The A52 5G lasts an average of one and a half days on a single charge, its successor can handle two days as well. However, the condition is that you do not exploit it too intensively (and perhaps turn off the Always-on mode, or switch the display to a standard refresh rate). If you play games and watch movies for a long time and have Wi-Fi always on, the battery life can drop to less than a day and a half.
The battery supports charging up to 25W, which is the same as last time. Unfortunately, we didn't have a 25W (or any other) charger available for testing, so we can't tell you from our experience how long it takes to charge from 0-100%, but according to available information it's just under an hour and a half. Compared to other (especially Chinese) mid-range smartphones, this is a long time. Just one example for everyone: last year's OnePlus Nord 2 5G can be fully charged in just "plus or minus" 30 minutes. In the area of charging, Samsung has a lot to catch up on, and not only for phones in this category. As for charging via cable, that Galaxy The A53 5G takes approximately two and a half hours.
To buy or not to buy, that is the question
As can be seen from the above, Galaxy We thoroughly enjoyed the A53 5G. It has a nice design and quality workmanship, a great display, quite sufficient performance, a very decent photo setup, a tuned and fast system with many customization options and a solid battery life. Perhaps only the "mandatory" overheating of the Exynos chip freezes, not only during gaming, but not entirely convincing results when taking photos and shooting videos at night, and slow charging. Overall, it's an excellent mid-range phone that has everything you'd expect from a smartphone in this category and a bit more, but offers few improvements over its predecessor (plus it's lost the 3,5mm jack). The most notable ones are a faster chip (which is kind of expected), better battery life, and an improved design. We can't help but feel that Samsung is simply playing it safe here. In any case, for a price of around 10 CZK, you get a phone that is an almost perfect embodiment of the middle class. However, if you are the owners Galaxy A52 5G (or its 4G version), you can stay calm.
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Samsung Galaxy I have been using the A53 5G for 2 months and it is not true that it heats up even when browsing the Internet! And as for charging, from 30% to 100% takes an average of 1 hour.
The photos are luxurious and if someone is looking for a fault, it's just the phone and not a professional SLR camera 🙂