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The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a decent all-rounder with a hint of a truly premium build thanks to a glass rear and an updated design that brings it pretty close to the flagship Galaxy S23 range. IP67 support, in particular, is notable at this price point. FDD 2100, FDD 1900 PCS, FDD 1800+, FDD 1700 - 2110 AWS, FDD 850, FDD 2600, FDD 900, FDD 700a, FDD 700b, FDD 800 DD, FDD 850+, FDD 700 APT, FDD 1500 L, TDD 2600, TDD 2300, TDD 2500, FDD 1700 - 2110 AWS-3 Flip the phone over and you’ll find a 32MP hole-punch selfie camera embedded into the top of the display that’s more than enough for selfies and video calls, but as you might expect, most photography should be left to the rear lenses. Performance That’s also without using the phone to listen to music and otherwise kill time on the two-hour trip from London to Paris via Eurostar, so I thought I’d put that to the test on the way home. Reader, I was very disappointed. I took the phone off charge at around 10:30am, used it for maps, listening to music and playing a couple of games on the Eurostar and the battery dwindled to just 30% by 3:30pm. Safe to say it didn’t make it until that night without a top-up. All that said, my final impressions of the display are largely positive; it’s big enough to comfortably watch YouTube videos and movies on Netflix, colours are vibrant and punchy (if not a little too vibrant) and it’s easily legible in direct sunlight with a maximum brightness of 1000nits. I did miss elements like HDR10+ when watching Netflix though, features you can find on the likes of the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G and Google Pixel 6a. Camera
Galaxy A54 5G is rated as IP67. Based on lab test conditions for submersion in up to 1 meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. Not advised for beach or pool use. Water and dust resistance of device is not permanent and may diminish over time. HDR, Panorama, Bokeh Mode, AI Features, Pro Mode, Automatic Mode, Slow Motion, Time Lapse, Burst Mode The display is dynamic, dropping between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on what you’re doing, though you can also force a 120Hz refresh rate at the expense of battery life. It won’t drop down to a battery-saving 1Hz, but what mid-range phone does? That’s because most of said change is happening on the rear of the phone. The most immediately noticeable is that Samsung has ditched the contour camera housing present on last year’s model, instead opting for the same minimalistic design as the flagship Galaxy S23 line. The Samsung Galaxy A54 next to the Galaxy S23 The ultrawide camera proved useful in some instances but I found its detail capture, especially in low light, wasn’t great. The macro camera can grab decent close-up shots in a pinch but, again, it does require a lot of natural light to produce passable images.Battery : Actual battery life varies by network environment, features and apps used, frequency of calls and messages, number of times charged, and many other factors. The 5MP macro lens is the most niche of the collection, and something I don’t think many people will use more than once with a fixed focus that makes it difficult to capture anything of note. The fact that the macro shooting mode is found in the ‘More’ section of the camera app, rather than one of the main shooting modes, says a lot about how Samsung views it. New design changes aside, it’s very much business as usual for the Galaxy A54, sporting a power button and volume controls on the right, a USB-C port on the bottom and a combined SIM and microSD card tray. The latter is a nice touch, allowing you to expand storage by up to 1TB if required – I wish it was a feature of the flagship S23 range too.
Charging isn’t quite up there either, especially when powering such a large-capacity battery, capping out at just 25W – and you don’t get a charger in the box either. That means that even once you’ve sourced a charger, the process is slow, reaching just 41% in half an hour of charging, with a full charge taking 1 hour and 33 minutes. Samsung wanted to go big on battery life with its A series with both the Galaxy A54 and its cheap Galaxy A34 sibling sporting the same 5,000mAh battery that’s found in the top-end flagship S23 Ultra, which is also bigger than that of the S23 and S23 Plus. Gaming performance is on the up as well, although the improvement here isn’t quite as dramatic. In the onscreen portion of the GFXBench Manhattan 3 benchmark, this year’s model achieved an average frame rate of 70fps, compared to just 57fps last year. Based on average battery life under typical usage conditions. Average expected performance based on typical usage. Actual battery life depends on factors such as network, features selected, frequency of calls, and voice, data, and other application-usage patterns. Results may vary.
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No need to wait for the perfect shot. Take the photo and edit out unwanted objects, shadows, reflections and more with Object Eraser. Estimated against the usage profile of an average/typical user. Independently assessed by Strategy Analytics between 2021.12.08–12.20 in USA and UK with pre-release versions of SM-S901, SM-S906, SM-S908 under default setting using 5G Sub6 networks (NOT tested under 5G mmWave network). Actual battery life varies by network environment, features and apps used, frequency of calls and messages, number of times charged, and many other factors. Yes, the megapixel count has dropped from 64MP to 50MP with the Galaxy A54, but it’s worth noting that it’s a completely new camera with a larger sensor, larger pixel size (0.8um to 1um, or 2um if you pixel-bin) and an enhanced OIS. The rest of the camera suite is carried over from the A53 5G, with a 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide module sitting above the main camera and a 5MP macro shooter below it. With a premium glass finish, clean camera layout and energising colourways, Galaxy A54 5G wears the Awesome identity on a seamless and graceful frame.
Battery life is also a little hit-and-miss. As long as you’re not using the phone too often it should last, but even a 5000mAh battery can’t always provide comfortable all-day battery life if you’re really putting the phone to the test. Combined with slow 25W charging, there’s still a lot to be done here. Galaxy A54 5G’s boss-level 2 day battery gives you an insane amount of juice, freeing you up to get on with your life. It also sports the more rounded corners of the Galaxy S23 range, which helps the phone stand out from a sea of similar-looking mid-range alternatives, and IP67 dust and water resistance should protect it from most accidents.
Samsung Galaxy A54 5G review: What you need to know
Actual battery life varies by network environment, features and apps used, frequency of calls and messages, the number of times charged, and many other factors. Estimated against the average usage profile compiled by Strategy Analytics. Independently assessed by Strategy Analytics between 2023.01.19-01.30 in UK with pre-release versions of SM-A546 under default setting using 5G Sub6 networks, LTE and Wi-Fi. The sensor is physically larger than the one used on the A53 5G; now measuring 1/1.56in, the pixels are bigger – up from 0.8µm to 1.0µm. And optical image stabilisation (OIS) has been improved, too. Low-light photography has improved compared to last year’s A53 with a larger sensor and improved OIS, but it’s still not quite up there with the best around. Images are relatively detailed overall, and there are decent amounts of light captured, but they can still look a little dark and flat compared to what I was seeing in the moment.
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