Meet Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G - One of the better all-around premium mid-range of 2021?
We share our thoughts and experiences with the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G after two months of use.
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| Sleek and slender? |
To recap, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G comes with a large 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Inside is the 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G octa-core processor, Adreno 642L GPU, 8GB RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, and 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging.
In short, it is mostly the same as the already great Galaxy A52 5G from earlier this year but with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G processor.
In the Philippines, the A52s 5G starts at PHP 22,990 for the 128GB variant.
Let's dive in.
Meet Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
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| Front panel |
The A52s 5G comes in the same body as the original A52 5G. It has a matte-textured polycarbonate back panel and the front is a curved glass panel. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
Like the A52 5G, the A52s 5G features a water-resistant design that is IP67 Rated which allows it to survive a considerable amount of water. You can even see the water sealing gaskets on the SIM tray.
Except for its use of a plastic back cover, the overall build of this device is quite good.
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| Rear design |
At the back of the phone is the quad-camera array with an LED flash and the Samsung branding.
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| Display |
The panel supports up to 120Hz refresh rate and up to 10-points of touch so multi-tasking and gaming are a treat on the display. Everything looks and feels smooth.
The frame and the back panel curve to making it easier to hold.
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| Top and bottom sides |
On top are the SIM tray and the microphone port while at the bottom is a 3.5mm audio jack, USB-C port, and speaker grills.
At the bottom of the phone is the speaker grill that has a decent maximum volume. While the sound quality is good with good clarity and decent separation. It is good enough for casual video or audio media consumption. There is a 3.5mm audio jack for people who prefer a more immersive audio experience.
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| Left and right |
On the left side is a smooth surface while on the right side is the volume rocker and the power button.
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| Rear cameras |
The A52s 5G's rear camera is made up of a 64MP f/1.8 main camera, 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 5MP f/2.4 macro, and a 5MP f/2.4 depth sensor with LED flash.
The stock camera app features the usual photo, video, SingleTake, Fun, AR Doodle, Pro, Panorama, Food, Night, Macro, Portrait, Pro Video, Super Slow-Mo, Slow Motion, and Hyperlapse. The surprise features here are Pro Video and Fun.
The Fun camera mode uses Snapchat filters to allow users to "reimagine" their look and environment while Pro mode allows for control of ISO (50-3200), Shutter Speed (1/6000 to 10 seconds), Exposure Compensation (+-2), White Balance and switching between cameras.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Daylight 1x |
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| Daylight 2x |
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| Daylight ultra-wide |
The rear cameras produce great pictures with plenty of detail and vibrant color. The 1x and 2x cameras are noticeably sharper than the ultra-wide camera. All photos have minimal noise too.
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| Close-up |
When using the phone close-up, there is also a ton of detail and sharpness while giving a soft out of focus areas or Bokeh with nice focus fall-off.
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| Indoors 1x |
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| Indoors 2x |
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| Indoors ultra-wide |
Indoor scenarios are the same as daylight. The images are sharp with plenty of detail and with vibrant color. Like in daylight, the ultra-wide is slightly softer than the 1x and 2x cameras. There is also minimal noise in the images.
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| Low light 1x |
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| Low light 2x |
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| Low light ultra-wide |
In low light, the images from the low light are sharp with plenty of detail. The colors are vibrant but there is a noticeable increase in noise. However, the noise wasn't enough to ruin the image. These are impressive shots straight out of the camera.
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| Night mode 1x |
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| Night Mode 2x |
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| Night mode Ultra-wide |
The night mode is able to improve the sharpness and detail of the low light shots while dramatically reducing the noise levels.
We are impressed, these are some of the best camera performances in the price range.
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| Punch hole camera |
In front, the A52s 5G has a 32MP f/2.2 selfie camera. The stock camera app for the selfie camera features the following modes: Photo, Video, Fun, and Night.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| Daylight selfie |
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| Portrait mode selfie |
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| Indoor Selfie |
In daylight and indoors, the selfie is able to produce sharp selfies with plenty of detail and vibrant color. The contrast is good too.
While the portrait mode's artificial bokeh is able to detect the subject well and blur out the background that is near the real bokeh. What is even more impressive is that it was able to detect the individual hair fibres and keep the fibres in focus while leaving the background out of focus.
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| Low light selfie |
In low light, the sharpness and detail have been reduced while the amount of noise has increased dramatically. The noise isn't enough to ruin the image but is more visible.
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| Night Mode Selfie |
The Night Selfie is able to clean up the noise and improve the sharpness and clarity of the selfie. If the subject is not moving, we recommend using the Night Selfie when taking images in low light.
Overall, the front and rear cameras of the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G are impressive for stills. It is one of the best performing smartphones for the price.
For video, the rear and front cameras are able to capture footage at up to 4K at 30fps without stabilization and up to 1080p at 30fps with stabilization. Users can also swap between cameras while recording.
The footage from the 4K at 30fps is sharp and detailed with decent clarity but the footage is shaky without stabilization. We recommend using the Steady mode but it will crop the footage and will only be in 1080p.
Performance
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| AnTuTu and GeekBench scores |
Inside, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is the 2.4GHz 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G octa-core processor, Adreno 642L GPU, and 8GB RAM. These specs managed to score over 504,429 in AnTuTu, 768 in GeekBench single-core, and 2751 in GeekBench multi-core tests.
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| 3DMark and CPDT benchmarks |
While in 3DMark, the A52s 5G scored a respectable 2,490 overall score and 14.9 average frames per second. The phone is better than 68 percent of phones that performed this benchmark.
In CPDT the internal storage reached scores of 590.53 MB/s in sequential read speeds and over 108.98 in sequential write speeds.
In summary, the A52s 5G is not the fastest in its class, but it is no slouch in terms of synthetic benchmarks.
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| Call of Duty: Mobile |
For gamers, the A52s 5G was able to unlock the Very High graphics and Max Framerate on Call of Duty: Mobile. When playing, the game runs smoothly with responsive controls. After an hour of continuous play, the phone gets somewhat warm but nothing to be concerned about.
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| Genshin Impact |
While in Genshin Impact, the phone was able to unlock the Low as the default graphics setting. Like in call of duty, the game plays smoothly and responsively. It does get warm after an extended play session. Genshin Impact is a very demanding game.
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| PCMark Battery test |
Inside the phone is a 4,500mAh battery with 25W fast charging. In our usual PCMark Battery test, it managed to last for 11 hours and 48 minutes. This is a respectable score for the battery capacity.
In real-world use as our main phone where the phone was constantly connected to WiFi, 5G or LTE, the phone managed to last around 5 to 6 hours of on-screen time. We used the phone for calling, texting, web surfing, audio, and video streaming, Waze, Grab, and the like. It admirably was able to have 20 to 25 percent of battery left after a long workday.
With its 25W fast charging support, it takes around 70 to 80 minutes to charge the battery from 0 to 100 percent.
In terms of connectivity, A03s has WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.5GHz/5GHz), 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and dual SIM.
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| One UI 3.1 |
The Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G comes with One UI 3.1 Core based on Android 11. It looks clean and uncluttered, even with a few pre-installed applications. Because of that, it enhances the user's overall experience. Because Samsung packs a lot of features into their phones, it can be hard to find the settings you want to change sometimes. The search bar becomes essential. There is also very little bloatware preinstalled aside from the Samsung version of Google apps.
The In-Display fingerprint reader and face unlock are both are quick, responsive, and accurate almost every time. There's also a feature called Dual messenger. This will enable you to manage two accounts of your social media apps simultaneously. This works for most social media and messaging apps.
Another feature we noticed is the automatic sending of SOS Messages for emergencies. It lets your contact know that you are in an emergency by just pressing the side key button 3 or 4 times. There's an option to auto-call someone or even attach photos or audio recordings.
Overall, One UI is still one of the better Android skins out there.
Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G Specs
Display: 6.5-inch 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protected Super AMOLED screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 405 ppiCPU: 2.4GHz 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno 642L
RAM: 8GB
ROM: 128GB/256GB expandable via microSD card up to 1TB
Back Camera: 64MP f/1.8 w/ PDAF, OIS + 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 5MP f/2.4 macro + 5MP f/2.4 depth + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 32MP f/2.2
Battery: 4,500mAh w/ 25W fast charging
OS: Android 11 w/ One UI 3.1
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.5GHz/5GHz), 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2 A2DP, LE, A-Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP67 water, and dust resistance, stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos, USB-C 2.0, USB OTG, Colors: Awesome Violet, Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Mint
Dimensions: 159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm
Weight: 189 g
Price: PHP 22,990 (128GB), PHP 24,990 (256GB)
Quick thoughts
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| Web surfing |
If you are looking for a capable smartphone in the PHP 22,990 to PHP 24,990 price range, the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G is one of the better all-around premium mid-range smartphones of 2021.
We don't normally recommend premium mid-range Samsung smartphones to our readers because they are often lacking in one way and another, but the Galaxy A52s is an exemption.
What do you guys think?
Do you guys agree?
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