The Samsung Galaxy A line has grown incredibly in recent years. It contains both budget models and practically flagships. All these smartphones could be made into a separate brand. This year we are offered the A32, A52 and A72 models. However, the most successful was the Samsung Galaxy A52.
As a result, Series A became the Korean company's best-selling series. All thanks to the excellent price-functionality ratio. But, the new Galaxy A52 is not the most budget phone, although it offers many modern features. The 4/128 GB version will cost you 23 thousand rubles, and for the 8/256 model you will have to pay from 27 thousand.
What will we get for this money? Find out from my review.
Specifications Samsung Galaxy A52
| Screen | 6.5 inch Super AMOLED, display frequency 90Hz, max. brightness 800 nits, resolution 2400x1080 pixels, aspect ratio 20:9, 405 ppi |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (8nm): Octa-core 2x2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold + 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver |
| Graphic arts | Adreno 618 |
| RAM | 4/6/8 GB |
| Inner memory | 128/256 GB, expandable via microSDXC (shared SIM card slot) |
| System and software | Android 11 with One UI 3.1 |
| Main cameras | 64-MP, wide-angle, f/1.8, 26 mm, 1/1.7″, 0.8 µm, PDAF, OIS + 12-MP, ultra-wide-angle, f/2.2, 123 degrees, 1.12 µm + 5-MP, macro, f/2.4 + 5-MP, f/2.4, depth sensor. |
| Front camera | 32 MP, wide, f/2.2, 26 mm, 1/2.8″, 0.8 µm |
| Safety | Fingerprint scanner (under-display, optical) |
| Security | IP67 (up to 1m up to 30 minutes) |
| 3.5 mm jack | Yes |
| Communications and connections | GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC |
| Navigation | GPS, BeiDou, A-GPS, Galileo, GLONASS |
| Battery | 4500 mAh, fast charging 25 W, 50% in 30 min |
| Dimensions and weight | 159.9×75.1×8.4 mm, 189 g |
| Materials | Plastic frame, plastic back cover, front covered with Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Price | From 23,000 rub. |
HDR display and more
We come in with trump cards. The main feature is the screen refresh rate of 90 hertz. Everything in the menu flies, spins and turns very smoothly. Things may look different in toys and apps.
Another feature is the fingerprint scanner under the screen. 10 out of 10 correct responses, which is not bad.
The maximum brightness is 800 nits and this distinguishes the display from flagship devices, the screens of which start at 1200 nits. In direct sunlight, the dark interface becomes blind.
There are still some small questions about the quality of the panel. Here, too, it seemed to me, it is inferior to the top-end Samsung. At high angles, and especially against a white background, you can see how the display shimmers with rainbow spots. This is a sign of not the most expensive and advanced matrix. However, when viewed from the right angle, the Samsung A52's screen is clearly good. Take HDR video for example. We fly to YouTube, type in the search term you are looking for and enjoy the most bright, rich and contrasting content.
Unboxing
The Galaxy A52 comes in a simple two-piece packaging. We won't find anything special here. As for the kit, we get the smartphone coma:
- Charger
- Compatible Type-A to Type-C cable
- A few sheets of documentation and that’s it.
It is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy A52 supports fast charging up to 25W. However, the kit only includes a 15W device. Thankfully it exists!
Just in case…
The Samsung Galaxy A52 review may sound laudatory, but no one paid me for it. The company sent the device for testing and picked it up a couple of weeks later. All.
The A52 is simply truly one of the best smartphones in its class. Do you even remember that a device for 25 thousand rubles was protected according to the IP67 standard? I'm not. Of all the plus or minus recognizable brands, Ya.Market only released Sony Xperia 10 II Dual. True, I have no idea what it is... and I don’t advise you to.
Design and appearance
Samsung is trying to give the Galaxy A line models a unique style, and not just fill them with basic functions. Therefore, the design of the A52 has undergone significant changes compared to previous models.
The back cover has become more pleasant to the touch, and the colors include: black, white, purple and blue. Unlike most competing smartphones, the rear panel of the Samsung Galaxy A52 is almost not curved, which is a little unusual. The smartphone is not too heavy – only 189 grams. The side frames are made of plastic, as is the back cover, but the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. We also get IP67 water resistance - a first for the Galaxy A series.
I'm glad that there is still a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom edge next to which there is a USB-C port and a downward-firing speaker. Together with the spoken language they form a stereo pair. At the top end there is a hybrid slot for two SIM cards. Instead of one of them, you can install microSD. There is nothing on the left side, and the power and volume buttons are located on the right.
The bezels around the 6.5-inch display are thin, although larger than those on the Galaxy A51. The hole with the front camera is at the top, in the middle. An optical fingerprint scanner is installed under the screen, although it works a little slower than its mechanical counterparts. The only thing I'm missing here is the LED notification indicator.
Fierce autonomy
We started with a killer feature and continue in the same vein. But first, a little disclaimer...
It's important to understand my use case. I insert two SIM cards, I don’t optimize power consumption in any way, I use the device as is. Surfing in the browser, Instagram, Telegram and a couple of other little apps. As a result, smartphones in my hands last 4-5 hours of screen operation, which is not bad for my coordinate system.
And then the Samsung A52 ends up in my hands. Unlike almost all of its Korean relatives, this unique device produces a phenomenal 7.5 hours of screen operation. It is very difficult to set up a smartphone in a day. And in a gentle mode it will easily last 2-3 days.
In short, if you need a decent, long-lasting device, you know what to do.
Yourselves... you see everything
Smartphone screen
The display of the Samsung Galaxy A52 has become noticeably better than that of the previous model. The high refresh rate of 90Hz is finally here, and the maximum brightness of the 6.5-inch panel reaches 800 nits.
There are two color profiles to choose from: Rich (default) and Natural. The first has a shade slider and white balance adjustment. Natural profile – designed to cover the entire sRGB space, and does an excellent job. Unfortunately, there is no HDR here, however, there is support for Widevine L1 technology. On services like Netflix, you will have access to content in Full HD resolution.
Samsung has added anti-blue eye protection to the Galaxy A52 that adjusts colors depending on the time of day. They will be warmer later in the evening. The mode can be turned on according to a specified schedule, just like Dark Mode. As for the 90 Hz refresh rate, it no longer seems incredible. But, animations have become noticeably smoother, and responsiveness has become higher. Unfortunately, the frequency of the panel is non-adaptive, so it always has one value.
Plastic all around
Praised? It's time to scold.
Samsung Galaxy A52 looks great both in photos and in person. Pastel colors, matte surface, beveled edges of the camera block - kilograms of dust do not clog here. All this makes you happy until you take the smartphone in your hand. No texture, soft-touch or similar problems. The most clumsy polycarbonate.
True, there is a plus - it will be very difficult to scratch the body. Redmi Note 10 should be a shame against this background. Read his review and you will understand everything.
In front, the display is almost full-length. The top edge is slightly wider than the sides, which is sad. Even Xiaomi has moved away from asymmetrical frames, but Samsung still creases. Fortunately, the attention is drawn to a decent screen.
Galaxy A52 Cameras
The set of cameras on the Samsung Galaxy A52 is quite familiar. The main 64-megapixel lens is paired with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens (the previous model had 8-megapixel). There is a 5 MP macro camera, as well as a 5 MP depth sensor. However, what is more surprising is the resolution of the front camera – 32 MP.
The shooting app has a number of interesting modes. For example, AR Doodle allows you to add funny drawings right during shooting, which will be fixed on the object in the frame. Multi-shot mode – takes multiple photos, combining them into short clips, with one click. This way you can save important moments from the main and wide-angle cameras as a short video.
The photos taken from the main sensor are pleasant, although nothing special can be said about them. The colors are not too saturated, and are close to natural. The detail is high, but there is a lot of noise, which is rarely seen on Samsung smartphones. By default, the main camera shoots in 16-megapixel mode with pixel binning. A 64-megapixel mode is also available, in which the detail is noticeably higher. Even HDR looks better here. Although the smartphone is a little slow when saving such photos, the difference in quality is worth it.
The Galaxy A52 does not have a telephoto lens - however, with 2x magnification of pictures from the main camera, the zoom effect is not bad. But 4x and 10x zoom leave much to be desired.
The ultra-wide-angle camera does its job well. 12-megapixel images have good detail, although the colors differ from the main one. They are less saturated when the shades are noticeably cooler. Edge distortion is removed in software, although the feature can be turned off for more interesting shots.
For a mid-range smartphone, the A52 performs well when shooting in low light conditions. Lots of detail is retained, although noise is noticeable, colors are decent, and the dynamic range is wider than many competing devices.
As usual with Samsung, portrait mode is called Live Focus. The bokeh effect looks natural and neat, and the background blur can be adjusted through the settings slider in the application. But the definition of object boundaries is not always accurate; I expected more from a smartphone with a separate 5 MP depth sensor.
But a macro lens with the same 5-megapixel resolution performs well. You don't even have to get close to your subject. The final photos have high detail, and they look much better than smartphones with a 2 MP sensor.
By default, the front camera saves selfies at 8MP resolution. Although we have normal and wide-angle modes, there is almost no difference in detail between them. Unfortunately, skin tones don't always look equally good, but the blurring effect is done well. Additionally, the front camera has a set of filters with the ability to create your own.
Video shooting is limited to 4K/30 fps, but the quality is high and the colors are nice. Stabilization is available for the main and ultra-wide-angle cameras, but only in 1080p mode.
Iron characteristics
I got the Galaxy A52 in its most advanced version: 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory, and the popular mid-range Snapdragon 720G as a processor. I think that the basic model will be more popular among buyers: it only has 4 GB of RAM, but it has quite a lot of its own memory, 128 GB.
Photo: Alexander Pobyvanets / Wylsacom Media
The phone passes the throttling test at first without any significant losses, but after a series of difficult tests the results drop by 20 percent. If you plan to play at maximum graphics settings in COD Mobile, you may encounter a drop in frame rate, but if you return to the average settings, the sensations will be pleasant.
There is a slot for a memory card, but it is combined with a compartment for a SIM card, so installing two SIM cards and microSD at once will not work.
Photo: Alexander Pobyvanets / Wylsacom Media
If you don’t have any games in your plans or simply don’t have any special requirements, then the standard 4 GB of memory will be enough. Over time, most likely, the system will begin to slow down, but if you want to play it safe, then look towards the older version with 8 GB of RAM.
Among the useful little things are stereo speakers with a good volume margin, even the usual wired FM radio works. We also get NFC for fast payments, stable navigation, trouble-free Wi-Fi and USB Type-C for charging your smartphone.
Photo: Alexander Pobyvanets / Wylsacom Media
Software
Samsung understands that optimized software is essential to high component performance. Therefore, in the new models of the Galaxy A line, the software has been significantly improved.
The Galaxy A52 runs on the latest One UI 3.1 on top of Android 11 OS. The smartphone will receive three major system updates and four years of support for security updates. In theory, the A52 will wait for the release of Android 14 in 2023. Samsung's software support here is excellent.
Visually, One UI 3.1 is not much different from 3.0 and even 2.5. But, there are several important functional changes. For example, a “digital wellbeing” widget has been added to the lock screen. Now you can see how much time you spend on your phone just by looking at this screen.
Unlocking is best done through the fingerprint scanner under the display, although we also have facial recognition. However, the technology is based on the front camera and is not very secure.
If you pull down the notification panel on the Samsung Galaxy A52, it will cover the entire screen, even if you only received one message. Previously, the free space below remained visible, although not very distinguishable. Thanks to Android 11, you can now view your notification history. The section opens through the settings, so you won’t be able to view them with one click on the screen. However, if you swipe away a notification too quickly, you can find out what was in it - the feature is disabled by default.
Android 11 also introduced a new way to interact with notifications from instant messengers - Bubbles. One UI also supports them, although Samsung previously had its own similar feature. However, you can disable the new type and return to the old one. An updated view of the playback control panel has also appeared in One UI 3.1, also from Android 11. Right under the quick settings you will see panels for controlling music or video players - located horizontally.
Samsung's Music Share feature is one of those features that was originally reserved for flagships and is now coming to mid-range models. Using it, it is convenient to share music with friends, which can be played through a device connected to your friend’s Samsung smartphone (for example, a portable speaker).
Another improvement in Android 11 is that you can now pin the apps you want to the top of the list of sharing options. This is one of the features that makes you wonder - why did you have to wait until version 11 for it? However, I would like to be able to remove unnecessary applications from this list, because there are too many of them.
This year, Google worked on app permissions, and Samsung added this to One UI 3. Now, if an app needs some permission, it will ask for it every time. You will be able to reject the request, allow it only while you are using the application, or only allow it now. If an app needs constant access, you can select the option that will take you to settings. This is done to prevent you from choosing an unnecessary option without looking, trying to quickly get rid of dialog boxes.
The settings menu now looks nicer. There is now a dividing point and additional spacing between subcategories. Recent searches are shown as bubbles rather than entire lines. In addition, settings can be searched by hashtags - for similar options in different sections. The Galaxy A52 also has many other small changes that came with One UI 3.1. The range of themes from Samsung is still huge, and everything can be controlled using the usual three buttons at the bottom of the screen or with gestures. There's even a choice of old style icons, where the back key is on the right.
We also have access to many additional features from Samsung, for example, the Edge panel, the Bixby assistant and the SmartThings service. There is a service called Game Launcher - a game center where you can make a number of settings, for example, turn off all notifications during gameplay. Unfortunately, some of Samsung's more advanced features are missing from the Galaxy A52, including Dex mode. But, it is being replaced by the Windows connection feature, developed jointly with Microsoft.
Stereo speakers
Usually this is talked about at the end of reviews, but I want to highlight the importance of the following features that were added to the A52. What I absolutely did not expect to see on this smartphone is stereo sound. Wow. This is what the Galaxy A series smartphones were sorely lacking. Yes, there were rumors that the older brother of the A72 would receive stereo sound, however, no one even suspected about it on the A52. But Samsung seemed to have overheard my stream where I was talking about it.
And hello please, this is a great sound. It is very loud and clear. In fact, it is 43% louder than the A51. Needless to say, stereo speakers take sound to another level. Thanks to DolbyAtmos support, the sound is quite spacious, but it is turned off by default. Must be enabled in settings. Despite the understandable lack of any deep bass, I would call the sound balanced and pleasant to the ear. This is a big plus of a smartphone.
Component Performance
The hardware of the Samsung Galaxy A52 is not the most powerful, although it is not bad. The Snapdragon 720G processor is suitable for most tasks, but is inferior to some competitors. For example, the OnePlus Nord runs on the SD765G, although it costs about the same. However, many will appreciate the fact that this is not Exynos.
The Galaxy A52 chipset has eight cores: two Kryo 465 Gold with a frequency of 2.3 GHz and six Kryo 465 Silver with 1.8 GHz. In Geekbench 5 multi-core mode, the device scores 1577 points, in single-core mode – 525. The indicators are average even for its segment. As for graphics, the Adreno 618 accelerator is responsible for it. The results of graphics performance tests are also not impressive. In GFX Manhattan ES 3.0, the A52 has only 39 fps, while the OnePlus Nord has 55 fps.
Fortunately, this is enough to quickly and smoothly work with One UI 3.1 and perform any basic tasks. The Snapdragon 720 is powerful enough for the vast majority of tasks, the interface is smooth, and there are no performance problems.
Don't throttle!
Can you imagine Samsung not losing performance under load? It turns out it can. Especially when there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor under the hood. And no, this is not some Hong Kong version. This is quite an official Samsung Galaxy A52 for Russia. So it goes!
Everything in the system flies 99% of the time, and considering 90 Hz, it looks generally good. However, the situation is overshadowed by games. Despite the gaming prefix “G” in the name of the chipset, PUBG Mobile is comfortable to play only on medium graphics settings. You can also set the device to high peak settings, but lags, freezes, stutters - do you need it? For Kolda we are counting on high settings, but, in any case, I expected more agility from the device.
AnTuTu (1 run) AnTuTu (2 run) Geekbench 5 CPU Throttling
Sound quality
Music lovers will be pleased with the presence of stereo speakers on the Galaxy A52. Although there is not a real surround effect (one of the speakers is conversational), the sound is very pleasant.
The volume is a little lacking, but there is support for Dolby Atmos technology. A number of presets for movies, music or podcasts have also been added, and there is even a game mode. At the same time, the latter improves certain sound effects in games, such as the sounds of your opponents' footsteps.
Autonomy Samsung Galaxy A52
Samsung has packed a good 4500 mAh battery into this compact smartphone. In this regard, the Galaxy A52 beats the A51 with its 4000 mAh battery.
There is practically no difference between battery life with a screen frequency of 90 Hz and 60 Hz. At 60 Hz, the energy reserve is enough for 15 hours of web surfing, while at 90 Hz – for 14 hours and 30 minutes. If you watch video continuously, the device will last 14 hours at 90 Hz and almost 16 hours in normal mode.
Included with the smartphone we receive a 15 W adapter, although there is support for PD technology at a speed of 25 W. But, you will have to buy a separate adapter. Using the included charger, the Samsung Galaxy A52 recovers approximately 35% of its energy in half an hour, and the full process takes more than two hours.
Bottom line
Samsung Galaxy A52 is a truly luxurious smartphone for the money (26,990 rubles). As soon as it was announced, I immediately requested the device from the vendor for review and was not disappointed. A nice screen, a fast processor, cool cameras (for its class of devices) and two killer features: full IP67 water protection and crazy battery life.
During the review of the Samsung A52, we found only one drawback - the processor. The power of the Snapdragon 720G is not enough to properly handle 3D games at ultras. Medium-high settings are the ceiling for the device. You can play, but somehow it’s not like eSports.
However, not everything is Maslenitsa for the cat. Samsung has already generously loaded the Galaxy A52 with bells and whistles. Therefore, the result was an almost perfect average. You can take it.
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- Samsung Galaxy A51 review - nice try
Samsung Samsung Galaxy A51 Samsung Galaxy A52
