The Galaxy A53 Offers Some of Samsung’s Biggest Strengths Without the Price Tag

Mid-range smartphones are having a second. Every main model that considers itself a worthy participant in in the present day’s smartphone wars has to have an inexpensive equal to its flashy flagship. For Google, it’s the Pixel 5a—quickly to be Pixel 6a, if rumors are true. For Apple, the iPhone SE nets you a similar silicon because the iPhone 13. And for Samsung, it’s the Galaxy A53, which might’t match the efficiency of its flagship sibling however nonetheless understands what makes Samsung units nice.

And that’s wonderful. It’s regular to mood your expectations should you’re going for a mid-ranger, and the Galaxy A53 actually knocks it out of the park with Samsung’s distinctive strengths. It’s acquired a vibrant show with a flagship-grade refresh fee, a digital camera system with all of the lenses you could possibly want, and the newest model of Android, chockful of Samsung flavoring. Also, we love that lengthy battery life, and you’ll be certain this telephone goes to get loads of software program help for the foreseeable future.

Since it is a sub-$500 machine, there are, in fact, concessions to make. This isn’t Samsung’s best-designed smartphone, neither is it essentially the most succesful. But if you wish to keep on with Samsung and also you’re on a price range, the Galaxy A53 is a fairly whole lot.

Not a lot has modified

The Galaxy A53’s look hasn’t modified from its predecessor, the Galaxy A52, although that’s par for the course with mid-range units. (Case in level: the iPhone SE has appeared the identical for 2 generations.) It can be good to see Samsung strive one thing just a little extra premium with the A-series. Samsung despatched us the A53 in black, and that’s presently the one choice obtainable for buy. The A53 is available in 4 colours in different markets, together with white, peachy pink, and a cute child blue.

The Galaxy A53’s bottom stays comparatively unchanged from the A52. There are three foremost digital camera lenses: a major 64-MP digital camera with optical picture stabilization (OIS), a 12-MP ultrawide digital camera, and a 5-MP macro digital camera. There can also be a 5-MP depth sensor. I’ll get extra into the rear-facing digital camera system and the way it performs later.

The Galaxy A53 sports activities a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED show with brilliant, saturated colours and a 120Hz refresh fee, a wonderful flagship-level spec to incorporate on this product vary. The A53 is primed for watching movies or scrolling endlessly by TikTok. The smoothness of the image is like carrying a tiny Samsung TV in your pocket. Like the Galaxy S22 sequence, Samsung does provide an excellent excessive brightness mode for studying out within the solar, as much as a most of 800 nits, however provided that it detects daylight. Otherwise, the utmost brightness is about 416 nits.

The Galaxy A53 is just obtainable with 128GB of storage should you purchase it within the U.S., although there’s a microSD card slot slyly embedded into the SIM tray so you may add storage for video and the rest you would possibly want it for. I’d additionally like to supply a PSA to deliver your individual smartphone charger and cable, as Samsung doesn’t embody both with the acquisition of the Galaxy A53. It’s for the surroundings!

The Galaxy A53 provides some flagship-level safety features. Face Unlock is offered, and there’s additionally an under-display fingerprint reader. Both of the unlocking mechanisms work wonderful.

An enchancment in battery life

This yr’s Galaxy A53 strays from the routine improve path of utilizing Qualcomm’s newest mid-range chip. Instead, Samsung’s again to utilizing its homegrown processor, the 5nm Exynos 1280. It’s an octa-core chip with a Mali-G68 GPU powering it up, which bodes properly should you’re the particular person to maintain Pokémon Go open all day ready to affix a five-star Raid. It’s coupled with 6GB of RAM, although the telephone can also be obtainable with the choice of 4 and 8GB of RAM in different markets.

Performance-wise, the Galaxy A53’s Exynos processor was on par with final yr’s Pixel 5a, which runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G. It solely carried out two factors higher on Geekbench (1803) than one among this telephone’s associated units, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE, a pill with a Snapdragon 750G processor (1801). Geekbench is an artificial check, so it isn’t an ideal comparability to anecdotal use, but it surely offers us a greater understanding of how a chip stacks as much as what’s already on the market. For you nerds on the market, we ran the only core check.

Predictably, the A53 was a lot slower than the present crop of flagship Android telephones, although its Web XPRT 2015 outcomes have been on par with the Pixel 5a and TCL 20 Pro, which reveals it’s a stable mid-ranger.

Despite the stable benchmark numbers, there have been a number of instances after I remembered I used to be utilizing a mid-range machine, significantly after I was switching between images and video modes. Thankfully, I didn’t really feel it whereas taking part in Pokémon Go, besides within the circumstances the place I used to be in a busy space with a number of Pokémon sprouting round me. But that may lag the sport even on essentially the most highly effective flagship units. The fingerprint scanner can also be not as lightning fast as on the now-aging OnePlus 9, which I’m presently utilizing as my every day driver.

Where the Galaxy A53 shines is in its battery life. Samsung outfitted this specific machine with a 5000 mAh battery, and it impressed me from the second I arrange the telephone. The Galaxy A53 managed 18 hours and half-hour of video playback earlier than really fizzling out. It outlasted the OnePlus 10 Pro, Motorola Edge+, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and even its flagship counterparts in our battery rundown check, which entails streaming a 24-hour video from YouTube at precisely 200 nits, simply above the midpoint on the brightness slider. It even outlasted the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which isn’t a serious shock contemplating that machine’s bigger display screen and extra intensive processor. However, the A53’s outcomes have been on par with the Google Pixel 5a’s, which has a smaller 4680 mAh battery, indicating potential room for enchancment in absolutely using what this telephone packs. Still, it is a minor quibble, and the show on the Pixel 5a has a decrease refresh fee and doesn’t draw as a lot energy. Anyway, it’s good to know you will discover stellar battery life beneath the $500 value level.

Cameras for on a regular basis seize

I’m impressed by how far smartphone cameras have come up to now 5 years, and the Galaxy A53 solely lags behind the pattern just a little due to its price range standing.

The Galaxy A53’s digital camera system is just like its predecessor’s, right down to the 64-megapixel digital camera with an f/1.8 aperture and vast discipline of view. As I discussed earlier, it does have OIS, which helps stabilize the digital camera as you’re shifting the telephone to sharpen photographs whatever the surroundings. The aperture additionally permits the lens to soak up extra mild for software program processing.

I just like the daytime pictures I took with the Galaxy A53 properly sufficient. I spent a sunny day on the seashore, and the photographs got here out clear and well-saturated. The blue within the sky does seem prefer it was cranked up in Photoshop, however I recognize that on a cell machine’s digital camera, as a result of it helps when taking the photograph to social media. The A53 can also be able to portrait and wide-angle photographs, although the latter will introduce the identical distortion you’d see on any lens with a 123-degree field-of-view.

If you’re not capturing on a sunny day, Samsung’s saturation engine turns up the distinction, making scenes seem darkish and dreary as a substitute of impartial and grey. That was particularly obvious as I shot pictures with completely different zoom charges on the A53 throughout a uncommon wet California day. As an apart, there is no such thing as a telephoto lens, so whilst you’re getting succesful zoom, it’s hardly as sharp as what you’d get paying practically thrice as a lot for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Still, the 3x optical zoom helps for framing when capturing up shut.

Selfies taken with the A53’s 32-MP lens appeared nice, and I used to be not shy about utilizing it. My child and I particularly loved the built-in Snapchat filters obtainable contained in the Samsung digital camera app. No sign-in is required.

The Galaxy A53 can file video at a most of 4K and 30 frames-per-second (fps). By default, it shoots at 1080p at 30 fps, although you may bump 1080p recording as much as 60 fps in order for you. Videos will be significantly sharp on a sunny day, and it helps that Samsung’s monitoring algorithm stays regular as you’re panning round a scene even with the stabilization choice off. I didn’t remorse taking movies of my youngster with the A53.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the Google Pixel 5a to make a side-by-side digital camera efficiency comparability. However, you might be prone to have a greater time taking low-light photographs with Pixel 5a than you’ll the Galaxy A53, just because now we have a number of generations of proof that it’s the place Google succeeds with its mid-range {hardware}.

Flagship-level options all through

When I say “flagship-level features,” I don’t simply imply the {hardware}. I’m additionally alluding to the software program and Samsung’s try at parity throughout units. The A53 will get 4 years of Android platform updates plus 5 years of safety updates. That’s just a little longer than what the Google Pixel 5a will get should you purchase it proper now. And whereas it’s seemingly that you simply received’t be getting software program updates as constantly as everybody else in the direction of the tip of the A53’s tenure, it’s reassuring understanding Samsung can have your machine in thoughts for some time.

One concession to remember with this machine is that Samsung requires you to log in to a Samsung account to get inventive with the interface—significantly should you’re eager on downloading themes and icon packs from the Galaxy Apps retailer. You nonetheless have entry to the whole lot Google offers you thru the Play Store, however there are some gems you may solely discover by Samsung. Anyway, should you’re planning to enter the Samsung ecosystem by equipment like a pair of Galaxy Buds and the Galaxy Watch 4, you’ll have to join and have a tendency to a Samsung account if you wish to backup your settings and issues of that kind. This is among the drawbacks of selecting an Android machine not made by Google.

There is an enormous distinction between the $600 base-model Pixel 6, which lauds its tried-and-true digital camera system, and the $450 Samsung Galaxy A53. It’s not simply the premium specs—Pixel 6 ships with 8GB by default—or the design variations (the A53 in black is boring!). That $150 value reduce might be a lifesaver for some. The excellent news is that the Samsung Galaxy A53 received’t make you’re feeling such as you’re lacking out on a lot, even with its mid-range specs.