Samsung Galaxy A51 Review: Amazing Quad Camera
Samsung Galaxy A51 Review: If you remember, last year’s Galaxy A50 was one among the highest-selling midrange phones of 2019. the corporate had already updated it with the A50s but disappointingly, it came with only a few and insignificant upgrades. And now, we’ve another phone under the A50 lineup — the Galaxy A51.
This time around though, there are quite some interesting improvements. However, the competition has gotten fiercer than ever in 2020, coming from brands like Realme and Redmi. I even have used the Galaxy A51 for a long-time, and here is our detailed review.
Samsung Galaxy A51 Specifications
Display:6.5-inches Full-HD+ “Infinity-O” Super AMOLED panelChipset:Exynos 9611RAM:6GBStorage:128GB (expandable up to 512GB via a microSD card)Software & UI:Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI 2.0 on topRear Camera:Quad-camera; 48 MP, f/2.0 primary shooter, 5MP, f/2.4 macro lens, 12MP, f/2.2 super wide-angle lens, 5MP, f/2.2 depth sensor, Single LED flashFront Camera:32MP, f/2.2 apertureSecurity:Optical Fingerprint-ScannerAudio:3.5mm headphone jackBattery:4000 mAh with 15W Quick Charge
Design
Compared to A50, I found some major improvements with the Galaxy A51. First, the 3D-holographic cut patterns look amazing. And in terms of color choices, I even have the white and therefore the blue variant with me and both look very soothing to the attention .
Aesthetically, you get all of your buttons on the proper while the left side is reserved for SIM tray, and down below, you get a Type-C port, a speaker, and our beloved headphone jack. The cameras at back even have a replacement look, almost like that of Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series. you continue to get a plastic back & frame here, but what i actually like about the phone is how light it’s (172gms).
I recently reviewed the Poco X2 and Realme 6 Pro, and that they were all boxy and heavy, whereas the A51 feels really thin, light, and cozy to use. So overall, I liked the planning and therefore the build of the phone, if not for the plastic back & frames.
Display
Display-wise, it’s a signature Samsung AMOLED panel. and therefore the centered punch-hole cutout makes the A51 aesthetically pleasing. Talking about the panel itself, it’s an enormous 6.5-inches display with a quite cinematic 20:9 ratio.
And yes, the display quality is superb as we’ve come to expect from Samsung. Here, the colours are great then is that the contrast ratio. Additionally, the phone gets an honest amount of brightness also , with almost no compromise on visibility even when you’re outdoors, during a well-lit environment.
Moreover, the touch response on the Galaxy A51 is astounding . Although it’s still a daily 60Hz panel, navigating through the phone is sort of swift. only for comparison, i attempted it out against the Realme X2 which has an AMOLED panel also .
However, the prevalence of A51 was quite apparent upon rather a fast inspection. However, there’s the rather dated Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the phone so I did manage to urge minor scratches thereon .
Camera
The Galaxy A51 features a quad rear camera setup. There’s the 48MP primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5MP depth sensor, and eventually a 5MP macro sensor.
Talking about the first camera, as we’ve usually seen on Samsung phones, the A51’s 12MP pixel binned shots have a fantastic amount of details with decent dynamic range, and punchy colors as was common . Compared to the OPPO F15, i used to be quite surprised to ascertain how the Galaxy A51 held its fort. It produces quite eye-catching colors, especially the sky as compared .
Getting to the already dark images, it’s almost average. So, I had to use the night mode to urge a usable image. But what’s definitely distinguishable are the pictures from the ultra-wide-angle lens. Here, the A51 takes the crown as it’s got the higher of everything — from width to detail to the dynamic range to colours .
Talking about macro shots, like I’ve been saying in many of our phone reviews, it’s just a gimmick and is much less practical. within the case of A51 also , it’s not very useful, though you’ll get acceptable images with good lighting.
The A50s had good portrait imaging capability and therefore the same goes here with the Galaxy A51 also . the sting detection in portraits is fairly good. Under good lighting, you’ll get some truly amazing portraits like this one here. The camera does smoothen the subject’s skin a touch bit, but the top result’s good i need to say.
Similarly, the regular and portrait selfie images are decent on the Galaxy A51 with better colors, details, and sharper focus. The software-based portrait selfies don’t have the simplest edge detection but look good for what its worth.
Getting on to the videos, though it supports 4K recording, it’s limited to 30fps and lacks stabilization. On the contrary, you continue to get quite stable videos in 1080p videos. almost like the photos, the videos have quite good colors and dynamic range too. And needless to say on Samsung phone, you furthermore may get the super steady mode, slow-mo, and super slow-mo video modes.
Performance & Software
Talking about the software version, the Galaxy A51 runs on the newest Android 10 with One UI 2.0 on top. The difference between the first One UI 1.0 to the present version of 1 UI is great. Though there aren’t many visual changes, I did notice that it’s tons smoother.
The UI is very easy to urge wont to and everything is simply there, so easily reachable. it’s actually designed for huge phones. and that i must say that i actually just like the changes thereto from the previous version of 1 UI. The transitions seem such a lot faster and smoother and therefore the layout of things has been managed differently and permanently . The camera UI looks better. Overall, it’s more colorful and managed. I even have always complained about One UI being slow on budget and mid-range phones and that i am happy that Samsung finally seems to possess listened!
Having said that, there’s still a small hint of lag while navigating through apps and multitasking. Comparatively, it’s just not as swift as say the one within the POCO X2 or Realme X2. And It’s definitely due to the same-old Exynos 9611 chipset that’s powering it, which is simply a small improvement over the Exynos 9610 on the first Galaxy A50.
What’s even non-acceptable is how Samsung’s new Galaxy M21 with much less going price, shares an equivalent chipset to the A51. We’ve been consistently complaining about the company’s chipset selection in their A-series devices and at now , i’m really uninterested in . I mean how inconsiderate are you able to get?
The Galaxy A71 we reviewed a few of weeks back has the Snapdragon 730 and its performance is, let’s say, good. If you think that about it, A51 should be the one powered by SD 730 while the A71 could’ve gone with a good better chipset.
When it involves gaming, the performance is analogous thereto of the last year’s A50. Graphic intensive games like PUBG runs at acceptable 40fps mark in smooth graphics and ultra frame rates, while COD is playable on high graphics and high refresh rate. But as you push the settings higher, you get plenty of stutters & lags to a state of not having the ability to enjoy the gameplay. Also, the phone got a touch warm near the camera module when gaming for a touch while. Therefore, with its underperforming SoC, the Galaxy A51 is certainly not for the gaming-centric audience.
In terms of memory, there’s either 4, 6 or 8GB of RAM with 64 or 128GB of storage. The one I even have features a 6/128GB configuration, with a fanatical microSD card slot for storage expansion.
Security
As for the in-display fingerprint sensor, it’s much faster and accurate than its predecessor and with the recent update, it’s gotten even better. But Despite this, it’s nowhere near like what the competitors are offering with their larger and faster sensor. But at the top of the day, it gets the work done and you’ll get wont to it pretty soon. Likewise, the software-based face unlock is okay too but still isn’t the fastest.
Battery & Charging
The 4000mAh cell actually yields similar endurance to the Galaxy A50 & A50s, and provides a solid one-day battery life. In my time with the phone, it gave me around 6 hours of screen-on-time which consisted of around 2 hours of binging YouTube, about an hour of gaming, and over an hour of social media usage.
Though the endurance itself is amazing, the charging… not such a lot . You’re still cursed with 15W fast charging, which now are often seen on budget Samsung phones. So, it might are much nicer if Samsung had included a 25W charging technology like thy Galaxy A71. With the 15W charger, it takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes for the Galaxy A51 to urge charged from 0 to 100%.
Audio
The audio quality on this phone is okay-ish too. it’s a mono speaker that gets the work done, but i feel Samsung should include a stereo setup a minimum of on their upper A-series device to form it more value-packed and distinguish its A-series from M-series. Similarly, there’s no problem with the three .5mm headphone jack. And even in terms of call quality, the audio is loud and clear.
Samsung Galaxy A51 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Excellent Camera performance
- Good Super AMOLED display
- Good Looking design
Cons:
- Average Performance
- Only 15W fast charging
Conclusion
In conclusion, I came a dilemma on how I should provides a verdict to the Galaxy A51. While reviewing it, I kept on asking myself who is that this phone for? and that i think it’s perfect for casual smartphone users, who don’t give much emphasis on performance & gaming. Someone like my sister, who doesn’t play high-end games, and just wants a trendy phone with an excellent camera and display, because she binges tons of Amazon Prime contents on her phone.