Samsung Galaxy A50 evaluate | Digital Tendencies

Samsung’s greatest identified for its Galaxy S and Notice telephones, however the firm has a protracted historical past of promoting finances telephones below the Galaxy J and A model. Bought with forgettable names like Galaxy J7 Prime and J7 Core, the inner specs usually modified relying the place to procure them, as carriers determined what components went contained in the telephone.

The newest Galaxy A-range is Samsung’s effort to streamline its finances and mid-tier lineup, and the face of the sequence is the Galaxy A50. Purchase the Galaxy A50 from Dash? It’s the identical precise telephone because the Galaxy A50 on Verizon. It’s not a convoluted mess.

At $350, it’s a fantastic telephone that delivers all-day battery life, a contemporary display screen, strong efficiency, and a superb digital camera. However its value places it proper subsequent to our present finances champion, the $400 Pixel 3a. Can the Samsung telephone pose a problem to Google’s finances masterpiece?

Fashionable seems to be

Costly telephones have giant screens, slim bezels, and intelligent methods to put the selfie digital camera on the entrance — just like the hole-punch digital camera on Samsung’s Galaxy S10 vary, or the pop-up digital camera on the OnePlus 7 Professional. Price range telephones have rapidly mimicked this design, and the Galaxy A50 isn’t any completely different. On the entrance, you get a slim bezel across the display screen. The bezel is most noticeable on the backside, also referred to as “a chin,” and there’s a teardrop notch on the high housing the selfie digital camera.

The A50 seems to be modern. The identical can’t be mentioned for the Pixel 3a, which suffers the plague of thick bezels. Round again, the A50 seems to be very like the iPhone XS, with a vertical digital camera setup within the high left nook. Ours got here in shiny black, which confirmed rainbow-like results when mild caught the again. It’s good, however we’d prefer to see brighter shade choices, as nicely.

The rear is manufactured from plastic that appears like glass however feels low-cost to the contact. The A50 is slippery, too. It’s not going to slip off a desk, however it could actually really feel onerous to grip. It’s a big telephone, with a 6.Four-inch display screen, so customers with small fingers might discover it troublesome to make use of comfortably.

I’m pleased with the button placement — the ability and quantity rocker are on the correct edge and are simply accessible. There’s a USB Sort-C charging port on the backside edge, subsequent to a headphone jack, and a bottom-firing speaker.

The rear of the A50 is a bit uninteresting. I believe the Pixel 3a is extra enticing. The A50 additionally doesn’t really feel substantial in-hand just like the similarly-priced Nokia 7.1, which makes use of a mix of aluminum and glass. Nonetheless, it will get the job achieved, and the bezel-less display screen is the true deal with.

A brilliant show, however an annoying fingerprint sensor

The 6.Four-inch Tremendous AMOLED display screen on the Galaxy A50 serves up 2,340 x 1,080 decision, which has similarities to the Pixel 3a’s 2,280 x 1,080 decision. It doesn’t beat the distinction ratio of the Pixel 3a’s display screen, which provides barely darker colours, however the A50’s display screen seems to be sharp and it’s loads brilliant.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Tendencies

You’ll be greater than happy with the viewing expertise on both telephone. The Pixel 3a has a Samsung-made display screen, in any case. Nevertheless, the A50 earns a bonus level as a result of movies, films, and video games look extra immersive because of its bezel-less design.

Does audio high quality assist immersion? Not precisely. There’s a single bottom-firing speaker, and whereas it could actually get loud, it sounds muffled. It may be troublesome to listen to audio when open air in noisy environments, even with the quantity cranked to the max. The Pixel 3a’s stereo audio system are higher, delivering richer high quality, although quantity is comparable.

The A50 has a headphone jack (as does the Pixel 3a), so you’ll be able to plug in in case you don’t have wi-fi earbuds. The telephone additionally helps Dolby Atmos, and music sounds higher listening in with Samsung’s personal Galaxy Buds.

Samsung’s in-display fingerprint sensor is a ache level. The A50 locations it below the entrance display screen glass, and like most under-glass sensors, it’s unreliable. You need to use a face unlock possibility, however it’s not fast, and its implementation right here isn’t safe.

Stable efficiency

In contrast to most Android telephones within the U.S., Samsung’s Galaxy A50 isn’t powered by a Qualcomm processor. As an alternative, Samsung makes use of its personal Exynos 9610 with 4GB of RAM. There’s 64GB of inner storage, and a MicroSD card slot in case you want extra space.

The A50’s efficiency is suitable, however Google’s Pixel 3a is faster general. Google’s telephone is quicker when opening apps and didn’t present many struggles when switching between them. The Pixel 3a additionally feels extra fluid, whereas the A50 few stutters right here and there. Take Google Maps, for instance. Shifting across the map is easy on the Pixel telephone, however you’ll be able to see occasional lag on the A50.

Listed below are a couple of benchmark outcomes:

AnTuTu 3DBench: 140,900
Geekbench Four CPU: 1,683 single-core; 5,389 multi-core
3DMark Sling Shot Excessive: 1,368 (Vulkan)

The benchmark again this up. The Pixel 3a beat out the A50 in AnTuTu and 3DMark assessments, although the A50 pulled forward in Geekbench outcomes.

Nonetheless, the Galaxy A50 is a wonderfully succesful telephone. It didn’t have any bother with apps, and whereas efficiency isn’t the smoothest, it by no means failed me. Even gaming is feasible. In PUBG: Cell, the sport mechanically opted for the best graphical settings attainable, and I didn’t run into any hitches whereas taking part in (although the telephone felt heat to the contact). I additionally noticed strong efficiency in Alto’s Odyssey and Pako: Endlessly.

Total, the A50 is well higher than the Nokia 7.1, however a hair behind the Pixel 3a.

One UI software program

I reviewed the Verizon Galaxy A50, which is pre-installed with many apps and video games. Fortunately, I used to be in a position to uninstall a lot of the bloatware.

The telephone runs Samsung’s One UI interface, which is laid over Android 9 Pie. It seems to be slick, although I want the icons weren’t so giant. It’s among the many higher producer skins on a telephone.

Nevertheless, software program Google’s Pixel 3a has the sting. The Pixel has smarter options in software program, like Name Display, which protects you from robocalls, and Now Taking part in, which detects and shows music taking part in in your environment.

Software program updates are a priority, too. Samsung is notoriously gradual to ship Android model. It took the Galaxy S9 sequence shut to 6 months to get Android 9 Pie on all units within the U.S. On a extra optimistic notice, Samsung is following via with month-to-month safety updates for a number of units.

Google’s telephones promise three years of safety and model updates. Meaning you’ll be able to anticipate the Pixel 3a to run Android S in 2021. Updates are essential. They don’t simply carry new options, although they’re very a lot appreciated; safety updates can hold your machine protected and safe.

Samsung confirmed to Digital Tendencies that the Galaxy A50 will obtain quarterly safety updates, with unspecified “plans for an OS replace.” Anticipate to obtain Android Q, and never a lot else. That’s disappointing, although a lot better than what finances telephones acquired a couple of years in the past.

Surprisingly robust digital camera

The Samsung Galaxy A50 has a triple-camera system on the rear. That features a 25-megapixel most important lens (f/1.7 aperture), a 5-megapixel depth digital camera (f/2.2), and an Eight-megapixel wide-angle lens (f/2.2).

The digital camera app will be gradual to launch, and the shutter can lag at occasions, however picture high quality is nice. The HDR stunned me probably the most and makes the A50 adept at dealing with high-contrast situations. There’s a superb quantity of element, colours look vibrant, and the wide-angle lens permits for creativity.

It’s not with out flaws. The digital camera can battle with fast-moving objects, and since there’s no optical picture stabilization, you might want to keep as nonetheless as attainable when taking a photograph. The A50 performs nicely in low-light conditions, however can’t match the Pixel 3a and its A.I.-assisted Night time Sight mode.

The wide-angle digital camera’s images are extraordinarily distorted, which is ok if that’s the look you’re going for. It does make the A50 extra versatile than your typical finances telephone. The wide-angle lens has bother in darkish conditions, nevertheless.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Tendencies

You possibly can’t use the third digital camera. It’s not a telephoto lens, however a depth digital camera, and it solely works throughout portrait mode (Samsung calls it Stay Focus). It provides bokeh round a topic, and the images are robust when there’s good lighting.

I in contrast the Galaxy A50 to the Pixel 3a, as you’ll be able to see within the images above, and most well-liked the Pixel 3a. Samsung’s HDR will be too aggressive, which ends up in surprisingly morphed colours, just like the picture of the birdhouse. It doesn’t deal with low mild nicely, blowing out the picture and compromising picture high quality. The Pixel 3a handles darkish settings nicely even with out the Night time Sight function turned on.

The A50’s Stay Focus shot of my canine is nice, however Google’s telephone has higher colours, is extra detailed, and the bokeh impact isn’t as exaggerated. The Pixel 3a barely stumbles on deciding the place to use bokeh, however it’s nonetheless the higher picture.

There’s a 25-megapixel digital camera (f/2.zero) on A50’s entrance, and it could actually take respectable selfies, even with Stay Focus mode. Don’t anticipate the identical quantity of element you get in selfies from the Pixel 3a, although.

The A50 has a surprisingly robust digital camera system, particularly for its $350 price ticket. Nevertheless, the Pixel 3a elevates the digital camera expertise. If the digital camera is your favourite function on a telephone, you’ll need to go for the Pixel 3a.

An enormous battery

There’s a large Four,000mAh battery within the Galaxy A50. As anticipated, it lasts a full day of heavy use, and never a single minute extra. After a day of messaging, music streaming, gaming, and capturing images, the telephone hit 15 % near midnight.

After I didn’t use the telephone as closely, I usually arrived dwelling at 6 p.m. with 40 % cost remaining, if not slightly extra. With mild utilization, there’s an opportunity you’ll be able to stretch battery life to slightly below two days. Battery anxiousness isn’t a problem right here.

Our battery check proves that too. I performed a 1080p YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the brightness cranked to the max, and the Galaxy A50 lasted 10 hours and 56 minutes. That’s virtually two hours greater than the Pixel 3a, minutes behind the Pixel 3a XL, and it simply barely bested the $900 Samsung Galaxy S10. Spectacular.

Charging it up is a fast endeavor because of the USB Sort-C port. Sadly, there’s no wi-fi charging for added comfort, however most telephones on this value vary don’t have that function.

Worth, availability, and guarantee data

The Samsung Galaxy A50 is $350 and accessible from Verizon, Dash, and Xfinity Cell. There’s an unlocked model accessible on Amazon already, however it’s not bought by Samsung. It’s below $300 and works solely on GSM networks like AT&T and T-Cell.

Samsung provides an ordinary restricted guarantee, which protects the telephone from producer defects one yr from the date of buy.

Our Take

The Galaxy A50 exhibits Samsung could make wonderful telephones, regardless of the fee. Competitors on this value vary is stiff, although, and there are a couple of areas the place Google’s Pixel 3a nonetheless pulls forward.

Is there a greater different?

Sure. The Google Pixel 3a or 3a XL. Each are slightly dearer, however not by a lot. They match the A50 in a number of classes resembling display screen, battery life, and efficiency — pulling forward in some — however they’ve higher cameras, and considerably higher software program assist.

Spend $150 extra, and you may get the spectacular Asus ZenFone 6, which grants you an identical high-end processor contained in the Galaxy S10 — so that you get superior efficiency — in addition to a large 5,000mAh battery.

Try our greatest low-cost telephones information for extra.

How lengthy will it final?

The Galaxy A50 has no water resistance, so it gained’t play nicely with water. Fortunately, it’s not manufactured from glass, so that you don’t want to fret about shattering either side of the telephone (only one).

This telephone will possible final you two years, if not three, earlier than the battery begins to deteriorate. You possibly can solely anticipate one yr of model updates from Samsung, nevertheless, so the telephone’s elder years can be spent working an outdated model of Android.

Must you purchase it?

Sure. We notably just like the unlocked model accessible for below $300 on Amazon already. It’s a fantastic worth. The Google Pixel 3a remains to be our favourite finances Android telephone, however the A50 is a strong decide, and much more reasonably priced.