Samsung Galaxy M51: design
Contents
We were initially concerned about the size and weight of the Galaxy M51, but after using this smartphone for a few days, we can say that it is not difficult to use. One would think that a 7,000mAh battery would make a phone very heavy, but that is not the case here. Samsung has distributed the weight well and the phone does not feel heavy in the hand. However, it weighs 213 grams and you will feel it after using it for a while.
Samsung has gone with an Infinity-O display on this phone, which means there is a hole at the top of the screen for the front camera. The borders around the screen are thin. The display measures 6.7 inches and has a 20:9 aspect ratio. This makes it difficult to reach the top of the display while holding the smartphone in one hand. The display has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
Samsung has placed the fingerprint scanner in the power button. It works well and is easily reached to unlock the phone. The volume buttons are also on the same side, but are set a little higher, which makes access a little difficult. You still get a 3.5mm headphone jack on the Galaxy M51 and it is set at the bottom along with the USB Type-C port and speaker.
The Galaxy M51 has a glasstic back. We had the Celestial Black colour option which is extremely glossy and picks up fingerprints very easily. There is no case/cover in the box, so we had to keep wiping the phone to maintain the shine of that back panel. The quad-camera module is set in the back corner of the phone.
Samsung includes a 25W charger in the box, something we also saw with the Galaxy M31. This charger charges the phone’s massive battery relatively quickly.
Samsung Galaxy M51: specifications
Samsung has used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G for the Galaxy M51. This phone comes in two variants, the first with 6 GB RAM and the second, 8 GB RAM. Both of these are priced at Rs 24,999 and Rs 26,999 respectively. Both variants get the same 128 GB storage and if you need more storage then you can use the dedicated microSD card slot.
Samsung has given it a 6.7-inch Infinity-O display, which comes with full-HD + resolution, but the refresh rate is 60 Hz. Let us tell you here that its other competitors like OnePlus Nord and Realme X3 come with a panel with a higher refresh rate than this. However, the Super AMOLED display on the Galaxy M51 is very beautiful. You can change the color output through the Settings app and it remains bright enough outdoors.
The Galaxy M51 comes with OneUI 2.1 based on Android 10. Our unit was running the August security patch, which is new. Having used a lot of Samsung phones recently, the UI was easy to navigate. Samsung has packed a lot of useful customisations into Android 10. The Samsung Galaxy M51 also gets the new Nearby Share feature, which makes transferring files between supported devices a lot easier.
The smartphone also features dual messenger, gesture navigation, game launcher, and more. Since it’s difficult to reach the top of the tall display, Samsung has also added a gesture that lets you bring down the notification shade and quick toggles by swiping up on the fingerprint sensor, which comes in very handy.
Samsung has pre-installed Microsoft and Google apps on this phone along with Dailyhunt, Chingari, MX TakaTak, Moj, Snapchat, Candy Crush Saga and Amazon apps. After booting, many notifications of Dailyhunt and Chingari apps kept coming continuously. If you do not use these apps, we would advise you to uninstall them. Samsung’s My Galaxy app also leaves no stone unturned in giving notifications of COVID updates as well as promotional content.
Samsung Galaxy M51: performance
The Samsung Galaxy M51 offers pretty good performance and we never found it to be sluggish. We found the fingerprint scanner to be fast to unlock the phone. Even its accuracy was good. The phone was also accurate and fast in unlocking the phone by recognizing the face. Watching videos on the Galaxy M51 was also fun due to the good output of the display. Since the front camera is in a hole-punch cutout, some people may be distracted by it. However, it takes some time to get used to it.
Asphalt 9 ran well at default quality settings and the gameplay remained smooth even when the graphics were cranked up to High. Playing for 15 minutes caused the battery level to drop by two percent. Even after this, the screen did not get warm to the touch.
We know you would be curious to know the battery life of this phone. With our basic usage, which included running benchmarks, taking photos and making a few calls, the phone gave us two days of backup on a single charge. In our HD video loop test, the phone managed to last 32 hours, which is longer than any phone at any price. To charge this massive battery, the company has provided a 25W charger, which was really fast and took just two hours to fully charge the phone.
Samsung Galaxy M51: cameras
The Samsung Galaxy M51 comes with a quad-camera setup and this configuration is quite similar to what we have seen on the Galaxy M31s (Review). There is a 64-megapixel primary camera with f / 1.8 aperture, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera with 123-degree field-of-view, a 5-megapixel macro camera and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. There are no major changes in the camera app as well. The scene optimizer is enabled by default in the default photo mode but you can also turn it off.
The Galaxy M51 was fast at locking focus and the scene optimizer was quick to identify the environment. Photos taken in daylight came out with good details and good dynamic range. The camera was also able to recognize subjects at a distance and text was clearly visible in the images. The Galaxy M51 automatically turns on HDR in bright scenes, which leads to good shots. We found that the wide-angle camera captured a good field of view, but there was noticeable distortion at the edges of the images. The low-resolution wide-angle camera is not able to capture as much detail as the primary sensor.
You get 16-megapixel shots by default from the Galaxy M51, but you also have the option to take photos at the full 64-megapixel resolution. Photos shot at full resolution had better detail, but lacked sharpness as well as dynamic range. The Single Take feature works exactly the same as it does on the Galaxy M31s and offers multiple output options after recording a 15-second clip.
Closeup shots taken with the Galaxy M51 were sharp and had a good amount of blur on the background. Samsung’s Live Focus mode lets you shoot portraits and adjust the level of blur in the viewfinder before taking a shot. The 5-megapixel macro camera lets you capture a subject up close and the images also had good detail.
The camera performance in low light was decent and the photos came out well, but you will notice a lot of grain when you zoom in. There is also a Night mode, which helps improve the output of the primary sensor. Night mode is also available for the wide-angle camera and gives similar results.
Selfies taken with the Galaxy M51 were pretty good and the phone makes them smooth by default. Photos shoot at 8 megapixels by default, but you can switch to a 12-megapixel resolution. You also have the option to take selfies with a 32-megapixel resolution. The selfie camera performed well in low light and captured good details. You can also take selfie portraits using the Live Focus mode. With the mask on, the AI did not recognise the face and was unable to blur the background, but without the mask, it did not. This is something Samsung might be able to fix with a small update.
Verdict
With the Samsung Galaxy M51, the Galaxy-M series now comes with a bigger range in terms of price. We are sure that the Galaxy M51 has garnered a lot of attention due to its 7,000mAh battery and it actually delivers a pretty good battery life. The Snapdragon 730G chipset also delivers good performance and will keep people happy at this price.
The cameras are good, but the video stabilization could have been a little better. There is no competitor that comes close to the Galaxy M51 in terms of battery and if your priority is battery life, then the Galaxy M51 is a strong option for you. If you focus more on general performance, then the OnePlus Nord (Review) will be a suitable option.
#Samsung #Galaxy #M51 #Review