According to Samsung, the Galaxy A51 smartphone is the first smartphone in the series to come with an Infinity-O display and sport a macro camera at Rs 23,999. Apart from these highlight features, many of its specifications are similar to the existing Galaxy A50s, including AMOLED display, processor and design etc. Apart from the Redmi K20 Pro (Rs 24,999) and Redmi K20, no other smartphone competes with the Samsung Galaxy A51 in this price range, which could prove to be an advantage for Samsung.
So, will this new lower mid-range smartphone prove to be better than the current competition? Let’s take a look.
Samsung Galaxy A51 design
Contents
The design of the Samsung Galaxy A51 is quite similar to that of the Galaxy A50s. Its body is made of polycarbonate and weighs just 172g. Along with this, the phone also feels very thin. Its thickness is just 7.9 mm. Fingerprints are easily visible on its glossy back. However, these marks are not much visible on the Prism Black color variant we have. The finish of the back panel is a bit slippery, but thankfully Samsung gives a case cover free in the box of this phone.
The biggest change in the Galaxy A51 compared to the Galaxy A50s is the Infinity-O display, which we are seeing for the first time on a Galaxy A-series phone. Samsung has named the hole-punch display as Infinity-O. In this phone, this hole-punch is placed in the center of the top part of the display like the Galaxy Note 10+. Samsung may not have changed the design of the phone’s body much, but having a hole-punch display definitely gives this phone a premium look, which we appreciate. The Galaxy A51 uses a Super AMOLED panel with full-HD + resolution, which gives punchy colors and good sharpness. Due to thin bezels all around, its display looks great from the front.
The buttons in Galaxy A51 are also fitted in a good place. There is a card tray on the right side, in which two nano-SIM cards and one microSD card can be inserted. At the bottom there is a 3.5mm headphone socket, USB Type-C port and speaker grill. There is a setup of four cameras in the rear of Galaxy A51. The good thing is that its camera bump is not very prominent.
Apart from the phone, the Samsung Galaxy A51 box contains a 15W fast charger, a Type-C cable, a headset, a SIM tray eject pin and a cover.
Samsung Galaxy A51 specifications and software
In Samsung Galaxy A51, the company has given the same Exynos 9611 processor as in the current Galaxy A50s, which in 2020 and at this price, makes the phone feel a bit weak. Galaxy A51 has been launched with 6 GB RAM and 8 GB RAM options. Both variants have 128 GB internal storage. Apart from this, the phone includes dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS, NFC and FM radio etc. All the normal sensors are present in this phone. Widevine L1 certification has also been given in Galaxy A51. This phone supports Samsung Pay, so you can also use it for contactless payments.
Galaxy A51 comes with One UI 2.0 based on Android 10. This new version is similar to the previous version of One UI, which we have used before. However, the company has made some changes in it to improve the user experience. Instead of sending it to themes, this UI now lets the user change the wallpaper directly from the dedicated menu.
Apart from this, the ‘Device Care’ sub-menu has also been redesigned. Battery usage information can now be tracked for the last seven days instead of the last full charge. Now you can also change the lockscreen app icon. Like before, this version still has some bloatware (unwanted apps) pre-installed, including third-party apps and some apps from Samsung, but most of those apps can be easily removed. Samsung has also added some India-specific features in the Galaxy A51. In this, now the user can convert his SMS into a visual card. Apart from this, features like multilingual predictive typing and smart crop are also included.
Samsung Galaxy A51 performance and battery life
The Galaxy A51 feels very similar to the Galaxy A50 in day-to-day use. We really like its thin and lightweight form factor. Navigating its interface is fast, but it doesn’t feel very smooth. We also noticed lag in its system animations at times. Its benchmark performance also doesn’t impress much as per the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 or 665 chipset. Overall, this phone is a bit less for its price.
Biometric authentication works well, but it’s a bit slow. The in-display fingerprint sensor takes a while to authenticate the fingerprint and unlock the phone, and so does the face unlock feature.
Galaxy A51 comes with Dolby Atmos support, but this feature works only when you use headphones. The audio quality of the earphones that come with it gives an average experience. However, this phone gives better audio than some high-grade earphones available in the market. The output of the speaker at the bottom is not high, but it is enough for listening alone. One of the best parts of this phone is its display. The brightness of the display is quite good and the colors look very good in it. Because of this, watching videos on the phone gives a good experience.
The Samsung Galaxy A51 packs a 4,000mAh battery. The battery lasted 14 hours and 55 minutes in our HD video loop test. With regular usage, the phone easily lasted a full day and ended the day with enough battery to last half a day. The phone also supports fast charging. In our testing, we found that the charger can charge the phone up to 67 percent in an hour. It takes just over two hours to fully charge. That’s fast, but it’s a bit slower than other phones in the segment. For instance, the Redmi K20 Pro can charge up to 80 percent in an hour.
Samsung Galaxy A51 camera
Samsung has added an additional 5-megapixel macro sensor on the new Galaxy A51 phone compared to the triple camera setup included on the Galaxy A50s. The other three cameras include a 48-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor.
The camera app in One UI 2.0 has also been improved a bit compared to before. Most of the shooting modes are now grouped together in the “MORE” menu. The good thing is that you can add them to the main viewfinder interface as you like.
The main camera captures photos in 12-megapixel resolution by default, but you can also capture photos in the full 48-megapixel resolution. This option is available in the aspect ratio settings. In good lighting conditions, the Galaxy A51 camera captures well-detailed photos of subjects in the center of the frame, but subjects at the edges usually look a bit blurry and soft.
In low light, the main camera captured photos with good colors. The photos come with plenty of detail and noise (dots) are also less visible in them. There is also a dedicated night mode, but we did not see much difference between the photos taken in this mode and the photos taken in standard mode, because in low light, the app’s scene optimizer automatically sets the camera settings according to low light.
Talking about the wide-angle camera lens, it captures a large area inside the frame, but spherical distortion is seen at its edges. Even after turning on the “Ultra Wide Lens Correction” option in the camera app, we have seen the problem of spherical distortion in many pictures. Apart from this, the pictures taken with this lens in low light are dark and with poor detail. Even the night mode does not show any good effect in the pictures taken with this lens.
The live focus mode blurs the background of the photos. The quality of the photos is good and its depth sensor also does a good job of blurring the edges. Users can set the blur as per their requirement.
The pictures taken from close also turn out well. The camera can focus quickly in good light. The macro camera can capture the subject from very close. The colours in macro shots are good and there is a lot of detail in the pictures.
Galaxy A51 can record videos up to 4K resolution, but it does not include stabilization. Videos are good in good light, but in low light, a lot of grain is seen in the video. If you record videos in 1080 pixels, you will get stable videos, but there is a flickering in the video while moving. This flickering increases further in low light. You can use the ‘Super-Steady’ feature in this camera app, which uses a wide-angle lens for video recording. In this, the video becomes stable, but the detail is greatly deteriorated.
The 32-megapixel camera on the front takes photos at 12-megapixel or 8-megapixel resolution by default. Sometimes selfies are not clear. The camera softens the skin tone a lot. Sometimes this softness increases so much that the selfie looks blurry. In low light, the detail is good, but there is a lack of sharpness.
Other camera modes include Pro, Panorama, Food, Hyperlapse, Super Slow-mo and Slow Motion modes, which have also been seen in previous Samsung phones. Bixby Vision and AR emojis can also be accessed through the camera app. The Galaxy A51 also includes AR Doodle, which we have also seen earlier in the Galaxy S10 series.
Verdict
Samsung has launched the Galaxy A51 at a price slightly higher than the launch price of the Galaxy A50s. For this extra price, the company gives you a fourth rear camera, a more modern-looking hole-punch display and more RAM. Currently, Samsung has launched only the 6GB variant of this phone in India, which is priced at Rs 23,999. The 8GB RAM option is listed on the company’s website, but it is not yet available for purchase.
Power users will be quick to argue that the Redmi K20 Pro with the same RAM and storage options will offer better performance for just Rs 1,000 more than the Galaxy A51 and to a large extent, they won’t be wrong. You get a flagship-grade processor, HDR display, more premium build quality and a better camera setup in the Redmi K20 Pro. If you will be gaming a lot, then yes, the Redmi K20 Pro will be the better choice for you. You can even get the Redmi K20 for a little less money, which is a competent mobile phone.
However, the Galaxy A51 also has some options that some users may like. Despite the high price, this phone will appeal to users who demand a simple and smooth experience. You get the experience of Android 10 in it. Along with this, the phone has a thin and light body, Samsung Pay, good battery life, excellent display and of course the trust of the Samsung brand. We would have liked to see a more powerful processor at this price. Apart from this, its slow biometric sensor and average camera performance also take the phone a step back.
Even the Samsung Galaxy A50s now offers good value at its new starting price (Rs 19,990). However, if you are looking to buy a smartphone that won’t outdate quickly, it would be wise to skip the Galaxy A50s and buy the Galaxy A51.
#Samsung #Galaxy #A51 #Review