The mid-range mobile segment has become more competitive over the past few years. Today, we find ample mid-range smartphones with similar sounding specs. Though the performance of mid-range phones has improved, manufactures still make compromises to keep them affordable. These compromises could be the design, specifications and sometimes even both.
While most of us hesitate to buy phones from lesser known brands, we cannot deny that even these phones come with some latest features. Many models sport edge-less displays, high-resolution cameras and also decent performing processors. However, the reliability and the quality of these features may raise questions.
If you prefer a prominent brand, then the Samsung A50 could be a right choice for you. This phone has all the specifications and features you would expect from a good mid-range device and that too, with Samsung’s reliability. The A50 appears even more appealing, as it borrows features such as an ultra-wide angle camera, Super AMOLED screen and design elements from Samsung’s flagship Galaxy 10 series.
While Samsung denotes the ‘A’ in the A50 as alpha, with its Rs. 18,990 price tag you can even call it ‘affordable’. But can a premium brand like Samsung offer a great mid-range device without making any compromises?
We reviewed the Samsung A50 to answer this question.
Design and Build
The Samsung A50 comes with a 6.4-inch edge-less display holding a water-drop styled notch at the top. There is less to complain about the notch as it barely interrupts the display and is also quite common across the competition. The phone comes with a uni-body construction design where the front is made of glass while the glossy back is made of plastic. Due to its glossy nature, the back attracts a lot of fingerprints which gets annoying over time. However, Samsung bundles a clear case which keeps the A50 clean and protected.
The Samsung A50 is a nicely constructed device and has no loose ends. The fit and finish of the phone is top-notched and show resemblance to premium Galaxy series phones. Weighing close to 177 grams and with 7.7mm of thickness, the phone is quite lightweight and sleek too. However, the device is slightly taller due to its large screen which makes it harder to use it with one hand.
The A50 comes in three colour options – Black, Blue and White. All three colours get prismatic hues, so they show dynamic shades when seen from different angles. The power button and volume keys are placed towards the right while the left remains clean and only gets a hybrid SIM tray. The bottom of the phone holds a USB Type-C charging port along with a 3.5mm audio jack and a speaker grill.
Features
The Samsung A50 comes with a 6.4-inch IPS Super AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 2340x1080. This Super AMOLED panel is great at producing wide range of colours, especially deep blacks. The content appears crisp from every angle making the A50 a great phone to watch YouTube and Netflix videos. The A50 also supports always-on-screen feature, so you can quickly go through notifications without unlocking the device. Super AMOLED displays consume less energy than a LCD screens, which will help the A50 to yield longer battery life.
The Samsung A50 comes with a triple camera setup just like more expensive A Series phones. The primary lens is a 25MP shooter while the secondary camera is an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens. The third camera comes with a 5MP lens reserved for depth control to get DSLR-like bokeh effect. The A50 also gets a 25MP wide-angle selfie camera. Speaking about the video capabilities, this phone can record full HD videos only at 30fps. This is slightly a bummer, as these days most mid-range smartphones support 4K video recording.
The Samsung A50 runs on the latest Android Pie 9 OS and the interface looks clean with Samsung’s One UI. The One UI interface is far better to use than Samsung’s older interfaces. It has much lesser bloatware and offers better RAM management, battery optimisation and frequent security updates. With the One UI, the A50 also gets Samsung’s Knox security feature, which adds a multi-layer protection to sensitive information and biometrics on your phone.
Samsung has made sure you’ll never feel short of connectivity. The A50 comes with the latest Wi-Fi 802.11 ac along with dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) support. This device also features Bluetooth 5.0 Low-Energy, so you can have multiple devices connected without losing too much of your phone’s battery. The A50 also gets FM radio, a feature many phones are losing these days. Additionally, it has NFC too which is handy to pair NFC-enabled gizmos and to make instant payments.
Performance
The Samsung A50 sports an Exynos 9610 processor and our review unit was a 4GB RAM variant that came along with 64GB of internal storage. There is also a 6GB RAM variant however, it doesn't get additional storage. After our extensive tests, we felt that the device is powerful enough for everyday usage. We were able to run different apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Gmail side-by-side without any stutter. To further test the CPU, we ran the GeekBench 4 benchmarking tool. The A50 managed to obtain a single-core score of 1712 while the multi-core score was 5414. These numbers may feel low in comparison to the competition, but it barely reflects in real-world usage.
The Samsung A50 is equipped with a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. To test the GPU performance, we ran the 3D Mark sling shot tool, which gave us an OpenGL score of 1315 while the Vulcan score was 1316. These scores are not too significant, but they are decent for a mid-range device. Though the A50 is not a gaming oriented phone, it still performs well while gaming. We played PlayerUnknown’s Battleground in high-settings, and the A50 was able to run it without any stutter. However, the device gets warmer after extensive use and feels uncomfortable in hands.
Speaking of the camera, the triple camera setup is capable to capture good quality pictures. The camera takes no time to focus and also instantly adjusts the white balance. We clicked a lot of photos with the A50, and most of them indicate the camera quality is pretty good. Our pictures had great details to them and even the saturation levels were spot-on. The camera definitely performs well in good light conditions, but we were surprised to see that even our indoor shots were crisper. You will find a lot of mid-range phones with triple camera setup, but the A50’s camera definitely gains an edge over them.
Moving on to the battery department, the Samsung A50 sports a 4000mAh battery. The battery is strong enough to last an entire day even under heavy usage. After playing multiple YouTube videos and playing games, we were still left with 35 per cent of charge by end of the day. If you are a moderate user, you can easily expect 8 to 10 hours of screen-on time. This device also comes with a 15W fast charger, so you can fully top-up your A10’s battery just under 30 minutes.
Conclusion
Performance of mid-range devices has improved significantly. The mid-range mobile segment keeps getting better, and it is obvious a lot. After our extensive tests, we can definitely say the Samsung A50 is a solid mid-range device. It is a nicely designed phone with a fast processor, a great screen and cameras that click great pictures. However, we still feel the A50 is not a fully compromise-free phone.
There are some let-downs such as a mono speaker setup and video recording which is limited to 1080p at 30fps. Of course, these compromises are too minimal if you are not a power user. If brand and its reliability has always been your concern, the Samsung A50 is surely a phone you should go for.
