Samsung’s midrange A54 is lovely, but users won't feel seen
- Reference: 1689309129
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/07/14/galaxy_a54_5g_hands_on/
- Source link:
There I stand, brush protruding from a gaping jaw, foam flecked about my lips, and Apple logs me in without a moment's pause. It also identifies me in the dark, in broad daylight, and at all hours of variable brightness in between.
Samsung's Galaxy A54, by contrast, struggled to recognize my mug in most conditions. Ablutions defeated it, as did bright sunlight. My home office, lit naturally on one side of my desk and artificially on the other, confused its facial recognition powers completely. Wearing a hoodie gave me the kind of anonymity suggested by the worst clichés of infosec practitioners' preferred apparel.
[1]
I mention this because in most other areas of operation, the experience of using the mid-range A54 is almost indistinguishable from using a premium smartphone – be it Samsung's own Galaxy S range or an iPhone.
[2]
Samsung's Galaxy A54 5G – Click to enlarge
I found the A54 pleasingly zippy, with no discernible lag between operations. Whatever its octo-core CPU beats within – Samsung is cagey about exact innards – the handset kept up with the demands I placed upon it when surfing, mailing, gaming, or Zooming. Data flowed swiftly over Wi-Fi and 5G, and it perhaps picked up more of the latter's signal than some phones I've tried.
The machine was unperturbed by indignities such as being bounced along during bicycle rides on cold foggy mornings, or being stood up in a hot and foggy bathroom to play streamed radio or podcasts.
[3]
[4]
It ended up in the latter location because another of my bad habits is placing phones upside down on a shelf or vanity in the bathroom, so the sound of their speakers bounces off tiles. I find this amplifies phones nicely, so I can listen to streamed audio as I go about my business. A bathroom's surfaces don't noticeably worsen the inevitably unsubtle emissions of a smartphone's tiny speakers and the A54 sounded no better or worse in that mode than any other phone I've recently tried.
I always feel that midrange handsets like the A54 deserve a 3.5mm headphone port, because the kind of price-conscious buyer that considers these models may feel the need to acquire wireless headphones an unwelcome impost. Samsung hasn't included the port in this machine, but can at least point to the presence of a USB-C slot as an option for wired headphones. I found the machine behaved well when linking to non-Samsung Bluetooth buds.
[5]
The handset's 6.4-inch, 1080x2340 Super AMOLED screen distinguishes colors nicely, and never produced notably unpleasant artifacts when streaming video or displaying gaming graphics.
The camera produces slightly cruder output than the Galaxy Ultra. To my eye, details emerge a little less precise and colors veered between a little too pastel and a little too vivid when I shot the same fence and football stadium [6]using the Ultra , even allowing for the advancing seasons and different shots at the footy.
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Samsung's Galaxy A54 5G in the garden – Click to enlarge
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Samsung's Galaxy A54 5G at the football – Click to enlarge
Overall, it's a fine package – other than for those few moments when you gaze at it and aren't sure whether the handset will welcome you by springing to life or challenge you to identify yourself by other means. That uncertainty means that every time I picked up the A54 it reminded me other products offer a better overall experience.
But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook.
And in the developing world, where Samsung's A-series does huge business, the A54 brings a near-premium experience to millions for whom a Galaxy S or iPhone aren't within financial reach. Samsung cleans up in those markets and the A54 won't hurt its prospects in the slightest. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZLEcy9PBNF@b4leqd6TzaAAAAZQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/07/11/supplied_samsung_galaxy_a54_5g_frontpage_art.jpg
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZLEcy9PBNF@b4leqd6TzaAAAAZQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/16/samsung_galaxy_s23_ultra_review/
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/07/11/galaxy_a54_5g_garden.jpg
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/07/11/galaxy_a54_5g_stadium.jpg
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges
This has echoes of "you're holding it wrong".
Sure, there are situations where a fingerprint reader is more convenient than facial recognition, but if it has the latter as a capability then shouldn't it work properly, even if it's not the preferred method?
Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges
>>I think a power button fingerprint reader beats most under screen fingerprint readers (like the A54 has).
Nope definitely not good for me - under screen sensor (or back of the case sensor) for me every time. Bloody work phone keeps switching on in my pocket, in response to my thumbprint, as I am pulling it out to answer a call and then hanging up becasue the phone detects the swipe against my leg as I exctract if from my trouser pocket.
I often leave it off my person in case I drop a call that is actually important, which means I tend to abandon it in random places on site.
Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges
Finger printer reader on the power button - I do not like at all
Firstly, the cases all get in the way - it does work mostly without a case, but I like my cases (current one has been adapted with a v sharp knife, but still more miss than hit)
Second, a power button sensor seems incredibly small area compared to a sensor at the bottom (though not having taken a phone apart, it maybe the sensors are actually identical)
Thiird, if the phone is down on the table and I have to authenticate whatever app/site/breathing of fresh air requires me to authenticate, the finger printer reader being on the side of the phone is a pain as the phone has to be grasped to work. The sensor at the bottom, press your finger on it and off you go.
Finally, fingerprint sensor on the power button is also potentially a reason for a lot of the recent ghost/silent calls to emergency services. I have done it myself until I initially changed the number it dialled to call the other half, and then found how to just disable it.
However, as Samsung have dropped the SD card after the S9, I am limited in what phones I will buy and until now, never really considered how useful the sensor at the bottom of the phone was
"But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"
Um no. If I pay $450 for a bloomin' phone, it had damn well better perform flawlessly. Not costing $1K is not an excuse.
I will overlook flaws if I buy a $150 second-hand phone, not if I buy a >$200 brand new squawker from a store.
Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"
Exactly, $450 is not cheap.
My current phone cost (with 25% VAT) the equivalent of $280. (barely over $220 without VAT)
I won't be convinced that $500+ phones are the norm or reasonable for the vast majority.
Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"
450 Australian dollars is pretty reasonable these days if you ask me - about UKP240, or EUR275.
You're a tech reporter, right
The article says:
"Whatever its octo-core CPU beats within – Samsung is cagey about exact innards"
Yes, but you have the phone on you. You can relatively quickly get it to tell you lots of information about its innards, whether Samsung bothered to post them on the product page or not. For example, I can tell you that it has a Samsung Exynos 1380 (4 A78 and 4 A55) processor and either 6 or 8 GB of LPDDR5 3200 RAM. Knowing this, I can give you [1]Samsung's spec sheet for that chip.
I get it that it's annoying when a manufacturer chooses to leave out the name of the CPU from a spec sheet, which I assume is what you meant by that line, but that doesn't prevent us from finding it out anyway.
[1] https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/processor/mobile-processor/exynos-1380/
Re: You're a tech reporter, right
If Samsung are being cagey about the CPU then it's just official confirmation that it's an Exynos.
Like most, a piece of horrid designer crap with defective screen
A phone must be able to survive the slings and arrows of everyday usage including the drop on concrete from the typical height without - mind it - without additional protection. This means that glass is not an acceptable material for the back panel. Just isn't. And rounded corners are not cool. The day when they learned how to do cut shapes out of the proper rectangular screen, and proceeded doing so instead of re-watching Jurassic Park, is the saddest day in smartphone history. The phone is an information device - a computer. Would you use a monitor with rounder corners? Or a notch? Why should the phone have them - they are screen defects. This screen is defective.
Screen too large ...
Well, no, I like big screens (with proper corners and no notch) ... but I like small phones. The madcap rush to bigger and bigger phones is leaving an increasingly large sector of the market with nowhere to go.
Please Samsung (and others) make a smaller version with a screen of no more than 6" for those of us with normal pockets!
Re: Screen too large ...
Absolutely agree 100%. The Galaxy A3 2017 was amazing - decent phone with a 4.7" screen. My current phone is still the smallest (mid range, reasonable priced) Android I could find (2 years ago) - a Pixel 4a which is 5.8" screen.
Reviews are pretty pointless these days
They served a purpose when there were large differences in build, UI and performance but these days pretty much anything you buy for over €100 from recognisable brand will just work.
Budget phones
Maybe you could review one of those £85 from Argos. A friend got one, which I criticised, but actually for his purposes (casual web browsing and email) it seems ok. Apparently it runs Android Go, and it makes me think I don't need to get premium phones any more.
Duh, comparing apples to oranges
The Samsung phone has got a fingerprint reader. Which is the preferred method to login.
The iPhone does not have a fingerprint reader so they have to use a much better facial recognition method.
A properly setup Android phone will wake up when you pick it up and then unlock when you touch the fingerprint reader. Although I think a power button fingerprint reader beats most under screen fingerprint readers (like the A54 has).
Please standby for my iPhone 15 (or whatever the current iteration is) review where I complain about the lack of a fingerprint reader.