The new A-series by Samsung is now officially launched in Malaysia and has started shipping to eager customers from 26th March onwards. We were lucky enough to get our hands on an “Awesome Blue” Samsung Galaxy A52 for review. Seeing how the 2020 A series (A31, A51 and A71) competed aggressively with many other mid-tier brands and models, the newer A series will prove to be a tough nut to beat by other competitors.
Going with their same White-coloured box theme also this year, there isn’t any particular quirky details about the packaging of the A52, aside from their choice of phone colours which are “Awesome Black”, “Awesome Violet”, “Awesome White” and our review unit, the “Awesome Blue”. Seeing how many high-end phones in 2021 were all ditching their power bricks to save cost and minimizing package sizes to reduce environmental impact, Samsung was generous enough to include a power brick in this package, coupled with a USB-A to USB-C cable capable of 15W Adaptive Fast Charging. Battery capacity has been bumped up from last years model, now coming in at 4500 mAh, with an advertised battery life of 2 days for normal users. Aside from the sim tool, pamphlets of users guides and the phone itself, that’s it for the box contents.
The back of the A52 now sports a matt finish, to the joy of many people who cringe on seeing fingerprints and smudges on glass backs. The unit also comes with a screen protector out of the box, which is welcomed and a plus in my book. For a phone with a 6.5” screen size, the grip and feel of the phone is much more pleasing compared to some of its bigger brothers, though it pales in comparison quality-wise, definitely fitting given its price range.
Samsung has also embraced the era of huge camera bumps, and the latest A-series joins in this race of vertical slatting camera bump. The camera bump is less likely to intrude as compared to other models that sport an even bigger bump. Sporting a quad-camera set up, the A52 shares a similar camera set-up as last years model, now with an improved main camera.
With a slight bump in debut price compared to the A51 of last year, this year’s model comes with an IP67 water and dust resistant certification, able to withstand being submerged in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. Users now can rest easy if any carelessness were to take place during this rainy season. Stereo speakers have also crept into the A-series, giving the devices an awesome bump up in audio quality and a much better media consumption experience. Coupled with the Dolby Atmos technology, the audio will suit the type of media the user is currently on and output the best sound experience thus far on a mid-range Samsung model.
Greeting us upfront is a 6.5-inch Full HD+ Infinity-O Super AMOLED display, housing a front-firing speaker at the very top, followed by an “O” notch front-facing 32MP f/2.2 wide-angle selfie camera. After the rollout of Samsung’s OneUI 3.0, AMOLED devices now come with the Eye Comfort Shield technology, dimming and adjusting the screens colour temperature based on external ambient lighting. The display’s prowess does not stop there, the A52’s display now supports a higher refresh rate of 90Hz that is absolutely pleasing to the eye and makes the phone’s UI experience feel more fluid and high-tier like.
The new A52 is looking very promising at first glance, given its tier and price range. Could it mean trouble for the other mid-tier phones in the same price range? Find out in the full review of the device that will be up soon, as we test the capabilities of the device and see how it fairs after about a week of hands-on tests. Stay tuned!
