Samsung Galaxy A53 5G Price in India
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G It comes in two variants in India. Both variants have 128GB storage. Its 6GB RAM model is priced at Rs 34,499 while the 8GB variant is priced at Rs 35,999. Of the two, the model with more RAM seems to offer more value for money. The phone has been launched in four finishes. These include Light Blue, Awesome Black and Orange. I got its 8GB RAM Light Blue variant for review.
Design of Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G
The design of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is based on the Galaxy A52s 5G and some elements of the recently launched Galaxy S22 series are also seen in it. Overall, the design of the phone looks quite different and fresh. The mid frame of the phone is made of polycarbonate but it is wide and flat on the sides as seen in the Galaxy S22 devices. The rear panel has the design of the Galaxy A52s 5G. It is in a matte finish with polycarbonate. The phone feels very smooth and premium in the hand. Fingerprints or smudges also do not fall easily on it. Its camera module looks integrated into the back panel but it is slightly protruding out. This phone is slightly thicker than the older model. The black outs given for the camera lens look quite attractive.
Like the Galaxy A52s 5G, it also has a 6.5-inch Full HD Plus Super AMOLED display. It is flat and comes with Gorilla Glass 5 scratch protection. The left and right borders of the phone are slim but the phone feels a bit thick at the top and bottom. The display also has a fingerprint scanner. It works as expected and is reliable. I really liked the way Samsung has fitted the earpiece on the display and top frame as it is barely visible. Like the previous model, it has been given IP67 rating for dust and water protection.
Samsung Galaxy A53 Specifications and Software
The Galaxy A53 5G has an Exynos 1280 processor. Samsung used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor of the Galaxy A52s in the Galaxy A73 5G. The Galaxy A53 5G has 5G, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, and the usual satellite navigation system. The handset does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Also, this time it does not have a USB Type C audio adapter in the box. The phone supports dual 5G standby. It comes with a hybrid dual SIM tray in which up to 1TB microSD card is supported.
Talking about the interface, it has Samsung’s One UI 3.1. It is based on Android 12 and gives a great custom Android experience. The theme engine changes the colors of the interface and app icons based on the wallpaper chosen for the home screen. The phone also has a lot of bloatware, including a long list of Samsung apps. Also, there are Microsoft and third-party apps. But you can remove most of these.
Samsung Galaxy A53 performance
Limiting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC to the Galaxy A73 5G did not prove to be a profitable deal for Samsung. The Exynos 1280 SoC runs well in regular use but there was no significant difference in benchmark tests. The Galaxy A53 5G scored 498 points in Geekbench’s single core test and 1,806 points in the multicore test. The phone scored 3,72,582 points on AnTuTu. These scores are around the same as smartphones priced lower than this. This shows that in this price segment the phone is less powerful than its price. If compared, the older Galaxy A52s scored 739 points in the single core test and 2,733 points in the multicore test on Geekbench. In this sense, the older model proves to be more powerful.
Talking about the graphics quality, it only reached medium in Call of Duty: Mobile with the frame rate at ‘Max’. The game was being played on the phone but there were some lags in between the matches. The touch sampling rate of the display also did not impress much. The game ran best in ‘Low’ graphics and ‘Medium’ frame rate settings which is disappointing for a premium smartphone. I also felt heat in the phone after Call of Duty: Mobile gameplay but there was no effect on performance. Asphalt 9: Legends ran smoothly on default settings.
The refresh rate of the display varies between 120Hz and 60Hz. During the testing period, I found that it remained at 120Hz even when browsing webpages, streaming videos on Instagram or YouTube. It only went to 60Hz while using the camera app and playing games. The Super AMOLED display of the phone is quite bright. Its colors are punchy and shines clearly even in direct sunlight. It does not support HDR but content looks good while streaming videos and blacks also appear deep. The sound of the stereo speakers is balanced and quite loud.
Compared to its predecessor, the battery life is better. It has a bigger 5000mAh battery. It lasted 19 hours and 44 minutes in the HD video loop test, which is quite impressive. In normal use, the phone lasts for two full days, which is a good thing. The company does not provide a charger in the box. I installed my own 61W USB PD charger in it. The phone supports 25W charging. It charged from zero to 100 percent in 1 hour 51 minutes, which is not bad but not as fast as its competitors.
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G camera
The cameras of Samsung Galaxy A53 5G are the same as the older model. There is a 64-megapixel main camera at the rear, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. It has a 32-megapixel camera for selfies. The camera app can be customized and many shortcuts are also available in the viewfinder.
Photos taken in daylight were quite good and there was a lot of dynamic range along with details. Like the Galaxy A52s 5G, the colors in the photo were slightly oversaturated and a slight blue tone was also visible. The macro camera is quite useful, the picture detail in it was good. The portrait shots of the selfie camera were also quite crisp and clear, with no lack of detail and dynamic range. Edge detection was also quite good.
While shooting in auto mode in low light, the camera showed good dynamic range but I also noticed some noise. In the night shot mode, the camera took a second longer to capture the shot. The photos were brighter but the details were reduced. The standard night mode also took a few seconds to capture a low-light landscape but the quality was good. Even after turning on the night mode, selfies taken in low light appeared blurred and noisy.
Its ultrawide angle camera takes good shots in daylight but the images look blurry and stretched at the edges. Low-light shots were quite poor in quality and looked soft even in the best quality.
1080p videos shot at 30fps in daylight were quite stable and the dynamic range was also good. The same footage recorded at 60fps was a bit shaky. Videos shot at 4K were the best in detail but lacked stabilization. Low-light videos were quite poor in quality. 1080p videos shot at 30fps in low light appeared blurry and had a shimmering effect. The primary camera struggled to focus at night.
Verdict
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G smartphone has a lot of potential, but it falls short in performance. This is due to its new processor. I think this processor is perfect for the mid-range Galaxy M33 5G (Rs. 18,999) and not for a phone above Rs. 35,000. The daylight performance of the phone is quite good. It is the only phone in this segment that comes with an IP67 rating. Galaxy A52s 5G (Review) It offers better gaming performance, has a headphone jack and comes with a charger in the box. The phone is also cheaper than the new model (Rs 32,499), making it a better option.
Talking about the rivals, iQoo 9 SE (starting at Rs. 33,990) gives it the tough competition. We haven’t reviewed this phone yet but it has a better Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and comes with a 66W charger in the box. Its base variant gets 8GB of RAM. If you want a clean Android experience, then Motorola’s Moto Edge 20 Pro You can see that it comes with Snapdragon 870 SoC and also has a 108-megapixel primary camera.