Last March, Samsung launched two mid-range 5G ready smartphone from their Galaxy A series with the Galaxy A53 5G and the Galaxy A33 5G.
For our review we will be checking the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G to show you its latest features and if it’s definitely worth buying it.
The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is now available in all Samsung stores nationwide and thru its e-commerce stores on Lazada and Shopee. It offers in three variants each with a different price point, the starting price is at Php 22,990 for 6GB/128GB, Php 23,490 for 8GB/128GB, and for the top variant priced at Php 25,490 for 8GB/256GB.
Before we begin, let’s first take a look at the full specs used on the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
Full Specifications
- Colors: Awesome Blue, Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Peach
- Display: 6.5-inch FHD+ SuperAMOLED
- Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels
- Color Depth: 16 Million
- Processor: 2.4GHz 5nm Exynos 1280 Octa-core
- Memory: 8GB RAM
- Storage: 128GB expandable up to 1TB
- Rear Camera: 64MP f1.8+12MP f2.2+5MP f2.4+5MP f2.4
- Front Camera: 32MP f2.2
- Video: 4K, 1080p, 720p
- OS: One UI version 4.1 based on Android 12
- Battery: 5000 mAh
- Connectivity: USB Type-C, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, Wi-Fi Direct, GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, Smart Switch
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Virtual Proximity Sensing
- SIM: Dual-SIM, Nano-SIM, SIM1+ (SIM2 or MicroSD)
- Network: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G
- Weight: 189g
- Dimensions: 159.6 x 74.8 x 8.1mm
Design and Build Quality
Inside the box you’ll have the Galaxy A53 5G unit, quick start guide, USB-C data cable and SIM ejector tool. Missing is a power adapter so probably you need to use your very own or buy a new one.
We have the Awesome Black color for our review with a few more available colors to choose from in white, peach or blue.
The material of the back panel is made of durable plastic with a smooth matte finish all over it keeping away fingerprint smudges. The frame is also made of plastic but has this nice glossy finish.
On the top left corner, you have a quad-camera setup with a LED light housed in a rectangle camera module and a Samsung logo below. There’s a slight protrusion on the camera module which nicely blends into the matte cover panel.
On the right the volume rockers and power/sleep buttons while the left side has nothing on it. You only have a microphone placed on the top.
At the bottom you have the SIM card tray slot, microphone, speaker grille and USB Type-C port. There’s no 3.5mm headphone jack but the USB-C can support wired headphones or you can use a wireless earbuds to listen to your audio
On the front, you have bezels that are slim bounded all around the large screen with the front facing camera having a punch-hole design. It has a Gorilla Glass 5 to protect the display against scratches or drops.
For that piece of mind, the Galaxy A53 5G gets an IP67 rating having that extra level of protection against water up to 1 meter and dust if you’re going to use it during outdoors or in a pool.
Display
As we turn on the display, we get a sharp, very bright and excellent vibrant colors on the screen. The full display measures at 6.5-inches in Full HD+ AMOLED panel.
It has 120Hz refresh rate for that smooth scrolling experience and a resolution of 1080×2400 pixels.
It has a built-in on-screen fingerprint sensor near the bottom center of the screen.
Display settings offer more features such as dark mode, adaptive brightness, eye comfort shield or adjust your refresh rate to the standard 60Hz refresh rate for longer battery life.
Audio on the Galaxy A53 5G is remarkable with good bass, mid-tones and clear vocals. For a spatial experience you can immerse yourself in your favorite content as well as playing your games with Dolby Atmos.
Hardware and Sound Quality
Under the hood, the Galaxy A53 5G is powered by Samsung’s very own latest octa-core processor the new 5nm Exynos 1280 with clock speeds up to 2.4Ghz. Internal storage offers a 128GB capacity expandable up to 1TB, 8GB RAM with virtual RAM plus up to 8GB and Mali-G68 for its GPU.
Here’s our benchmark results on the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
- Geekbench 5 – 731 Single Core / 1865 Multi-Core Score
- PC Mark – 10538 Work 3.0 Performance Score
- 3D Mark Wild Life – 2285 (Average frame rate – fps: 13.70)
- Disk Speed Test – Read 958MB/s and Write 493MB/s
Camera
As we’ve mentioned, the Galaxy A53 5G gets a quad-camera setup with the main camera at 64MP with a wide aperture of f1.8 producing sharp, bright and vibrant colors in good lighting conditions. But during low light conditions you still get very decent shots unlike other mid-range phones out there.
The other three lens comprising the whole camera setup are a 12MP f2.2 ultra-wide lens, 5MP f2.4 depth sensor and a 5MP f2.4 macro lens.
For your selfies, the front facing camera offers a 32MP with an aperture of f2.2. Taking more people in your selfie photos can automatically detect in the camera app changing it into wide selfie mode.
Default shooting modes ready in the camera app are portrait, photo, video and fun mode which is Snapchat’s reality-bending AR lenses to add more fun and stand out on your social media posts.
You still get an array of additional shooting modes like the pro, pro video, single take, night, food, panorama, macro, super slow-mo, slow motion and hyperlapse.
Here are some sample photos and videos on the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
Food shot – Indoor
Ultrawide – Outdoor Sunny Condition
1x Photo mode main camera – Outdoor Sunny Condition
Wide selfie – Outdoor Sunny Condition
Selfie – Outdoor Low Light
Night mode – Outdoor Low Light
Quality of the photos during night shots have a mushy and noise effect
Software and 5G Connectivity
The Galaxy A53 5G runs on Samsung’s One UI version 4.1 based on Android 12 and you get Android software updates up to four years.
It comes with a few pre-installed apps like Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, Microsoft and the usual apps from Google. It has Samsung’s very own proprietary apps such as Samsung Health, Bixby, Smart Things, Samsung Notes, Game Launcher and more.
Some notable features on the latest One UI are the option to choose and change the color palette of your device based from the colors of your wallpaper.
Swiping on the left side of your home screen opens the Google news feed based from your previous entries.
Another essential feature is the edge panel that can quickly access your favorite applications and features.
Typing on the Samsung’s Galaxy keyboard now comes with Grammarly an integrated writing assistant to suggest words or spelling which is quite helpful.
Samsung One UI 4.1 software is pretty solid and smooth with lots of options to customize your phone with other useful tools.
The device is 5G-ready with provisions from other network bands such as 2G, 3G, and 4G.
As for the SIM Card tray, the first slot accepts a standard Nano-SIM card while the second slot at the back is a hybrid one which lets you to choose to insert either a Nano-SIM card or a microSD card.
Security and Battery
Aside from the in-display fingerprint, you also have face recognition and the usual screen lock type either swipe, pattern, pin or password.
To ensure your data are safe it has the Samsung Knox 3.8 version providing an additional security against malware or remote attacks on your device.
The Galaxy A53 5G has a generous 5000 mAh battery upgrade compared to its previous model. Quickly juice up the battery with up to 25W super fast charging feature.
The battery can last the whole day during our test when we used it to binge-watch our favorite series on Netflix, updating our social media, web browsing and playing a few mobile games. If you’re a light user it can probably last for 2 days which Samsung claims.
Using my Note10 Plus 25W charger the phone took us almost 1 hour and 47 minutes to achieve a full charge on it. An initial 30-minute charge from 0% will already give the battery a 32 percent charge.
Some additional battery saving feature can be turned on under the phone settings such as adaptive battery to further extend the battery life of the device based on your usage. Power saving which lets you choose additional limits to save more battery when this is enabled. Protect battery option extending the lifespan of your battery limiting the maximum charge to 85 percent only.
What We Like
- Clean and Elegant Design
- AMOLED Display
- Memory and Storage Capacity
- Decent Camera Quality
- OIS for Video
- Samsung One UI
- 5G-Ready
- 5000mAh Battery
- IP67 Rating
What We Want
- Faster Charging Time
- Reduce Core Temperature During Gameplay
- Power Adapter Included in the Box
Conclusion
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is a nice great all-around device especially if you want to invest on a mid-range phone with 5G-ready on it.
As you can see mostly what we like on the phone outweighs the cons which for us the Galaxy A53 5G is a solid and reliable phone.
The Samsung Galaxy offers a smooth UI, a larger battery that can last over a day, a colorful 120Hz AMOLED screen, decent quad-cameras, powerful internal hardware specs and IP67 rating for added protection.
If the little shortcomings of the phone doesn’t bother you too much then we would recommend you buy the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
