Galaxy A53 5G Review: Samsung's $450 Phone Feels More Expensive Than It Is

Speaker 1: Samsung just launched another new phone, the galaxy, a 53 5g. It costs $450 and comes with a large screen, multiple cameras and a big battery. It has a lot to offer for the price, but there are still some compromises to be aware of. Speaker 1: The galaxy. A 53 is the newest device in Samsung's lineup of lower priced phones. It's a step down [00:00:30] from the galaxy S 22, but it also costs a little more than half the price. The galaxy a 53 was announced shortly after apple debuted the new iPhone se, which is probably no coincidence since they're around the same price. Overall, the galaxy a 53 is pretty solid for a phone that costs less than $500. I appreciate that Samsung is bringing some features from its more expensive phones, like a screen with the high refresh rate and multiple cameras down to its more budget friendly devices too. [00:01:00] Samsung also low were the price by $50 compared to last year's galaxy a 52. And if that's not enough, the galaxy a 53 will get four generations of Android, software updates and five years of security updates, just like the S 22 lineup. Speaker 1: All of these factors make the galaxy a 53 attempting choice, but keep in mind that since this is still one of sun's cheaper phones, there are some things you'll miss out on. There's no telephoto camera. So don't count on taking amazing photos from a distance. [00:01:30] The processor also isn't as snappy as the one in Samsung's more expensive phones and the screen can be hard to see on a sunny day without cranking the brightness to the max. But overall, this phone gets a thumbs up for the sheer amount of features you get for the price. The first thing I noticed about the a 53 was how similar it looked to the more expensive galaxy S 21 F Fe, which cost $700. When it launched both phones have a fairly basic look with the matte finish on the back. They also collect fingerprints smudges pretty [00:02:00] easily. So I'd recommend using a case, but you'll notice that the camera cut out on the galaxy. Speaker 1: A 53 is different from the galaxy S 21 F FES. The galaxy a 53 also has glossy edges that don't look quite as premium as the FES metal edges. And even though the galaxy a 53 has a slightly larger screen, the borders around the display are slightly bigger than the galaxy S 21 F FES, but Samsung still did a good job of making the galaxy a 53 feel a bit [00:02:30] more like it's more expensive phones. The screen occupies most of the front of the phone, similar to Samsung's more premium devices. And there's also an in-screen fingerprint sensor and facial recognition for unlocking the phone. Both of those things make it feel a little more modern than the $429 iPhone se Apple's phone still has an old fashioned design with the fingerprint sensor built into the home button. The galaxy a 53 has a 6.5 inch super Amy lid screen [00:03:00] that makes it larger than the 6.1 inch galaxy S 22, but slightly smaller than the 6.6 inch galaxy S 22. Speaker 1: Plus, it's a great size for those who want a phone that has a big screen, but isn't too difficult to use with one hand. The a 53 can also boost its screens refresh rate up to 100 and hurts, which makes scrolling through menus and home screens feel a little bit smoother. The a 53 S display is colorful and crisp enough for playing video games, reading and watching videos, [00:03:30] but it doesn't look as bright as the screens on Samsung's expensive phones like the galaxy S 22 plus and ultra. I had to keep the brightness all, all the way up to comfortably view the screen in direct sunlight. But again, compromises like this are sure to be expected in a phone that's less than half the price of the galaxy S 22. Plus the galaxy a 53 5g runs on Samsung's X and OS 1280 processor, and comes with a 5,000 million battery. Speaker 1: The processor isn't powerful as [00:04:00] what you get in the galaxy S 22, but the battery is larger than the one in the regular S 22 and S 22. Plus performance is fine for most daily tasks like playing games, checking email, and streaming video, but there is some occasional lag, although it doesn't happen often enough to really feel disruptive. There have a couple of times when the keyboard didn't show up right away in certain apps or when I'd have to press the home button more than once to quit an app. But again, this doesn't happen often. And I only [00:04:30] noticed it really right after we starting the phone battery life seems pretty promising so far. I'm typically able to get through a full day easily, even with the refresh rate set to high. After a full day of use, I still had just over 50% of my battery left the next morning. Speaker 1: Just remember that battery life will always vary depending on how you use your device. In addition to checking an endless stream of notifications throughout the day, I used the galaxy a 53 to take photos for about 30 minutes, turned up the brightness to [00:05:00] its highest setting about 15 minutes played games for about 10 minutes and took a 13 minute phone call. The galaxy a 53 has a 64 megapixel main camera, 12 megapixel ultra wide camera, five megapixel, macro camera, and five megapixel depth camera image. Quality is good for a phone of this price, but not always the best. The was plenty of color in detail. Yet photos taken in sunlight sometimes looked a little washed out compared to images, taken on the iPhone se and galaxy [00:05:30] S 21 Fe. I also thought the S 21 Fe took better portrait mode photos in the galaxy, a 53 5g. Speaker 1: You can tell that the a 53 S photo looks a bit darker in, but it's still a decent overall shot. And there's no telephoto camera either. So as you can tell zoom shots, look a little bit blurry. The galaxy a 53 also has a macro lens for taking detailed closeups. It didn't always focus right away, but it's pretty fun to use when it works [00:06:00] still. I was generally impressed with the versatility of the a 50 threes camera for the price, even though image quality is good instead of great, you get the flexibility to shoot an ultra wide and night mode. The iPhone se doesn't have either of those features, the galaxy a 50 threes camera is capable enough for most everyday use cases. And you get a lot for the price, but I wouldn't say this phone is ideal for photographers, the galaxy, a 53 ships with Android 12, and Samsung's one UI four one software. Speaker 1: [00:06:30] That means you won't have to wait to get the newest features from Samsung and Google. The galaxy S 22 also has the latest software we're right out of the box. And it's great to see Samsung bring this to its more affordable phones too. One UI 4.1 is the latest version of one UI four Samsung's most recent operating system update. It brings more customization options for themes and also more polished widgets among other changes. Samsung's new phone also supports up to one terabyte of expand storage, which is a rare find on today's [00:07:00] phones. There's 128 gigabytes of internal storage too, which is pretty standard for most new devices that also gives it a slight edge over the similarly priced iPhone se, which starts at 64 gigs of space and has no expandable storage. The galaxy a 53 5g has a lot to offer for, for the price. Speaker 1: It has a nice big screen with a built-in fingerprint sensor, a decent camera with several shooting modes and long battery life. But it's worth remembering what you're sacrificing by going for Samsung's cheaper [00:07:30] phone. You might have to deal with the occasional performance hiccup and you won't be able to take a great photos from far away since there's no dedicated zoom lens that said, I think most people shopping in the galaxy, a 53 S price range will be fine with those trade offs. The galaxy a 53 also tells us a lot about what Samsung thinks is most important in a phone for Samsung. It's all about the screen size camera and battery. It's clearly trying to imitate its more expensive phones by bringing features like a near borderless screen [00:08:00] and a multi lens camera to the a 53 apple on the other hand takes a different approach. Apple is more concerned with matching the performance of its more expensive phones since the iPhone se runs on the same chip as the iPhone 13. So what did you think of the galaxy? A 53, let us know in the comments and don't forget to check out the link in the description. We're still testing the galaxy a 53. So check out our written review for more detail. Thanks for watching. And I'll see you next time.