Samsung Galaxy A51 Review!

Carahsoft Technologyrporation
27 followers
33 Video Views·Oct 20, 2022
So Samsung's Galaxy A51 is the latest addition to Samsung's mid-range smartphone lineup,
and obviously has a chance to be your next phone if you're watching this right now.
In this video, we're going to be taking a closer look at what Samsung is offering in
the highly anticipated yet low-costing A51, and find out if it's right for you.
Let's get started.
Starting with price.
At the time of this video, the Galaxy A51 shown here with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage
is around $300 on Amazon, which is a great value for all you get here.
There is also a configuration of this phone with 6GB of RAM, but many retailers here in
the US have been falsely advertising 6GB RAM models and shipping devices with 4GB of RAM
instead.
So definitely keep this in consideration when shopping for this phone.
The Amazon affiliate link in the description will be for the A51, which has 4GB of RAM
and is the model used for this review.
Another interesting discovery I came across is that even though this is a GSM phone, meaning
it shouldn't be compatible for those using Verizon and Sprint, I've been using my Verizon
SIM with this device without any issues at all.
But back to the device itself.
We have a very lightweight, plastic-backed device with colors bouncing all over the place
when put in the right light.
On the right side of the phone, we have our power and volume buttons, while the left side
is buttonless, but houses the SIM card tray near the top of the phone, which can hold
two SIM cards and a microSD card slot for additional storage.
Very nice.
And a Type-C port, headphone jack, and the A51's primary speaker are found on the bottom.
Now the 6.5-inch, 1080p AMOLED display provides an excellent viewing experience with its vibrant
colors and deep blacks, in addition to having plenty of brightness to be seen outside and
in direct sunlight.
We have our peephole front-facing camera here, which might look like a disturbance, but honestly
it is significantly smaller than the one found on the Galaxy Note 10+, and it doesn't really
interfere with anything you are doing.
It has proven to be more helpful than harmful, with incredibly fast facial recognition to
get you into your device very quickly.
With the phone's Race to Wake feature turned on as well, by the time you pick up your device
and look at it, you are already at your home screen and ready to go.
You can also add the in-display fingerprint reader right to the always-on display, which
gets you into your phone just as quick.
Now in terms of quickness and the phone's overall performance, I never had a moment
of major inconvenience or dissatisfaction with the phone in day-to-day use for the past
week when opening and running any of my usual applications, despite this phone not having
the latest and greatest flagship processor.
When side-by-side with my Note 10+, of course things will take an extra millisecond to boot
up and occasionally there will be a small hiccup in an interface here and there, but
But overall, this phone met all of my expectations I had for it in daily use, which consists
of quickly getting into the phone, watching YouTube, playing some games, checking emails,
and browsing the web, texting and calling, and listening to music.
Sadly, the A51 does not have a dual speaker setup, which you may have been hoping for,
but honestly the single bottom-firing speaker was perfectly good for watching hours of YouTube
on end and it gets plenty loud, which is great.
The speaker on top will be used for your phone calls, and all of the calls I made and received
for the past week sounded crystal clear with no issues at all.
But it didn't take long for me to start seeing small pieces of debris getting caught
up in that smaller speaker, so it's definitely something to keep in mind for in the long
term.
Now, heavy usage is no challenge for the A51 with its 4000 mAh battery which will always
get you through your day.
Three hours of watching YouTube only took 20% of the battery, which equals out to potentially
15 hours of YouTube on a single charge, and a half hour of gaming took only 5% of the
battery, meaning there is plenty of room for heavy usage and still having lots of juice
left for your basic tasks.
And fast charging is here on the A51, which will get you back up in the 70% or so range
after an hour of charging, and up to full in about an hour and a half.
Another impressive area of this phone considering its price point is its camera offerings.
On the rear we have a 48 megapixel main camera which takes great shots, a 12 megapixel ultra
wide lens which definitely satisfies the need for capturing more on your photos, a 5 megapixel
depth sensor which does a great job at focusing on your subject and blurring everything else
out, and a 5 megapixel macro lens which allows you to get really close to a subject for detailed
shots.
In video footage, I found I could easily get really close to subjects without any issues
at all, and the cameras will automatically adjust as needed relatively quickly.
And we also have some video stabilization features here, in addition to filming 4K on
the rear and front facing cameras.
Now that front facing camera has a 32 megapixel lens, which takes good selfies in my testing,
and it also features a wider angle option itself to fit someone else in the frame with
you.
We also have our features seen on other Samsungs and flagships on the market, like the auto
recognition of what you are taking a photo of, in addition to recommendations of ways
to make your photos come out better.
We also have the night mode shooting here on the A51, which I've covered extensively
in past videos, which works great.
You can take photos in almost complete darkness, and they will come out looking like the photo
was never taken at night or in the dark.
You will have a much more grainy finish on these pictures, but having a picture is better
than having no picture at all when you want to capture something.
And the cherry on top here is this device coming with One UI 2.0 installed, which features
many quality of life improvements like the fingerprint sensor added to the always-on
display, smoother animations when navigating through your device, my favorite personally
being able to quickly switch over to previously used apps as shown here, and improvements
to many apps you use every day for a more seamless user experience, in addition to some
extra features like focus mode, which can block apps to help you focus on getting some
work done, or to get a much-needed break from your phone.
Something else I really appreciate about the Galaxy A51 is that it comes with everything
you need in the box.
You get a clear case, which you've seen on this phone during this video, and earbuds
are also included, which getting both of these in the box can't be said for many flagship
offerings out there.
The earbuds are extremely low quality, there's no doubt about it, but I always see so many
people using earbuds that come with their phone no matter how expensive or cheap it
was, so I know it is appreciated by consumers regardless of quality.
But if you are looking for something of higher quality, the savings you get from purchasing
this phone over a flagship give you an opportunity to invest in something like the Galaxy Buds,
which of course go along great with a device like this and the Samsung wearables app.
But overall, all things said, I can definitely recommend the Galaxy A51 to anyone out there
as it does all of the things you need a phone to do, and the solid build, excellent display,
great software, good cameras, and a hefty battery to power it all is definitely a worthwhile
investment at $300.
But what are your thoughts on the Galaxy A51?
Let me know in the comments below.
And if you enjoyed this video, then be sure to give it a thumbs up, and please consider
subscribing to the Shane Simons YouTube channel today and hitting that bell icon for notifications.
I hope to see you guys around for the next video.
Thanks so much for watching, take care.
