Cutting corners from the Galaxy A54
Hello everyone, so today I’m here with the Samsung Galaxy F54 review. This mid-range phone was unveiled recently and costs RS. 52,499 for the sole 8/256GB variant. Specs-wise, is very similar to the Galaxy A54, which made its debut a couple of months ago. Without further ado, let’s get into the review covering the design, display, performance, optics, and battery life of the Galaxy F54.
Samsung Galaxy F54 Specifications:
- Body: 164.9 x 77.3 x 8.4mm, 199 gm, Plastic back/Glass front, Plastic frames
- Display: 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5
- Resolution: Full HD+ (1080×2400 pixels), 390 PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
- Processor: Exynos 1380 (5nm)
- CPU: Octa-core
– 4x Cortex-A78 (2.4 GHz)
– 4x Cortex-A55 (2.0 GHz)
- GPU: Mali-G68 MP5
- Software & UI: One UI 5.1 based on Android 13
- Rear Camera: Triple
– 108MP main, OIS
– 8MP ultrawide
– 2MP macro - Front Camera: 32MP (hole-punch cutout)
- Audio: Single speaker
- Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Gyro, Light, Proximity
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 6 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.3, GPS / Galileo / Glonass / QZSS, USB Type-C, 4G LTE (VoLTE), 5G
- Battery: 5000mAh with 25W charging
- Price in Nepal: Rs. 52,499 (8/256GB)
- Buy Samsung Galaxy F54 here
What’s inside the Box?
So, like every Samsung phone that has launched in 2023, the Galaxy F54 doesn’t come with a charger inside the box either. This means you need to buy an official 25W-rated Samsung charger separately, which goes for Rs. 2000. Plus, you also don’t get a pre-applied skin protector and a case inside the box, so the unboxing experience is pretty dull here!
Design
Anyway, the first thing you see Samsung has compromised to bring the cost down of the Galaxy F54 is in the design aspect itself. And I believe this is probably the weakest point of the phone. You get an all-plastic build here and a taller form factor, and it doesn’t feel that good in the hands.
It also has this glossy back which, as you can see, catches a lot of fingerprints. On the contrary, the Galaxy A54 is a much better-looking phone with a matte back glass body, a much better weight distribution, and overall a more premium-looking device. The Galaxy A54 also has a range of attractive color options, whereas here, you can either choose this silver color or go with the Dark Blue option.
The Galaxy F54 also lacks any kind of IP rating, while you get an official IP67 dust and water resistance on the A54. So, you can clearly see corners being cut when it comes to the design and build of this phone.
Display
There aren’t any corners cut on the display front though. You get a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen with a Full HD resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, and a fast 120Hz refresh rate – all protected by Gorilla Glass 5.
This panel definitely isn’t as good as Dynamic AMOLED ones that you see on the flagship S23-series, but it is still an excellent one with great light uniformity, perfect contrast, and super accurate color reproduction.
The 120Hz refresh rate is also quite fluid and responsive, with excellent touch responsiveness. Plus, it looks like Samsung has also used an X-axis vibration motor here since it has nice, precise, and detailed tactile feedback. Just like the A54.
As for brightness, It can hit an impressive 800 nits at max auto, making it perfectly usable outdoors. The minimum brightness is also quite low here, so no issues with usage while in bed at night either. This screen also has HDR10+ and L1 Widevine certification, which means watching movies on streaming platforms, especially the ones with HDR playback is going to be a treat.
Audio and Fingerprint Sensor
However, Samsung has not included a stereo speaker here! Just a single speaker which can get pretty loud, but I did miss that depth. And in some scenarios, the audio would get just too sharp with a little annoying treble.
Likewise, you also don’t get an under-display fingerprint scanner as the F54 settles for a more traditional side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which fortunately is located at a convenient spot for operation with the right thumb.
Performance
Now, for performance, we get Samsung’s in-house Exynos 1380 chipset, which you know I am not a big fan of. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of power here for One UI to run smoothly and snappy. There is no hint of stutter under light, everyday tasks. But it’s just that it often underperforms when compared to similar-priced phones like the Poco F5, Moto Edge 40, and the like. Also, compared with the A54, the CPU throttling is higher on the F54.
Gaming
And that’s especially true when you start gaming on this phone! Here, I was only able to get a max of 30 fps in games like Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile. That too at the lowest of settings!
The stability also takes a hit once I try to increase the graphics setting to say Medium on Genshin and HD on PUBG mobile. So, neither are you getting higher fps nor better graphics quality on the Galaxy F54. Lighter and more optimized games like COD and Mech Arena are more stable and can hit 60 fps at higher settings though.
Samsung has also not included any proper cooling solution like a vapor chamber here. So the sustained gaming performance is not good. Plus, the phone gets quite warm if you game for 30-plus minutes. Or you are on mobile data all the time.
On the contrary, the Galaxy A54 has slightly better CPU and GPU stability in the throttling test, as you can see from these graphs.
But overall, if you are not a heavy user and don’t play heavy games at all, the Galaxy F54 should not be a problem. The UI experience here is great, there are no annoying ads or bloatware, and you get a full-fledged One UI 5.1 based on Android 13. And like the A54, Samsung is offering the same 4 years of OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches here too.
Camera
The Galaxy F54 brings a 108MP primary camera with OIS, followed by an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro lens. On the front, you get the same 32MP selfie camera, which weirdly fits inside a bigger hole-punch cutout than on the A54.
Daylight
Anyway, I compared cameras from both these phones and found very little difference between them. The Galaxy A54 is slightly better with highlights and white balance in some situations. Still, most of the time they produce almost identical colors and sharpness. So, overall you will get some really nice shots from the F54 – both during daytime and nighttime.
Portraits
The Galaxy A54 also manages somewhat better portrait shots. As you can see from these images, the A54 has better background colors. But this is something Samsung can improve with an update or two.
Ultrawide
Galaxy A54 also has a slightly better and wider 12MP ultra-wide angle compared to the 8MP on the F54. So I was getting slightly better ultra-wide-angle shots from the A54 with a wider field of view.
Selfies
The selfies are also quite nice on both these phones with good dynamic range and natural detail rendering.
Videos
This phone can also click 4K 30 fps videos from its primary and front cameras. And overall, I like their quality with ample details, consistent dynamic range, and the right amount of white balance and saturation. It also has a wider field of view than that of the A54. But like the A54, Samsung has disabled stabilization at 4K 30 fps or 1080 60 fps. And it only works at 1080 30 fps.
Battery
Okay, lastly, getting into the battery life, Samsung has fitted in a big 6000mAh cell here. And trust me, its endurance is just amazing. I was able to achieve almost 7 hours of screen time every day on my heavy usage pattern. To compare, it is almost 2 hours more than the A54. But the battery life is still not as good as my daily driver S23 Ultra, with around 7.5 hours of screen time.
For charging, it takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes to fully juice up with an official 25W charger. So, maybe Samsung should at least bring 65W or faster charging speeds to phones with such a big battery.
Samsung Galaxy F54 Review: Conclusion
Ok to conclude, I believe this is a decent phone under Rs. 55,000 for a reliable camera. It has an excellent display and great battery life. On top of that, it is guaranteed to get years of software updates.
But by paying just a little bit more, you can get the Galaxy A54 instead. It offers a more premium and nicer-looking design. Also, the IP67 rating, better thermal management, stereo speakers, in-display fingerprint sensor, and the list goes on.
Samsung Galaxy F54 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Beautiful 120Hz AMOLED display
- Capable set of cameras
- Great battery life
- 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates
Cons:
- Plastic Build
- Not so great performance
- No IP rating
- Single Speaker
