With the mid-range market getting even more saturated than ever, we thought it's time to test a phone that will likely sell in massive numbers over the world, the Galaxy A51. It has a restrained yet nice design, Samsung's A51 comes with quadruple rear camera setup, an amoled screen with a centrally located punch-hole selfie camera, as well as a glass-tastick rear back.
The Samsung Galaxy A51 has been selling in Europe from February and the device launched in the USA through April and sells for £330/$400.
Samsung's Galaxy A51 Design And Styling
Samsung introduces an awesome new #GalaxyA51 with an awesome 8GB RAM delivering smooth and efficient performance #AwesomeIsForEveryone pic.twitter.com/UxdnFUIQT7
— Samsung Pakistan (@Samsung_Pak) September 17, 2020
Due to the plasticky back panel, the Galaxy A51 does not feel or look like it is a mid-range device, the plastic does seem forgiving when it's in your grasp because there aren't any sharp edges you can sometimes see with devices with rear panels built from glass.
This design characteristic on the rear panel is nice and this adds a touch of personality to the Galaxy A51. We see that the branding on cheaper handsets can be a touch overdone, the Samsung brand has been modestly used.
You note the centerally located punch-hole camera setup that, is becomes even prominent by what appears to be a metallic ring around it that attracts your attention.
Audio enthusiasts will be pleased that there's an sound connector placed on the lower edge, sitting alongside the Type C port as well as a speaker's chamber.
At the top of the handset there's a single microphone while the right-hand edge has the power switch as well as a loudness adjuster with the SIM tray place on the left side.
It's a tidy if, inoffensive unit that slides in a normal pocket with ease.
How Does The Galaxy A51 Go
This Super AMOLED screen is great as you expect from this company}, the colours appear bright and vibrant with device's viewing angles being a delight. There is very little to complain about although some folks always find something, other than it’s a bit dull (yet it is very legible) even when in direct sunlight and not conducive to viewing, even when you have the brightness at 100%.
And this is where reviewing top of the line smartphones like Oppo's Find X2 Pro and the OnePlus 8 can be not helpful in getting a balanced perspective of a mid-range smartphone like this device.
The 9611 processor isn't able to match the Snapdragon 865 CPU and going from the former to Snapdragon's 865 becomes a sobering experience until you remember that Samsung's A51 is just a mid-range unit and that allowances need to be allowed for.
You see that, the A51 can be laggy upon occasion and I was sometimes left wondering whether the device had registered the touch when attempting to open an app or to use the unit.
Frankly, its a level of lag that I have not experienced in quite some time, even on entry level devices such as Honor's 10 Lite that costs just £145.
And as for the in-display fingerprint scanner, I will just say that Samsung should have rather put it in the rear panel because we had read more a success roughly 50% when attempting to unlock the A51 then having to end up typing the pin code.