Samsung Galaxy A50s review: The new mid-range phone faces tough competition

Brand: Samsung
Product name: Galaxy A50s
Key specs: Exynos 9611 SoC, 4,000mAh battery, 48MP triple camera, 6.4-inch FHD+ display.
Price: ₹19,999 (base model)
Rating: 3.5/5

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After reviving the Galaxy A series this year Samsung has been upgrading the phones with new ‘s’ models. Galaxy A50 also received an upgrade sometime back with the Galaxy A50s with better cameras, processor and a new design as well.

Samsung Galaxy A50s is priced at ₹19,999 for the base model and ₹21,999 for the higher storage one. If we were to compare, the Galaxy A50 is also priced similarly at ₹18,490 and ₹21,490 for both the storage variants.The Galaxy A50s is a good looking one, has good cameras and great display too. But the phone seems quite pricey for the features it offers and the overall performance as well.

Here’s our review of the Samsung Galaxy A50s.

Let’s start with what I like most about the phone – design. Well, not particularly the design but the ‘Prism crush violet’ colour which is so refreshing to see from the sea of blues, golds, and reds. The smartphone has a prism like effect along with a glossy touch for people who don’t mind some shimmer on their phones. If violet isn’t your colour then you can go for the white or black one.

Other than its good looks, the Galaxy A50s is also very slim and handy. It comfortably slides into your pockets and isn’t too tall either. It’s also pretty light to carry around and apt for one-handed use. With a slim factor, the physical buttons are also very thin. But this wasn’t a problem during my experience with the phone.

Galaxy A50s features a 6.4-inch Full HD+ display with an AMOLED panel on top. The display is pretty good and one of the best you’ll get at this price range. Galaxy A50s also offers Always on Display (AOD) so you can enjoy all the AOD features and animations. The smartphone also offers edge lighting which is limited to the area around the notch but it’s still sweet.

Coming to the performance of the phone which didn’t turn out to be as expected. During my usage of the phone, it wasn’t as fast and smooth as expected. There weren’t any lags but the slowness was quite noticeable. And this occurred during regular usage like multitasking, streaming content and gaming as well. Performance is obviously key here and makes a lot of difference since phones priced around ₹10,000 also offer really good performance. The smartphone offers an in-display fingerprint which wasn’t a good experience either. The in-display fingerprint sensor is pretty slow and wouldn’t read the fingerprint quite a lot of times.

One good thing though was that the phone didn’t heat up during prolonged use. Battery life on the Galaxy A50s is pretty good and the phone lasts well for a full day. If you’re extensively using the phone for streaming or gaming, then you’ll definitely need to charge it once.

I was quite impressed with the night mode on Galaxy A50s. Some photos I took in dim lighted indoor areas turned out pretty impressive. Although not perfect, the details are still intact and the additional lighting doesn’t look very artificial either. Daylight shoots were good as expected with the Galaxy A50s’ 48-megapixel triple camera. There’s also an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera along with a 5-megapixel depth sensor.

Verdict

My experience with the Galaxy A50s was a mixed bag. While I liked the design, display and camera to a certain extent, the performance was lacking. In comparison to phones which are priced much lower Galaxy A50s has a lot of room for improvement. One can go for alternatives like the Xiaomi Mi A3 and Redmi Note 7 Pro.