Samsung Galaxy A50 review

Introduction

The Galaxy A series has become even more diversified this year. Samsung has already introduced the Galaxy A10, A20, A30, A40, A50, A70, and A80 smartphones with the focus being on new AMOLED screens and premium camera skills. And our guest of honor - the Galaxy A50 - has plenty to show of both.

The Galaxy A series has always been comprised of premium midrangers. But Samsung's strategy for it has come through several transformations. From all-metal phones and water-resistant designs, through a couple of odd experiments, and lately - pioneering trendy features like notched AMOLEDs and ultra-wide-angle snappers.

The Galaxy A50 is a well-rounded smartphone packing as many cool specs as possible. Start with the slim design with the gradient paint job, move to 6.4" the Infinity-U Super AMOLED screen with a premium fingerprint scanner underneath, then there is a powerful Exynos chip, and a triple camera on the back. The large battery and the latest Android Pie with the clean One UI are hard to miss, too.

The Galaxy A50 is obviously positioned between the lower-tier of As with HD AMOLEDs and less-impressive snappers, and the higher-tier A70 and A80 with larger screens, more powerful chips, and even more premium snappers. And that's exactly what makes it so special - having the best from both worlds - cool specs on a lower price.

Samsung Galaxy A50 specs

• Body: Gorilla Glass 3 front, plastic frame and back;
• Screen: 6.4" Super AMOLED; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; FullHD+ (1080 x 2340 px)
• Rear cameras: 25 MP, f/1.7, PDAF; 8 MP, f/2.2, (ultrawide); 5 MP, f/2.2, depth sensor
• Video capture: 1080p@30fps
• Front camera: 25 MP, f/2.0, fixed-focus
• Chipset: Exynos 9610 Octa (10nm), octa-core processor (4xCortex-A73 + 4xCortex-A53), Mali-G72MP3 GPU.
• Memory: 4GB of RAM + 64GB storage / 6GB of RAM + 128GB storage; Up to 512GB microSD card support
• OS: Android 9.0 Pie; Samsung One UI on top
• Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Ion; 15W quick charge
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM/ Single-SIM options available; LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS + BDS; Bluetooth 5.0; NFC
• Misc: Single bottom-firing speaker, Under-display fingerprint reader

One notable omission of the 2019 Galaxy A phones is the lack of water-protection. Samsung has changed its mind yet again, and this mid-range lineup won't feature any ingress protection. Giving something and then taking it away isn't the best move for sure, but we, and probably Samsung too, hope to the A50 will have enough of niceties to make up for that.

Unfortunately, our review unit arrived without a retail box and we can't show you any pictures of that. But the A50 should be bundled with a proper cable and a fast charger for sure. Headphones or no headphones, the phone does have a 3.5mm audio port so that you can use your favorite pair either way.