The Samsung Galaxy A51 is a great mid-range smartphone at a reasonable price. It offers four cameras, a good screen, and impressive battery life.
It’s not quite the premium Galaxy S20 series, but it does feel well put together and looks like a phone that costs far more. That makes it worth a look for those looking for an affordable Android phone without sacrificing too much.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy A51 128gb is a mid-range smartphone with an excellent display, impressive battery life, and a powerful processor. It also has a quad-lens camera system that can take more interesting photos than most single-lens phones from Apple and Google.
The A51’s 48-megapixel primary camera can take solid images with decent detail and excellent dynamic range in good lighting. But those same images look blotchy and washed out in low-light conditions, and the wide-angle lens isn’t as good as it could be.
Its 4K video recording is limited to 30 frames per second and doesn’t offer the same level of stabilization as some of its competitors. So if you want to shoot 4K videos, you’re better off buying a phone that does it better – such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T, which can record footage at 60fps.
Screen
The Samsung Galaxy A51 128 GB’s 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen is a pleasant surprise for a phone at this price. Most phones at this price use LCD screens, but the A51’s OLED display is bright and punchy, with a 1080p resolution.
It also has a fingerprint sensor built into the screen, which Samsung claims are a “new trend.” The scanner works well most of the time — though it can be slow. It’s not quite as fast as a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and is susceptible to moisture.
The A51 is powered by Samsung’s mid-range chipset, the Exynos 9611, and comes with Samsung’s One UI skin on top of Android 10. The As a result, the software feels a little different from other top-end Androids at this price, with transition animations sometimes stuttering and some apps taking longer to load.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy A51 128 GB is one of the better phones in this price range. It has an excellent display, camera, and long battery life.
It’s also a light phone, and it feels good in the hand. Of course, it’s made of plastic but it doesn’t feel cheap or poorly built.
But it’s still a little too slow to be a top-end Android device, and its Mali G72 GPU doesn’t hold up as well in games like PUBG or Fortnite.
This isn’t a big issue for most everyday tasks, but it can be unpleasant when navigating the user interface or opening up apps. Fortunately, Samsung is working on this with a software update, but it’s still worth noting.
Battery
Samsung has always been good at building a svelte phone that feels solid and well-built, and the Galaxy A51 is no exception. It’s made from what Samsung calls “Glasstic,” which sounds chintzier than it is — but it does feel like glass and is more premium-looking than pure plastic phones.
There’s also a decent array of cameras on board with the Galaxy A51, including a primary 48mp sensor that bins down to 12mp images and a handful of other lenses. It’s also got a 32mp front-facing camera and a depth sensor to help with bokeh effects.
While it may look a little dated next to Apple’s iPhone SE 2020 or Google’s Pixel 3a, the A51 is a strong choice for those looking for a cheap Android phone that’s dependable enough to survive a whole day without charging up. However, if you need a smartphone that can handle heavy performance, the iPhone SE 2020 or Google’s Pixel 3a are better options.