India has received the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G, which is billed as the “most premium F-series smartphone” to date. The phone has an elegant and modern appearance, and it conforms to current industry trends with its vegan leather finish. Along with its amazing specs includes a 50MP camera, a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, a Super AMOLED+ display, and 45W rapid charging. Does the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G become a top contender in the sub-30,000 segment because of these features? Read this review to find out.
Verdict
There are striking similarities between the Amazon-exclusive Galaxy M55 (review) and the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G. In contrast, the new F-series phone is more stylish than the M-series and is sold online at Flipkart. The vegan leather back of the F55 is admirable. Furthermore, the phone performs admirably in the majority of areas.
Design and display
The Galaxy F55 5G has an extremely distinctive design. The phone is visually arresting, especially in the Apricot Crush color option, with its bright orange vegan leather back and golden edges that contrast with it. In addition, the back panel has a stitch design that gives it a nice feel in the touch and adds to its luxury appeal. To increase their appeal, the rear cameras are positioned in separate rings that stick out slightly from the frame and are surrounded by golden accents.
The Galaxy F55 5G has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus Infinity-O screen with a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, FHD+ resolution, and an adaptive refresh rate of 120 Hz. It’s not as brilliant as it could be, and it may be difficult to observe under the sun this hot summer, but it still makes for a pleasant indoor viewing experience. Even from an angle, the colors have a strong contrast and are striking and lively. The user interface and compatible apps function effectively with the adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. Furthermore, the device is Widevine L1 certified, so you may watch FHD material from Netflix and other OTT services if you’re a big streamer.
The display should work well for most people, even though I wish it had more peak brightness and a few color customization choices.
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G‘s 50MP primary camera with OIS is its main photographic component. This is combined with a 2MP macro sensor and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The device’s 50MP front camera is located in the punch-hole arrangement above the screen. In well-lit settings, the quality of the 50MP snappers appears to be quite good.
But the supplementary cameras’ performance could be a little better. It can be difficult to get good close-up shots with the 2MP macro sensor because it is only good in well-lit environments. Detail-wise, the 8MP ultrawide lens is likewise lacking. The ultrawide and main lenses also differ noticeably in terms of dynamic range and color fidelity.
The smartphone performs well in low light, but it has the same long exposure problem that we have seen with its renamed Galaxy M55 smartphone thus far. In low light, the phone takes about 8 seconds to shoot pictures. This may occasionally result in results that are a little wobbly even with OIS on the primary camera.
When comparing the Samsung Galaxy M55 5G’s camera capabilities to that of its nearest competitor, the POCO X6 Pro, it does remarkably well. The Samsung smartphone appears to have far more detail in the daytime photo taken with the primary camera (above) than the POCO device. In the latter, the sky is overexposed, and highlights around the shadowy portions are even omitted.
The POCO X6 Pro’s camera performance is not as good as that of the Samsung Galaxy F55. The latter produces images with excessively saturated colors and lackluster details. On the other hand, it may be said that the Galaxy F55 captured information that was more accurate in terms of color and detail. The Samsung product’s dynamic range is still quite good.
Both software and performance
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G boasts a powerful Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 engine under the hood. Up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of user-expandable storage help with this. The device received a 522,931 score on AnTuTu, 953 on Geekbench for single-core testing, and 2,391 for multi-core testing. In the Burnout test, the smartphone‘s performance dropped to 67.8% of its maximum level. Although there are competitors in this market that may provide better artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the Galaxy F55 5G seems like a dependable option if you’re seeking a device for everyday use.
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G comes pre-installed with OneUI 6.1 on top of Android 14. Pre-installed on the device are a variety of apps, some of which are from third parties and are well-known in the Indian app store, like Snapchat and Amazon. After setup, these third-party programs can be removed.
Regarding the user interface, it is quite intuitive and user-friendly. For those who are already a part of the Samsung ecosystem, the phone also includes several customization choices and Samsung’s apps, which can be quite practical and adaptable. Beyond the industry standard of 3+1 years of upgrades, the business promises four years of software and an extra year of security updates.
recharging and battery
With a 5,000mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G has a similar battery life to its rivals. The phone lasted 10 hours and 7 minutes in the PC Mark test. During our 30-minute test, when we played YouTube videos at 50% brightness and loudness, the battery only used 5% of its capacity. This suggests that the phone should have little trouble lasting a full day between charges, giving users access to the screen for about 7-8 hours. Nonetheless, more regular charging might be required for gamers. For example, a 30-minute BGMI session may use up 11% of the battery, which is a considerable amount.
45W rapid charging is supported by the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G, and it takes about an hour to fully charge from 20% to 100%. But you’ll need to buy the charger separately. On the official website, a Samsung PD charger capable of 45W charging is presently available for purchase for Rs 3,499.
Final verdict
In India, the starting retail price of the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G is Rs 26,999. However, the device can be purchased for as little as Rs 24,999 when bank discounts are used. Given its attractive vegan leather design and superior feel, the F55 appears to be an enticing bundle for the price it is asking. In daylight, the phone offers decent performance, a bright display, and decent cameras. Even while the phone is great for casual gaming and day-to-day use, it could have used improved battery optimization.
A few of the options are the Nothing Phone (2a) (review), POCO X6 Pro (review), OnePlus Nord CE4 (review), Vivo V30e (review), and others. Although these smartphones may appear superior in different ways, none of them outperforms Samsung’s software update schedule. Compared to most of its rivals, the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G will last longer thanks to its five software and security updates. Thus, the F55 stands out as a serious competitor in the sub-Rs 30,000 range if you value making a long-term investment in a smartphone, especially for those who are already a part of the Samsung ecosystem.
