It also sports the more rounded corners of the Galaxy S23 range, which helps the phone stand out from a sea of similar-looking mid-range alternatives, and IP67 dust and water resistance should protect it from most accidents. There’s a USB-C port for charging, but it’s limited to 25W so you miss out on the fastest fast charging. There’s no AC charger in the box, just a USB-C cable. More surprisingly, you miss out on wireless charging completely. The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a decent all-rounder with a hint of a truly premium build thanks to a glass rear and an updated design that brings it pretty close to the flagship Galaxy S23 range. IP67 support, in particular, is notable at this price point. To be honest, it would’ve been pretty decent for the money had Xiaomi not released the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus 5G and its 200MP sensor that truly excels in low light. When it comes to photography, that 50 MP camera figure holds its own, delivering impressive detail even if the colours are a bit over-saturated by default. Outside during the day, photos look vivid but not over-processed, although the sky looks a little too blue and the trees a little too green.

Flip the phone over and you’ll find a 32MP hole-punch selfie camera embedded into the top of the display that’s more than enough for selfies and video calls, but as you might expect, most photography should be left to the rear lenses. Performance

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The Galaxy A54 has most features found on other phone cameras, such as portrait mode, slow-motion and super slow motion, hyper lapse, and more. Battery & Charging

When it comes to entertainment, the screen supports HDR10 and HDR10+, yet HDR works with YouTube but not Netflix (although this might just require Netflix to whitelist this particular handset for HDR streaming). Frustratingly there’s no Dolby Vision, because Samsung insists on going its own way when it comes to HDR formats.In low-light conditions, the results are also respectable but you’re left with a little noise in the shadows. GadgetGuy’s take

The Galaxy A54 also has eye comfort functionality which reduces blue light when reading and using the device. However, you can increase your phone’s storage capacity by inserting a Micro SD card of up to 1 TB. The 6.4-inch AMOLED panel sports an ‘Infinity O’ design that, to you and I, simply means it has a single hole-punch camera cutout in the middle of the display. It’s the easiest way to tell the difference between it and the Galaxy A34 with its ‘Infinity U’ design. The display is dynamic, dropping between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on what you’re doing, though you can also force a 120Hz refresh rate at the expense of battery life. It won’t drop down to a battery-saving 1Hz, but what mid-range phone does?Whatever the reason for this omission — whether it's a technical, logistical, or cost-related issue — or a mere market trend devised to sell wireless earbuds, the fact remains that the Galaxy A54 and A34 don't have a 3.5mm headphone port. Thankfully, they more than make up it through other features and improvements across hardware, software, and design.

New design changes aside, it’s very much business as usual for the Galaxy A54, sporting a power button and volume controls on the right, a USB-C port on the bottom and a combined SIM and microSD card tray. The latter is a nice touch, allowing you to expand storage by up to 1TB if required – I wish it was a feature of the flagship S23 range too. When it comes to software, the phone ships with Samsung’s latest OneUI 5.1 based on Android 13. It’s very much the usual affair with Samsung’s signature UI design and heavy reliance on Samsung-branded apps, but with small new features like the ability to use certain Snapchat filters within the native Camera app thanks to a new partnership between the two companies. Battery life For people who are still using wired headphones, you can still use them with the Galaxy A54 through a 3.5mm to USB-C dongle adaptor. Unfortunately, dongles like these aren’t the most convenient way to use wired headphones since they can be a little buggy. Additionally, you won’t be able to use wired charging while the headphones are taking up the USB-C port. It’s not the optimal way to listen to audio on the Galaxy A54, but it can be a last resort if need be. The selfie cam is 32MP (f/2.2) and Samsung says that it has deep integration with Snapchat, meaning that some of the filters found on that social network are baked into the Galaxy A54 which is a really nice move. Interestingly, when watching certain things on Netflix and Disney Plus, the tone of the image on screen is adapted automatically depending on your surroundings.

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That’s also without using the phone to listen to music and otherwise kill time on the two-hour trip from London to Paris via Eurostar, so I thought I’d put that to the test on the way home. Reader, I was very disappointed. I took the phone off charge at around 10:30am, used it for maps, listening to music and playing a couple of games on the Eurostar and the battery dwindled to just 30% by 3:30pm. Safe to say it didn’t make it until that night without a top-up. The Samsung Galaxy A54 runs the latest Android 13, with Samsung’s One UI 5.1 over the top which isn’t too intrusive.