Now that the mid-range segment getting even more saturated than ever before, we believed it was a good time to look at a phone that is selling in huge numbers around the world, the Samsung Galaxy A51. It has a restrained yet nice design, Samsung's A51 comes with quadruple rear camera setup, an AMOLED display and a centrally located punch-hole selfie camera, as well as a glass-tastick rear back.
The Samsung A51 has been selling in Europe since February while the A51 launched in the US through April and sells for £330/$400.
Galaxy A51 Styling
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With its glass-ticky rear panel, the Galaxy A51 doesn't look or feel like it's a mid-range phone, the plastic appears forgiving when it's in the hand in that there are no sharp edges you can sometimes see with handsets with rear panels built from glass.
The subtle design element on the back paneling is good and this gives a touch of personality to the A51. We see the branding on cheaper smartphones is just a bit overdone, the Samsung logo has been modestly located.
You will see the presence of a centrally located punch-hole camera which, is becomes even prominent by what appears to be a metal circle that attracts gaze.
Audio enthusiasts will rejoice that there's an sound connector located on the device's lower edge, with the Type C charging port as well as a speaker.
At the top of the device houses a microphone and on the right edge has the power button as well as a sound adjuster with the SIM tray on the left side.
It's a tidy yet, inoffensive handset that slips into a normal-sized pocket easily.
Performance
The Samsung A51's Super AMOLED screen is good as you have come to expect from Galaxy devices}, the colors are vibrant and the viewing angles are superb. There is not a lot to complain about although some people such as Dorothy Simmons will find something, apart from the device is a little dim (however still legible) when it is in direct sunlight and not suited for viewing, even with the contrast fully on.
This is where roadtesting flagship phones like Oppo's Find X2 Pro the OnePlus 8 can be not helpful in getting a sense of a middle range phone such as the Galaxy A51.
This A51's Exynos 9611 CPU can't match the Snapdragon 865 unit and going from the Exynos 9611 to Snapdragon's 865 is a shock to the system then you realise that the Galaxy A51 is only a middle of the range handset and accommodations should be made.
Make no mistake, the A51 can be laggy upon occasion and I was sometimes left wondering whether the A51 had indeed recognised my touch or not when trying to open an app or use the phone.
Frankly, it is a level of lag that we haven’t experienced in quite some time, even with cheaper handsets like the Honor 10 Lite that costs only £140.
And as for the in-display fingerprint scanner, suffice to say that Samsung should have placed it in the rear panel as I experienced a success roughly half when trying to unlock the phone then ending up entering the pin code in.
