Design and display
For their 2023 edition, Samsung traded the Galaxy A54 and A34 places in that the more expensive one actually has the smaller screen, unlike last year. Equipped with a 6.6-inch (Galaxy A34) and 6.4-inch (Galaxy A54) displays, the phones come in "Awesome" Lime, Graphite, Violet, and Silver colors. The Galaxy A34 is slightly taller and wider than the A54, given its larger display, but is a bit lighter, too.
Both phones took after the Galaxy S23 series in terms of design, what with the lack of an ugly camera island and instead having the triple camera kit lenses sticking out of the rear directly, arranged one below the other. At the front, uniform bezels and rounded corners add to the signature 2023 Samsung phone body design impression.Display Measurements:
Thankfully, both phones sport 1080p display resolution and high 120Hz refresh rate despite their low prices, marking a first for Samsung. The screens comes with a Vision Booster that ups the peak brightness and the contrast under direct sunlight so that it is easier to peep into the pixels when out and about outdoors.
The displays are of nearly equal quality when it comes to brightness or color gamut presentation, and out screen tests returned very good numbers and colors charts for their budget class.
Camera
In the name of the S23 line design resemblance, Samsung ditched the pointless depth cameras of their predecessors, and only left the Galaxy A34 and Galaxy A54 with the cameras its owners would actually use - main, ultrawide, and dedicated macro camera shooters.
That being said, the Galaxy A54 has the more capable camera kit with a modern 50MP sensor against a 48 MP main camera with smaller pixels on the A34. Both main cameras sport Samsung's quick Phase Detection autofocus as well as optical image stabilization photos and videos. Galaxy A54 ups the ultrawide ante again with a 12MP sensor against the 8MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture on the Galaxy A34. The 5MP macro cameras with f/2.4 aperture are shared between the handsets.
Galaxy A54 camera samples
There are two big changes coming with images captured on the new A54 5G: colors look more pleasing and images look sharper. The color improvement means that the annoying warm cast on photos from the previous model is now gone and you have a more accurate color reproduction.
In low light, the A54 5G is able to capture brighter photos with more detail in the shadows.
The ultra-wide camera inherits the same changes in color processing and sharpness as the main camera, and those changes are particularly noticeable during the day.
The last but not least area of camera supremacy on the Galaxy A54 part is the selfie shooter which offers the whopping 32MP resolution against a mere 13MP unit on the Galaxy A34. Selfies come out with more pleasing colors and better defined detail, and it feels like a good upgrade over the previous model.
Video recording maxes out at 4K and 30fps, while for the first time on Galaxy A-series phones Samsung offers new editing tools to directly improve the dynamic range of the photos straight from the camera app.
Video quality is a big step up from the previous model with better stabilization in 4K footage and also much more realistic colors, while the last year A53 model captured comically saturated tones that look unrealistic. In low light, the A54 5G captures a lot more light than its predecessor and records brighter footage, plus the older model occasionally struggles with focus.
Galaxy A34 camera samples
The main camera spits out some good images for a phone of this caliber. They are sharp enough, and the dynamic range seems alright. Of course, you get Samsung's typical oversaturated colors and a pinch of extra contrast. Then again, that's perfect, as people buying the Galaxy A34 5G probably want the phone to quickly capture a pleasing photo that's ready to be shown.
The ultra-wide shooter is not as good when it comes to sharpness, and it tends to make the colors even more saturated than the main camera. That being said, it does the job and it works for quick wide-angle snapshots for social media.
The Galaxy A34's camera app also gives you a 2x zoom option, which seems to crop on the main camera's 48MP sensor and produces surprisingly good results.
The 5MP macro camera on the Galaxy A34 has enough image quality for social media purposes, as long as you are not trying to shoot any serious macro photography.
Selfies made with the Galaxy A34 are perfectly fine and so is the Portrait Mode that simulates a blurred-out background. I was left with an especially good impression from the colors that photos taken with the 13MP front-facing camera have.
Performance and software
Samsung's midrange octa-core processors are built on the 5nm process and can power the latest Android 13 with sufficient performance while the user enjoys the newest Samsung One UI 5.1 overlay with plenty of new features to take advantage of. Performance is a mixed bag as the only advantage of the A54 seems to be in the graphics subsystem which scores slightly higher than the A34 kit.The cheapest Galaxy A34 option with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage starts at just 389 €, and there is also a microSD card slot for memory expansion should you not wish to upgrade to the 459 € model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
Performance Benchmarks:
For those who want the better Galaxy A54 specs, Samsung offers the 8GB/128GB model for $459 in the US, while the top 8GB RAM with 256GB storage option is $499 and still offers a microSD slot, too, something not often seen lately.
Battery life and charging
Despite their sub-$500 and sub-$400 starting prices, respectively, Samsung planted large 5,000 mAh batteries into the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy A34. At their 6.4-inch and 6.6-inch display sizes and 1080p resolution, the phones would last more than a day even with heavy usage. The smaller pixel density of the A34 and the slightly weaker GPU result in longer battery life in our video streaming and gaming tests.
Charging the big batteries, however, will be slow as the phones don't offer Samsung's fastest 45W charging, so expect to spend more than two hours at the outlet in order to top up the 5,000 mAh batteries as Samsung only provides its slower 25W charging option with them, and that's if you already have the brick.
Summary
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