Friends+Design
- Stunning looks, similar rainbow-like effects at the back as the Galaxy A50s when caught against the light, and a prism-like pattern that Samsung calls a “3D prism design” - it's a head-turner no doubt
- While it supports a polycarbonate back, it still manages to look premium
- The front looks stylish and modern too with a single punch-hole in the upper middle of the display
- Compact and light for the display size and battery capacity, at just 172g, and 7.9mm in thickness
- The in-display fingerprint sensor as well as the facial recognition are on the slower side
- The glossy body is prone to picking up fingerprints
Display
- Bright, large 6.5-inches Super AMOLED panel with a full-HD+ resolution - its punchy colours make it a joy to stream content, while games also look great on the panel because of its high colour accuracy
- There's Widevine L1 support by default, which makes streaming content in HD possible
Software
- Comes with Android 10 out of the box - Samsung's One UI 2 is now one of the better, more clean and streamlined Android UIs around, and is well optimised for modern large displays (like this one)
- Samsung has also added some neat features including a Game Booster and an intuitive gesture-based navigation system
- There's still some bloatware pre-installed, including third-party apps and some of Samsung's own apps such as Samsung Shop (though most of them can be uninstalled)
Performance
- Decent performance with the same Exynos 9611 processor as the Galaxy A50s (similar to Qualcomm Snapdragon 660/665) - the experience is fairly smooth throughout with games like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9
- At this price, the performance feels weak - there are cheaper phones that offer much better performance, like the Redmi K20 & the Realme X2
Camera
- Decent quad camera setup at the back - a 48MP primary sensor + 12MP wide-angle camera + 5MP macro camera + 5MP depth sensor
- Under good light, the Galaxy A51's primary camera managed to capture detailed shots with good dynamic range - images are reasonably sharp, noise is also competently removed, colours are generally nice, and the phone strikes a good balance with saturation
- The ultra wide-angle cam is a significant upgrade from the one on the A50s, and it offers improved sharpness and detail - dynamic range is also substantially better, making for an altogether pretty capable ultra-wide camera as far as mid-rangers go
- Macro camera turns out quite good close ups - you can get a lot closer to your subject when using the macro camera and the sensor picks up a fair bit of detail
- Very good portrait mode ("Live focus") - image quality is good and the depth camera helps the Galaxy A51 do a decent job of edge detection
- The front 32MP camera is decent and produces nice colours, the detail is quite good as far as selfie cameras go - portrait selfie mode is decent too
- Decent video recording from both primary and wide cameras with dedicated 'super steady' mode which allows you to shoot decent “action” videos (though stabilisation is not available at 4K)
- Low light photos out of the Galaxy A51 aren't great (from all cameras) - The output is soft and noisy, while the colours are relatively desaturated
- Overall, while the Galaxy A51 offers good cameras, there are certainly better options available, such as the Redmi K20 Pro
Audio
- Decent bottom-firing speaker - sufficient for personal listening
Battery
- Solid, dependent battery life from the 4000 mah battery - will easily manage to get a day and a half's worth of regular use
- Reasonable 15W fast charging - charges 67 percent in an hour (though, not as quick as others in this segment such as the Redmi K20 Pro)
Verdict
- Overall, a decent and likeable smartphone from Samsung - offers a polished experience, a slim and light body, solid battery life, a crisp display, and of course the Samsung brand (though, the performance at this price is a letdown)
- However, as far the value for money goes, the Galaxy A51 is far behind from the competition - there are better options like the Redmi K20 Pro which gets you a flagship-grade processor, an HDR display, more premium materials, and even better cameras - in fact, for a bit less money, you could also get the Redmi K20, which is also very capable
