Samsung's Galaxy F-series was always focused on offering unique features combined with good performance. Having used a lot of Galaxy F-series phones from the brand, it's easy for me to conclude that these smartphones indeed offer a good mix of design and performance, keeping in mind their mid-range pricing. Continuing in the same direction, Samsung recently unveiled its Galaxy F55 5G, bringing some vegan leather goodness to its Galaxy devices. It includes features like an in-display fingerprint reader, 45W fast-charging support, and more. So, is this stylish new mid-ranger all about style? Or does it also back it up with good performance? Let's find out!
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Price in India
Samsung's pricing for its new Galaxy F55 5G seems fitting, given its specifications on paper. The base variant has a price tag of Rs. 26,999 and offers 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
The mid-variant with 8GB RAM + 256GB internal storage is priced at Rs. 29,999, while the top-end option with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage is available at Rs. 32,999. The handset is available in two colour options: Apricot Crush and Raisin Black. I received the top-end variant in the Apricot Crush finish for review.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Design
Samsung has finally joined the bandwagon of smartphone manufacturers that offer a vegan leather finish with its latest offering. And Samsung's adaptation of the vegan leather finish, in my opinion, is one of the best in this segment. The apricot-coloured vegan leather back panel sure stands out with its red stitching running vertically along the edges.
Samsung finally brings vegan leather to its lineup with the Galaxy F55 5G.
This, coupled with the gold-coloured rings around each camera lens, compliments the Apricot Crush colour option. There is one special incident that I would like to mention here. While taking camera samples, a stranger asked about the device and was surprised to hear that it was from Samsung (at this price point). So, it sure does its job of attracting attention.
The leather finish has a soft touch, making it comfortable to hold in hand. It also provides better grip than the usual glass or polycarbonate backs available on other Samsung devices. However, it does require regular cleaning and wet-wiping to maintain its shine, something you don't frequently do with other phones. Also, the protruding camera modules make it wobble on a flat surface.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G offers stereo speakers but no headphone jack.
The matte gold frame with slightly rounded sides is made of polycarbonate. The display is flat and has a fairly narrow bezel. At 180 grams the phone feels fairly light when held, and also quite slim at 7.8 millimetres.
I also liked that the handset has an IP67 rating for dust and water. This means that the smartphone can easily withstand accidental spills and splashes. The rest of the appearance and hand feel eerily resembles to the Galaxy M55 5G. So, one can say that it is a beautified version of the M55.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Specifications and software
SAMSUNG GALAXY F55 5G SPECIFICATIONS
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1
RAM: 8/12GB Storage: 128/ 256GB (expandable to 1TB)
SIM Slots: Hybrid Dual
Connectivity: 5G, BT 5.3, Wi-Fi 6
Battery: 5,000mAh Charging: 45W wired fast charging
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G comes loaded with One UI 6.1, which is based on Android 14. operating system. The latest version of One UI brings stable performance and a smoother overall software experience to this price segment. The animations are now more refined, while the scrolling experience has improved over previous generations.
The user interface brings many customization options, including setting up a Work Profile where you can segregate your work and personal accounts, which is sometimes handy.
You also get the 'Modes and Routines' feature, which allows you to set the phone's settings to match the activity. The Edge Panel makes it easier to access your favourite application by tapping on the edge.
That said, it does come with a fair amount of pre-installed apps like PhonePe, Snapchat, Linkedin, and more. And it is a tedious task to delete the apps manually. The Glance feature is enabled by default, which sometimes can be quite distracting.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Performance
Although the phone uses an older Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, it still delivers some decent performance for daily usage.
Having finally switched to a Qualcomm chipset with the Galaxy F55 5G, the phone scored 5,73,167 in AnTuTu v10, while in Geekbench 6, the phone managed to score 894 and 2,265 in its single and multi-core tests, respectively. For graphics performance, the phone got 112 FPS in GFXBench T-rex, 59 FPS in Manhattan 3.1, and 29 FPS in Car Chase.
The day-to-day performance is quite stable. Whether mindlessly scrolling Reels, watching videos on YouTube, talking to a friend, or using WhatsApp, the phone delivers decent performance for casual users. However, there were instances when I noticed some lag when switching between different applications.
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G brings a Gaming Hub that helps to bring all your games under one umbrella.
The gaming performance of the device is decent enough. Whenever you install a game on this phone, by default, it only shows on the Gaming Hub and not on the app drawer. However, you can go to Gaming Hub > Settings and change it if you want to show it in the app drawer and on the home screen. Playing Asphalt 9: Legends, the gaming experience was smooth as it could easily run on 60 FPS mode with high-quality graphics.
In Call of Duty: Mobile, the phone ran comfortably with the default setting of Very High Graphics and High Frame rate settings. I didn't notice any lag or stutter during this setting. However, there was some lag when I set the Frame rate settings to Max.
The Super AMOLED display is crisp and offers some great viewing angles.
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G is an easy recommendation for its display. The Super AMOLED panel shows vibrant colours with deep blacks. This simply means that you will enjoy watching video content on this device. While streaming Godzilla: Minus One, the colour reproduction was good and dark scenes showed good detail. The device is also Widevine L1 certified, meaning you can stream videos from OTT services at full HD quality.
Moreover, you also have adaptive screen refresh, which switches between 60Hz and 120Hz depending upon the usage. The brightness is sufficient while viewing content outdoors. That said, the output of the stereo speakers could have been more impressive. The sound was loud but lacked details in the highs and mids.
The phone brings a triple-camera setup, which offers some decent performance in daylight.
The phone lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes in the battery loop test. The battery lasted for one full day of heavy usage, which included scrolling news on Discover, watching some YouTube videos, clicking photos, playing Call of Duty: Mobile, checking email at regular intervals, and ending the day by watching one episode of anime. With casual usage, the phone can comfortably deliver almost two days of battery life.
The large battery comes with 45W fast-charging support which is above average for a mid-range Samsung smartphone, but still a bit slow compared to the competition. Sadly, Samsung does not provide the same in the box so you will have to purchase one additionally. After the battery dies out completely, the 45W fast charging comes into play. Since Samsung did not provide a 45W charger in the box, I charged up the device using a 65W GaN charger, which managed to charge the device to 48 percent in 30 minutes and 96 percent in one hour.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Cameras
The camera performance of the Galaxy F55 5G was decent for a mid-range smartphone. The phone packs a triple-camera setup on the rear panel with a 50-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2-megapixel macro shooter.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G daylight camera samples. Top to bottom: 2X digital crop, primary camera, ultra-wide camera. (tap images to expand)
The photos delivered natural colours during the daylight, and sharpness was good enough with the primary sensor. The white balance was slightly off in certain images.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G low-light camera samples. Top: Primary camera, bottom: ultra-wide camera (tap images to expand)
Low light performance was quite average. Although the phone took some decent photos in low-light conditions with Night Mode, it took some time to process them. Moreover, without the dedicated Night mode, the images lose a lot of detail.
The ultra-wide camera performs decently in daylight scenarios. However, you will notice the fish-eye effect at the corners. The details could have been better as the colour tones were slightly different between the primary and ultra-wide cameras. When shooting in low light, the photos were not usable in some scenarios.
The front-facing camera does a decent job of capturing selfies. Photos captured with this camera appeared natural and offered mostly accurate skin tones. The portrait mode also worked decently in daylight. In low light, I noticed some noise when the surrounding lighting wasn't great.
Coming to video performance, the Galaxy F55 features an option of shooting 4K video at 30fps. The optical image stabilisation (OIS) support helps to capture stable videos. The details were good in daylight videos. However, in low light, the output could have been better.
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Verdict
To conclude, the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G mainly offers a premium design. Its slim profile and premium leather finish make it a stylish option at this price point. The IP67 rating is definitely the cherry on the cake. Its Super AMOLED display works well for consuming content. So, if you are looking for a stylish mid-ranger that offers a decent mix of performance and premium design, then the smartphone sure seems to be an interesting choice for a mid-ranger.
However, the phone has plenty of competition at this price point. The Nothing Phone 2a (Review) from Rs. 23,999 offers a unique design, better performance, and better cameras. The Poco F6 (Review) (from Rs. 29,999) offers the latest Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, delivering much better raw and gaming performance, faster 90W charging, and gaming-centric features.
At a starting price of Rs. 29,999, Realme's 12 Pro+ (Review) surely is a better option offering a similar vegan-leather finish, faster 67W charging and an excellent set of cameras (including an OIS 3X telephoto camera) for a mid-ranger.
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