Samsung Galaxy M55 review: Not cutting edge, yet makes a compelling option | Tech Reviews

The Galaxy M55 is a no-frill smartphone in Samsung India’s affordable M-series line. The smartphone’s specifications sheet exhibits mainstream features, but there is more to it than meets the eye. Perhaps even more importantly, it is priced competitively at Rs 26,999 onwards. For the price, the smartphone offers a vivid AMOLED display of a smooth refresh rate, a modest triple-camera system on the rear, a proven Qualcomm chip, and a lasting big-capacity battery with support for fast wired charging. But do these features suffice for a mid-range smartphone? Let us find out:

Design

Perhaps the dullest feature of the Galaxy M55 is its design. The smartphone has a rounded frame design and a curved back panel sporting a matte finish. Made from plastic, both the frame and back panel look generic. As for the usability, however, the matte finish on the back effectively repels fingerprint marks and smudges.

As for the fit-and-finish, it is not up to the mark either. The phone’s back panel exhibits some flexibility, even with light pressure. Additionally, the review unit displayed minor finishing issues, including slight gaps between the back panel and camera modules, which tend to accumulate dirt and necessitate regular cleaning.

Nevertheless, the Galaxy M55 boasts a lightweight build at 180g. Coupled with its rounded frame, it offers an ergonomic design that ensures comfortable handling, even during prolonged usage sessions.

Display and Audio

The Samsung Galaxy M55 sports a 6.7-inch fullHD+ super AMOLED display of a 120Hz refresh rate. The display delivers vibrant visuals with optimal colour accuracy and contrast, ensuring a good viewing experience. Moreover, the display panel boasts decent brightness levels to remain visible even under direct sunlight. Enhancing the visual experience is a 120Hz refresh rate, which facilitates smooth transitions and swift response times.

While the display panel on the Galaxy M55 supports HDR (high dynamic range), it lacks Dolby Vision support. The smartphone does not offer many display setting options but offers a useful one, Easy Mode, which simplifies the home screen layout by enlarging icons and text. Easy Mode also adjusts brightness, and contrast levels, and introduces a slight delay to touch-and-hold actions, reducing the likelihood of accidental touches—a particularly valuable feature for elderly users.

In the audio department, the Samsung Galaxy M55 excels with its stereo speaker system, delivering clear and crisp output. Impressively, the volume levels remain clear even at maximum settings, ensuring sound clarity is maintained throughout.

Camera

The Galaxy M55 features a triple-camera setup on the back, comprising a 50-megapixel main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 2MP macro camera. Despite the primary sensor capturing vibrant colours, detailing tends to suffer, particularly in low-light conditions. This lack of detail extends to the supplementary cameras as well. The 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera produces social-media-friendly images with modest colours and decent white balance, albeit at the expense of clarity to preserve colour vibrancy during processing.

As for the front camera, the 50MP camera sensor sets an example that higher megapixels do not always yield better results. The camera sensor struggles to get even the basic selfie right. It often captures images of low quality and struggles to keep the right colour balance, especially in low light and artificial lighting conditions. Like the rear cameras, the front camera struggles with capturing facial details, though there is minimal image processing, preventing over-softened images.

In terms of video recording, both front and rear cameras support UHD recording at 30 fps, with the option for 60 fps available up to HD resolution. Additionally, a dedicated “Super Steady” mode enhances video stability, although it is limited to HD recording at 30 fps and unavailable for the front camera.

Performance and software

The Galaxy M55 excels in the performance department, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset paired with 12GB of RAM (review unit). Handling everyday tasks effortlessly, the smartphone breezes through multitasking scenarios. It proves more than capable of tackling demanding tasks like high-resolution video recording and playing graphic-intensive games such as Real Racing 3 and EA Sports FC Mobile. Even during prolonged gaming sessions, the Galaxy M55 maintains thermal efficiency, with only slight warmth noticeable.

Software, however, presents a different narrative. Based on OneUI 6.1, the smartphone comes pre-loaded with several apps like Dailyhunt and MapmyIndia. Some Samsung apps, such as MaxVPN, show ads within the application, which can be intrusive. Moreover, these apps inundate the notification panel, detracting from the overall user experience.

Despite these drawbacks, the Android 14-based UI remains user-friendly and offers a plethora of useful features, including Knox security, the Galaxy Health app, and Smart Switch. Samsung has also promised four generations of OS updates for the Galaxy M55 smartphone and that is a plus.

Battery

The Galaxy M55 has a 5,000mAh battery and boasts 45W fast-wired charging capabilities. On mixed usage, the battery lasts for nearly a day and a half before needing a recharge. This usage pattern includes scrolling through social media apps, browsing the web, streaming YouTube videos, and playing casual games.

When the battery does eventually run out of juice, the Galaxy M55 recharges to full capacity in about 50 minutes. However, it is worth noting that users will need to purchase a supported power adapter separately, as Samsung only includes a USB Type-C to Type-C cable in the box.

Verdict

With its good performance and satisfactory battery life, the Samsung Galaxy M55 emerges as a solid option for users who value functionality over aesthetics and build quality. The inclusion of 45W fast charging and a vibrant display further enhances its appeal.

With that said, if your priority lies in a camera-centric smartphone with superior build quality and a premium user experience, you may find other options within Samsung’s lineup or from other brands in the same price range.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz