Samsung Galaxy A55 

This is a Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, it is the most premium-looking mid-ranger right now. Out of the box, you get the SIM ejector, the user manual, USB-C cable, and the smartphone itself.

No charger and no other accessory, of course you know Samsung. The design here is kind of refreshed, well, kind of, and this looks similar to the Galaxy S24 Series this year, same as the Galaxy A35.

Samsung Galaxy A55 Phone Information

	🔲 8GB 🔳 Exynos 1480 📱 6.6 1080×2340 📸 50MP 2160p 🔋 5000mAh ⚡25W
Price in Nigeria	₦620,000
👁️REVIEW	📳SPECS

Samsung Galaxy A55 Price in Nigeria

The price of the Samsung Galaxy A55 in Nigeria starts at ₦620,000. It comes in two variants, the base version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal storage and the other with 256GB internal storage with the same 8GB of RAM.

Redmi Note 13 Pro	Price in Nigeria
Samsung Galaxy A55 8GB RAM + 128GB	₦620,000
Samsung Galaxy A55 8GB RAM + 256GB	₦680,000

Redmi Note 13 Pro Full Specifications

Name	Samsung Galaxy A55
Launch Date	March 11th, 2024
DISPLAY
Type of Screen	AMOLED
Size Of Screen	6.6 inches
Resolution	1080 x 2340
DESIGN
Weight	213g
Dimensions	161.1 x 77.4 x 8.2
Build Material	Gorilla Glass Victus+ front,Gorilla Glass back, aluminum frame.
PLATFORM
Software	Android 14, One UI 6.1
Processor	Exynos 1480
GPU	Xclipse 530
CAMERA
Main	50MP
Ultrawide	12MP
Macro	5MP
Selfie	32MP
Video recording	4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps
MEMORY
RAM	8GB
Internal storage	128GB, 256GB
BATTERY
Capacity	5000 mAh
Type	Li-Ion
OTHERS
Colours	Navy, Lemon, Iceblue, Lilac
SIM
FM Radio	No
3.5mm jack	No

Design & Build

When you compare the Galaxy A55 to last year’s A54, you will notice a couple of things changed. You get the flatter size now with brushed aluminum, more like this device can stand on its own. But as far as the ports and I/O placements, they maintain the same position.

Also, there’s no headphone jack just like we had last year, which has become the norm for Samsung budget devices.

Another thing you notice about the Galaxy A55 is that it’s slightly bigger than the Galaxy A54 because of the introduction of a slightly bigger display, and the speaker grills here have been redesigned. Now, the camera cutouts, both the front and the back here, are larger-looking than what we got from last year.

And if you ask me, this might just be the most premium-looking smartphone around this price point. They still maintain the glass back, which is glossy but does a good job at kind of hiding fingerprints and smudges. Now, you also notice that there is Gorilla Glass Victus here also with IP67 on the A55. This is definitely an upgrade.

Now, there is something I mentioned about the Galaxy A15 and the A25 earlier this year, which is the shape to the right side of the smartphone. This is what I call the wedge-like elevation for the thumb to easily rest on the side of the smartphone and also to give you a better grip of this device.

This isn’t found on the left side of this device, and that’s because the volume and power keys are all placed to the right side of the smartphone. This helps these keys come up, and Samsung calls this the Key Island. This isn’t something you see on the S Series right now, more like a differentiator between those lineups and the A series lineup that’s here. That is another differentiator between the Galaxy A55 and the A54 from last year.

There are about four colors for this smartphone: the Ice Blue, the Navy, the Lilac, and the Lemon, all of which are awesome. Like, they literally have “awesome” in their names. The color I have here is called the Awesome Lilac. The SIM tray on the smartphone is dual but the hybrid type, and this means you can only expand the storage here and use one SIM.

That means one SIM and a memory card on the smartphone or use two SIMs without memory expansion on this device. Now, design is great and something one wouldn’t complain about here.

Samsung has been great with this one. But personally, when you compare it to the predecessor, the A55, I somehow prefer the A55 size because it feels more compact, and that’s because of the slightly curved sides. And yes, I love smaller devices.

Audio & Biometrics

Audio is one aspect I love about this device. Here, the support for Dolby Atmos, it sounds louder than the Galaxy A54 from my test. And not just does it sound louder, it’s also cleaner sounding at the maximum volume. Audio is an improvement from the already good-sounding A54. Also, here’s where the microphone on the Galaxy A55 sounds like. “Hey guys, this is an audio recording on both the Galaxy A54 and the Galaxy A55.”

For biometrics, you get the optical in-display fingerprint scanner, and this isn’t the fastest you’ve seen, especially when compared to the ultrasonic types you get from the S24 Ultra. This is slower and even slower than the side-mounted fingerprint scanners by a fraction of a second. But does it get the job done? Absolutely.

Display

We have a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display on this one that refreshes at 120Hz. So from 6.4 on the A54 to 6.6 on the Galaxy A55. But other aspects are about the same. You still retain the HDR10+ specification. There’s still a Full HD+ resolution, same 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

And because you have a slightly larger screen on the Galaxy A54 this year with the same resolution, you get a slightly smaller pixel density: 390 against 403 PPI. Now, that difference isn’t a lot.

The display, as always, might be top three you’ve seen for the price point, quite bright outdoors at about 1,000 nits. Nothing really changed, same on the predecessor here. Videos are produced excellently, and you get this good contrast ratio. I mean, these are AMOLED displays, so that’s expected.

There’s a punchy output on this display also. Touch response on this display, especially for the Galaxy A55, is quite good. Samsung has always been known to deliver on their displays. Now, is this an improvement from the A54? Not really, except for the slightly bigger panel and also the Gorilla Glass Victus you get from the smartphone against Gorilla Glass 5.

If you want to upgrade from the A54 to the A55 strictly for the sake of a display, there isn’t much new here.

I also feel they could have done better if they introduced LTPO panels so this panel or displays can refresh from 1 to 120Hz so as to save battery, but that isn’t here. And also, just like the A54, the bezels on the Galaxy A55 are a little too much for me. They didn’t touch on reducing the bezels on the smartphone.

Processor, Performance

When it comes to performance, starting with the chipset, it has gone from the Exynos 1380 from this one to the Exynos 1480, which is a new chip on the Galaxy A55.

The Exynos 1480 in itself is an upgrade. It has a higher CPU clock speed, a higher GPU rating done by AMD, and you get the smaller size transistor of 4 nanometers against 5 nanometers.

These all contribute to a faster and better-performing device, and also a more efficient chipset. And this means if you think the processing on the A54 from last year was good, this is actually better.

RAM, Storage, Gaming

This smartphone is the first A series device to come with 8 gigs of RAM at the base memory configuration. You can get your memory, which is the RAM size, from 8 gigs to 12 gigs on the A55, and the storage starts from 128GB up to 256GB of internal storage.

You either use dual SIMs or a single SIM and a MicroSD card for memory expansion. Performance is an improvement on this device. This happens to allow me to easily play my mobile titles like PUBG, Call of Duty, Asphalt 9 with no hassles on the smartphone.

Also, despite longer extended gameplay, this would barely heat up, maybe because Samsung introduced a cooling system on the smartphone. If you want to get to see the benchmark scores, here are the benchmark scores for the Galaxy A55, also compared to the Galaxy A54 from last year just to give you context.

Software, UI

You get Android 14 on the Galaxy A55 and OneUI 6.1, which is really clean. Now, you know the Galaxy A54 came out of the box with Android 13, but that has been upgraded to Android 14.

There’s up to 4 years of software OS generation updates and 5 years of security patches on this one, something that’s quite difficult to come by when in this price range.

I don’t think there’s a lot to complain about when it comes to software and updates on the A55. Samsung has a quite good track record and will keep you updated with this device. One UI has also proven to be one of my favorite Android skins, and I also think that’s true for a lot of people.

Camera Specs

you get a 50-megapixel main sensor, 5 megapixels is what you get for the macro lens, and a 12-megapixel for your ultrawide shots. Just like last year, you do not get a zoom lens, which would have been a nice addition, especially considering this price point. First thing I did notice are the right amount of contrast and dynamic range are applied on the photos taken with this smartphone.

Okay, as with a lot of devices in the mid-range segments, on direct sunlight or good lighting, you get really clear and good photos. I’m kind of surprised that there isn’t a lot of sharpening and oversaturation happening with this device, unlike what I expected from Samsung devices. It feels like Samsung has the right amount of optimization for the photos for this price point.

And when it comes to the ultrawide shots, yes, they are decent, but you shouldn’t expect the main camera level of photos here as it takes a hit. There are also other features you might want to find out or check out on the camera such as the shot suggestion Samsung has included in these devices, which helps in autoframing capture subjects. When you go over to night photos, the pictures are really impressive too, making this not just a camera for daylight shots.

The night photos here or the night mode applies magic to the photos even getting you better shots in low lights that do not totally mess up your photos to look like a blow of light. When it comes to the photos on the A55 front-facing camera, which is a 32-megapixel sensor, these are actually good and really nice.

And when compared to the A54, this is an improvement. You get good skin tones, good color rendition, portraits are really good also with good separation from the backgrounds. Videos can be recorded using the cameras and 4K for both the front and the rear cameras, and the video quality is quite good for what this is. And yes, I also like this one.

Note that there isn’t any form of stabilization at this resolution. In low lights though, you can see that the video struggles to maintain focus and you can definitely see the grain too. This isn’t a low light video camera.

Now, this is a front-facing camera video test and comparison between the Galaxy A54 and a Samsung Galaxy A55. Um, they look somewhat similar. They have the same sensors on here. Let me know what you think about the audio and also the videos from the smartphones.

I love the color reproduction on the A55 but this is quite similar to what we get on the A54 here. Let me know what you think about the exposure handling. Let me turn to the sun, go back, the sun. Then let me know what you think about these two smartphones in the comment section below.

I’d love to hear from you guys. For the cameras, I think this is quite nice, and if I really need to make an improvement on this one, maybe a slight zoom lens, stabilization of 4K, and just maybe a slightly better ultrawide camera. But that’s like on a flagship device for this price point.

Battery Life & Charging

The A54 comes with a 5,000 mAh battery which would easily outlast an average day of use. Now, that’s the same as the A54 from last year. For me, I’ve consistently gotten between 6 to 8 hours of screen time, all thanks to the power-efficient chipsets used here.

But as you know, you do not get a charger out of the box and there’s only support for 25W fast charging, which isn’t the fastest we’ve seen for around this price point. And this smartphone charges from 0 to 100 in about 90 minutes. So nothing really changed about the battery life when compared to the Galaxy A54.

The Redmi Note 13 Pro Plus 5G does about 120 watts here. There’s also no wireless charging or reverse wireless charging on the smartphone, features you get from a $200 Infinix smartphone, the Infinix Note 40, or even wireless charging you get from, say, the Google Pixel 7A and the Galaxy S23 FE. Well, do you think I’m overreaching with those asks for the price points at which you get the Galaxy A55? Let me know in the comment section.

Conclusion

For a mid-range smartphone, I think this offers an all-round complete package. Might not be the absolute best at everything, but the Galaxy A55 has a balance of the major things you need on the device.

So for those of you who need a new smartphone and want a device that’s premium looking and feeling for those price points and you’re a Samsung fan, I think this is a great option.