Samsung Galaxy M52 5G (ICY Blue, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage) Latest Snapdragon 778G 5G | sAMOLED 120Hz Display

It’s been 2 weeks of extensive use and my output is as follows.

Pros:

Processor: Snapdragon 778G is a last gen flagship processor. I wouldn’t expect a phone at this range to contain a current gen flagship processor anyways. Not to mention, with all the other smartphones in this range being shipped with Snapdragon 695 (video recording support upto 1080p30fps), it’s relieving to have a 778G option (supports 1080p60fps, 2160p30fps).

Camera: Despite being a 64mp, the back camera is quite good at what it does. Other smartphones with 108mp couldn’t hold a candle to it. It’s mostly because of proper software implementation. Samsung’s stock cam app can make the pictures a bit pasty, I’d recommend switching to a gcam. Gcam for this device currently supports night sight, wide angle, portrait, time-lapse, panorama and her video recording.

UI: Due to their decision to go for snapdragon instead of another exynos, there aren’t any observable lags until this point. The ui is quite customisable to a certain extent. Plethora of (mostly unused) features were presented, which is commendable considering most companies wouldn’t bother with any of it.

Display: Hands down, the best display under 25k. SAmoled with 120hz refresh rate makes the display pop in dark mode and improves scrolling experience a lot. Sufficiently high brightness even for outdoor use and extra-dim option provided for night time use.

Battery: Even though 5000mah is standard for this price, the battery lasts atleast one whole day with above moderate use. Feels like the os is truly optimized instead of providing a crappy android with poor optimizations like most other companies do. This affects battery backup a lot and this device truly shines here.

Cons:

Privacy: Every nook and cranny of this device holds a bundle of privacy agreements. It is commendable that they’re willing to put everything upfront instead of hiding it somewhere however, regular user base would almost never read anything, especially if they encounter notices in every single application. Most importantly, a lot of feedback, data usage collection, other monitoring services are switched on by default. It’s as if every swipe and press you make on the device is being logged and sent back to the servers. I’d strongly recommend spending some time to go through everything and turn off such services.

Bloatware: As it is with most devices, this too comes with a lot of bloatware. Some of which can be uninstalled right out of the box, but any samsung application can never be removed. Not to mention, all the samsung apps by default have a lot of access permissions turned on. Some permissions such as data access usage can be turned off. But.. this is a HUGE but, a lot these apps have hard-coded permission access that cannot be turned off by the users. One such example would be notification access. So yeah, you’ll need to get used to seeing unwanted samsung notifications everyday.

Camera access: While this device is feature rich with its ui, it somehow lacks some of the basic android 12 features. One noticeable feature is the camera access control. Microphone access option is provided but, samsung intentionally skipped the camera access option on any device that isn’t unreasonable expensive. Insert *that’s how mafia works* meme.

Permissions: I touched this in the bloatware section but, this needs it’s own section. Every single samsumg app has all permissions ON by default. These permissions cannot be altered in any way. It would just grey out the permission controls for every such app. For a ui that’s pretty user friendly, samsung is ruthless when it comes to enforcing it’s services down user’s throats.

Modding: After so many drawbacks from the software, any sensible person would want a custom rom installed on this device. Sadly, there’s not a single custom rom port for this device. You can root the device (voids knox and warranty) but don’t expect to find any modding support. I purchased this device for its hardware, hoping to modify the software if it doesn’t suit my needs. I’m heavily disappointed to know that there aren’t any available custom roms (I read that its time consuming to circumvent knox at every step during the modifications, so the community moved on).

Charger: The device supports 25W fast charging but, Samsung provides a 15W charger with the box. This is such a weird limitation. If one whishes to buy a 25W charger exclusively from Samsung, their 15W charger would become obsolete. The 15W charger still functions good enough, if you’ve never used a fast charger. It takes around 1.5-2 hours for a 100% charge, which lasts for around a day.

3.5mm jack: Following in the footsteps of the notorious Apple, Samsung has removed the one treat for audiophiles or users who enjoy video content on smartphones. What’s worse is that the device doesn’t support any of the type-C to 3.5mm converters in the market. You’ll need to purchase this converter from Samsung again. Funny enough, the Samsung store doesn’t seem to have any converters in stock. Like the charger, we’ve been intentionally limited to use samsung peripherals that aren’t even available anymore. Good job Samsung!

Durability: Its been advertized to pack a Gorilla glass 5 but, this seems to be the first device to break down in almost every droptest available online. Tempered glass and a sturdy back cover are a must for daily use. At this point, it could turn out to be either an asset or a liability, based on how carefully you handle the device.

Conclusion:

If you’re a day to day user who doesn’t care about any of the software cons that I touched upon, your only limitations would be a lack of 3.5mm jack and low wattage charger. I’d recommend you go for it, as its a far better deal compared to others at this price range.

If you do however agree with any of the cons, I’d re-evaluate purchasing this device. The hardware is great on paper, but the device itself is in Samsung’s hands at every step. You’re only a part-owner, or more like a subscriber.You’ll need to abide by any limitations the company imposes without a say. Not to mention, Samsung and Apple are infamously known to push OTA updates down the lane that makes the older models lag, perform poorly, etc. Without any custom roms, your device is meant to be obsolete around 2-3 years from now.
Even if there are very few custom roms and a little community support, I’d have strongly recommended this device. I’m sure a lot of users would throw the warranty and knox security away simply for better QOL and performance. But as things are looking, considering the fact that its already been an year since this device was first released, I would not recomment going for at as its future looks bleak.

its been few months and my review towards the phone is great. the phone is working good and without any problem, the phone is light and handy, battery life is decent if you are a gamer than you’ll require to charge it at the end of the day otherwise the battery can go up-to 1.5 days without any problem on normal usage. the camera quality on normal condition and natural lights are awesome. no words required for the processor. many people review about the sensor problem but i haven’t faced the same in my unit. overall for 20k the phone works best.