Samsung Galaxy A54

Design and build: The Galaxy a54 is part of Samsung's new generation of Premium A series mid-rangers it sticks to a pretty familiar formula but also brings upgrades in a more powerful chipset and a new primary camera when it comes to looks the Galaxy a54 won't shock anyone it seems like Samsung is going for the same aesthetic across the board this year with a flat back and individual rings for each camera here the back finish is glossy though and attracts fingerprints the frame is plastic with a satin finish one thing Samsung's a series mid-rangers are known for is waterproofing and we're glad to see an IP67 rating on the a54 as well Screen specs and features: on the front of the phone is a 6.4 inch Super AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution and a 120hz refresh rate it's slightly smaller than last year's 6.5 inch display but the aspect ratio is marginally wider too Samsung made an improvement when it comes to brightness we measured a maximum of 460 nits with the manual slider and this boosts all the way up to 980 nits in auto mode when in bright Sun the a54 also has Samsung's Vision booster feature which shifts to tone mapping and colors based on ambient light to improve visibility this AMOLED display looks great as expected it's sharp with deep blacks their support for HDR 10 plus and the color accuracy here can be excellent depending on the color settings you choose the refresh rate behavior on the a54 is pretty standard you get that smooth 120 hertz when swiping around and that can dial down to 60 when idling to save energy Stereo speakers test: for audio the galaxy a54 has a pair of stereo speakers the loudness here is good and the sound quality is nice with good sounding vocals and treble and some low end too you can wake up and unlock the phone Under-display fingerprint scanner: with an under display Optical fingerprint reader and the a54 comes with 128 or 256 gigs Storage options: of storage on board and that is expandable through microSD Android 13 and UI: the interface of the Galaxy a54 is Samsung's latest one UI 5.1 running on top of Android 13. it's more customizable than previous versions of one UI and also brings behind-the-scenes optimizations we have a dedicated video about when ui5 if you'd like to learn more about its specific features Exynos 1380 performance: under the hood of the Galaxy a54 is one of its most significant upgrades a new Exynos 1380 chipset it has a more powerful CPU and GPU than the Exynos 1280 we had in last year's Galaxy a53 in benchmarks the performance is quite solid it's better than last year's model and actually more akin to what we saw in the model before that the Galaxy a52s with a Snapdragon 778g when it comes to Thermal management though the a54 left more to be desired at least when it came to our CPU stress test where the stability is a bit Rocky the galaxy a54 has a 5 000 million power Battery endurance and charging test: battery just like last year it does better on screen on tests though and was able to earn an excellent overall endurance rating of 119 hours the a54 is rated for 25 watt charging and the charger doesn't come in the box with a proper Samsung adapter we were able to charge the phone from 0 to 56 percent in half an hour Camera specs: now we're on to the cameras the Galaxy a54 loses a depth sensor but brings a new 50 megapixel main cam so overall we have that main camera a 12 megapixel Ultra wide and a 5 megapixel macro cam Daylight photo quality: during the day the main cam captures excellent photos they're expressive with vibrant colors accurate white balance high contrast and wide dynamic range the detail is great too and is rendered with a reasonable level sharpening portrait mode shots for the main cam are good the subject separation is competent an HDR is there for you in difficult lighting the ultrawide cameras photos are nice the colors are fairly consistent with the main cameras and you get good contrast and a decent level of detail close-up photos from the macrocam are okay there's enough detail and the colors are accurate Low-light photo quality: if you're shooting with the main cam at night the Galaxy a54 will automatically apply night mode processing to the photos this appears to happen even if the night mode symbol doesn't show up on the viewfinder the photos have well-balanced exposures and nicely wide dynamic range with well-developed tonal extremes the detail level is excellent too the white balance is generally accurate though it can be a bit off at times the ultrawide cam is just so so in low light the detail level is decent and so is the dynamic range but the colors are washed out you don't get Auto night mode processing here and the dedicated night mode brightens up the Shadows but for the overall quality doesn't do a whole lot Selfies the a54 is a 32 megapixel front-facing cam produces 12 megapixel selfies due to pixel vinning they're excellent with great detail rendered in a very natural way colors are accurate and the dynamic range is very good Daylight video quality: the Galaxy a54 can record video in up to 4K at 30fps with both of its rear cameras the quality from the main cam is excellent there's plenty of detail with natural rendition great contrast and very good dynamic range the colors look good and there's no noise the ultra wide footage isn't quite as good there's a decent level of detail but it looks heavily processed there's also heavy vignetting the dynamic range and colors are all right electronic stabilization is only supported in 1080P resolution it's very proficient at smoothing things out though in low light conditions the a54's main Low-light video quality: cam can produce good detail in areas of moderate lighting but highlights tend to be very harsh and colors are a little washed out so that's the Samsung Galaxy a54 it's an Conclusion all-around excellent mid-ranger the display battery life and camera quality are all great and of course you get IP rated Ingress Protection compared to other mid-rangers you don't get super fast charging here and while the chipset is a nice upgrade over the previous model it doesn't blow anyone away still the Galaxy a54 is a really well-rounded device that's worth recommending thanks for watching guys if you'd like

Poco F5

Design and build quality The Poco F5 isn't exactly brand new it's a rebranded version of Xiaomi's redmi note 12 turbo which was released in Asia but at least for the Poco family it's a fresh phase compared to the previous Poco F4 you get an upgraded chipset and a larger battery plus the new model is noticeably lighter at just 181 grams we have the phone in a wide gradient finish which has an interesting bluish pattern underneath both the back and the frame are made of plastic and the phone is overall quite comfy to hold it would be hard to mix up the Poco F5 with the F5 Pro the design is quite different including the arrangement of the cameras that's a bit funny because the cameras are exactly the same on the non-pro and the pro model both models also have ip53 rated Ingress Protection as is typical for Xiaomi mid-rangers these days. Display quality test The display of the Poco F5 is a 6.67 inch AMOLED with a 120hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection it's basically the same panel as on its predecessor of the Poco F4 that doesn't mean it's bad though far from it the display is contrasty and color accurate and the support for HDR 10 plus video Adobe vision and 12-bit color depth the display is also quite bright we measured a maximum of 470 units with the manual brightness slider which can boost up to 960 nits in auto mode and the smooth 120hz refresh rate can dial down automatically to 60 hertz when idling or playing certain content or apps for audio the vanilla Poco F5 has a traditional headphone jack unlike the Speaker quality test pro model  and there's a pair of stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support they have very good loudness and highs and vocals sound clean but the bass is lacking your nightmare Side-mounted fingerprint scanner & Storage options you can wake up and unlock the Poco F5 with a side mounted fingerprint reader built into the power button and the phone comes with 256 gigs of storage on board and that isn't expandable through microSD MIUI 14, Android 13 the Poco F5 runs the latest xiaomi user interface MIUI 14 on top of Android 13. it's the Poco-flavored version though meaning a few small differences from most Xiaomi phones like an always-on App Drawer you can check out our dedicated video if you'd like to dive further into the specifics of MIUI 14. Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 one of the more unique features of the Poco F5 is that it brings a new chipset it's a Snapdragon 7 plus Gen 2 built upon a 4 nanometer process it's the first time we've encountered it in person and it's very different from the previous Snapdragon 7 gen 1. overall the performance here is quite impressive the Poco F5 blows all Challengers away in the mid-range Market at least those running on less than Flagship tier silicon there's plenty of power here for your multitasking and gaming needs Thermal management the Poco f5's thermal management that was a little underwhelming considering its Advanced passive cooling system the performance throttled down during our prolonged stress test and not in the smoothest way either Battery life and charging speed test the Poco F5 has a larger 5000 milliamp-hour battery compared to 4 500 in the previous model as you'd expect the battery life is better here with the Poco F5 earning an endurance rating of 118 hours in our tests the Poco F5 also supports 67 watt fast charging and it is fast able to charge the phone from 0 to 83 percent in half an hour Cameras like I mentioned earlier the Poco F5 has the same camera setup as the pro a 64 megapixel main Cam and 8 megapixel Ultra wide and a 2 megapixel macro camera Main camera overall the main cam shows a nice improvement over the previous model maybe thanks to better processing with the new chipset during the day these 16 megapixel photos have a great level of detail good sharpness and wide dynamic range the colors are vibrant and maybe just a little over the top when it comes to the Green Grass and foliage if there's plenty of light portrait mode shots come out good with plenty of detail and true to life colors the separation from the Blurred background can be a bit off in complex scenes though after dark the Poco f5's main cam still doesn't disappoint there's impressive sharpness and plenty of fine detail the colors are on point and the dynamic range is more than adequate still you may see clipped highlights in some scenes night mode photos look great at first glance but look closely and you'll see that xiaomi went overboard with the sharpening and noise suppression here at least the highlights are restored and the images brightened up a bit the main cam can record video and up to 4K resolution at 30fps it's very nice with vibrant colors good dynamic range and adequate contrast the electronic stabilization does a good job as well Ultrawide camera now let's talk about the ultra wide cam it's able to provide decent results in good lighting conditions detail and sharpness although on impressive are okay dynamic range is also alright and we like the colors and contrast at night though the ultrawide photos are dark and leave a lot to be desired with night mode on the highlights get restored but the photos overall look rather blurry for videos the ultra wide cam can record in 1080P resolution these clips have decent colors and contrast but they're lacking in sharpness detail and dynamic range Macro camera don't forget about the 2 megapixel macro camera actually there's not much to get excited about here and selfies come from the 16 megapixel front-facing cam there's plenty of detail in these shots and the sharpness isn't too bad but colors seem a bit lifeless and all of the samples look grainy Conclusion so that's the Poco F5 it's quite a solid mid-range all around with a chart topping chipset nice speakers and display good battery life and fast charging the camera performance is also pretty good for the class you can find mid-rangers for cheaper but for this price tier the Poco F5 has plenty to offer and it's definitely worth recommending.

Samsung galaxy A24

Design but it manages to stand out from the crowd with quite a few enticing features Samsung has switched from LCD to AMOLED this time around and increased the base storage they've also improved the battery life and you get an up-to-date Samsung software package the a24 isn't a waterproof phone though like the more expensive models and you don't get 5G support here or stereo speakers the design here is a bit different from last year's a23 4G the plastic back panel is again flat and glossy but instead of a camera Island there are individual black circles for each camera also the back doesn't taper into the rounded plastic frame there's a Sharper Edge here like I mentioned the Display display has been revamped it's a 6.5 inch AMOLED with a 1080p resolution and a 90 Hertz refresh rate because of the AMOLED Tech content is even more contrast than on LCD panels with deep blacks there's no HDR support here but the colors are accurate without a bluish tinge like what we experienced on the previous model and this time around you actually get color settings to further tweak them with Max brightness is also Head and Shoulders above what we experienced on the a23 on the a24 we measured a maximum of 460 nits with a manual slider and this can boost to over a thousand nits in auto mode when you need it the refresh rate handling is a step Audio backwards though you get 90 Hertz to smooth out your swiping and scrolling but it isn't adaptive on the a24 and won't dial down when idling to save energy for audio the galaxy a24 has a headphone jack and a single bottom firing speaker its loudness is just average and the sound quality is unimpressive you can listen for yourself with a provided link and compare to other devices too you can wake up and unlock the Galaxy a24 with a responsive side mounted fingerprint reader built into the power button and the phone comes with 128 gigs of Software storage on board and is expandable on top of that through micro SD one of the main reasons to get a budget Samsung phone over some competitors is that you get Samsung software suite it's one UI 5.1 based on Android 13. like you'd get on the flagships there are a handful of features missing that you'd find on the more expensive models like Samsung Dex but still you get almost everything here to find out more about the specific features of one UI 5.1 you can check out our dedicated video Performance the chipset of the Galaxy a24 is a MediaTek helio g99 it's no chart-topper but it's meant to provide decent performance for the money in benchmarks it does a decent job even outperforming last year's Galaxy a23 4G still the level here isn't enough to play Heavy games smoothly and you may encounter some longer loading times here and there at least the thermal management is excellent as you'd expect with such a processor just like last year the Galaxy a24 packs Battery a 5 000 milliamp-hour battery the battery life is even better this time around though with the a24 earning an excellent endurance rating of 141 hours in our tests the phone supports 25 watt charging which you don't get a charger in the box with a proper Samsung adapter we were able to charge from 0 to 46 percent in half an hour Cameras finally let's talk about the cameras like last year the a24 has a 50 megapixel main cap a 5 megapixel Ultra wide camera and a 2 megapixel macro cam no depth sensor this time around though the main camera saves 12.5 megapixel photos by default due to pixel binning these daylight shots look pretty good with low noise great contrast vibrant colors and wide enough dynamic range there is sufficient detail and in general the rendition is nice without heavy over sharpening there's no depth sensor but the performance in portrait mode is still good with decent subject separation in low light the main Cam's photos are well exposed with good contrast and likable saturated colors the detail level is subpar though and the dynamic range is rather narrow if you enable the night mode you get brighter photos that have wider dynamic range and fewer blown highlights the amount of detail is still uninspiring but these photos are usable the Galaxy a24's video capture maxes out a 1080p resolution these videos from the main camera are decent the detail is okay noise is low colors are true to life and the dynamic range is good we are not fans of how unnatural the foliage looks but all other subjects look fine the electronic stabilization works great here too now onto the ultra wide camera its 5 megapixel photos are rather poor they're over sharpened with mediocre detail and a bluish tinge as expected the ultra wide's low light photos are poor as well they're often too dark to see what's on them there's no support for night mode here either the 1080p videos from the ultrawide camera are alright with an acceptable level of detail the colors are cooler than they should be though 2 megapixel close-ups from the macro cam are unimpressive the colors and dynamic range are okay but you can't expect much detail at this resolution we did like the Selfies though from the new 13 megapixel front-facing cam they're great with plenty of detail and a balanced rendition the colors are accurate and there's a wide dynamic range so that's the Samsung Galaxy a24.

OnePlus Nord N30 5G

Design and build The Nord n35g is a Rebrand of Oneplus's Nord ce3 Lite which was released in European and Asian markets, in contrast, this one is mainly meant for the US market unlike the more premium OnePlus models which are more like flagships this one is more of a middle of the road mid-ranger the back of the phone is made of plastic and it has a glossy finish that easily attracts fingerprints the frame is made of plastic as well but overall the phone feels solid and well made you are missing a couple of things here compared to more expensive OnePlus models you don't get the signature OnePlus alert slider and there's also no Ingress Protection. Screen specs and features The display of the phone is a 6.72 inch LCD with a 1080p resolution and a 120-hertz refresh rate this panel is sharp enough but you miss out on those deep blacks which you typically get on an OLED display there is no support for HDR video here and the colors aren't remarkably accurate either with whites and Grays trending toward bluish even after you tweak them in settings as far as Max brightness goes we measured up to 550 nits with the manual slider and this can boost up to 670 nits in auto mode for an LCD that's usable Outdoors but not comfy if you're in the bright Sun the 120-hertz refresh rate Smooths out the UI, while you're swiping and scrolling around it, does dial down to 60 hertz to save energy but we also found that many apps didn't make use of the total 120 hertz here for audio the OnePlus Nord and 35g. Stereo speakers, headphone jack pair of stereo speakers have perfect loudness, and the sound quality is relatively clean but without much bass, if you'd like to hear for yourself and compare it to other devices you can check out the provided link for Biometrics the Nord n30 has a Side-mounted fingerprint reader/power button fingerprint reader built into the power button on the side it works great fast and reliable and the phone comes with 128 or 256 gigs Storage options of storage on board and that is expandable through microSD Android 13 and UI the Nord n35g's interface is the latest oxygen OS 13.1 on top of Android 13. it's similar to Realme's Real me UI 4.0 and Opo's Color OS 13. if you've had some experience with one of these then you'll feel right at home there are a few custom features here on top of what you'd normally find on Android like the floating windows function and the smart sidebar is a convenient place where you can store shortcuts since these interfaces are so similar if you'd like to learn more about the software experience you can actually just have a look at our detailed realme UI video Snapdragon 695 5G performance the chipset of the Nord n35g is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 it was never a powerful chip even back when it came out in 2021 and now it's even more unimpressive in benchmarks the Nord n30 earned middle of the road CPU scores and Graphics scores leave more to be desired still the Nord makes the most of it and it can generally get the job done there's enough power here to deliver a decent day-to-day experience the Nord n35g has a large 5 000 million Battery endurance and charging test power battery and the battery life is excellent here with the phone earning an endurance rating of 119 hours in our proprietary tests plus the n30 comes with 50 Watts supervogue charging and it's very fast able to charge from zero to 73 percent in half an hour Camera specs now let's talk about the cameras you get Triple cameras on the back but honestly only one is really that useful that's the 108 megapixel main cam which is paired with a 2 megapixel macro Cam and a depth sensor we would have preferred at least an ultra wide here which you would find on most mid-range competitors Main camera: photo and video quality the main cam bends pixels to produce 12 megapixel photos by default these look very decent with a good amount of detail and wide enough dynamic range the photos do look slightly over sharpened at times while some details look a bit soft but it's not a major complaint portrait mode photos are pretty good looking subject detection and separation are decent maybe thanks in part to the dev sensor it's still not perfect though especially with a busier background then there is what OnePlus calls a three times lossless Zoom produced by cropping from the center of the 108 megapixel sensor these photos are nice and sharp for a digital Zoom photo in low light the main Cam's performance is largely unimpressive the detail level is decent and colors are true to life but there's visible noise light sources are often blown out and shadows are very dark there is a night mode you can enable but the results are mixed the shots are brighter and shadows are boosted restoring some lost detail there the light sources are also handled better however these photos have a lot less detail and are softer there is a lot of added sharpening too to try and compensate video capture is limited to 1080p resolution at 30fps these videos from the main cam have an okay amount of detail and the colors look nice the dynamic range is narrow though with dark shadows there is some electronic stabilization here but it doesn't do a great job the footage is still shaky and there's Focus hunting too Macro camera photo quality next we have the 2 megapixel macro cam you get the amount of detail you'd expect at this low resolution at least the colors look nice Selfies and you can take selfies with a 16 megapixel front-facing cam the colors are nice and the dynamic range is decent but the subject comes out looking soft with smooth out textures Conclusion so that's the OnePlus Nord and 35g you get a large 120hz display good battery life and very fast charging mid-range options are limited in the US market so the Nord m30 strikes a good impression an older phone like the pixel 6A might have an OLED screen but it's a lot smaller you do have wider options if you look online for gray imports from other markets but you'd have to double check the supported Network bands so overall even if it lacks any attention grabbing features besides the large screen and fast charging the Nord n30 is an all-ride mid-ranger with a reasonable launch price thanks for watching blog if you'd like Alternatives and selfie video quality to check out some alternatives to the Nord n35g one option is the pixel 6A.

The Realme Pro +

 The Realme 11 Pro Plus

Design and Built Quality:

The Realme 10 Pro Plus which wasn't officially released in all markets one major feature you'll find here is a 200-megapixel main cam with a cutting-edge Samsung sensor but the first thing that catches the eye is the far-out design which was made in collaboration with a former designer for Gucci you get concentric circular accents on the round camera bump a smooth vegan leather backing and what looks like a zipper running down the middle you even get stitching on the leather the runway-inspired look is not something you see every day.

Display quality test:

The Realme 11 Pro Plus is a curved 6.7 inch OLED with a 1080p resolution and 120hz refresh rate the picture here is sharp and contrasty and you get support for 10-bit color and HDR 10 plus video there are plenty of settings to tweak the colors with and you can achieve excellent color accuracy this screen isn't the brightest we've tested but it's plenty bright we measured a maximum of around 470 nits with a manual brightness slider and this can boost up to almost 800 nits in auto mode when you need it and the 120-hertz refresh rate Smooths out movement on screen and the behavior is pretty straightforward dialing down to 60 hertz when idling to save a bit of energy.

Speaker quality test:

The Realme 11 Pro Plus has a pair of stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support they have good loudness and the sound quality is good too with nice vocals and highs and some bass if you'd like to check it out for yourself and compare it to other phones you can use the provided link.

Under display fingerprint scanner & Storage options:

The Realme 11 Pro Plus with an optical under-display fingerprint reader it's quite responsive and while storage isn't expandable to MicroSD you can get the phone with 256 or 512 gigs on board or even a whole terabyte interface of the phone.

Android 13, Realme UI 4.0

Realme's latest real MIUI 4.0 brings a few customizations on top of what you'd see in stock Android and Realme Promises software support as well as two generations of OS updates and three years of security patches if you'd like to learn more about this interface you can check out our dedicated real me UI video.

MediaTek Dimensity 7050

Now let's talk about the chipset here you get a Mediatek density of 7055g which is nearly identical to both the density 1080 and the density 920 found within the two previous models so as far as performance goes you get basically a third generation in a row without any real updates besides new support for the 200-megapixel camera still while this is no Flagship killer the benchmark scores aren't bad actually they're pretty decent for the price range and the day-to-day experience is smooth.

Battery life and charging speed test:

The real 11 Pro Plus is powered by a 5000 milliamp-hour battery and it does a good job as far as battery life goes earning an endurance rating of 112 hours in our proprietary tests on top of that the phone supports a 100-watt super vogue charging and the compact gallium Metroid charger comes in the Box it's quite fast able to charge the phone from zero to full in 28 minutes and just 15 minutes on the charger would get you up to 63 percent.

Main cameras:

Another impressive feature I've briefly mentioned already is the 200-megapixel main camera which is paired with an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro cam the main cam uses Samsung's ISO cell hp3 sensor that's the Next Generation after the hp2 inside the Galaxy s23 Ultra but it's a bit smaller physically the camera also features Advanced faster ois with a 40 increase in lens reset.

Main camera image and video quality: 

Speed the main camera bins pixels to save 12.5-megapixel photos by default and during the day they are excellent and easily Flagship grade there's plenty of detail nice contrast no noise and dynamic range which is wide but not over the top the color presentation is nice too the main cam supports two times lossless zoom and these zoomed photos are great with the detail level almost as rich as the default photos the rest of the properties are identical on top of that the main Cam's New sensor is also meant to provide four times lossless Zoom for the first time on a smartphone we wouldn't exactly call it lossless but it's still better than a simple digital crop and upscale the level of detail is okay and while there is some visible noise it's not overwhelming there's another neat feature when it comes to zooming the auto zoom can use AI to zoom in on any subject you select in the viewfinder with proper framing and if you take portrait mode shots these will be at two times Zoom by default these have good subject rendition and separation and an acceptable level of detail in low light conditions the realme 11 Pro Plus will automatically use this Auto nightscape processing these photos from the main cam are bright and well exposed with wide dynamic range Pleasant colors and low noise the detail level here isn't bad turning the nightscape off will lead to slightly more detailed and sharper photos but they have a more narrow dynamic range with blown highlights the main cam can record videos in up to 4K resolution at 30fps these are top-notch with a ton of detail great looking colors and wide dynamic range the fine details and foliage are quite natural looking too we also like the low light videos from the main cam they are bright colorful and detailed the dynamic range is wide enough and the noise is pretty low too one drawback though is that electronic stabilization doesn't work in 4K resolution a bit of a bummer switch to 1080p though and you get always on stabilization on the main cam which works great.

Ultrawide camera image quality: 

Now let's talk about the 8 megapixel Ultra wide cam its photos are pretty impressive for this sort of camera there's enough detail good contrast balanced dynamic range and nice looking vibrant colors the ultra-wide photos shot with the help of Auto nightscape aren't great but they're usable the level of detail is okay and noise is tolerable.

Macro camera image quality:

2-megapixel close-ups from the macro cam are poor as expected with mediocre detail visible noise and sometimes desaturated colors.

Selfie camera image quality

Selfies are good though they're taken with the 32-megapixel front-facing Cam and they have pleasant colors wide dynamic range and enough detail.

Conclusion:

So there you have it the realme 11 Pro Plus turned out to be an excellent mid-ranger with its unique design nice screen and speakers a flagship-grade main camera and fast charging the software support from realme is nice to have too the most notable downsides here are the mid-range level chipset and the lack of ingress protection and video stabilization in 4k would have been nice to have but if these things don't bother you then the realme 11 Pro Plus could be worth checking out.