A new smartphone from Samsung’s F series, the Galaxy F55 5G, was just released. The majority of Samsung’s phones often have similar design elements. So, what’s new this time? The F55 is the company’s latest product, featuring a vegan leather finish for the first time, which is also the device’s main selling point. We’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G as our primary smartphone for a while now, and can now share our complete review with you. Let’s see if the smartphone is worth picking up.
In This Article
Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Design and Display
People’s attention will be drawn to this handset because of its striking appearance. This appears significantly different in the Samsung arsenal. It is the Apricot Vegan Leather that we are reviewing. A stitch-like pattern runs along the edges, showcasing the excellent craftsmanship. The mobile looks stunning and feels more upscale because of the vivid orange colour option. Although vegan leather is not a new feature in the smartphone market, this is Samsung’s first phone with it. While this leather finish is seen on some other Samsung competitors’ smartphones, this one stands out because of the distinctive saddle stitch pattern. It’s worth noting that the product is also available in Resin Black.
Because the golden colour frame fits so well with the brilliant orange finish, the in-hand feel is also extremely premium. Since the sides are somewhat curved rather than flat, it is comfortable to hold in your hands. To further add to the opulent appearance, the rear panel features three protruding camera modules with golden rings. Additionally, the Samsung logo is visible at the bottom. It looks great, thanks to Samsung’s design.
At the bottom are a speaker grille, a microphone, and a USB Type-C port. A noise-cancelling microphone is located at the top, while a SIM card slot is placed on the left. The device’s power on/off button and volume controls can be found on the right side. You can use two nano SIM cards or one nano SIM and one micro SD card because the phone has a hybrid SIM card slot.
The front panel features average-sized bezels with a top-centre punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera. Owing to its 86% screen-to-body ratio, the phone’s design provides a distinctive and high-end experience. The 6.7-inch full-HD+ sAMOLED Plus screen on the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G boasts a resolution of 2,400 x 1080 pixels. With Vision Booster, the display has a maximum brightness level of 1,000 nits and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The Samsung display is of excellent quality and has a very pleasant appearance. The adaptive brightness feature of the vision booster adjusts the screen’s brightness based on the surrounding conditions, ensuring optimal visual quality under all lighting scenarios.
As of right now, the screen appears to be well-balanced, bright and has good contrast. Outside visibility is only average. It would be challenging to see this screen in direct sunlight if it weren’t kept at its highest brightness. On the flip side, the touch response is good, and the 120Hz refresh rate is smooth and hasn’t given us any jitters throughout testing.
We had no trouble streaming Netflix and Prime video content on our phone. Full HD playback is supported on both of them. The device is Widevine L1 certified as well. Thus, Samsung phones offer the best multimedia experience. You will like this phone’s viewing experience whether you’re playing games, watching videos, or just tinkering with the screen.
This phone’s dual speakers could have been of higher quality. They can go loud, of course, but when we turned the volume up to the maximum, we noticed some distortion.
Samsung Galaxy F55 includes an in-display fingerprint scanner that quickly unlocks the device. You can check it out here in our unboxing video of the Samsung Galaxy F55.
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Samsung Galaxy F55 5G Review: Performance and Camera
So let’s talk about the performance now. Samsung chose Qualcomm’s 4 nm-based Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, which is combined with up to 12 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256 GB of UFS 2.2 storage. However, it is an old chipset with a high reputation in the industry for its performance and efficiency in mid-range devices. The processor can handle day-to-day tasks efficiently, especially when paired with Samsung’s user interface.
The phone functions effectively when multitasking and manages lighter applications with ease. The phone has been optimised to store apps in memory for extended periods.
However, considering the price, gaming is just passable. Excessive multitasking had a negative impact. Additionally, the phone heats easily because of its slim form factor, particularly in the area around the camera module. You can play the most popular titles like COD, BGMI, and Asphalt; nevertheless, you’ll want to lower the settings for consistent gameplay without heating issues. Furthermore, we do not advise you to get this phone if you are a heavy gamer. Casual gaming? Then yes.
Samsung Galaxy F55 runs on One UI 6.0, which is built on Android 14. Four years of software updates and five years of security patches are guaranteed to be included with the phone.
Although the UI is identical to other Samsung phones, there are some pre-installed apps on it. Fortunately, most of them can be removed right away to make room for more apps.
In addition, you will have access to Knox security and NFC functionality. You will, therefore, have access to labs, a secure folder, and further customisation options. You also get to see the voice focus option during the call. You can edit images with an object eraser or the image clipper to remove the background from photos and then move it somewhere.
Other than that, the Discover Page on the app screen and the Glance UI on the lock screen are a pain, but thankfully, you can turn them off.
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Leading the triple-rear camera array on the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G is a 50-megapixel primary sensor with a f1.8 aperture and capability for optical image stabilisation (OIS). A 2-megapixel macro lens and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens are also included with the camera setup. A 50-megapixel selfie camera with a f2.4 aperture is located up front.
A decent amount of details are provided when looking into the daytime capture. There’s a very broad dynamic range available in this smartphone. Although there were moments when the colours felt a little muted and the consistency of the colours wasn’t that fantastic, in all, we would say the colours are generally nice. All in all, we would say it’s a rather satisfying experience, with some photographs appearing rich and colourful and others a little washed out.
Looking at the 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, the quality of the images is unimpressive. Let’s move on to the close-up photos, where you can see good sharpness levels and a good quantity of detail with wide colour combinations. We think there is a little oversharpening at times, but overall, it’s decent.
The device also has a 2-megapixel macro sensor, which is average at best and has nothing particularly noteworthy about its quality.
Although skin tones are quite good in the portraits, the overall quality is not very impressive. The colours are fine, but the Bokeh effect is too sharp and lacks impact. At this pricing point, the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G’s photography performance should have been improved. Probably in the next software update, Samsung will take care of it.
Here, in indoor lighting with quite excellent artificial light, the low-light experience is good. The colours are also wonderful, and there are plenty of details available. However, using night mode is usually a good idea when the light drops even further, and the experience appears to be average in this case. There is a lot of noise visible, and the clarity is not very good.
Moving on, the quality of the selfie camera was a little underwhelming despite having a 50-megapixel lens. The detail and skin tone don’t seem right. We also saw that some of our selfies had a greenish hue. Even the portrait selfies’ edge detection was on the average side. We have definitely seen better from Samsung
The latest smartphones from Samsung have fast charging capabilities, and this is the first model in the F series to offer 45W of fast charging ability. It takes roughly 75 minutes to fully charge, although it can charge from zero to 50% in less than 30 minutes.
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We assumed the box would contain the charger before we even opened it, however, the business didn’t include any other compatible charging brick. Nonetheless, the Galaxy F55’s battery life has been excellent. When used extensively, you may easily get a full day’s endurance. On less demanding days, you can even achieve 1.5 days on a single charge, which is more than sufficient.
Verdict
In 2024, the Samsung Galaxy F55 5G is the thinnest vegan leather smartphone available in the market. The black version of this phone would endure better under normal use circumstances than the orange version, which could become discoloured and soiled with time.
Because of its curved edges and flat panel design, this phone will be quite comfortable to handle if you use it frequently during the day. Samsung’s UI has also been tuned for 120Hz, and we did not notice any significant micro stuttering. During prolonged gaming sessions, the phone rapidly heated up near the camera bump. Upon shutting the game, though, it instantly cools off.
The phone is using One UI 6.1, which is based on Android 14. Four years of operating system upgrades and five years of security updates will be provided by the firm. This is a really good smartphone for long-term use if you plan to use it for many years.
The Samsung Galaxy F55 5G is ideal if you’re a big movie watcher. You might also give this smartphone some thought if you want a top-notch AMOLED screen for multitasking with games, web browsing, and social media scrolling.
Pros
- Stylish design
- Excellent display
- 4 years of OS updates
Cons
- Not made for heavy gaming
- Below average cameras
- Lacks charger
