Samsung Galaxy M42 5G is the first 5G smartphone offering by the Korean company in the mid-range segment by the company in the Indian market. This smartphone features a waterdrop-style notch display and a quad-camera setup in a square-shaped module on the back. Other key highlights of the phone include a 5,000mAh battery and it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor.
There is a lot of hype in the Indian smartphone market about 5G. So here is our honest genuine Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Review. In this review, we have covered all the aspects from design, display and the actual performance of the Samsung Galaxy M42 5G camera as well as its gaming capabilities.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G review: design and display
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G comes with a polycarbonate built but the back panel has a glossy finish. The upper portion has a dark finish whereas the lower part has a lighter shade. Because of the glossy panel, the rear attracts a lot of fingerprints and smudges that have to be cleaned regularly. We have got our hands on the Prism Dot Black colour option that also gives a prism effect at different angles.
The smartphone also appears to continue the company’s trend of carrying a thin profile. The device is less bulky too, however it loads a 5,000mAh battery. The company doesn’t provide silicon back cover, so we have used this phone without any protection and until now, we have not seen any scratches on the front and back.
The Samsung Galaxy M42 5G feels comfortable in hands and the volume rocker and the power button are well positioned so that it is easy to reach with one hand. The phone features an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is reasonably fast and accurate. The SIM card slot is given on the left side whereas the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, and speaker grill are given at the bottom. While the top has a secondary microphone.
To cut the cost Samsung has provided a 6.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U display on the Galaxy M42 5G. The screen offers an HD+ resolution and has a 60Hz refresh rate. But we would have preferred a full-HD+ display over an HD display as that is a standard in this price category. Bezels on the sides are slim, too. The good thing is that the display is that it supports Widewine L1, so watching HD content on YouTube or other OTT platforms is not an issue.
The colours produced are punchy, the contrast level is good, viewing angles are also good and the brightness is adequate as well. All in all, it offers a better viewing experience but of course, it is not the sharpest display around. The audio output on the Samsung Galaxy M42 5G is just fine because of a single bottom-firing speaker.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G review: Performance and cameras
Moving ahead into the performance department, the Samsung Galaxy M42 5G is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The good part is that its internal memory can be expanded up to 1TB via a microSD card if the need be. We got our hands on the 6GB RAM with 128Gb storage variant. Performance-wise, firstly we did not notice any major hang or heating issue. Secondly, the processor is capable of offering the option of 60FPS on Call of Duty game. Call of Duty can be played at a max frame rate along with high graphics settings.
Note that the device is not a proper gaming phone, however, it comes with a pretty good balanced processor allowing a high-end gaming experience. All in all, it can handle pretty much everything that you throw at it.
On the software front, there is Samsung One UI 3.1 based on the top of Android 11. It is the latest that Samsung offers at the moment, which is one of the best custom skins you can find in the market. The best thing is that it offers features such as Knox device protection and Samsung Pay.
You will also see a new Google discover page and other significant features such as system-wide dark mode, secure folder, dual messenger and more. The UI is smooth and thankfully we haven’t seen ads or spam notifications on it, which is great. On the contrary, this mid-range phone comes with lots of bloatware, however, these apps can be uninstalled so that’s not a big deal at all.
On the connectivity front, the Samsung Galaxy M42 5G comes with four 5G bands. But at present, it does support 4G carrier aggregation. The battery backup is also quite decent courtesy of the 5,000mAh battery that comes with a 15W charger inside the retail box. In terms of medium to heavy usage, it was able to deliver a day and half days of battery life. But on light usage, we were able to get the endurance of 2 and a half days which is great. The charger’s output is quite low as it takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes to charge the phone completely.
Ok now since that’s done and out of the way, let’s talk about the cameras on the device. In terms of camera, Samsung Galaxy M42 5G comes with a quad rear camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixel GM2 primary sensor. In addition to this, there is a secondary 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5-megapixel macro sensor, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. Upfront there is a 20-megapixel selfie camera.
With the primary camera, we were able to shoot beautiful images having good colour reproduction, nice details and dynamic range of the highest quality. The pictures clicked indoors on the device are eminent too. The Ultra Wide shots are also balanced but don’t expect the images to be as good as the main camera produces. The macro shots are also satisfactory. Even the photos that were taken in dim lighting were well lit with decent details and nearly no noise in the output. Even portrait images are good. In terms of the selfie camera, the dynamic range and background bokeh are well managed and the skin tone looks natural. It does not produce any warm or oversaturated colours.
You can record videos in 4K @ 30FPS from both front as well as from the rear cam. But it lacks video stabilisation when you choose to go with this option, but at 1080p @ 30FPS it offers stable videos. But we were not very impressed with the video stabilisation even after the EIS kicked in. It somehow missed the punchy colours.
Conclusion
Besides the HD display, there is a lot that Samsung Galaxy M42 5G comes with. The powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoC doesn’t throttle the performance of the smartphone in fact it comes with the best UI experience. The camera performance is not extraordinary but is decent for the pricing. So If you’re looking to buy a non-Chinese 5G mid-range smartphone, then you can consider the Samsung Galaxy M42. Also, this is the most affordable 5G smartphone that the company is offering at the moment around Rs 20K.
Pros
Pretty light and handy
Well built
Decent battery life
Cons
Glossy back is a fingerprint magnet
HD+ display instead of a Full HD
Slow charging
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