TLM1010 Assignment 1: Product Description Summary & Analysis

 

 

Product Summary & Analysis:

Samsung A51

Done by Chan Jun Wei Marc 

(Student ID: 2002544)

According to a recent review on PCMag (2020), the Samsung A51 phone is Samsung’s latest offering in its mid-range series of smartphones. The article claims that the A51 offers decent performance and aesthetically pleasing design. Furthermore, the article lists a decent set of cameras and a brilliant display for an affordable price as the phone’s main appeal. Priced at $399.99 USD, it is meant as a direct competitor for Apple’s similarly priced iPhone SE, as well as an alternative to Samsung’s more expensive flagship S series of smartphones. Winkleman (2020) further elaborates on the basic functions of the phone. According to his review, the A51’s main feature is a 6.5-inch OLED full-screen touchscreen display, that is narrow enough to let users utilize it with one hand. An in-screen fingerprint sensor is also located at the bottom of the display, within easy reach for users. Located at the back of the phone are a set of 4 different cameras including wide-angle, ultra-wide angle, depth, and macro lenses. The phone also sports a USB-C charging port and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. The MicroSD/Dual-SIM card slot is located on its left side and a lock button and two volume buttons on its right side. The phone also features Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, 4G LTE, NFC function for contactless payment as well as dual-band Wi-Fi. The A51 contains Samsung's Exynos 9611 chipset and 4GB of RAM. There's 128GB of data storage, which can be expanded to 512GB with the addition of a MicroSD card. Finally, the phone is powered by a 4000mAh battery that is capable of fast charging.

The Samsung A51 is one of the best budget smartphones in the $400 USD price range. This is because it sports a large, well-assembled build and a vibrant OLED display, as well as an array of other features not usually found amongst its peers. However, the A51's weakness lies in its slow processor and relatively short battery life.

One of the A51's main advantages over other smartphones in its price point is it's bright and clear 6.5-inch OLED display. Winkleman (2020) states that the Samsung A51 provides a clearer screen resolution (in terms of pixel-per-inch) than its competitor, the iPhone SE. The review further elaborates that while the screen usually displays striking but mild colours, the user can personalize the display according to their preferences by navigating to the phone's settings menu. Furthermore, Bohn (2020) also mentions of another key feature of the Samsung A51's display in his review on TheVerge. In the article, he notes that the brightness of the screen is high enough for the phone to be used in most everyday situations, even in direct sunlight. With an adaptable and vivid display, the Samsung A51 is a good buy for the everyday user.

Another one of the Samsung A51's strengths lies in its camera. The multitude of lenses gives the A51 excellent depth of field. It also allows the A51 to take ultra-wide, wide-angle, and macro pictures (Samsung, 2020). Its main competitor, the iPhone SE only offers a singular wide-angle camera (Apple, 2020). The variety of camera types offered by the A51 provides many different photography options for potential buyers, more so than competing smartphones in the same price range. Therefore, it is another reason for consumers to consider purchasing the Samsung A51.

Finally, the Samsung A51 offers a considerable 128GB of internal storage, which is included together with the phone at no additional cost. The A51's internal storage can also be further increased with the addition of MicroSD storage cards that are compatible with the phone, up to a maximum of 516GB of data depending on the MicroSD card used (Samsung, 2020). The A51's large internal storage space is a huge benefit to the modern smartphone user, who can usually store hundreds of files, videos, applications and photos on their devices. Furthermore, potential users have the option of using MicroSD cards together with the A51 if they wish to store more data than the default 128GB of internal storage available on the phone. Therefore, the Samsung A51 is a good choice for those who need a smartphone with large internal storage capacity at lower cost than flagship devices.

However, the Samsung A51 can only offer so much on a budget. One key area of contention is the phone's under-performing Samsung Exynos 9611 medium-range microprocessor. Applications on the A51 suffer from lengthy loading times, especially if the applications in question are not recently used and therefore not stored in the phone's 4GB RAM. It is even outperformed in this area by its similarly priced competitor, the Apple iPhone SE, which sports Apple's fastest microprocessor: the A13 Bionic Chip (Bohn, 2020). Winkleman (2020) also highlights the A51’s slow processing speed in his article. He mentions that the A51 is performing less quickly than similarly priced devices on the market, such as the iPhone SE, the Moto G Power and the Google Pixel 3a. He elaborates by measuring the raw processing power of the A51, along with the other smartphones using a benchmarking software named GeekBench 5. Winkleman (2020) reported on his results, which showed that the A51 scored 347 in single-core and 1340 in multi-core performance. The iPhone SE, one of the A51’s competitors, scored better, with 1331 and 3299 for both single-core and multi-core performance respectively.

Another area which the A51 is lacking is its battery life. According to Bohn (2020), the device offers a 4000mAh battery which lasts approximately a day. Bohn (2020) continues his review by stating in his article that he "was a little surprised" that he wasn't getting better battery performance from the phone and that he "wonders if the Exynos 9611 processor is partly to blame". Furthermore, Winkleman (2020) notes in his review that another phone, the “Moto G Power offers longer battery life than the A51 for $150 less. This tells us that the Samsung A51 has less battery capacity than other phone within its price range or lower which could be the result of its under-performing processor unit. Finally, while the phone offers fast charging (Winkleman, 2020), it does not support wireless charging, unlike the iPhone SE (Apple, 2020).

In conclusion, while the Samsung A51 offers a vivid 6.5 inch OLED display, a flexible camera array offering 4 different types of camera lenses for use in a multitude of different conditions as well as considerable 128GB of internal storage, it is hampered by its slow performing Exynos 9611 processor as well as its lower battery capacity than similar phones in the $400 USD and below price point. As a smartphone for capturing, storing and viewing photographs and video content, the phone is worth buying for its price as similar functions tend to only be found in more expensive smartphones. The A51 does not perform better than its competitors in terms of handling computationally intensive tasks such as mobile gaming, due to its slow processing speed compared to other smartphones in its price bracket. As such, buyers looking for a smartphone for that purpose should look elsewhere.

 

References:

Apple. (2020, n.d.). iPhone SE. https://www.apple.com/sg/iphone-se/

Bohn, D. (2020, May 18). Samsung's Galaxy A51 Has Two Good Things Going for it: The Screen and the Price. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/21251569/samsung-galaxy-a51-review-price-screen-camera-battery-life

Samsung. (2020, n.d.). Galaxy A51. https://www.samsung.com/sg/smartphones/galaxy-a51/SM-A515FZKWXSP/

Winkleman, S. (2020, May 12). Samsung Galaxy A51. PCMag. https://sea.pcmag.com/smartphones/37350/samsung-galaxy-a51