Samsung Galaxy F55 review: Reliable performer with eye-catchy design

Compared to the Galaxy A series, Samsung always offered the Galaxy F series in a bulky design to accommodate the big battery.

Now, Samsung has made big changes in the latest Galaxy F55 series. It comes in a completely new design language with a premium vegan leather finish and Qualcomm's reliable Snapdragon processor.

Here are my thoughts on Samsung's latest premium mid-range phone.

. Design, build quality and display

The new Galaxy F55 comes in a super slim form factor and is lightweight. It measures just 7.88 mm in thickness and weighs 180g.

Our review unit is the apricot crush variant. The back panel features a silicone polymer-based back panel, which Samsung calls it vegan leather. The textured cover comes in a bright orange hue. And, around the edge, it has visually appealing saddle stitching on the sides.

It looks lovely in the sunlight and the vibrant orange colour of the phone draws attention in the crowd.

. The frame around the screen, which comes with a light gold hue blends wonderfully with the orange cover panels. Also, the curved rail around the edges with a matte finish offers a good grip for the fingers to hold onto the device firmly.

Also, the leather textured cover on the back doesn't get stained easily with sweat from fingers. The dirt can be wiped and cleaned in a dry cloth with ease. But, the device doesn't come with any cover case and is prone to get scratched during accidental falls on floors with rough hard surfaces.

. Customers are advised to buy a cover case to ensure the device survives daily wear and tear. On the front, the company separately

The company also offers the device in a raisin black option. To me, the apricot crush is the best among the two.

On the front, it flaunts a 6.67-inch full HD+ super AMOLED plus display with a 120Hz refresh rate and pixel density of 393 ppi (pixels per inch). It is one of the best display panels on a phone in its class. It is an amazing phone to binge-watch your favourite movie or TV shows or catch up on live Cricket matches on OTT apps.

. The Galaxy F55 also boasts Vision booster technology. When the phone detects it is outdoors under the sun, it automatically increases the brightness to improve readability on the screen. It can offer peak brightness up to 1,000nits.

The device features an in-display fingerprint sensor. It works fine with a low rejection rate as long as the finger is dry and clean.

. Performance

The new Samsung phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 octa-core processor. Though, it is an older chipset, it is a big upgrade over the Galaxy F54, which has an Exynos 1380 chipset chipset.

The Galaxy F55 promises to deliver 18 per cent better GPU performance than the predecessor.

The devices come in three configurations-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. Our unit is the latter.

During the review period, the device worked smoothly without any pressing issues to complain about. Even while playing Asphalt 9: Legends, the device did not show any noticeable sign of lag-ness.

. The new Galaxy F55 runs Android 14-based OneUI 6.1. It is guaranteed to get at least four major Android updates (up to Android 18, till 2028). Also, Samsung will offer an additional year of software security support (up to 2029).

The user interface is easy to understand. Even a first-time Samsung phone user will get the hang of the device's settings in a few hours of usage. But, the only qualm I have with this Samsung phone is that it comes with a lot of bloatware. Thankfully, the company is offering the option to delete them. Also now, the base variant comes with 128GB storage and can be expanded up to 1TB via microSD card. But it comes at a cost. the customer has to choose between the secondary SIM card and extra storage.

. Due to the slim design language, the device comes with a 5,000mAh battery capacity, 1000mAh less than the predecessor.

But, still 5,000mAh battery is more than enough to last a full day under normal usage.

Also, the Galaxy F55 supports 45W fast charging. It can fully charge the device from zero to 100 per cent capacity in under one hour. This is much faster than the predecessor, which came with a 25W charging speed limit.

. Photography

It houses a triple-camera module-- main 50MP (f/1.8 aperture) with an 8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide sensor and a 2MP (f/2.4) camera with LED flash on the back.

. The new Samsung phone takes really good pictures in the sunlight. The colours, particularly on subjects such as pets, flowers and human faces appear more vibrant than what they appear to the eyes. It also does a fine job of capturing finer details and also smoothens the face's skin tone to make them photogenic.

. Even in indoors with controlled light conditions, the Galaxy F55 fared well in getting good sharp pictures.

. However, in the night mode, there is a dip in sharpness, but decent for a phone that come under the Rs 30,000 price bracket.

. With wide-angle mode, the phone does an amazing job of accommodating the wide expanse of an area in the frame. As you can see in the sample photo below, the massive YashoBhoomi Convention Centre is captured in all its full glory and I didn't have to go far from the structure to get the full building in the frame.

. It supports 2X optical zoom and works fine without any loss of quality.

. In close macro shots, the subjects are captured with full details and even the colours are near-natural.

. With portrait mode, the Galaxy F55 does a good job with edge detection. Also, the background gets blurred with bokeh effect with perfection.

. It also supports Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and Video Digital Image Stabilization (VDIS) to get stable still images and videos even if the hand is shaking or the phone owner is walking. It can record up to 4K videos at 30 frames per second (fps). Also, it can record HD (720p) slow-motion videos at 240 fps.

. And, on the front, it features a 50MP camera (f/2.4) for selfies and video calling. It takes brilliant sharp selfies in almost all light conditions. It also can record up to 4K videos at 30 fps.

. Final thoughts

Samsung has done a fabulous job with the Galaxy F55's design. The use of a textured leather-like back cover with vibrant colour options makes the device visually appealing and stands out among rival brands.

Also, the Galaxy F55 is a reliable performer and can deliver can full day of battery life under normal usage. The camera on the device is decent, on par with most of the rival brands.

. Samsung Galaxy F55 comes in three configurations-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs 26,999, Rs 29,999 and Rs 32,999, respectively.

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Samsung Galaxy F55 review: Reliable performer with eye-catchy design

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