The Galaxy A5x series represents the pinnacle of Samsung’s popular A series, with the A55, released on March 11, 2024, being the latest addition targeting midrange markets. Despite its slightly higher price compared to similar spec devices from Chinese manufacturers, it boasts the trusted Samsung brand, more reliable software support, and wider availability. Specifically, the software and availability were key factors in my decision to replace my A71 with the A55. After spending a week with the phone, here are my thoughts and impressions.
Table of Contents
Setup and Data Restoration:
Before discussing the setup experience, it’s worth mentioning that the unboxing is a modest experience with no noteworthy elements to highlight. Alongside the phone, you receive a USB-C to USB-C cable and a SIM ejector tool, and that’s it!
On the setup screen, pressing the power and volume up keys prompts you to press the combination again to activate TalkBack. Alternatively, long-pressing both volume keys should also work. TalkBack started for me in English, and for those curious, language selection isn’t among the default reading controls. I typically set up my phones without a SIM card to prevent any speech issues resulting from my native language detection.
This time, I opted to restore data from my old phone, including my Google and Samsung accounts info. Scanning the QR code with the old phone is a simple task achievable with either the camera or the built-in QR scanner in the quick settings. The code is automatically detected without the need to press any capture button. The phone connected to my Wi-Fi network and logged into my Google account without issues. However, the experience hit a snag when I attempted to copy the data using the cable and connected the two phones. I was notified that Smart Switch required an update for the restoration to proceed. After tapping “update” and waiting, the Play Store showed the update in a pending state indefinitely. Frustrated, I decided to proceed with the setup without copying my data, knowing I could attempt it later. Even after completing setup, attempting to install the Smart Switch update yielded the same result. The only solution was to visit the Galaxy Store and update the app from there.
Using the updated Smart Switch, I initiated the data transfer process. At one point, the phone inexplicably disconnected during the operation, but reconnecting it didn’t restart the entire transfer process, thankfully. Organizing data after the transfer could take longer than the transfer itself, but during this time, you can still use your phone, and there’s no need for the two phones to remain connected.
Data backup and restoration on Android leave much to be desired. While files and folders were restored with no significant issues, and most apps were installed (excluding Android Accessibility Suite and incompatible apps), restoring app data was hit or miss. My home screen layout returned as it was on my old phone, despite using a third-party launcher not available on the Play Store. However, other apps failed to retrieve their data, and some behaved strangely, like Seeing AI, which required uninstalling and reinstalling to function properly. Acapela and Vocalizer also couldn’t recognize the voicedata until uninstalling and then re-installing the voices.
Settings restoration wasn’t much better, with some settings successfully restored, such as my ringtone, but most others not. Samsung clearly mentions WhatsApp as an app whose data cannot be restored during the transfer process. In addition to Google Drive’s online backup, WhatsApp offers its own data transfer tool. After granting WhatsApp the necessary permissions on both phones and verifying my number, I encountered issues initiating the transfer and was logged out of my old phone. Quickly re-verifying my old phone, I restored a local backup newer than my Drive backup and replaced my Drive backup with it, assuming it wouldn’t cause any issues. However, when I restored WhatsApp chats, I realized that the restored chats were missing all of the media files. The new backup replaced the old one without backing up any media, leaving me mourning seven years of precious memories stored in files and voice messages.
Hardware:
Design and build quality:
Samsung gave the A55 a premium look and feel with aluminum frames and a screen protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, and a glass back with an undisclosed regular Gorilla Glass type. The phone has a nice touch in the hand but it may be uncomfortable to hold sometimes due to the slightly sharp edges. It is also thicker than the A71 and heavier, weighing 213 grams. There are other phones that are harder to hold, and what helps the A55 is that the sides are slightly wider. The SIM tray is on the top and it is easy to distinguish by touch. The area around the power key and the volume rocker is elevated, but it does not impact the handling of the device. The USB-C port and the speaker are at the bottom with nothing on the left side. The back has three cameras in a vertical row that protrude but not very much. When laying the device on its back, it is stable and does not wobble. The fingerprint sensor is an optical in-display one.
The phone is IP67 rated, but I didn’t test that aspect. I didn’t dare to wash it or to put it in a pot of water like I did with the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact that I had before. An IP67 rating gives a feeling of security, though.
Display:
The phone boasts a 6.6-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support.
Regarding the touch panel, I didn’t encounter any issues registering taps and swipes. However, I occasionally missed an angular gesture when using the phone one-handed and executing the gesture quickly. I attribute this more to my adjustment to the larger size of the phone, transitioning from years with a thinner, lighter device that was easier to handle despite having a larger screen.
Biometrics:
After reading the GSMArena review of the A55, I was concerned about the fingerprint sensor’s performance. However, my experience was quite different. The sensor proved to be accurate and reliable, although not the fastest. Unlike my experience with the A71, where fingerprint sensor issues persisted until I registered the same finger multiple times, here, registering the finger once was sufficient for reliable unlocking without any trouble. The placement of the sensor is similar to that of the A71, which made the transition seamless.
Registering fingerprints is straightforward. I added one finger using TalkBack and the other using Jieshuo’s helper service, and both times the audio guidance worked smoothly. This guidance is a helpful feature that simplifies the fingerprint registration process.
Although the phone supports face unlock using the front-facing camera, I didn’t test this feature as I found the fingerprint sensor to be more than adequate.
Audio Quality:
The Galaxy A55 features a hybrid stereo speaker setup, comprising a main downward-facing speaker and one that doubles as an earpiece. This configuration often results in imbalanced audio, and the A55 is no exception. However, this doesn’t imply that the phone fails to deliver a satisfying audio experience. The stereo effect is, of course, present, and the difference in loudness is not very significant. The phone is loud enough, but you should keep in mind that you might experience slight distortion at maximum volume.
I enjoy listening through the speakers; coming from the A71’s weak mono speaker, the new speakers are indeed a real upgrade.
The lack of the 3.5mm jack, although becoming the norm, still stings. That port was always a convenient one that doesn’t fail you when needed. For people planning to use a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter, you should pay attention to the fact that some adapters are responsible for delivering the mic input as well. So, if you want to use an earphone without a mic to force the phone to use its default mic during calls and recording, this will not work, and you will end up with no audio input at all. Also, it is worth mentioning that during use, sometimes there is a slight buzzing sound; that was the case with the adapter I bought. USB-C earphones are still an option, but without the convenience of plugging in your earphones and charging at the same time.
The phone’s mics are good, providing the typical experience you’d expect with Samsung phones. I don’t have any complaints, and I didn’t during my A71 years either.
Connectivity:
In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy A55 offers 5G, eSIM support, Hybrid Dual SIM functionality, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and NFC. The Wi-Fi reception is good, and the network signal as well. However, I couldn’t test 5G because there is no 5G coverage in my area.
Despite having a newer Bluetooth version compared to the A71, this is not translated to less latency when using the Galaxy Buds2 Pro. The latency is still very noticeable. Additionally, there is a weird problem that only impacts Android 14 Samsung devices, which is a non-working “disable absolute volume” option found in the developer options, that makes accessibility volume independent of media volume.
I am almost sure that this is a software issue, though I am not sure if it is intentional or not. When I connected the earbuds to the phone, the media/accessibility volume separation was still working. But before I completed my celebration, the two volumes were linked, just after turning off Bluetooth and then back on.
The Bluetooth listening experience is now less enjoyable because I either cannot hear the screen reader speech or I get very loud music while I am doing something with my screen reader when media is playing.
Others:
The Galaxy A55 is powered by the new Exynos 1480 (4 nm) processor and is available in configurations of 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, and 256GB 12GB RAM, with microSDXC support (uses shared SIM slot). My phone is the 256GB 8GB RAM variant. I’ll discuss performance in more detail later.
The phone features a triple camera setup, but I’ll refrain from discussing the cameras as I’m not the right person to evaluate them.
The battery capacity is 5000mAh, supporting 25W wired charging. I’ll provide more details about the battery performance later.
The haptics are generally weak. Some interesting vibrations can be selected for calls and notifications, but the overall performance of vibrations is not something to write home about.
Software and Accessibility:
The Samsung Galaxy A55 comes with One UI 6.1 based on Android 14. It offers the typical Samsung software experience, albeit without the S exclusives, including AI additions among others. However, the absence of these features isn’t a source of frustration for me.
A notable feature of the A55 is that it is the first Samsung phone to support seamless updates. This means that updates will install in the background while you continue using the phone, and it will only restart to complete the installation. The phone is promised to receive four major OS upgrades and five years of security patches. However, it’s worth noting that these patches may not be delivered monthly and could experience increasing delays as the phone ages.
Regarding bloatware, the phone comes with some pre-installed apps, but most of them are uninstallable.
Accessibility:
The Galaxy A55 comes with Samsung TalkBack version 14.1, lacking Google’s TalkBack image descriptions. I installed Google’s TalkBack using ADB and was pleased to find that the muffled speech audio issue I faced with Google TalkBack on my A71 was resolved.
Primarily a Jieshuo user, I found Jieshuo restored along with other apps, unlike Google’s TalkBack, which wasn’t installed. However, my Jieshuo settings were not retained, so I exported my settings and customizations and successfully imported them.
The Jieshuo developer promptly transferred my license, and fortunately, I’m not among the users experiencing activation loss due to random ID changes on Android 14, as of now.
Jieshuo on Android 14 feels slightly sluggish, but not to the extent that it’s unbearable, although TalkBack sometimes feels more responsive.
When updating to a new version, Jieshuo requires permission to allow restricted settings unless updated using a third-party installer like Skit.
Additionally,Jieshuo faces focusing issues in certain apps. For instance, in Google Messages, the focus is unstable, sometimes jumping to an old random message when swiping from the most recent one or from the message compose edit box.
Furthermore, the issue persists with Google Assistant not listening when Jieshuo is using the accessibility volume. Although testing Bixby revealed that it wasn’t impacted by this particular issue, another problem arose: when Jieshuo speaks, Bixby’s response is often interrupted, necessitating reading the response on the screen instead of hearing it read aloud by Bixby.
Typing with browse by touch suspended is still possible because Gboard doesn’t come built-in, allowing the installation of an older version compatible with character announcement when browse by touch is suspended.
I tried to use the new version and gave up on my way of typing, but I found it slower and it didn’t offer any special features that would make me think twice before reverting to the outdated version.
Currently, I have Google’s TalkBack assigned to the power+volume up shortcut, Jieshuo as my main screen reader, and Samsung TalkBack just to monitor its progress with OS updates, as updates are no longer delivered through the Galaxy Store. I still find Google’s TalkBack more responsive.
Screen reader actions are supported across the launcher, recent apps, notifications, and quick settings. For example, you can easily move a button in quick settings using actions or close an app from the recent apps screen.
Reading people’s complaints about the hint that they need to hear whenever they want to unlock the device about the placement of the fingerprint sensor when using a screen reader, I could count myself among the lucky ones who are not affected by this annoying extra chat until now. I don’t hear those hints neither with TalkBack nor with Jieshuo. Whether this is going to change with Android 15 remains to be seen.
For Eloquence lovers, the A55 is a 64-bit-only device, so your old Eloquence will be missed. Also, for outdated Ivona lovers, Ivona doesn’t install on the A55. While I am talking about TTS engines, I should mention that, to my surprise, Vocalizer worked well and I didn’t encounter crashes, a thing that I didn’t expect, honestly.
Whether you are using TalkBack or Jieshuo, you will notice that if you are a WhatsApp user, the play/pause gesture that also acts to answer calls and end active ones no longer works. This issue is not specific to the A55; it is rather impacting other Samsung Android 14 devices. When you receive a WhatsApp call now, it will take a small portion of the top of the screen, and being unable to use the call answering gesture could make answering calls challenging, especially if you are unable to hear the TTS engine well. However, the serious trouble arises when you are in the active call and want to end it, as it becomes harder to hear the TTS speech. Memorizing where the button to leave the call is your best bet yet less trustworthy.
While I’m on the topic of calls, it’s important to note that the virtual proximity sensor doesn’t work as intended during VOIP calls. In WhatsApp calls, when the phone is against my ear, accidental touches and swipes are registered.
Performance:
It is enough to know that the old Galaxy S22 model Exynos 2200 found inside the S23 FE is noticeably better by a considerable margin to dial down your expectations. However, the Exynos 1480 is not a bad midrange processor. It is more powerful than the Exynos 1380 found in last year’s Galaxy A54 and more power efficient.
Treating the Exynos 1480 as a midrange processor should save you a lot of disappointments. For basic daily tasks, the phone doesn’t fall short. I didn’t face issues with app installation and usage. Navigating the UI is smooth, with only a very slight lag when scrolling through long lists quickly.
I don’t use resource-hungry apps and I am not a gamer, so this should be taken into consideration. The phone didn’t heat up during use, even when restoring data or while updating.
One issue worth mentioning is the slight delay when touching an element on the screen and having it spoken by the screen reader. The delay is in milliseconds but it can be noticed. If I touch an item quickly and lift my finger, the element will be spoken after my finger is lifted. This means that navigation with the screen reader is not instantaneous. Whether this is a software issue, a weakness in performance, or just my perception, is still unclear to me. I am still hoping for future software updates to improve responsiveness. I should note that I tried changing the screen refresh rate from dynamic to standard, but there was no difference in responsiveness.
Apart from the aforementioned issue, the overall experience with the performance is good, and there is nothing that prevents the device from being a daily driver.
Battery life and charging:
The Galaxy A55 has a 5000 mAh battery. The results I received are respectable. In worst-case scenarios, the phone should serve you for 24 hours before you need to charge it. Now, after my screen-on time has dropped since I almost finished the setup and re-customization, the phone is capable of delivering about a day and a half or 2 on a single charge. Note that I keep the brightness at 0% for most of the time and I keep location off as well, so your mileage may vary.
The phone supports 25W charging, which is not the fastest but it is fairly standard across Samsung midrange and even the base S24 model. Using the A71’s 25W charger, the phone usually takes about an hour to go from about 25% to full charge. The A55 doesn’t have any sort of wireless charging.
Final thoughts:
Looking at the Galaxy A55 from a value-for-money perspective, it is easier to say that it doesn’t offer the best value for your dollar, with competitors offering better-spec phones sometimes for less. However, the clean software experience and wider availability are factors not to be ignored.
Purchasing the A55 with the expectation of having the same experience as the higher-end, much more expensive Galaxy offerings defies logic. As long as you keep your expectations moderate, you shouldn’t be disappointed. I have yet to find a deal-breaker in the Galaxy A55, despite the few hiccups here and there. Specifically, I am impressed with the speaker quality, battery life, and fingerprint sensor. The phone that we are coming from always influences our verdict, and coming from the A71 plays a role in viewing the A55 as a good upgrade.
The A5x phones are quickly discounted, so it is likely that you will find it soon at a good deal. I am keeping an eye on how the phone will age with time and if it is prone to easy scratches, considering that I am not a fan of cases/screen protectors. Also, I am looking forward to software updates to see how they will impact the performance. Meanwhile, if there is anything else worth mentioning, I will edit the review accordingly.
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