Should you consider this Samsung 5G mid-ranger?
Samsung’s M series of smartphones are the most popular when it comes to the mid-range segment as we get almost all the features that we see in premium Samsung smartphones like an AMOLED display and quad cameras at the rear. The battery capacity is also the highest like we saw on the Galaxy M51 launched last year which had a massive 7000mAh battery.
Now Samsung has recently introduced the Galaxy M42 5G and as the name suggests 5G has now become a big buzzword in the smartphone industry. The Galaxy M42 5G is also the cheapest smartphone from Samsung to have 5G. We have some other smartphones like the Moto G 5G and the Xiaomi Mi 10i which directly compete with the Galaxy M42 5G thus having the same chipset.
Some of the key highlights of this smartphone are that it is powered by the Snapdragon 750G chipset, has a full-fledged OneUI 3.1, and comes with Samsung’s Knox security which was not present in earlier Samsung M-series smartphones, and has almost all the basics that a Samsung smartphone should have.
But it does come with certain compromises like an HD display with no high refresh rate, the charger provided inside the box is a 15W only and the build and design is not so great as it has a polycarbonate back. So would you sacrifice these features and buy the Galaxy M42 5G in the market? Let’s find out in the full review.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Design:
The design of the Galaxy M42 has a charm of its own and like all other M-series smartphones, there is a polycarbonate body for the back instead of glass but has a gradient finish with four different sections with varying textures and as you go from the top to bottom, there is a rainbow pattern that changes while viewing the smartphone at different angles.
The top half has a thicker color which can be either black or grey depending on the color variant – Dot Black and Dot Grey. Here you are getting a square-shaped camera module with a LED flashlight and the camera module juts out slightly. The smartphone has a P2i coating which makes it splash resistant and can be taken under rain also.
On the sides, on the right side, there are the power button and the volume buttons whereas the left side remains clean except for the dual SIM card tray and a dedicated slot for the microSD card. The bottom has a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grill, a primary microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the top, there is a secondary noise-canceling microphone only.
On the front, there is an Infinity-U display with bezels around the sides which is quite unique compared to punch-hole displays. The smartphone weighs around 193 grams which makes it quite heavier but overall the design is good but the build quality could have been better. No complaints should come as this is a mid-range Samsung smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Display:
The Galaxy M42 5G has a 6.6 inches HD+(720×1600 pixels) Super AMOLED display and as we all know Samsung provides one of the best AMOLED displays in the market so as a result the viewing angles are great and the color reproduction is also good. However, the display is of HD resolution which is disappointing as even the budget smartphones have Full HD+ displays.
There is no high refresh rate present on this display as there is only the standard 60Hz available only. The display is easily visible under direct sunlight but if you look closer to the sides, there is some green tint noticed and though it is an AMOLED display, the brightness levels could have been improved. The bezels around the display are slightly thicker compared to the competitors from Xiaomi, Realme, etc.
In terms of protection, the smartphone is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and the one area where the display holds an edge is the presence of an optical in-display fingerprint scanner which is the first M-series smartphone to have that is fast and accurate. The face unlocks work faster also.
Samsung has put that on the side like that of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max (Review) and there is support for Widevine L1 and you can stream HDR content from Youtube. Overall, this display feels good but the HD resolution is a sort of a big compromise in a mid-range smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Performance:
This is one area where the Galaxy M42 5G sets a great example for people looking out for a 5G smartphone from Samsung out there. It is powered by the latest Snapdragon 750G chipset which we have seen on smartphones like the Moto G 5G (Review), Xiaomi Mi 10i (Review), etc. This chipset brings support for 5G and has the powerful Adreno 618 GPU built on an 8nm process.
Here Samsung has nailed the performance with the Snapdragon 750G chipset compared to its own brothers like the Galaxy A52 (Review) which runs on Snapdragon 720G and the Galaxy M51 that has the Snapdragon 730G chipset but if you compare with the Galaxy F62 (Review), it does feel slightly underpowered as the Galaxy F62 houses the Exynos 9825 which was a flaghsip chipset of 2019.
All tasks like scrolling through webpages, playing games, and multi-tasking between applications which includes using social media felt smooth on the smartphone and there was no stutter or lag noticed. Games like Call Of Duty Mobile, Asphalt 9 Legends ran smoothly at the highest graphics settings but if you set the frame rate to very high, there were minor frame drops noticed.
It is better to play at a high frame rate instead of very high for more stable performance in gaming. The temperatures did not rise much after gaming but playing Call Of Duty for 3-4 hours continuously does make the back slightly warmer. However, Samsung has not implemented any cooling mechanism here. It is available in two variants – 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB UFS 2.1 storage options.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy M42 5G scored 231913 on Antutu v8 which is almost close to the scores of its competitors like the Xiaomi Mi 10i, Moto G 5G, etc. which also have this chipset. Coming to 5G support which is now the biggest buzzword out there, Samsung claims it has around four to six 5G bands support which will be enabled whenever 5G comes to India.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Software:
Like all Samsung smartphones, the Galaxy M42 5G runs on OneUI 3.1 with Android 11 out of the box. What makes the Galaxy M42 5G different from all other M-series smartphones is that runs on a full-fledged OneUI version instead of Core OneUI like we saw on the Galaxy M31, Galaxy M51, etc. It gets benefits like Alt Z Life, a full-fledged Samsung Pay, and also Samsung Knox security.
However, talking about OneUI, there are quite a few third-party applications pre-installed and you can uninstall them but the most disturbing things that we saw were certain ads present here and there in the user interface which does harm the software experience quite a bit. It is not much like MIUI on Xiaomi smartphones but is not much annoying.
As it is a Samsung smartphone, there are quite a lot of customizations present and the basics are present like system-wide dark mode, Digital Wellbeing, etc. and Samsung has its own applications that do throw in a lot of notifications. There is also the Google integration with the user interface present which means you are getting Google stock applications for dialler, calendar, contacts, etc.
The Google Discover is also present when you swipe left from the home screen. All Android 11 features are present like Conversations, Bubbles, enhanced privacy features like removing the data of location before sharing an image, etc. Regarding software updates, here also we are guaranteed three years of OS upgrades and four years of security patches making it much better and future proof.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Cameras:
The Galaxy M42 5G has a quad-camera setup that includes a 48MP f/1.8 main camera which has a Samsung GM2 sensor instead of the 64MP camera on the Galaxy A52 and F62, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 5MP f/2.4 macro camera, and a 5MP depth camera. On the front, there is a 20MP f/2.2 camera.
Talking about the main camera, the images come out with good details and look sharper. The color is slightly on the oversaturated side and the dynamic range is also good. There is no 12MP mode as the images come out in default 48MP mode and there is no pixel-binning also here. The dynamic range is good but there are some places where noise is present to a larger extent.
At night, the main camera does a good job in terms of details which look sharper but there is a lot of noise present and the dynamic range is also very average here. The highlights in shadows are slightly crushed and if you turn on the dedicated Night Mode, the dynamic range improves, and the noise is reduced to quite some extent.
Without Night Mode:
With Night Mode:
The 8MP ultrawide camera is a downgrade from a 12MP ultrawide camera compared to the Galaxy M31s or even the Galaxy F62 and the details here come out average with quite an amount of noise. There is some edge distortion around the edges but the 119-degree field of view ensures a wider frame. The dynamic range is good but the color looks oversaturated compared to the main camera.
At night, the ultrawide camera takes images with decent dynamic range with more noise and as seen during the day, there is distortion around the edges. Even when you zoom in, the details look softer and there is no dedicated Night Mode present for the ultrawide camera. The ultrawide camera performance is average at night.
The third camera is a 5MP macro camera which takes good details as it can go close to 3-5cms and is a fixed focus camera as there is no autofocus present. The dynamic range is average with poor details and there is a lot of noise present. The color saturation is also not good but the least we can say is that it is better compared to other 2MP macro cameras.
The 5MP depth sensor does a good job in terms of portraits and has good edge detection. The dynamic range is average here and the skin tones look natural here but when you zoom into the portraits, there is quite some noise present but the edge detection is good with proper separation of the subject from the background and after the portrait is taken, you can adjust the background blur level also.
The front camera is a 20MP one which takes some very good selfies with less noise and the dynamic range is good. The selfies output at 5MP by default and the skin tones look natural here. The portrait selfies come out great with proper edge detection and you can set the background blur. At night, the images do have good details and dynamic range with the Night Mode turned on.
In terms of videos, there is only 4K video recording at 30fps supported only which is the highest and the video footage is quite good with sharp details and good dynamic range. The color looks slightly oversaturated and though there is no OIS, the stabilization is quite good compared to other smartphone cameras.
The 1080p video recording at 30 or 60fps does implement EIS for a stabilized video experience with a much better dynamic range and less noise from the main camera and even the ultrawide camera can record videos in 4K at 30fps which is really amazing. However, the video footage on the ultrawide camera has an average dynamic range and slightly muted colors and if you implement the Super Stable Mode, the videos come out slightly better.
On the front, there is no support for 4K at 30/60fps like on the Galaxy A52 or the Galaxy F62 and you are only restricted to 1080p at 30fps. The videos have good details and dynamic range but do have slight inconsistency in colors and the videos are not so stable. However, you can do take some portrait videos and can adjust the background blur accordingly.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Battery Life:
The Galaxy M42 5G has a good-sized 5000mAh battery which is slightly lesser in capacity compared to the 7000mAh battery on the Galaxy M51 and the Galaxy F62. The smartphone can easily last for two days with normal usage barring there is no refresh rate present as you have a standard 60Hz display only. With heavy usage, it will do last a day and a half.
Samsung has quite optimized the battery with the OneUI and the average screen-on time was around 7-8 hours which is really good and you do have power-saving modes that will further increase the battery life. However, the only problem is that the Galaxy M42 5G ships with a 15W fast charger only. This takes the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent around 2 hours.
This speed is very slow considering the competitors that do support 33/55W fast charging capabilities. However, the Galaxy M42 5G does support 25W fast charging but you need to purchase that charger separately and this is one area Samsung has done some cross-cutting. While it may be very curious to know, that even the premium Galaxy S20 FE 5G has a 15W fast charger inside the box.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G Audio Quality:
The Galaxy M42 5G has single speaker support which means it can drive audio only through the loudspeaker present at the bottom which sounds good but slightly muffled. Here Samsung could have provided the stereo speaker setup but there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and the sound output through it is very good and there is also support for Dolby Atmos for enhanced sound effect.
Verdict:
Overall, the Galaxy M42 5G is a good mid-range smartphone around Rs.20000 and the best standout feature of it is support for 5G. At the heart of the smartphone, there is the Snapdragon 750G chipset which handles almost all tasks and gaming without any problems. Other key highlights of the smartphone are the AMOLED display, a unique design, good cameras, and good battery life.
However, it does compromise on many things which can turn out to be a bigger miss like the HD+ display as this is a mid-range smartphone, Samsung has compromised on this side which seems a bit of a letdown, then the build is polycarbonate instead of glass, the cameras are good but the ultrawide camera is a downgrade from 12MP to 8MP on other Samsung smartphones.
Though you have good battery life the charger provided inside the box is only a 15W fast charger and the sound quality is also not so good as there is only a single speaker present instead of stereo speakers. Samsung’s OneUI is one of the best user interfaces but does come with a lot of bloatware pre-installed and there are a lot of notifications which makes the software experience a bit jarring.
But one thing that holds a strong point for Samsung is that it provides three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates which makes it much better than a Xiaomi or Realme smartphone that has support for 2 years of software and security updates only. Overall, if you look past that HD display, slow charging, and average build, you are getting a great Samsung mid-range smartphone with 5G.