We analyze the cheapest Samsung mobile with 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G.
An elegant phone, light, with a pleasant touch and a level of features that is more than good for what it is worth.
We have verified this throughout our analysis.
Samsung's mid-range launched compatibility with next-generation mobile networks thanks to the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G, a mobile balanced in specifications that, at least on paper, should not behave very badly.
And we have been lucky to see it: let's see how the phone behaves by analyzing it in daily use.
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G data sheet Samsung Galaxy A42 5G 6.6-inch AMOLED screen HD + Snapdragon 750G processor Adreno 619 GPU RAM 4 GB Storage 128 GB MicroSD up to 1 TB Front camera 20 MP f / 2.2 Rear camera 48 MP f / 1.8 8 MP f / 2.2 wide angle 5 MP f / 2.4 bokeh 5 MP f / 2.4 macro Battery 5,000 mAh 15W fast charge Android operating system 10One UI 2.5 Connectivity 5G Wi-Fi dual band Bluetooth 5.0NFC Others Fingerprint reader under the screen Dimensions and weight 164.4 x 75.9 x 8.6 mm 190 g.
Price 325 euros Samsung Galaxy A42 5G | Free Android Smartphone 6.6 "" HD + | 4G RAM 128GB Expandable Internal Memory | 5,000 mAh battery and fast charge Black Color [Versión española] Thin, light and with a quality touch despite the plastic The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G inherits much of the design, thickness and sensations in hand of the highest range, such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 or Galaxy Note 20.
Saving the logical distances, and having Keep in mind that the body and back of the phone are made of polycarbonate, the truth is that our protagonist is appreciated of great quality.
It does not weigh excessively, it is very manageable even though its dimensions are large, it does not slip in the hand and maintains a very elegant appearance; also striking, the contrast of color and screening for the later design is distinguished (in the white model the contrast is very subtle).
The rear plastic face is curved on the sides to facilitate grip; the physical buttons are on the right side and at a comfortable distance from the fingers; the tray for the SIM and SD is anchored to the left side (it is double, you have to choose between two SIMs or SIM and SD); and at the bottom the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G boasts a USB C port, headphone jack and external speaker output.
In addition, the phone does not have an external capacitive fingerprint reader to include an optical scanner under the screen; with an adequate operation even though the reading sometimes has to be repeated because the reader did not identify the finger the first time (the unlocking is always immediate).
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G has a headphone jack, FM radio, NFC and 5G: it is a very complete mid-range in terms of connectivity.
Samsung maintains the balance at the top with the inclusion of a Super AMOLED panel that offers high brightness (viewing the content outdoors is not complicated), also the contrast is kept at the same level.
On the other hand, the resolution is one step away from what is desired: HD + (720 x 1,600 pixels).
Given the size of the screen (6.6 inches), there are certain apps and games where a certain lack of sharpness is appreciated (it is not something that penalizes excessively on a daily basis if you basically use messaging and social networks).
In addition, Samsung allows you to customize the panel display to vary the temperature or adjust the saturation.
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G starts with the panel somewhat saturated as standard (from the settings it can be reduced), it also offers a noticeable use of the front thanks to the tiny hole for the front camera.
Sound is another aspect where the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G raises its average score: both for quality, and for the number of options included, the phone is a good example that the mid-range does not have to do without audio with enough quality.
Great music reproduction through the 3.5 mm jack, noticeable audio through Bluetooth (more HD codecs are missing, such as aptX HD) and great volume for the external speaker that, as usual, suffers from distortion due to over a third of volume.
This volume is high enough.
More powerful than expected, all thanks to 5G Samsung's mid-range is usually marked by a processor of the brand that usually offers certain performance problems.
This is how we review it in the Samsung Galaxy A40 and Samsung Galaxy A51; quite the opposite of what happens with the protagonist of our analysis: the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G is quite powerful, it is hardly weighed down and, in fact, it is not too far from how the Note 20 Ultra behaves, a mobile that we treasure as personal.
Always saving distances.
It is true that from time to time it offers some slowdown, even though the mobile phone moves the interface very well, it does not delay too much in the launch of apps and offers an excellent graphic capacity in games like Genshin Impact or PUBG.
The 'low' resolution of the screen contributes to overall performance.
And it is appreciated that Samsung includes 128 GB of storage; with the counterpoint that 4 GB of RAM can be done something fair in the future (we have not found a major problem in daily use).
Here are the usual benchmark tests.
Without being decisive, they do reveal a more than decent power.
From left to right, Geekbench, 3D Mark and Pc Mark Work The software does not stand out too much, little more can be said about One UI: characteristic Samsung style, loaded with options, with Samsung Pay included, without excess 'bloatware' beyond embedding Facebook, Microsoft software, and native Samsung (much of it can be uninstalled).
The Galaxy A42 5G is highly customizable as standard and has no major drawback than the possible hobbies with the cape.
Of course, Samsung will take time to update it to Android 11 with One UI 3.0: according to its calendar, the Galaxy A42 5G will not receive the update until May 2021.
It is one of the most negative aspects of the phone.
From the most negative to one of the points where the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G stands out the most: its autonomy.
Given the compatibility with 5G, the battery is generous enough without excessive thickness or weight being appreciated: the 5,000 mAh feels very good to use.
In fact, it has lasted us on average for more than three days with moderate use; with the guaranteed day even abusing games or streaming.
In terms of charging, it does not take that much chest: the 15 W of the charger completely revives the phone in almost two hours.
The times are as follows: 5 minutes of battery: 5% battery.
10 minute battery life: 9% battery life.
20 minute battery life: 18% battery life.
30 minute battery life: 26% battery life.
50 minute battery life: 44% battery life.
Total: 1 hour and 57 minutes.
Many cameras, even if only one protrudes The square module marks the back of the phone showing its four cameras.
As is customary in mid-range phones, the main sensor stands out from the rest for the quality and versatility of its shots.
In addition, Samsung includes a secondary wide angle that lacks autofocus and offers somewhat mediocre quality in low light situations (outdoors it can get out of hand).
As a filling, the Galaxy A42 5G includes a macro camera and a depth sensor, two elements that do not quite complement the use of the other two cameras.
We have found that the mobile offers a great photographic performance, the truth is that Samsung achieves a very competent mid-range in terms of multimedia capture.
Especially with its 48 megapixel main sensor, a camera that processes 12 megapixels taking advantage of the 4 to 1 grouping of the
pixel binning.
The shots are sharp enough, they maintain detail even in third plane objects, the processing offers an adequate dynamic range in most shots (if the light contrast is strong, it tends to underexpose) and the colors remain natural.
The camera application included by Samsung maintains the enormous versatility of the higher models.
Portrait mode taking advantage of the 'Dynamic focus' function, the night mode achieves a decent performance in twilight situations (if there is homogeneous light better use the automatic mode), the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G has the 'Single Capture' function to perform different shots taking advantage of the different cameras, includes 'Pro' mode and allows video recording up to 4K taking advantage of the 16: 9 format.
The jump between the main camera and the wide angle is somewhat slow, said wide angle does not offer autofocus (neither does macro), the ends are distorted by perspective (it does not have wide angle correction by software) and the level of detail it is very improvable.
Outdoors and with abundant light, the main sensor does not throw problems: the mobile photographs with good quality, it maintains color matching, the dynamic range is good and also the level of detail.
At night the main sensor behaves surprisingly well, no matter how much it throws up the logical increase in noise and decrease in detail.
In automatic mode (the sample is taken without night mode) the mobile gets good shots with homogeneous lighting.
With the night mode, the possibilities of improving the scene are expanded at the cost of watercolors and certain color aberrations.
Portrait mode (dynamic focus) lets you apply software blur to people, animals, and objects.
The edge treatment is correct, maintains great detail in the foreground and does not exaggerate the effect of bokeh.
In addition, the function allows to vary the aperture in real time (amount of blur) and also when the photo is in the gallery.
The front camera presents more difficulties than expected.
It does not offer great detail, nor is its nocturnal behavior the best.
With portrait mode, take photos with blur in the foreground and some noise even in scenes with medium lighting.
The effect applied by portrait mode (dynamic focus) can be improved.
Below you have a gallery of images taken with the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G in different situations and scenes.
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G, the opinion of Engadget Mobile 5G is an element that stands out in the phone, and not only for mobile connectivity: having a processor compatible with these networks (Snapdragon 750G) raises the overall performance of the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G .
The operation is very fluid, endures like a champion even squeezing his guts in high games ...
We analyze the cheapest Samsung mobile with 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G.
An elegant phone, light, with a pleasant touch and a level of features that is more than good for what it is worth.
We have verified this throughout our analysis.
Samsung's mid-range launched compatibility with next-generation mobile networks thanks to the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G, a mobile balanced in specifications that, at least on paper, should not behave very badly.
And we have been lucky to see it: let's see how the phone behaves by analyzing it in daily use.
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G data sheet Samsung Galaxy A42 5G 6.6-inch AMOLED screen HD + Snapdragon 750G processor Adreno 619 GPU RAM 4 GB Storage 128 GB MicroSD up to 1 TB Front camera 20 MP f / 2.2 Rear camera 48 MP f / 1.8 8 MP f / 2.2 wide angle 5 MP f / 2.4 bokeh 5 MP f / 2.4 macro Battery 5,000 mAh 15W fast charge Android operating system 10One UI 2.5 Connectivity 5G Wi-Fi dual band Bluetooth 5.0NFC Others Fingerprint reader under the screen Dimensions and weight 164.4 x 75.9 x 8.6 mm 190 g.
Price 325 euros Samsung Galaxy A42 5G | Free Android Smartphone 6.6 "" HD + | 4G RAM 128GB Expandable Internal Memory | 5,000 mAh battery and fast charge Black Color [Versión española] Thin, light and with a quality touch despite the plastic The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G inherits much of the design, thickness and sensations in hand of the highest range, such as the Samsung Galaxy S20 or Galaxy Note 20.
Saving the logical distances, and having Keep in mind that the body and back of the phone are made of polycarbonate, the truth is that our protagonist is appreciated of great quality.
It does not weigh excessively, it is very manageable even though its dimensions are large, it does not slip in the hand and maintains a very elegant appearance; also striking, the contrast of color and screening for the later design is distinguished (in the white model the contrast is very subtle).
The rear plastic face is curved on the sides to facilitate grip; the physical buttons are on the right side and at a comfortable distance from the fingers; the tray for the SIM and SD is anchored to the left side (it is double, you have to choose between two SIMs or SIM and SD); and at the bottom the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G boasts a USB C port, headphone jack and external speaker output.
In addition, the phone does not have an external capacitive fingerprint reader to include an optical scanner under the screen; with an adequate operation even though the reading sometimes has to be repeated because the reader did not identify the finger the first time (the unlocking is always immediate).
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G has a headphone jack, FM radio, NFC and 5G: it is a very complete mid-range in terms of connectivity.
Samsung maintains the balance at the top with the inclusion of a Super AMOLED panel that offers high brightness (viewing the content outdoors is not complicated), also the contrast is kept at the same level.
On the other hand, the resolution is one step away from what is desired: HD + (720 x 1,600 pixels).
Given the size of the screen (6.6 inches), there are certain apps and games where a certain lack of sharpness is appreciated (it is not something that penalizes excessively on a daily basis if you basically use messaging and social networks).
In addition, Samsung allows you to customize the panel display to vary the temperature or adjust the saturation.
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G starts with the panel somewhat saturated as standard (from the settings it can be reduced), it also offers a noticeable use of the front thanks to the tiny hole for the front camera.
Sound is another aspect where the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G raises its average score: both for quality, and for the number of options included, the phone is a good example that the mid-range does not have to do without audio with enough quality.
Great music reproduction through the 3.5 mm jack, noticeable audio through Bluetooth (more HD codecs are missing, such as aptX HD) and great volume for the external speaker that, as usual, suffers from distortion due to over a third of volume.
This volume is high enough.
More powerful than expected, all thanks to 5G Samsung's mid-range is usually marked by a processor of the brand that usually offers certain performance problems.
This is how we review it in the Samsung Galaxy A40 and Samsung Galaxy A51; quite the opposite of what happens with the protagonist of our analysis: the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G is quite powerful, it is hardly weighed down and, in fact, it is not too far from how the Note 20 Ultra behaves, a mobile that we treasure as personal.
Always saving distances.
It is true that from time to time it offers some slowdown, even though the mobile phone moves the interface very well, it does not delay too much in the launch of apps and offers an excellent graphic capacity in games like Genshin Impact or PUBG.
The 'low' resolution of the screen contributes to overall performance.
And it is appreciated that Samsung includes 128 GB of storage; with the counterpoint that 4 GB of RAM can be done something fair in the future (we have not found a major problem in daily use).
Here are the usual benchmark tests.
Without being decisive, they do reveal a more than decent power.
From left to right, Geekbench, 3D Mark and Pc Mark Work The software does not stand out too much, little more can be said about One UI: characteristic Samsung style, loaded with options, with Samsung Pay included, without excess 'bloatware' beyond embedding Facebook, Microsoft software, and native Samsung (much of it can be uninstalled).
The Galaxy A42 5G is highly customizable as standard and has no major drawback than the possible hobbies with the cape.
Of course, Samsung will take time to update it to Android 11 with One UI 3.0: according to its calendar, the Galaxy A42 5G will not receive the update until May 2021.
It is one of the most negative aspects of the phone.
From the most negative to one of the points where the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G stands out the most: its autonomy.
Given the compatibility with 5G, the battery is generous enough without excessive thickness or weight being appreciated: the 5,000 mAh feels very good to use.
In fact, it has lasted us on average for more than three days with moderate use; with the guaranteed day even abusing games or streaming.
In terms of charging, it does not take that much chest: the 15 W of the charger completely revives the phone in almost two hours.
The times are as follows: 5 minutes of battery: 5% battery.
10 minute battery life: 9% battery life.
20 minute battery life: 18% battery life.
30 minute battery life: 26% battery life.
50 minute battery life: 44% battery life.
Total: 1 hour and 57 minutes.
Many cameras, even if only one protrudes The square module marks the back of the phone showing its four cameras.
As is customary in mid-range phones, the main sensor stands out from the rest for the quality and versatility of its shots.
In addition, Samsung includes a secondary wide angle that lacks autofocus and offers somewhat mediocre quality in low light situations (outdoors it can get out of hand).
As a filling, the Galaxy A42 5G includes a macro camera and a depth sensor, two elements that do not quite complement the use of the other two cameras.
We have found that the mobile offers a great photographic performance, the truth is that Samsung achieves a very competent mid-range in terms of multimedia capture.
Especially with its 48 megapixel main sensor, a camera that processes 12 megapixels taking advantage of the 4 to 1 grouping of the pixel binning.
The shots are sharp enough, they maintain detail even in third plane objects, the processing offers an adequate dynamic range in most shots (if the light contrast is strong, it tends to underexpose) and the colors remain natural.
The camera application included by Samsung maintains the enormous versatility of the higher models.
Portrait mode taking advantage of the 'Dynamic focus' function, the night mode achieves a decent performance in twilight situations (if there is homogeneous light better use the automatic mode), the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G has the 'Single Capture' function to perform different shots taking advantage of the different cameras, includes 'Pro' mode and allows video recording up to 4K taking advantage of the 16: 9 format.
The jump between the main camera and the wide angle is somewhat slow, said wide angle does not offer autofocus (neither does macro), the ends are distorted by perspective (it does not have wide angle correction by software) and the level of detail it is very improvable.
Outdoors and with abundant light, the main sensor does not throw problems: the mobile photographs with good quality, it maintains color matching, the dynamic range is good and also the level of detail.
At night the main sensor behaves surprisingly well, no matter how much it throws up the logical increase in noise and decrease in detail.
In automatic mode (the sample is taken without night mode) the mobile gets good shots with homogeneous lighting.
With the night mode, the possibilities of improving the scene are expanded at the cost of watercolors and certain color aberrations.
Portrait mode (dynamic focus) lets you apply software blur to people, animals, and objects.
The edge treatment is correct, maintains great detail in the foreground and does not exaggerate the effect of bokeh.
In addition, the function allows to vary the aperture in real time (amount of blur) and also when the photo is in the gallery.
The front camera presents more difficulties than expected.
It does not offer great detail, nor is its nocturnal behavior the best.
With portrait mode, take photos with blur in the foreground and some noise even in scenes with medium lighting.
The effect applied by portrait mode (dynamic focus) can be improved.
Below you have a gallery of images taken with the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G in different situations and scenes.
Samsung Galaxy A42 5G, the opinion of Engadget Mobile 5G is an element that stands out in the phone, and not only for mobile connectivity: having a processor compatible with these networks (Snapdragon 750G) raises the overall performance of the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G .
The operation is very fluid, endures like a champion even squeezing his guts in high games ...
