back to article Samsung’s midrange A54 is lovely, but users won't feel seen

A confession: I have learned that the iPhone 13's facial recognition facility can successfully identify me while I brush my teeth. There I stand, brush protruding from a gaping jaw, foam flecked about my lips, and Apple logs me in without a moment's pause. It also identifies me in the dark, in broad daylight, and at all hours …

  1. pmugabi
    Stop

    Duh, comparing apples to oranges

    The Samsung phone has got a fingerprint reader. Which is the preferred method to login.

    The iPhone does not have a fingerprint reader so they have to use a much better facial recognition method.

    A properly setup Android phone will wake up when you pick it up and then unlock when you touch the fingerprint reader. Although I think a power button fingerprint reader beats most under screen fingerprint readers (like the A54 has).

    Please standby for my iPhone 15 (or whatever the current iteration is) review where I complain about the lack of a fingerprint reader.

    1. Robin

      Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

      This has echoes of "you're holding it wrong".

      Sure, there are situations where a fingerprint reader is more convenient than facial recognition, but if it has the latter as a capability then shouldn't it work properly, even if it's not the preferred method?

      1. jmch Silver badge

        Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

        "shouldn't it work properly, even if it's not the preferred method?"

        Yes it should, and I would much rather it's set up to reject false negatives rather than even once allow a false positive. If the iPhone happily logs you in under all conditions, who else is it willing to log in under certain conditions?

    2. 42656e4d203239 Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

      >>I think a power button fingerprint reader beats most under screen fingerprint readers (like the A54 has).

      Nope definitely not good for me - under screen sensor (or back of the case sensor) for me every time. Bloody work phone keeps switching on in my pocket, in response to my thumbprint, as I am pulling it out to answer a call and then hanging up becasue the phone detects the swipe against my leg as I exctract if from my trouser pocket.

      I often leave it off my person in case I drop a call that is actually important, which means I tend to abandon it in random places on site.

      1. bo111

        Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

        phone keeps switching on in my pocket

        Try Settings: Display > Accidental touch protection ON, Touch sensitivity OFF.

    3. Julian 8

      Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

      Finger printer reader on the power button - I do not like at all

      Firstly, the cases all get in the way - it does work mostly without a case, but I like my cases (current one has been adapted with a v sharp knife, but still more miss than hit)

      Second, a power button sensor seems incredibly small area compared to a sensor at the bottom (though not having taken a phone apart, it maybe the sensors are actually identical)

      Thiird, if the phone is down on the table and I have to authenticate whatever app/site/breathing of fresh air requires me to authenticate, the finger printer reader being on the side of the phone is a pain as the phone has to be grasped to work. The sensor at the bottom, press your finger on it and off you go.

      Finally, fingerprint sensor on the power button is also potentially a reason for a lot of the recent ghost/silent calls to emergency services. I have done it myself until I initially changed the number it dialled to call the other half, and then found how to just disable it.

      However, as Samsung have dropped the SD card after the S9, I am limited in what phones I will buy and until now, never really considered how useful the sensor at the bottom of the phone was

      1. DJO Silver badge

        Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

        ...Samsung have dropped the SD card after the S9...

        Are you sure about that? I've got a S10+ and it definitely supports MicroSD cards up to 512G, maybe more.

        Apparently the S9 supports MicroSD cards up to 400G.

        If it's full size SD cards you need, forget it, nothing new has used them for years and adapters are easily available for legacy equipment.

        1. Julian 8

          Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

          Yup, you are right.. S10 was the last model that had microSD card

          Still means I won't be buying a Samsung device - shame as my S9 was pretty reliable until just before we were to go on holiday in May and then the screen started the not working / going greenish / piddlng about.

          Don't mind for normal daily use, but as they are so useful for 90% of the photography I do on holiday, I could not risk the phone doing that and me losing the shot.

          1. collinsl Silver badge

            Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

            I have an A54 and it supports micro SD cards in the SIM2 slot - in fact my last card died in there after I'd been using it for 8ish years through various phone iterations (starting with an S5 IIRC)

          2. Dave K

            Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

            My Samsung Galaxy S20 with 128GB MicroSD card begs to differ.

            They dropped it for the S21, part of the reason I went for the S20 - particularly as the S21's release meant that the S20 prices dropped significantly...

    4. Suburban Inmate

      Re: Duh, comparing apples to oranges

      Better or looser FR?

      I don't know the state of play with current FR, but I once logged in to a mate's laptop with a picture of him on my phone.

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Mushroom

    "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

    Um no. If I pay $450 for a bloomin' phone, it had damn well better perform flawlessly. Not costing $1K is not an excuse.

    I will overlook flaws if I buy a $150 second-hand phone, not if I buy a >$200 brand new squawker from a store.

    1. Piro

      Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

      Exactly, $450 is not cheap.

      My current phone cost (with 25% VAT) the equivalent of $280. (barely over $220 without VAT)

      I won't be convinced that $500+ phones are the norm or reasonable for the vast majority.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

        $120 phone here (Moto G7 Play). While not so much as anything from Apple, these are disposable devices. Non-removable storage (a consumable item) means the device is meant to be used like a Bic pen... thrown away when it stops working. $450 is far too dear for a disposable.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

      450 Australian dollars is pretty reasonable these days if you ask me - about UKP240, or EUR275.

      1. Martin an gof Silver badge

        Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

        I realise Simon is based in the antipodes, but are we sure he's given the price in AU$? If your conversions are correct that seems relatively cheap to me.

        Reminds me of getting cross a few weeks back when he wrote something quoting times in some obscure central Australian daylight-saving zone that I'd never heard of until I looked it up. The context would have been much easier to understand if he'd converted to UTC/GMT or something else well-known...

        M.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

          gsmarena.com quoted the price as "£ 268.99 / € 326.99 / $ 305.00 / C$ 395.62". That was close enough to the converted numbers to make me realise what was going on. (Insert usual disclaimers about which taxes are and aren't included in quoted prices, how much different prices are padded in different countries to avoid the effects of currency shifts, etc.)

          1. Lazlo Woodbine Silver badge

            Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

            "gsmarena.com quoted the price as "£ 268.99 / € 326.99 / $ 305.00 / C$ 395.62""

            I don't think those prices are accurate, as the 8gb price is well below the 6gb price.

            Everywhere I've looked, the 6gb/128gb model is £449

        2. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

          Not AUD

          It's in USD, direct from Samsung. You can get it cheaper elsewhere of course.

          C.

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      It is USD but...

      Hiya --- FWIW $450 (as in USD) is Samsung's direct price but you can find it discounted elsewhere or part of a plan.

      Also we've added in a few more specs for those asking for them. Our 'first look' pieces are more hands-on comment articles about using stuff for the first time as opposed to a detailed review.

      C.

    4. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

      This. For $450, flaws are unacceptable.

      But like you, I'm never paying that much for a damn phone.

    5. low_resolution_foxxes

      Re: "But at $450, outright, its flaws are easy to overlook"

      The Xiaomi POCO range has decent pricing on Amazon.

      There's something about Samsung that I just haven't liked about smartphones for a while now. At one point it was the early attempts to get rid of the headphone jack, weird forced apps that could not be deleted, overpriced stupidity etc.

      I recently picked up a Pixel 6a and it has the fingerprint reader in the screen. I'm really not liking this solution, I had become very used to using a button on the side which helped me multitask (I could unlock the phone one-handed). The fingerprint scanner in screen really needs to be a two handed operation (or a fiddly and annoying single handed effort)

  3. lvm
    Devil

    Like most, a piece of horrid designer crap with defective screen

    A phone must be able to survive the slings and arrows of everyday usage including the drop on concrete from the typical height without - mind it - without additional protection. This means that glass is not an acceptable material for the back panel. Just isn't. And rounded corners are not cool. The day when they learned how to do cut shapes out of the proper rectangular screen, and proceeded doing so instead of re-watching Jurassic Park, is the saddest day in smartphone history. The phone is an information device - a computer. Would you use a monitor with rounder corners? Or a notch? Why should the phone have them - they are screen defects. This screen is defective.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. dajames

    Screen too large ...

    Well, no, I like big screens (with proper corners and no notch) ... but I like small phones. The madcap rush to bigger and bigger phones is leaving an increasingly large sector of the market with nowhere to go.

    Please Samsung (and others) make a smaller version with a screen of no more than 6" for those of us with normal pockets!

    1. benjya

      Re: Screen too large ...

      Absolutely agree 100%. The Galaxy A3 2017 was amazing - decent phone with a 4.7" screen. My current phone is still the smallest (mid range, reasonable priced) Android I could find (2 years ago) - a Pixel 4a which is 5.8" screen.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: Screen too large ...

        Agreed. My main gripe about my current device is that it is too big at 5.7 inches. 4.7 inches would be a big improvement, but why not all the way down to the original iPhone's 4.0 inches? There are a million competitors for the "phablet" segment of the market. Not all of us are glued to our phones all day like a "zoomer." I carry mine around a lot but use it seldom... so it is reasonable to optimize it for being carried around more than being used.

  5. Ken G Silver badge

    Reviews are pretty pointless these days

    They served a purpose when there were large differences in build, UI and performance but these days pretty much anything you buy for over €100 from recognisable brand will just work.

    1. mdubash

      Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

      Yup. I've been buying Xiaomi phones around the £200 mark for years. All have worked fine, and accept headphone jacks and SD cards. I remain astonished that people are willing to pay £1,000 or more for a nice badge.

      1. Piro

        Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

        Something charming Xiaomi will still offer you (last I checked) was the IR blaster. Fantastic for messing with hotel TVs and the like.

        1. IHateWearingATie
          Pint

          Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

          Oh my word - I haven't had a phone with that for ages!

          I loved messing with the TV at the in-laws as they wondered what's going on.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

        What sort of support and updates do you get with that £200 Xiaomi phone?

        Reason I went for Samsung A54 was 4-5 years support and good camera.

        A54 UK price at £500 seems pretty high. Picked up an A54 8GB 256GB direct from Samsung for 13000THB here in Thailand. Around £290.

        1. CJ_C

          Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

          Support and screen size are why I have a Pixel 3a running Ubuntu Touch and supported by UBports. Now on 20.04 with only a few wrinkles.

          I have had mine for a couple of years and I expect it to last the same again. It cost over £100 secondhand. I needed a protective cover and replace screen protectors from time to time. Battery still fine but not user replaceable. Lack of memory card not currently an issue.

          YMMV.

          I am 71 and don't do social media...

      3. Updraft102

        Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

        Headphone jacks remain a MUST on phones and laptops for me. It's an automatic NO if it does not have one, no matter what the other specs may show.

        1. Dominimmiv

          Re: Reviews are pretty pointless these days

          You do know you can plug in a USB-C dongle and then you have a headphone jack?

  6. Rob 15

    Budget phones

    Maybe you could review one of those £85 from Argos. A friend got one, which I criticised, but actually for his purposes (casual web browsing and email) it seems ok. Apparently it runs Android Go, and it makes me think I don't need to get premium phones any more.

    1. Martin an gof Silver badge

      Re: Budget phones

      Android Go is one of those things that seems like a good idea, but (in my very limited experience) unless your needs really are fairly simple it can become frustrating. A friend has had an Android Go Nokia for some years. College needed him to install something (probably just a Teams Client or similar - can't remember now) and the 1GB RAM in the thing really didn't like it. Even in general use he'd find lag swapping between apps as things were paged in and out. I think at the time he bought his Nokia, some Go phones still had ½GB RAM, so 1GB seemed a good plan. These days I think 2GB is recommended.

      I have the same problem with KaiOS. Seemed ideal for a child who really wasn't ready to look after a smartphone but would benefit from a basic web browser, email and the ability to create a 4G hotspot for the school-mandated Chromebook. Nokia's tough KaiOS phone was delivered with a keyboard so badly borked (random or missed keypresses) I couldn't even get it set up. Bought a CAT device to replace it, and over time its keyboard too has deteriorated. The hardware seems identical.

      The web browser works, but is a pain on the small screen and I could not get the email to talk to my self-hosted IMAP server.

      In both cases (Android Go / KaiOS) you seem to get a small discount in cost over a "bog standard" smartphone for a big discount in abilities. For £20 or £30 more it's possible to get a low-end smartphone with full-blown Android? Hmmm...

      M.

      1. Ken G Silver badge

        Re: Budget phones

        KaiOS was one I had high hopes for. I got one of the Nokia banana phones but it was just too fiddly with too few apps.

        I'd be tempted by a cut down, small screen Android with no touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard ala Nokia E71.

        Something that will run PWA and basic navigation, email and transport apps but also be made of solid steel and have a battery that lasts over a week.

        1. doublelayer Silver badge

          Re: Budget phones

          While some places have made devices kind of like that, they're generally not as powerful as you might want. The closest that I have seen is the Titan Pocket from Unihertz, which does have a QWERTY keyboard and a small screen (it is still a touchscreen). It's also solidly built and has a pretty good battery life. However, it still runs Android 11, I'm pretty sure, and it's from a manufacturer that only builds a few devices. Depending on your preferences, it may not be the right one for you, but I don't have other ones that are anywhere near as close to what you've described.

      2. Updraft102

        Re: Budget phones

        I'd pay more for the one without the full-blown spyware.

        1. Martin an gof Silver badge

          Re: Budget phones

          I'd pay more for the one without the full-blown spyware.

          My latest wheeze has been to look at the list of officially supported phones for Lineage OS and then buy something - probably second-hand - from that list. Install Lineage without the GApps and without a PlayStore account (I just use Fdroid) and I think you deal with most of the spyware by default.

          M.

  7. D@v3

    facial recognition

    I've got so used to Apple's FaceID being so good at recognising me (glasses, no glasses, polarized sunglasses, hat, toothbrush, various other accessories) that I am almost convinced that it doesn't work at all and just accepts anything that vaguely resembles a face, apart from the fact that I can demonstrate it does work by trying to get someone else to unlock it.

    Compare this to the Samsung phones that we issue at work (A12 I think, admittedly a couple of years old), where the face unlock is so unreliable we don't set it up for people. I can be sat at my desk, unlocks with face once. Lock the device, try again, and it fails, with no environmental changes. we've had a few people try it, and have ended up locking themselves out of the phone (not sure how, but that's users for ya)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: facial recognition

      A colleague could always get his twin brother to unlock his phone.

  8. Pete 2 Silver badge

    A pain in the ... ear

    > midrange handsets like the A54 deserve a 3.5mm headphone port

    Yes. I changed my phone earlier this year. I specifically excluded every model that failed to have a headphone socket.

    I have some very nice wired earbuds that I am quite attached to. Especially when they are in my ears! I can think of no reason to make them obsolete. Especially when all the wireless earbuds are both acoustically worse and much less convenient to use.

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: A pain in the ... ear

      And FM Radio... still hanging to my A50 because newer models are missing that feature.

      1. Kernel

        Re: A pain in the ... ear

        "And FM Radio... still hanging to my A50 because newer models are missing that feature."

        Just bought a Nokia C32 with 3.5mm audio jack and inbuilt FM radio - also up to 512GB microSD and (not or) two SIM slots.

  9. Rich 2 Silver badge

    How much?

    I would ask what $450 is in proper money

    But, of course, el reg is American now isn’t it?

    Duh! Stupid me

  10. jollyboyspecial

    "A confession: I have learned that the iPhone 13's facial recognition facility can successfully identify me while I brush my teeth.

    There I stand, brush protruding from a gaping jaw, foam flecked about my lips, and Apple logs me in without a moment's pause. It also identifies me in the dark, in broad daylight, and at all hours of variable brightness in between."

    If it recognises you in those conditions how sure are you that it wouldn't also recognise somebody who looks a bit like you? Or somebody wearing a you mask?

    Given hope many false positives police use of facial recognition has famously turned up, I wouldn't trust it to unlock my phone.

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