Before a sequel arrives, it fills me with excitement, hope and trepidation. In Hollywood we have had The Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back. In music we have The Marshall Mathers LP 2, the 2013 album that serves as a sequel to Eminem’s album from 2000.

In tech, more than follow-ups and sequels, it’s about succession. We could have published the review of Samsung Galaxy A52 a couple of days early but we wanted to check where the successor to one of 2020’s best phones stands compared to some of the recent launches — Redmi Note 10 Pro Max or Realme 8 Pro. Frankly, the Galaxy A52 is the most comfortable phone out there. Comfortable in the hand. Comfortable on the pocket. Comfortable on the nerves when it shoots pictures.

Forget all the 108MP talks filling social media and ask yourself what’s the best way to have a pizza — taking fancy silverware to a comfort food or with your fingers from the kitchen counter where we are at our happiest.

Here are some of the reasons why the Galaxy A52 may strike gold in the midrange segment in the next few weeks.

Dependable set of cameras

Perhaps the best feature on the phone is the one Samsung hasn’t mentioned on the box — dependability. With most Android phones, I take a couple of extra shots of what I am aiming at in case the camera falters while capturing the right amount of light or throws in some blurry elements. Here, almost always, the colours are spot on. What you see is what you get. The main shooter captures at 64MP with optical image stablisation, which is an expensive technology.

I like 108MP cameras but only when it comes with something extra, like the dual telephoto lens of the Galaxy S21 Ultra. It’s about 108MP coming with a secret sauce. That’s cutting-edge tech at a, well, cutting-edge price. Here’s meaningful tech at a comfortable price. Not all of us view high-resolution images that we share from our phones on high-end displays. The number of pixels also isn’t all that we should look for. Keep an eye on colour accuracy and image processing.

Plus, OIS stablisation helps when you are shooting videos. Complementing the excellent video quality is a feature that lets you extract 8MP images from 4K videos, which is a helpful feature when you are shooting, say, a sporting event. The night mode as well as the ultra-wide camera are equally good.

There is a ‘fun’ mode where you can access a range of filters and fun elements.

Outdoor and indoor sample shots taken using Samsung’s Galaxy A52 Sourced by the correspondent

Zippy performance

With a Samsung phone, rest assured you will get the best display. Many other brands buy displays from the South Korean company for obvious reasons. What you get on the Galaxy A52 is a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED 2400 x 1080 pixels display with 90Hz refresh rate. Not that the display is very different from, say, the M51 but the screen can get very bright, besides offering a rich spectrum of colours. Yes, it’s only 90Hz refresh rate on the display compared to the 120Hz panel on the Redmi Note 10 Pro. It’s best not to base your buying decision on refresh rates. Look at the iPhone 12 Pro — it has 60Hz refresh rate but comes across zippier than any 120Hz screen out there. What I like this time is the addition of stereo speakers, which takes streaming to a new level.

Running the show is a Snapdragon 720G processor with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM. You will barely find any difference had the processor been Samsung’s own Exynos. Apps load without a hitch and you can easily edit videos on the phone.

Should you buy it?

There is no 5G, which makes no difference because you won’t have 5G for quite some time. Second, there is a 4,500mAh battery which lasts around two days and the battery can be fueled up at the blink of an eye. It supports fast-charging but instead of the 15W charger in the box, I wish there was a 25W charger. The only other complain is some bloatware options during the initial set-up. Should you wait for OnePlus 9? The two phones are in different zones or price brackets. Will you be taking printout of the photos you click? If yes, a Samsung flagship or Apple is the answer.

After giving its flagship phone a serious camera hardware upgrade this year, Samsung is continuing the good work on its other devices. Samsung Galaxy A52 features some clever upgrades to make it an excellent choice for a practical user, minus compromises.

Device: Samsung Galaxy A52 (Rs 26499 for 6GB+128GB and Rs 27999 for 8GB+128GB)

• 90Hz display refresh rate

• Good day and night camera performance

• Fast-charging

Muffled notes

• Though there is support for 25W fast-charging, in the box is a 15W charger