Samsung Galaxy M55: making the good a little worse (Review)

Samsung took advantage of the first quarter of 2024 to launch a large number of new mobile phones; Galaxy M55 is one of them. The model in the special series for e-commerce has some interesting features such as a Qualcomm display and processor.

The device is pretty stable but has a few issues, mainly related to the cameras, and these seem to have worsened compared to last year’s model. Check out our full review of Samsung’s latest handset, the Galaxy M55.

Is Galaxy M55 beautiful?

Galaxy M55 looks pretty mid-range. For example, it did not follow the line of A series devices such as the A55, which gained a more premium appearance and had a glass back and metal sides.

The M55 has a plastic structure on the sides and back. In fact, the back is a bit matte and textured, which gives the phone a slightly glossy appearance. On the back though, the smartphone has three cameras arranged vertically; in the same format as other Samsung devices.

While there are lock and volume buttons on the right side of the M55, there are USB-C input and audio output at the bottom. On the left we have a drawer where we can place the chip and microSD card.

The version Samsung lent us was in navy blue, which is very nice and suitable for those who don’t want to attract too much attention. The M55 is a fairly large device, and although my hands are relatively large, using it with one hand requires some effort. I especially like large mobile phones and I also liked the usability of the M55 because it is very light and thin.

Is the Galaxy M55 screen good?

Galaxy M55 ads highlight the device’s screen. And since it’s a 6.7-inch AMOLED Full HD Plus, it’s actually pretty good. The screen offers very vibrant colors and distorts images very little. Black tones are dark and the contrast of the images is high. Anyone who wants to watch their TV series, soap operas or anime during lunch will be guaranteed to see high-definition images.

The brightness of the mobile phone also makes it possible to see the screen even in bright sunlight. Like almost all smartphones today, it comes with an adaptive brightness feature that modulates the light according to your environment.

On the negative side, screen usage is among the points that could be better on the M55. It mainly has these prominent black edges on the top and bottom.

Will the Galaxy M55’s battery last long?

As for the battery, the M55 is a bit disappointing, although it does justice to its product concept. It’s actually an intermediate device with an intermediate battery, but it’s worth contextualizing it. With typical usage for my profile, social networks, messaging apps, some YouTube, and games, it took the smartphone about a day and a half to go from 100% to zero.

And that’s all, because this is the standard use of many mobile phones today. What I mean is that the M55 is 1,000mAh less than its bigger brother, the M54, which launches in March 2023.

Of course, the nominal capacity of the battery does not guarantee that you will get a lot of power. But my point is that Samsung could have kept the M54’s 6,000 mAh in the M55 and still made software improvements. Continuing this energy theme, the smartphone comes with a 15 W charger and supports 45 W fast charging.

How does the Galaxy M55 perform?

Galaxy M55 can be a mobile phone for those who do not like Exynos processors. Samsung placed the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset on the device, which was released in 2022 with a gaming footprint.

Although theoretically “old”, 2024 is one of the most competitive processors for the middle class. It is available on devices such as Motorola Razr 40 and Xiaomi 13 Lite.

In my nearly two weeks of testing with the M55, it performed well when switching between apps, with almost no lag or crashes. Frankly, the ideal would be to test the mobile phone for a longer period of time to see if the performance will be affected by the accumulation of files and updates. But at least I did not experience any transaction problems in this short period of time.

The M55 also runs a wide range of game types very well. I have tested Asphalt 9, PUBG This COD: War Zone Everything went smoothly with no notable issues.

Another interesting point is that the mobile phone does not get hot even if played for several minutes, showing good heat dissipation and a balance of software and hardware to withstand heavier use.

Are the Galaxy M55 cameras good?

The M55 is perhaps the biggest disappointment when it comes to the camera. The mobile phone encounters difficulties with all lenses, and in some cases the results of the photos are quite questionable.

Although the main lens is 50 MP, it offers a rather washed and distorted image. The lens has difficulty capturing the true color of the scenes, and when the environment is bright, everything remains pure white.

In photographs of people, distortions occur when the skin passes through a filter that leaves the saturation slightly high. Selfies using portrait mode have a very warm tone, which takes the color of the photo away from the actual image. This may not be a problem for those who don’t care about filters, but it can become a problem for those who like the most faithful recordings possible.

The M55’s macro camera also has a big problem focusing on images. Sometimes it may take some time to clearly see the object you want to photograph near your mobile phone. The same difficulty in focusing is seen in photographs taken at night, and these recordings made in low-light environments also present very low resolution, blurry sections.

The 10x zoom photos are perhaps the most disappointing, as everything becomes almost blurry and the footage looks like it was taken with a digital camera in the early 2000s.

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

The image was recorded by Galaxy M55. (Image: Carlos Palmeira/TecMundo)

If the aspect ratio is 9:16, there are also color and fidelity problems in videos that can be recorded at up to 60 frames per second.

Is the Galaxy M55 worth it?

The Galaxy M55 is a handset that offers a different selling proposition only through Samsung’s digital channels and the company’s e-commerce partners. There is only a 256GB version of the handset and I think this is a good amount of space to store all your file saves, games, photos and videos.

Galaxy M55 launched in Brazil at a suggested price of R$ 3,199; I think this is overrated for the performance it offers. Considering that it is competing with other devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy A55 and Motorola Edge 40 Neo, it seems that the M55 is far behind.

It is a device with a beautiful appearance, a processor with good performance for games, an excellent screen and a satisfactory battery. But on the other hand, the cameras leave much to be desired and, in addition to lowering the average of the mobile phone, they seem to have become worse compared to the M54.

Moreover, although the mobile phone has gained 45 W charging support, it has lost a thousand mAh battery compared to its older brother (this is not good information when you remember that you need to buy the most powerful charger). So if you want a device for recording photos and videos, I’d say the M55 is probably not the ideal smartphone. If you are not one of those people who like to record every moment, M55 may be suitable for you.

So what do you think about the Galaxy M55? follow him TecMundo on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter)Thanks to TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, you won’t miss any news about the world of technology!