SAMSUNG GALAXY A42 5G REVIEW | SAMSUNG GALAXY | SAMSUNG
A mid-range phone with a big screen, huge battery, and all kinds of 5G connectivity
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G is a perfectly good mid-range phone that doesn't really need to exist.
Taking it at face value, it's priced at $400 with a 6.6-inch OLED screen, generous 5,000mAh battery, and a healthy support policy, which will see it receives security updates over the next few years. It's a pretty good deal.
In terms of Samsung's Galaxy A lineup, it lies between the Galaxy A52 5G and A32 5G, two very good options in their own price bracket. The $499 A52 5G offers a few more high-end bells and whistles than the A42 5G, like a faster refresh screen and an IP67 waterproof rating. At $279, the more basic A32 5G includes an LCD instead of OLED.
GOOD STUFF
- Excellent battery life
- Solid OS upgrade and security support timeline
- Support for sub-6 5G including C-band
BAD STUFF
- Busy UI with lots of pre-downloaded apps
- mmWave support isn’t useful for most people
- Screen resolution is low
But if you're shopping for a new device with Verizon, you won't see the A52 5G or A32 5G on the retailer's shelves (digital or otherwise). Instead, you'll only find the A42 5G, thanks to one of its features and not the other: mmWave 5G support. Until recently, this was a feature reserved for premium phones, and the A42 5G is one of the least expensive devices that can connect to the network. Verizon in particular has been pushing this super-fast flavor of 5G hard over the past few years. Despite its efforts, mmWave is still rare and highly range-limited, but the carrier is still heavily biasing its stock toward devices that support it.
That's why the A42 5G exists, at least in the US, but I don't believe that's a good enough reason for anyone other than Verizon.
SAMSUNG A42 5G SCREEN, BATTERY, AND PERFORMANCE
The Galaxy A42 5G has a 6.6-inch 720p OLED screen. That's not a lot of resolution spread across a fairly large panel, and it shows - you'll notice some pixelation if you look closely at the images. The screen gets bright enough for indoor use, but I have a hard time seeing it outside, even with maximum brightness. The OLED panel delivers good contrast compared to an LCD (that is, what you'd find in a less expensive model like the A32 5G), but otherwise, the display is a bit heavy.
The A42 5G offers an in-display fingerprint sensor for biometric unlocking and it's one of the better ones I've seen in this budget-to-middle class—it's responsive and only occasionally fussy. Budget phones often have sensors that are less accurate and require additional scans more often, and that's a real pain considering how often we unlock our devices every day.
Battery life is excellent for a large 5,000mAh cell – most days I only got it down to 70 percent while sleeping, but even a day with heavy usage that included a Zoom call over cellular data only brought it down to about 50 percent. A power user will surely get a full day and a little extra from it, and with moderate usage, this can easily be extended to two days on a single charge.
The overall performance (there's also a healthy 128GB of storage, and it's expandable via microSD) from the A42 5G's Snapdragon 750 processor and 4GB of RAM is good for day-to-day tasks. The only slowness I noticed was a slight lag in starting the camera app, and a slight delay in using more processing-intensive camera features like Portrait Mode.
The US version of the A42 5G comes with Android 11. In addition, Samsung has guaranteed two additional OS upgrades and four years of security support. In terms of device longevity, that puts it ahead of a lot of midrange Android competition, which often only sees a few years of security support.
Samsung's current implementation of Android is a bit more cluttered than our liking, and activating it on Verizon's network means you'll end up with even more pre-downloaded apps on top of that. it is enough. There's a game featuring a cartoon bear on the phone I've been using for the past few weeks, and I don't care, but I haven't been able to summon Energy to uninstall it.
SAMSUNG A42 5G CAMERA
The A42 5G includes a 48-megapixel f/1.8 main rear camera, which includes an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor, which is absolutely on par for the midrange class. There is also a 13-megapixel selfie camera on the front. A version of the phone sold in the UK and Europe included a 5-megapixel macro and a slightly higher-resolution 5-megapixel depth sensor, but we're not missing out on anything significant by not having those cameras on the US version.
In good light outside, the Galaxy A42 5G takes vibrant, detailed photos. Like other Samsung devices before it, the A42 produces colors that tend toward oversaturated, which can be distracting if they look more natural. Photos in Portrait mode are convincing enough, and the camera can sometimes struggle to decide on white balance and exposure in mixed lighting conditions.
Photos in very low light show a lot of blurry detail for noise reduction, but outside of Pixel phones in this price bracket, it's not something we expect a midrange device to excel at. All told, the A42 5G's photo capabilities are equal to its class. Spending a little more on the A52 5G will get you a stable main camera that will get more sharp shots in dim light and slightly better low-light performance in general, but the A42 measures up well against most of its peers in the $400 range.
The Galaxy A42 5G is a good phone for $400, and if you're committed to buying from Verizon, it's one of the better options at that price. But if you're able to buy an unlocked phone or you're not on Verizon, there are other options, including Samsung's own mid-range lineup, that are worth your consideration. Unless you live in an area with good mmWave coverage and spend a lot of your time outside where the signal can actually be reached, the A42 5G's unique feature is of limited value.
If you're looking to save a little money, the A32 5G is a viable option for $280. You'll get the same security support longevity as the A42 5G with similar photo capabilities, a huge battery, and 5G support that makes up for upcoming improvements to Verizon and AT&T's networks. Its processor is a little less robust and LCD viewing isn't as good as the A42 5G's OLED, but if these things aren't a priority then you can save a bit and go for a less expensive device.