This year, like several other manufacturers, Samsung has gone line-extension crazy.

Why offer only premium devices, or budget devices, when you can come up with a phone to fit every single price point in between?

Samsung's mid-range A-series certainly provides some serious bang for buck.

 

The Galaxy A50 looks every bit as classy and sophisticated as its S-series counterparts, despite the fact it's more than $1000 dollars cheaper than some of them. It's available in black or a mysterious white colour that reflects light with a pleasing rainbow effect. 

At first glance the A50 seems to be just as curvy as the flagship models but it's not quite the case. Yes the rear cover curves into the rounded edges but the screen is actually flat. Another subtle difference is the back isn't covered with glass - it's plastic. I don't actually mind these two compromises at all - in fact they probably save money not just at the manufacturing end, but should you need to replace the screen due to breakage, I imagine a flat one will be considerably cheaper and hopefully the plastic rear casing is less inclined to shatter at all.

 

Another eye-catching feature is the tri-lens rear camera configuration, another sign premium photo functionality is becoming more commonplace on mid-range devices. Flip over and you'll see the selfie-cam in a small, water-drop notch, rather than in a corner cutout as you would find on the S10's O-Infinity display, but the screen still stretches far and wide, thanks to the in-display fingerprint sensor.

As usual on almost any Samsung device, the screen quality leaves nothing to be desired. The A50's Super AMOLED display is bright and clear in all light conditions.

Even the user experience once you power the A50 up is strikingly similar to that of the S10. Samsung's One UI is still one of the most user-friendly Android-based interfaces around. Changing to the A50 from another phone is very straightforward; The Smart-Switch app is more comprehensive than ever, especially if you're upgrading from another Samsung device. It's not just contacts and photos you're transferring these days, but homescreen layouts, backgrounds - even WiFi and bluetooth profiles.

What is a major step down is speed. While most software features on the A50 mirror those of the S10, the engine room doesn't come close. The octa-core processor is fast enough for most actions but there's only 4GB of RAM so while operation remains smooth, many things only happen after a bit of a pause. Face unlock, fingerprint sensor, camera app - none of these tasks happen instantly, there's generally a second or two's delay while the phone gets itself together. In saying that, it always works, it just takes longer.

The camera setup is certainly very full-functioned, especially with the inclusion of the ultra-wide lens on the back. There's plenty of AI thrown in - including a scene optimisation setting that'll recognise everything from greenery to scenery, dogs to sunsets, beaches to waterfalls. Picture quality is pretty damn good - as long as there's plenty of light and you don't zoom in too much. That's when you'll start noticing the difference between a $500 phone and a $1500 phone. I really like Samsung's Live Focus (bokeh) setting though and it works well on the A50 - from both front and rear-facing cameras.

For those of you who insist on a dedicated headphone jack, the A50 doesn't disappoint. It also charges via USB Type-C - hopefully an indication microUSB is on the way out, even on lower cost devices.

There's no wireless charging though, which is certainly a shame. It's always one of the first features to be left off to shave the price of a device. No expense spared in terms of battery life though - it's a generous 4000mAh cell which is plenty big enough to get most users through the day - even a long day.

Another optional extra that usually gets sliced to chop the price is water resistance and sure enough, there's no IP rating for the A50, so do try and keep it out of the toilet.

Sound quality also takes a bit of a hit. These days, many high-end handsets have managed to squeeze a pretty decent stereo listening experience out of two fairly small speakers - not so with the A50. You're back to a fairly tinny sound from the single downward firing grille, even if it is reasonably loud.

No worries running accessories like the Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Buds though - again, the software experience controlling these devices through the Wear app is pretty much identical to doing it with the S10.

In fact, so much about the way this phone operates is S10-like, you'd have to wonder why most people would ever consider shelling out for the much more expensive option. The A50 looks first class, it runs the same software and takes perfectly good photos. Yes, it's somewhat limited under the bonnet, with just 4GB of RAM and only 64GB of internal storage, but unless you're using an A50 side-by-side with an S10, you'll probably never know the difference.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy A50.