Samsung as a brand stands for durability, good products, great after sales. Over the last few years an area where this brand has made its mark is the product range. It has an extremely versatile range where there is something for everyone. A recent addition is the Galaxy M42 5G. Is it just an affordable 5G device or more than that? Let’s find out.
DESIGN
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G is a big smartphone. As you pull it out of the box the first thing you realize is that it is a large device with a 6.6-inch display. It comes with a minimal bezel around with a dew drop notch. The back panel comes with ‘galsstic’ what Samsung calls a glossy finish. It gets an interesting looking back panel. The back has 4 divisions with the topmost being completely black with the camera module sitting on the left. The cameras module has been very set which doesn’t bulge out at all. The remaining 3 divisors have a dotted fashion which gets lighter by each block. Samsung calls this Prim Dot Black and Prim Dot Gray.
Galaxy M42 5G is 8.6mm in thickness and weighs 193g. The SIM tray is on the left of the plastic frame, while the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, and loudspeaker are at the bottom. The top only has the secondary microphone.
The device is light and can used easily by a single hand. It might not be very comfortable to hold all the time as the device is wide.
FEATURES & PERFORMANCE
Galaxy M42 5G gets a 6.6-inch AMOLED display sports only an HD+ resolution and has a 60Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy M42 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G processor. Samsung offers the Galaxy M42 5G in two variants, with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The storage on both these variants is 128GB. You can expand storage by up to 1TB.
Samsung has picked a capable processor for the Galaxy M42 5G, it surely delivers. I didn’t have face any lag or delay. Multi-tasking was error free. The display feels very comfortable to the eye indoor as well as under bright sunlight.
For gamers the device is a complete bliss. You would enjoy a hazel free gaming session without the phone heating up.
Galaxy M42 5G runs One UI 3.1 on top of Android 11. One UI feels very familiar if you have been using Samsung smartphone, and if not, it is very easy to get used to.
BATTERY
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G comes with a 5000 mAh battery. Which lasts almost a day with regular usage of the device. The device takes around one and half hour to charge fully.
CAMERA
Galaxy M42 has a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a 5-megapixel depth sensor, and a 5-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, it has a 20-megapixel shooter in the dewdrop notch at the front.
Quality and clarity of pictures clicked by the primary lens have satisfactory results. The ultra-wide camera has a lower resolution.
Be it portrait, close or micro shots the results for all of them have been decent and appealing to naked eye.
Photographs in low light are not as good as the primary lens. Night mode does give some good images with the brightness level being high.
Selfies have beautification enabled by default, so you do see yourself a bit fairer and smoother. You get a good portrait option which can help you get pictures worth posting.
Video recording tops out at 4K 30fps for the primary camera. Super Steady mode uses the ultra-wide-angle camera and provides good stabilisation.
VERDICT:
Galaxy M42 5G is an affordable 5G device from Samsung. Which comes with a capable processor, good camera, decent battery life, good performance and design. What it misses out is on a better display but that is why the price of the device has been kept in track. At Rs 21,999 the device does have competition within Samsung and few others but if you are fond of the Korean giant over the Chinese company then this one can be your pick.