Samsung Galaxy F62 review: a compelling mid-ranger that ticks most boxes

Review Summary

Expert Rating
4.0/5

Design
★  
3.5
/5
Display
★  
4.0
/5
Software
★  
4.0
/5
Camera
★  
3.5
/5
Performance
★  
4.0
/5
Battery
★  
4.5
/5

Pros

  • Mammoth 7,000mAh battery
  • Daylight photography is very good
  • Smooth performance
  • Superb display

Cons

  • Night mode needs some improvement
  • Could use a higher refresh rate panel
  • No 5G

It seems that the mid-range smartphone category is where the action is these days, and Samsung has its eyes set firmly on it. So much so that it has multiple phone lineups with overlapping offerings in that segment. While the Galaxy A series is supposed to be Samsung’s main lineup in the mid-range, its budget-oriented M series has in recent times breached the above Rs 20,000 barrier as well. With that in mind, it does seem a bit strange to introduce another lineup. However, the Galaxy F series is something that Samsung is banking on to put a firm grip on a market segment that has been a stronghold of its Chinese counterparts. Last year the South Korean giant had debuted the first phone in the F series, the Galaxy F41 (review).

And now there is a successor to the device in the form of the Galaxy F62 and it demands a starting price of Rs 23,999. This time around, Samsung has included the Exynos 9825 chipset seen on flagship phones a couple of years back. Among other things, the F62 boasts Samsung’s signature Super AMOLED panel and also a class-leading 7,000mAh battery. In this review, I will try and figure out how good the device actually is and if it’s worth considering over competitors like the Realme X7 (review), OnePlus Nord (review), and the Mi 10i (review).

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy F62 is a very compelling option right now under the Rs 25,000 mark. It has the performance and the display capabilities to match rivals, while its gigantic battery will blow away any smartphone in its price range. A case can be made against the less than ideal low-light camera quality on the device but it is nothing a software update can’t fix. The Galaxy F62 may not turn a lot of heads with its bulky design, but the battery it houses can keep you running for nearly two days.

Design and display

  • Display: 6.7-inch Super AMOLED
  • Resolution: FHD+ (2,400 × 1,080)
  • Refresh rate: 60Hz
  • Protection: Gorilla Glass 3 front
  • SIM: Dual nano
  • Connectivity: USB Type-C

The Galaxy F62 is a heavy and thick slab of a device, there is no denying it. However, it has to be considered that the phone has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, capacity batteries in the segment at 7,000mAh. When you factor that in, the 9.8mm thickness and 218g of weight don’t sound that bad. The frame of the device is not really narrow but the curved polycarbonate back, or ‘glastic’, as Samsung calls it, gives a smooth grip in the hand. I am also quite pleased with the gradient finishes on all three colour variants, in particular the Laser Blue that I have received. Disappointingly, Samsung has not included a silicone case protector in the box and the F62’s plastic surface does tend to get scratched quite easily. However, apart from this, the device is as sturdy and rigid as they come. On the bottom, you get a USB-C port along with a speaker grille and a headphone jack. A speciality of the F62 is the integration of the fingerprint scanner with the power button on the right, which is something rarely seen on Samsung devices. Above that is a tactile volume rocker button and on the top left, there is a dual-SIM + microSD card slot. The camera hump on the back has a square housing with a quad-camera layout while the flash module lies just below it.

On the front, you see the expansive 6.7-inch screen which is Samsung’s signature Super AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution. The selfie shooter is present in the punch hole at the top-centre of the display and it is a tad bit larger than I would’ve liked. However, the bezels around the panel are quite slim, giving you a much larger screen footprint. The lack of a high refresh rate aside, the F62 shows all the trademarks of a high-end Samsung panel. Right off the bat it supports up to 16million colours and has a 1000000:1 contrast ratio. In my usage, the display has been nothing short of exemplary… whether it was viewing content on YouTube or just browsing through so many of my Google Photos. HDR support is currently not present, although you have WideVine L1 certification for viewing OTT content in HD. Samsung has said the brightness on the panel is 480nits which is not the brightest I have seen but I have had no legibility concerns even in harsh sunlight. Additionally, you get the usual set of display customisation options such as changing the colour vibrancy, dark mode and eye-care toggles, accidental touch protection, and more. Overall the F62 can boast of a stellar viewing experience marred only by the lack of a high refresh rate.

Cameras

  • Rear cameras: 64MP main, 12MP wide-angle, 5MP macro and 5MP depth
  • Front camera: 32MP
  • Video shooting: 4K @ 30fps, 1080p @ 30/60fps, 720 @ 30/60/240fps

As for the optics on the phone, gett a quad-camera setup which is headlined by a 64MP Sony IMX682 sensor and is accompanied by a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, a 5MP macro shooter and a 5MP depth sensor. On the front of the device, there’s a 32MP selfie shooter, much like the ones seen on costlier devices like the Galaxy S20 FE (review) and the Galaxy A71 (review). I quite liked the camera performance on the F62 during bright sunny conditions and even when the weather was overcast. However, the low-light photography was less than ideal. I think that a software solution to this could be in the offing, but for now, here is a brief summary of the Galaxy F62’s photo-taking capabilities.

  • Like any other 64MP sensor, the F62 takes 16MP pixel binned shots in the regular shooting mode and there is the option to switch to UHD 64MP shots with a simple toggle. The advantage of the former is that you get a much better dynamic range and exposure handling while the latter will let you crop massively into a shot for more details.
  • When there is a lot of light, colours will come out quite punchy and slightly oversaturated. HDR works well in bringing out significant details in bright spots while also adjusting the colours. Focusing speeds are relatively fast and there is minimal shutter lag. A Pro mode is also available for taking manual exposure shots with adjustable ISO, shutter speed, and more.
  • The 12MP ultra-wide lens manages a very good 123-degree field of view, putting a lot in the frame as compared to the standard wide-angle. Thankfully the warping at the edges is non-existent and the detailing is more or less equal across the frame instead of being concentrated around the centre.
  • Both the 5MP macro shooter and 5MP depth sensor serve their purposes well. The former can get in as close as 4cm for clicking shots which do have a respectable amount of detail, although colours may not always be on point. The depth sensor’s function is limited to getting good portrait shots, which it performs well although low-light edge detection is quite poor.
  • Lastly, the night photography on the F62 is nothing to write home about. The Scene Optimiser only detects low light if there is literally no light available in the frame. While shots with ample street lighting do come out well, in other situations there is a lot of noise and the detailing is off. The dedicated Night mode also takes an unusually high time to process photos and when it does, apart from slight noise reduction, there is not much improvement in the shot from the regular mode.
  • Selfie shooting capabilities of the device are quite good and Samsung looks to have moved away from its overzealous face sharpening. Shots are quite detailed and have very accurate skin tones. You can also switch to the 32MP mode for more details but the exposure behind will deteriorate slightly. The portrait mode capabilities of the selfie shooter are also quite good and you can also shoot 4K video @30fps.
  • The rear camera can shoot a maximum of 4K @ 30fps while 1080p video can be shot at 60fps.
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Performance and software

  • Chipset: Exynos 9825
  • RAM: 6, 8GB
  • Storage: 128GB, expandable to 1TB
  • Software: OneUI 3.1 with Android 11

The Exynos 9825 chipset is being used to power the Galaxy F62 and it is the flagship-level chipset that was seen on the Galaxy Note 10 lineup back in 2019. The 7nm chipset uses two custom cores along with two Cortex A75 cores for performance and four efficiency Cortex A55 cores. Samsung claims of flagship performance are correct but they are for devices launched two years ago. Current mid-range SoCs are also capable of giving similar processing capabilities. As such benchmarks do give us a rough estimate of how good a chipset is. In its presentation, Samsung stressed on scores of 450,000 while running AnTuTu benchmark while Geekbench 5 and GFXbench scores were shown as 2,401 and 68. In reality, the phone’s Antutu score is 441,456 which is quite close to Samsung’s claims. However, the multi-core test on Geekbench returned a score of 1,936, nearly 20 percent less than what the company has said. As for GFXbench, only the 1080p Manhattan Offscreen test saw 68fps.

To be clear, for a mid-range smartphone, these scores are above competing products but they are not flagship level. However, putting aside the benchmark scores, the Galaxy F62 is a very fluid and responsive phone, as can be expected at its price. There’s no lag while switching apps, there’s ample RAM for running multiple heavy apps, the scrolling is smooth on Chrome and the power efficiency is very good. While my version comes with 6GB RAM + 128GB storage, you can get the 8GB RAM option for an extra Rs 2,000.

As for the graphics handling, the Mali-G76 GPU is more than capable of running heavy games at full tilt. Call of Duty Mobile (CoDM) is a pretty reasonable benchmark to gauge GPU capability. The Galaxy F62 can run the game at the highest Graphics Quality setting and Max frame rate. It sustains the performance for well over an hour before the heat starts to build up and cause frame drops. Rest assured, at a starting price of Rs 23,999, there will be few, if any, phones which can run CoDM at maximum settings. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is also quite good, with the device unlocking at the slightest of touches. On the bottom is a single speaker which gets quite loud, but does crackle at that volume. Microphone and earpiece quality are as good as can be expected. Haptics on the device are one of the best in the segment as well and it does help enhance the user experience. Lastly, the phone supports dual-4G standby and I experienced no call drops of significance while testing on Jio’s Noida telecom circle.

The Galaxy F62 thankfully comes with Android 11 out of the box while running the new OneUI 3.1 skin. Amongst other things, the integration of the Google Feed with a right swipe on the home screen is a welcome change. Largely other changes are minor as compared to OneUI 3.0 such as Google Duo input while video calling, renaming of the Blue light filter to Eye-comfort shield and an improved version of the Single Take camera feature. For privacy concerns, there is the Knox 3.7 secure folder to keep all your important files private. In general, OneUI 3.1 still packs in a significant amount of bloatware but otherwise, Samsung’s improvements in the software department over the years earn my nod.

Battery

  • Battery: 7,000mAh
  • Charging speeds: 25W FlashCharge
  • 0-50 percent: 50 minutes

It’s not every day that you encounter a smartphone with a 7,000mAh battery but that is what we are seeing on the Galaxy F62. I had last seen such a monstrous battery on the Galaxy M51 (review) which launched last year and to nobody’s surprise, it was a clear battery champ. There is no reason to believe any different with the Galaxy F42, especially with the power efficiency which comes from a smaller 7nm fabrication of the Exynos 9825. In my regular battery test, which loops a video at half brightness and half volume, the phone lasted a mind-boggling 37 hours and it is a record for any battery test I’ve conducted. However, PCMark’s Battery 2.0 test did return an unusually low 16-hour score. Even so, real-world usage on the device makes this very easily a two-day smartphone without a stretch. I had screen-on times ranging from 7 hours to 8 hours and this included a lot of continuous Netflix streaming and browsing through Facebook, Quora and Instagram. It is no exaggeration to say that its neigh impossible to kill the device in a day unless you put the phone through a rigorous amount of intensive tasks for an extended period. The only thing to be slightly concerned about is the 25W charging which does seem slow in comparison to devices offering 50W and in some cases even 65W charging. The Galaxy F62, owing to its large battery, will take about 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully juice up, but on the plus side, the phone can even be used to reverse charge other phones.

Final Verdict

It does seem obvious that the F62 has no competition in almost any category as far as battery life is concerned. Sure the device is thick and slightly heavy, but at the same time, it can double as a power bank. Samsung has done well to use the Exynos 9825 to power the F62, and the phone can run heavy graphical games with relative ease. Photography in daylight is a strong suit for the device, but nearly all phones in its category do the job well, so it does come down to personal preference. One thing that Samsung will need to work upon is delivering better night shots. The display on the phone is gorgeous but I’d really urge Samsung to start introducing high refresh rate panels on its mid-range smartphones. Lastly, the company has been steadily making its software interface cleaner and I’m particularly happy with the fast updates that its phones are getting as of late. With each new iteration, OneUI seems to be getting lighter on the processor.

Let’s also talk about some of the competing devices. The OnePlus Nord comes to mind and it sells for Rs 24,999 for the 6GB RAM + 64GB version, offers a Snapdragon 765G SoC along with triple-cameras and a 4,100mAh battery. Apart from the fact that the Nord has 5G, the other aspect where it trumps the Galaxy F62 is its 90Hz screen. Other phones in a similar price range are the Mi 10i whose top-end variant with 8GB RAM + 128GB storage sells for Rs 23,999. There is no expandable storage here and while the 10i does pack in a 120Hz refresh rate screen, the panel is LCD and not really the best in class. Also, the 750G powering the device lags behind the Exynos 9825 in nearly all metrics. However, it’s also worth mentioning that white the mentioned competitors offer 5G, the Galaxy F62 does not. However, it might be a while since we get to use 5G networks in India. Looking at these specs and comparison, it seems Samsung could have a winner in its hand with the Galaxy F62. If you care about performance, battery and a capable display within a budget of about Rs 25,000, then the Galaxy F62 makes sense.

Editor’s rating: 4 / 5

Pros

  • Mammoth 7,000mAh battery
  • Daylight photography is very good
  • Smooth performance
  • Superb display

Cons

  • Night mode needs some improvement
  • Could use a higher refresh rate panel
  • No 5G

Photos by Raj Rout