Samsung A54 report 7, the gift that keeps on not giving

Updated: January 22, 2025

It is time for me to talk about my smartphone again. Again. This will be the seventh time I review this device. Ever since I got it, I've been caught in a neverending loop of tweaking, customization and various annoyances, all of which comprise the everyday usage experience with the A54. And the loop must continue.

For a while, I thought there would be peace, and that the device will have settled. But no. There's always something new, something fresh that demands my attention. The phone works, but the experience is not consistent. There be problems, and I'm not very happy. I mean the hardware is good, the camera is good, the long-term support and reasonable purchase price elements are there. Then, as I told you in my iPhone 11 review five years down the road, if you need proper dual SIM functionality, Samsung is among the few vendors still offering this without any eSIM nonsense. Well, it's time for another piece of drama. Let's see what's new.

Teaser 2

Theft protection

After a large-ish update, I noticed my phone had a new feature. Well, the phone actually let me know about this thing, so I decided to try it out. Doesn't seem like a bad idea, but there's a downside. Your battery life goes down. My rough, rudimentary testing shows about 15-20% less juice. This probably isn't cardinal for people who charge their devices daily, but since I'm particular about battery life, and I'm not too happy with the existing cadence of about one charge per 3-4 days on average, I found this too detrimental. Solution? Live in a place where you won't get mugged, or in a place where everyone is richer than you, therefore, their more expensive phones will be more interesting, and yours won't. Duh.

On the technical side, there are problems with the implementation of the idea. One, the fact it uses Wi-Fi AND Bluetooth. I could live with the first, but Bluetooth? Nope. I don't want any Bluetooth running on my device, and I don't want this concept normalized. I'm fighting this nonstop beaconing any way I can. But this also explains why the battery drain is higher. I don't use Bluetooth, at all. Furthermore, for Remote Lock, you need to verify your phone number. Silly, because Google already asked this when the phone was set up, and it's still the same set of SIM cards in it. This secondary re-verification is unnecessary.

Theft protection 1 Theft protection 2

Theft protection 3 Theft protection 4

New connectivity overlay & network functionality

If you swipe open that overlay menu thingie whatnot for Wi-Fi connections, well, now it's pretty decent looking. However, I can't say I found myself using it very often. That said, for the first time ever, I encountered a small connectivity issue. I lost the mobile Internet, for the first time ever with this device. This might have been a carrier issue, but going into the flight mode and back didn't help. Only a complete reboot resolved the problem. A one-off, so I'm not sure what to think of this just yet.

Overlay menu, Wi-Fi connections

Message Bubbles

I already told you about Gemini in my Messages. Don't want, of course. Well, there's also this new thing called Bubbles. Basically, if you receive a message, it becomes a pseudo-icon, a floating bubble. The only way to dismiss this OCD-infuriating nonsense is to disable Bubbles completely for any incoming messages. Why did anyone thing this was a good idea, beats me.

Bubble, floating Bubbles, off

Notice the green circle with the letter Z over there, top left? Yes, that's a "bubble", and it's stupid. Why the hell would you have these random little circles float over your apps, intruding into your space, sanity and order? Will you please stop designing software for hyperactive low-IQ apes?

Another example Bubbles interfere with usability

Here's another example. Intrusive on your screen, intrusive everywhere else. Not only does this look ugly in every conceivable universe, the bubbles actually cover real toggles and whatnot, ergo they interfere with the phone's intended functionality. How's it possible that something like this would be made? Also, that specific bubble shows a no-reply message. So even if I wanted to behave like a chimp and interact with this nonsense, there's nothing to do really. As pointless as pointless gets.

Play Store "permissions"

The hallowed store on this phone complains about not having permission to Nearby Devices. Profiling or what? Typical modern crap. No, you're not getting "nearby" devices. There's nothing nearby, nor will ever be. Bluetooth ain't happening, hombre.

And then, another little issue. Google Authenticator. The app has had a recent update. Okay. You want to scan a QR code to add a new entry. Well, it will ask you to grant camera access. Sure, no problem. But the access is for Google play services! Boom! What. Why? How come? A bug? Stupid functionality? I don't know.

Play Store, Nearby Devices permission Camera access

Privacy related stuff

For some reason, KDE Connect popped a weird little prompt, and I'm not sure how to interpret the text shown in the message. I love this utility, and I like what KDE folks are doing, but I don't understand whether what the app is asking is a good thing, a bad thing, or an irrelevant thing. Who knows? Also, KDE Connect will not do most of its things if notifications are disabled. That's fine, I guess.

Then, there's the Android personalization service, and I don't recall whether I left it running or not. I've not noticed any helpful suggestions anywhere, so dunno. How does this clash or align with what Samsung tries to do with its search nonsense? Dunno. Well, if one is disabled or restricted, does that affect the other? Just shows how silly it is when two overlords fight over your phone.

KDE Connect, permissions Personalization service

Annoyances

As always, there's something new and pointless. Smart View? No idea what it is, don't care. Game Hub? This turdling is back. Don't want. Then, I wanted to see whether I had KDE Connect already set up on the phone, and right at that moment, the A54 decided to tell me how I can "search" inside apps. Typical small-minded developer games. Interrupting someone's workflow. Also, yet another possible vector of data siphoning and user profiling. GTFO. Worst of all, I don't even know whether I have KDE Connect installed, because the search didn't do THE one thing it was supposed to do, show me the actual results!

Smart View Search nonsense

Gaming Hub

Bye bye pointless thing ... Until you decide to pester me again.

But I'm thankful for this intrusion. This gives me a chance to turn off yet more things. All of those toggles, preselected of course, because peasants like me and every other common user don't deserve a modicum of privacy. Well, all of those dirty little toggles go to off. Respect the user, and then, maybe, we will see.

Search apps

Display brightness issues

Remember I told you I kind of worked around it? Well, the issues are back. Several, in fact. One, when the battery goes super-low, the display will dim almost completely (as I mentioned before), and you need to go into a "dark" room to be able to unlock the screen and/or find the slider. Two, in strong sunlight, the display will often dim itself, making reading a strain. Three, often, in very bright conditions, the display will dim itself regardless of the viewing angle. This may have to do with screen heating (under sunlight) perhaps. The device could decide that its pixels are too hot, and will reduce the power usage to allow "normal" functionality. But then, if so, why not give the user some explanation, in some way. Because the way it works now, you think the brightness is busted, or the sensor is busted, you try to manually fix it, but the attempt is futile, and you have no idea why. Also, automatic brightness offers a higher maximum level than the manual slider, which feels inconsistent, and annoying.

Battery life

Three days. So, overall, we're talking another wee deterioration (on top of what happens if you use Theft Protection). I'm not quite happy with this. If I do some reading (just simple browsing or ebook stuff, no great tomfoolery or any rigorous video watching), the battery will drain all too quickly. This is worse than it used to be when the device was new (and it's only a year and a bit old), and progressively worse following the last few device updates. If this is an attempt to make me upgrade, then never.

Battery

Camera

The one good thing about the recent patches is that the camera software has been improved. In particular, the phone now takes much better low-light and night photos using the auto mode. It will actually tell you to keep the device steady while it keeps the shutter open for a second or two. However, the whole thing has limitations, and if the outside lighting is bad, then it won't matter much anyway. But overall, you will have cleaner, crisper, less grainy twilight images than before. So there.

Camera

Even the kitty ain't happy with my smartphone, so no posing.

Conclusion

The seventh loop of fun and not-so-fun ends here. What did we learn? Well, from what I see, three or four main things. One, the Samsung A54 will never settle down, never become quiet. I will have to contend with the notion of tweaking it for as long as it's in my possession. The usage model is designed for apes, not nerds like me, and if I want to have my sane, quiet experience, that's the price I must pay. Two, the patching mechanism seems quite robust. I'm not sure what's worse, an Android with no updates, ergo quiet but also potentially vulnerable to hax0ring, or a phone that gets updates all the time, plus associated idiocracy that comes with the ecosystem "improvements". A difficult philosophical question.

Three, the overall experience has deteriorated somewhat. In particular, the battery life and screen brightness woes stand out. And then, the over-zealous Play Store services permissions. Sure, I can turn them on, scan a QR code, turn them off. But that's a stupid, pointless thing. Perhaps it's another conditioning experiment. Morale sapping tactics, DDR style, circa 1983. Small rituals, nothing fancy, but ones you must repeat often, for no benefit whatsoever. Four, with the smartphone landscape mature, we're now in the less-is-more phase. There's nothing new that can be added to this ecosystem without ruining the user experience. AI crap and Bubbles and similar hyperactive nonsense are great examples of decadence and "activity", there to keep people busy without offering anything valuable in return.

And so, how do I feel about this phone? Well, the A54 does have some good points. The ones that convinced me to buy it. Good price, good hardware, support. If only I'd known how annoying the operating system and the UI would be. Alas. The issue is, the good things are getting ... worse. Battery, not as good as it was. The amount of stupid I must fight, just keeps piling up. The ROI for having this comes down to bittersweet entertainment of writing these articles, and the fact I respect money, so I struggle with the idea of tossing this into the bin. Well, fifteen months later, my original conclusion stands. Another loop. There.

Cheers.