Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsJust OK Phone
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023
This is my first Samsung phone, but we do use Samsung tablets that we really like. I did not want to replace our phones; the older Motorola and Lg phones were wonderful, but I got really sick of the vendors not updating them after two years. That, and around 3 years in, the phones always seem to start developing mysterious issues that they never had before (e.g, needing frequent restarts to get the audio to work) - just like the vendor is trying to force you to buy something new. I really do not like that.
The main draw here, besides good ratings, was the promise that the software would be updated for FOUR years.
I'm not really all that impressed. Maybe it is just getting used to something different, but I do find many things missing compared to the same priced phones from Motorola and LG. For example, the phone does not have a proximity detector or a metal detector, and the disgusting nag software that is included from Samsung really ticks me off. Taking a long time to weed it out. There are some nice new features too, so it is not all bad, just not as good as I had expected.
One of the most irritating things is that you often cannot just tap a "button"; instead, you have to hold on it and swipe some direction. Two really annoying places this shows up is when the phone rings, and you have two buttons available - one to answer and one to reject. No instructions on the screen at all, but neither button works unless you tap/hold/swipe Up. My Motorola phone shows just one button, and you swipe up to answer and down to reject, but the key is that it TELLS you that right on the screen!
Another even worse situation is when the calendar sends you an alert, and the big "Dismiss" button on the bottom does NOTHING at all! I am still not sure what works to actually dismiss those alerts - after a few minutes of tapping, screaming, cussing, etc., I just hide the phone under a pillow and leave the room. I do not know if any of these issues are specific to all Samsung phones or just this A54, but either way it makes me wish I had not bought it.
