The Galaxy F62 from Samsung offers a mammoth 7,000mAh battery. How good is the phone as a daily driver? Here’s our review
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). 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. 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.
