Samsung Galaxy F15 5G First Impressions: 6,000mAh Battery Monster

Samsung's F series has always been marketed as providing "fun" experiences to customers, but some of these offerings from the South Korean giant have been hobbled by rather pedestrian specifications. The Galaxy F15, on the other hand, is impressive on the hardware front, which could make it a decent value proposition for anyone looking for an entry-level smartphone with 5G.

Right from the get-go, this polycarbonate-clad smartphone is a looker. The unit I tried out for some time had a shiny glossy back finish which steals the spotlight. It is very eye-catching, but it is a fingerprint magnet of monstrous proportions. If you look at some of the photos here in my first impressions, you’ll get the idea. The other available colour options are Light Green and Light Violet.

In terms of build quality, the Galaxy F15 is as plasticky as it gets. There are pros and cons to this, of course. It feels light and ergonomic in the hand, but at the same time, it certainly doesn’t feel like the most rugged smartphone around. That being said, from what we have observed in the past, such devices tend to be relatively durable, especially if you drop your phone often.

There are some niceties like a 3.5mm jack and microSD storage expansion up to 1TB. You also get a small single speaker, a recessed power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and a 6.5-inch 90Hz Super AMOLED display. The bezels are abnormally large and unevenly sized, but the screen looked gorgeous even in the variable lighting of Samsung’s press conference, with vivid colours.

This phone has a triple camera array, with the primary camera having a 50-megapixel resolution, but Samsung doesn’t specify what exactly the other 5-megapixel and 2-megapixel cameras do. We will dive deep into the cameras of this phone, though one shouldn’t expect the moon at this price point.

In use, everything seemed reasonably snappy and smooth. The Galaxy F15 runs OneUI 6.1, which is based on Android 14, and Samsung has chosen the rather capable MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC for it. This device has 128GB of storage and 4GB or 6GB of physical RAM. The good news is that Samsung will provide four years of Android updates and five years of security updates, which is impressive for the segment this phone targets.

Then there is the little matter of battery life. Samsung is claiming two days of battery life on a single charge thanks to the Galaxy F15’s massive 6,000mAh battery. It can be charged at up to 25W, but that also means this phone will take quite a while to get juiced up. Of course, we haven’t tested this claim yet, but the super AMOLED screen along with this massive battery should help this device come close to what Samsung is promising.

At the end of the day, the Galaxy F15 is a nice-looking, functional, entry-level 5G smartphone. It’s no gaming beast, and its cameras won’t challenge the best in the business. It has been built to a cost — ₹12,999 for the 4GB RAM version and  ₹14,499 for the 6GB RAM version — and for what it is, looks quite promising. It will be available on Flipkart in addition to Samsung’s own stores like all Galaxy F-series smartphones.