Samsung Galaxy M53 5G (Deep Ocean Blue, 8GB, 128GB Storage) | 108MP | sAmoled+ 120Hz | 16GB RAM with RAM Plus | Without Charger

Below is the experience so far.
1. Received a defective product. Battery was getting drained out in few hours, wifi kept getting disconnected and almost every app was giving trouble, including Google maps. (Location was not getting captured)
2. Tried to return it on the 8th day of purchase after running into issues with every app I open. (tried on 7th night as well, but phone froze and was not able to even switch off and restart the mobile – Amazon app was in this phone. Used another phone to check how to force reboot next morning and switched on the mobile)
3. Amazon said return window is closed on 7th night and now I need to call Samsung customer care directly for replacement.
4. Called Samsung customer care and they tried to check the phone remotely – couldnt identify the issue.
5. Informed I will have to visit the Samsung service center to figure out the issue
6. First visit to center, they did a software update (3 week old phone now – not sure what update would be pending) and returned the phone saying we will see if issue persist for one more week. They also whipped out the entire apps in the phone.
7. Faced issues the very same evening, lived with it for one more day and went back next morning.
8. Second visit, they identified that both motherboard and battery had manufacturing defect and will have to be replaced.
9. I requested for a phone replacement and they told me their policy doesn’t allow them to replace the device and can only replace the mother board and battery, which was defective
11. They told me I will have to contact Samsung customer case number again if I want a product replacement as they don’t have the authority for that.
10. Called customer care number again, and they inform me I have to contact Amazon for product replacement as Amazon was the seller.

So back to step 3. Will have to see how many more hoops need to be jumped to reach the end , If I manage to reach there.

Update :
11. All customer care said they can’t replace the phone. So surrendered to defeat and gave the phone back to samsung customer care center for battery and mother board replacement. They gave back the phone next day saying parts are replaced. Again, whipped out of the apps which I had downloaded and logged in again.
12. I checked the phone from the center itself before taking it back and I figured the problem still persist (battery was draining out by the minute). I showed it to them. They told me it’s a new battery and will take some time to stabilize. They also asked me to buy a super fast charger, while i bought from them to not take chances. They asked me to check for 2 days and confirm. Used for 2 days. Same situation. No improvement.
13. Went back to them again. They checked and said they will forward it to technical team for checking now.
14. Technical team checked the device and said there was a software issue for few products in this version and then will need a 4 days to correct it since they are still working on the software update to correct this. I have no idea how this product passed the quality test if all these statements which they are making are true.
15. By this time samsung customer care has used the phone for more days than me since buying the device and they have identified hardware issue and software issue in the product, but still refuse to give the money back and take back the product inspite of repeated requests.
15. They kept the phone for 5 days and returned saying everything is fixed.
16. Phone started functioning normally finally but I was sick and tired of the experience.
17. I called the samsung corporate customer care narating the the whole series of event and asking for refund. They refused with all their might and said “phone is working now”. During the process I also figured out that the customer care center who kept the phone for 5 days for repair dint even create a registered complaint or a job code while holding the phone for 5 days. I officially registered a complaint. But still no luck of returning the phone.

Update on Nov 30th.
18. I was traveling and outside the country. On Nov 21st while using the phone and with 70% charge left screen went off and stared showing grid lines like some TV from 1980’s. Tried switching of the Mobile and restarting multiple times. No luck. Still grid lines. My flight bookings, hotel bookings and everything one can think of, was in the mobile and my 3 month old phone is not responding to anything possible. Friend thankfully had a spare mobile and i used that phone till I completed the trip.
19. Reached back in town yesterday and my first act is to visit samsung customer care center. (Nov 30th.) Am writing this update sitting at the customer care center. They mentioned “patch issue. Software update dint happen” . At this point, I know they are just speaking rubbish to engage the customer and just delay the situation. No 3 month old phone’s screen will stop responding because of software update missing. They are opening the phone again to operate it, after again refusing my request for money refund.

Mobile garm ho raha hai

Ordered on 9-Jan-2023, delivered on 13-Jan-2023. It was for 26k and got a 2k discount through the card.
Good phone although initially had some issues with the phone slowing when I navigate the settings and the app info for different apps, but the latest updates have fixed that. 5G too initially had issues but then I reset the network settings so that got taken care of. I don’t play games and just use it for reading mails, messages, calls, watching videos and web browsing – general stuff. So far good, there are a lot of useful features that I am using, some of them I did not have on my previous one. However one thing missing was the ability to completely block applications from using WiFi/Mobile network, for this you have to go to data saver mode and then choose which apps you can allow to use your data, which is a roundabout way of doing it. It’s a very important feature in Android and taking this away was not a good thing. There was a lot of bloatware too when I started this phone for the first time and luckily Samsung allows you uninstall most of them but apps like chrome, link to windows and a couple of others still remain (that was a part of the deal between google and samsung so maybe it was supposed to be like that). There’s also one persistent notification from Samsung Services to create an account/sign in and it’ll probably only go once you do that and there is no way to turn off the notification for this specific app (this happens when you update to the latest version as of 11 Feb 2023, the day I wrote this review) I’m yet to find a way that allows me to turn it off. It’s a very minor issue but no one should be forced to create an account with Samsung if they don’t want to.

Edit – I forgot to mention one minor thing that they should add, there is no recording button during the call, you have to press the three dots and then you would see the record functionality (see pictures attached). Makes it more convenient when your call screen has the recording button without extra steps being there.

Check out some videos for tips on how to use Samsung M53 or very detailed reviews, that should tell you what you can expect from the phone. Attached is the notification issue.

1/April/2023 – battery charging has gotten slower. Takes an extra hour or so.

Excellent