Since the launch of its M series in early 2019, South Korean conglomerate Samsung has carved a niche in the budget smartphone segment, selling over 2 million Galaxy M series phones in India.
In 2020, the company has come out with yet another budget smartphone from its M series line- the Galaxy M31- keeping the millennials in mind with its impressive specs, appealing design and modest pricing.
So if you looking for a new budget smartphone after the lockdown ends, Galaxy M31 should have your attention. Read on to know why:
Display and Design
The Galaxy M31 has a lot in common with its predecessor M30 in terms of the design. It has a 6.4-inch display with a very practical design that has minimal bezels and one of the best screen-to-body ratio.
Like M30, the new phone also has the Infinity U display, with the “water-drop” notch. The back panel is made of plastic and is a fingerprint magnet. The front panel is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which offers a brilliant display and sunlight readability.
The phone comes with AMOLED display which is a steal given the price. It supports Full HD and auto-brightness facility which enhances the video watching experience. Also, the touch is extremely smooth and its response is at par with premium range phones.
The power and volume control buttons are placed on the right of the device while the left side has the SIM tray. The top edge has the secondary microphone while the bottom has the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB Type-C port, speaker grille and microphone.
The rear panel has the fingerprint scanner in the centre, a quad-camera setup that also houses the LED flash. The smartphone has slightly curved sides and that actually helps you with the grip
Performance
M31 is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 9611 SoC processor clubbed with Mali-G72 GPU that takes care of graphics. The Exynos 9611 does a great job supporting and enhancing multitasking on the Galaxy M31.
Samsung Galaxy M31 runs Android 10 skinned with OneUI 2.0. The software though is not very impressive. You will find features like Dark Mode, Focus Mode, Parental Controls and Digital Wellbeing on the phone.
It comes with several pre-installed apps like Netflix, Candy Crush Saga, Facebook, Helo, Likee, Solitaire Infinite etc.
We didn’t experience any lags or function delays while using it for rather long hours and while switching between multiple tabs.
One of the key highlights of the smartphone is its massive 6,000 mAh battery. While this does make the device a little heavy, it is extremely useful to have a battery as big as that. Even with heavy usage of binge-watching videos, the battery of the smartphone lasted for well over a day.
Samsung has also packed a 15W charger with the handset, so it won’t take too long for you to charge the smartphone.
Camera
The Galaxy M31 sports a quad-camera setup at the back and a single-lens 32 MP selfie camera on the front.
The rear cameras have a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, a 5MP depth sensor and a 5MP macro lens.
The photos that we took with the primary camera of the smartphone turned out to be great in daylight and look crisp and natural. Some wide-angle and zoomed-in shots that were taken in dim light had noise closer to the edges.
The Night Mode helps a bit but not much. Portraits and macros are delightful while the selfies are a little overexposed but they only enhance the overall beauty and quality of the image. The auto-focus works quite well, even while shooting videos in bright conditions.
A big plus of the Galaxy M31 is the primary camera’s ability to shoot 4K video.
Price and Availability
The phone comes in two variants, Ocean Blue and Space Black. The introduction price of the phone was Rs 15,999 for 6GB RAM + 64GB storage and Rs 16,999 for 6GB RAM +128GB storage (storage is expandable to 512GB).
There were several offers on the smartphone before the lockdown. Watch out for those once the sale begins again.
Verdict
There are a fair number of reasons to buy this budget phone. The design, the vibrant display, the long-lasting battery and the primary camera are big pros while the cons would include a plastic body and slight heating issue that comes with heavy gaming.
If these are not deal breakers for you, the M31 will not disappoint you.
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