Samsung Galaxy M31 review 2020.

 

Samsung Galaxy M31 - The Brilliant Budget Smartphone - Sells Out.

The Samsung Galaxy M31 is a superb budget smartphone

Samsung

Bad news if you were looking to snap up Samsung’s sensational budget smartphone, the Galaxy M31: the device appears to have sold out.

The recently launched smartphone was exclusive to Amazon U.K., but the handset is now out of stock on the site, with the device listed as “currently available” with no information on a date when it will be back in stock.

MORE FROM FORBESThe $290 Samsung Galaxy M31 Proves It's Insane To Pay $1,000 For A SmartphoneBy Barry Collins

There is one version of the handset available from a third-party reseller on Amazon, but the price has been hiked to £299 ($390) - a significant increase on the £220 ($290) price that it was selling for on Amazon only last week.

A Google search reveals a couple of lesser-known stockists, but it’s not clear quite how they managed to get hold of the handset or whether they have anything other than a handful of units.

The Galaxy M31 is a 6.4in device, with a superb 1,080 x 2,340 super AMOLED screen, four cameras, and two SIM-card slots. By far its most impressive feature is its astounding battery life, which has reached three full days of usage in my tests this week, thanks to its massive 6,000 mAh battery and mid-range processor.

It’s one of the most impressive budget handsets I’ve ever seen and has won a series of five-star reviews, which likely explains why the handset appears to be in such high demand.

Samsung has been approached for comment on whether the handset will be restocked, but had yet to reply at the time of publication.

Samsung Galaxy M31s Review: Great battery life, impressive cameras, value for money.

Samsung has been expanding its popular M-series line-up at a rapid pace. M-series smartphones have connected with the masses and have helped revitalize Samsung’s presence in the sub Rs 20,000 smartphone market. The Samsung Galaxy M31s is the most expensive model in the series yet and features impressive specifications on paper. The Galaxy M31s improves upon the Galaxy M31 with an Infinity-O display, better cameras, and 25W fast charging support. Also Read - Samsung claims Galaxy Note 20 pre-booking notifications hit 5 lakh in India

Key features of the Samsung Galaxy M31s include a 6,000mAh battery, a Full HD+ Super AMOLED display, and a quad-camera setup at the back. Samsung has launched the smartphone in two variants. There’s a base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage priced at Rs. 19,499. Also on offer is a higher-end model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage at Rs. 21,499. We have spent the past two weeks with Samsung’s answer to the likes of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, Realme X3, and Redmi K20. Is it worth your hard-earned money? Let’s find out. Also Read - Android phones can now detect and warn of earthquakes anywhere, except for China

Watch: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Review Samsung Galaxy M31s specifications

The Samsung Galaxy M31s is powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 9611 SoC paired with either 6GB or 8GB RAM. The 128GB internal storage can be expanded via a microSD card. The dual-SIM smartphone has a dedicated microSD card slot, which is a handy feature to have. Onboard is a 6,000mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging. Also, Read - Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Mystic Blue colour variant launched in India

The smartphone comes with Android 10 out of the box, with Samsung’s highly customised OneUI 2.1 on top. Connectivity options on the smartphone include dual 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, and USB Type-C. The Galaxy M40, which was the last M-series phone to occupy a similar price point, received some criticism for the lack of a headphone jack. This time around, Samsung has equipped the M31s with the legacy audio port.

Samsung Galaxy M31s: Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy M31s has a plastic back panel with a glossy glass-like finish. It looks sleek but is a huge fingerprint magnet. The gradient finish on the back, which is a first for the M-series, also adds to the sleekness. The phone is a bit too tall to be used easily with one-hand but does sit well in the palm of the hand thanks to its gently rounded corners. It is also a bit chunky thanks to the 6,000mAh battery on board. However, as you will read below, the added battery life is well worth the heft.

There’s an Infinity-O display upfront, which is Samsung speak for a display with a hole punch rather than a notch. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the M31s is quite snappy but the reliability leaves a bit to be desired. The physical size of the sensor is also quite small which exacerbates the issue. Overall, the fingerprint sensor is better than the iffy in-display sensors found in many mid-range smartphones but cannot match the best physical implementations out there. It can also be used to show the notification shade with a downward swipe, which is quite useful.

The 6.5-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display has a maximum brightness of 420 Nits and an aspect ratio of 20:9. As expected from a Samsung AMOLED panel, colors are punchy and vivid. Maximum brightness is adequate and as a result, sunlight legibility is above average. The minimum brightness, however, is not low enough to read comfortably at night. Viewing angles though are top-notch. All in all, the display is great for the price the Samsung Galaxy M31s retails for and should leave very few wanting.

Performance

While the Exynos 9611 SoC is not the fastest chipset around, the Samsung Galaxy M31s handles day-to-day use quite well. It tackled almost everything we threw at it – from mundane daily tasks like browsing the web with multiple tabs open and using social media apps, to slightly heavier workloads like editing documents and images and taking dozens of photos and videos. Heavier applications do take some time to open, but not irritatingly so.

Games like Asphalt 9 and Real Racing 3 ran without a hitch but slightly heavier games like Call of Duty: Mobile needed their settings turned down slightly. The phone also got slightly hot during long gaming sessions. The 6GB RAM present in our review unit kept most apps in memory but did tend to kill off heavier apps with time. We conducted some synthetic benchmarks as well for people who love the numbers. The Samsung Galaxy M31s scored 344 in the single-core test and 1235 in the multi-core CPU test in the Geekbench 5 benchmark.

Software experience

The software situation is a far cry from the dreaded TouchWiz days. OneUI is very smooth, easy to use, and feature-packed. The settings are laid out intuitively, gestures are slick and easy to use, and the animations are smooth. Features like Dual Messenger, which lets you use two accounts with social media apps, One-Handed Mode, and Device Care, which optimizes your storage and provides virus scanning via McAfee also add the overall experience.

Everything is not rosy though. There is a fair amount of bloatware on the Galaxy M31s. Apart from the usual set of Google applications, OneDrive, Microsoft Office, Outlook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Facebook, Netflix, and Dailyhunt come pre-installed. On top of all that, Samsung has a few redundant applications onboard such as My Galaxy, Samsung Galaxy, and Samsung Shop. My Galaxy, in particular, is quite bothersome as it keeps pushing multiple notifications throughout the day.

The setup process is also quite tricky. You are prompted to install several new applications whilst setting up the smartphone. Despite our best efforts to uncheck every such notification, apps like RummyCircle, Ace2Three Rummy Plus, and Adda52 Poker got installed on the device. On a positive note, Samsung has really stepped up its software update game as of late, with even budget M-series devices receiving regular security updates. Our Samsung Galaxy M31s review unit got the July update a few days into the review process.

Cameras on Galaxy M31s

Samsung’s promotional hashtag for Galaxy M31s, #MonsterShot, gives us a hint at the company’s confidence in its camera capabilities. On paper, the hardware looks decent. There is a quad-camera setup at the back that allows for the capture of super slow-motion video at 480fps as well as video in 4K. The setup consists of a 64-megapixel primary camera with the Sony IMX682 sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, a 5-megapixel macro lens, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The 32-megapixel selfie camera can also record 4K video as well as slow-motion video.

Performance

In a nutshell, the performance of the primary 64-megapixel camera is excellent for the price. Daylight shots look detailed and punchy. In typical Samsung fashion, colors are quite oversaturated. Night Mode pulls in a lot of light and the noise level is also thankfully kept under control. There is a caveat though. You have to keep the camera quite still otherwise blur creeps in. Shots taken at night in standard mode are also above average. Shutter lag is also minimal and autofocus is mostly fast but does slow down whilst taking multiple shots back-to-back. The primary sensor can also shoot videos in 4K resolution. Videos have an adequate amount of detail and electronic stabilization helps keep things relatively smooth. Quality does take a slight dip at night though.

Both the macro lens and ultra-wide lens offer decent images in well-lit situations but struggle once the light goes down. The ultra-wide sensor also has a rather noticeable fish-eye effect. The selfie sensor performs similarly, capturing crisp and punchy photos of inadequate light but producing noisy and blocky images at night. The depth sensor does a decent job but the edge detection is not perfect. Check out the camera samples below:

There are a ton of features in the Samsung Galaxy M31s camera application, the most interesting of which is the Single Take mode. From a single 10-second video clip, this mode creates multiple images and videos. Examples include a black and white image, a sepia-toned image, a 3-second boomerang video, and a 3-second timelapse video. This mode is a lot of fun and is perfect for today’s social media world. Other features include a super slow-motion video that works well, provided light is adequate and Night Hyperlapse, which allows for the capture of hyperlapse video in low-light conditions.

Battery life

In short, the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy M31s is simply stellar. The 6,000mAh battery powers through a 12-hour day with medium to heavy use with ease. We routinely had around 40 percent left in the tank at the end of the day. Light users can realistically achieve two days on a single charge, which is impressive.

In addition to Android’s Adaptive Power Saving feature, OneUI has two battery saver modes. Medium power saving turns off the Always On Display, blocks apps from using data or location in the background, and limits CPU speed to 70 percent. Maximum power saving takes things a step further by applying a simplified home screen and decreasing brightness by 10 percent. The bundled 25W fast charger charges took just an hour to take the phone from 41 percent to 100 percent.

Samsung Galaxy M31s verdict: Best M-series smartphone yet

The Samsung Galaxy M31s offers stellar value for money and is arguably the best M-series smartphone yet. The phone has a great primary camera, fantastic battery life, a crisp and vivid display, capable performance, and good build quality. The dedicated microSD card slot and 3.5mm headphone jack only add to the smartphone’s appeal.

The only chink in the Galaxy M31’s armor is the amount of bloat on board and the incessant pop-ups pushing users to download new applications. The macro lens and ultra-wide camera are also quite average. However, these issues are not huge deal-breakers. The Galaxy M31s is a great package overall and Samsung surely has a winner on their hands.

Samsung Galaxy M31s review: Buy it for the display and battery life.

Over the last few years, Samsung has received a lot of love for its Galaxy M series of smartphones. The tech giant has seen itself make deep inroads into the budget and mid-segment of the market with this series of phones that primarily focuses on impressing with its big battery, uncomplicated design, and beautiful displays.

Late last month, Samsung added to the line-up by launching the all-new Galaxy M31s smartphone. The phone comes as the successor to the Galaxy M31 in India, which was launched by the company only a few months ago in February this year. The Galaxy M31s brings a number of new features, among which are its massive 6000mAh battery pack and sports a 64-megapixel lens-based quad-camera set-up. The phone has been announced as an Amazon exclusive, which will also be sold through Samsung's website.

The Galaxy M31s has been announced in two variants with 6GB+128GB or 8GB+128GB RAM and storage options. The two variants will be available in Mirage Black and Mirage Blue color options, with the lower-end variant retailing for a price of Rs 19,999, while the higher-end model coming at Rs 21,999.

Read our review to find out if the Galaxy M31s is a good fit for you.

Samsung Galaxy M31s: Design and display

Much like a lot of other Galaxy M phones, the Samsung Galaxy M31s goes big on the display -- both in size and in terms of performance. This is because the display here is 6.5-inches in size which in our opinion is just about the perfect for a modern-day mid-segment smartphone. The panel here is an FHD+ Super AMOLED screen that is primed for consuming multimedia content and playing games on it.

Samsung once again has done a good job with the display, as the panel looks quite premium for the price point. It bright and crisp, and has punchy colors. The only thing missing here is support for fast refresh rates. However, that's quite understandable considering the price point the device is being sold at. Overall in terms of quality and performance, this panel feels top-notch, one that appears to have been plucked from a much more expensive phone and fitted on the Galaxy M31s to do a stellar job here.

The panel also has some bezels around it, however, because of the display's small centered punch-hole, the overall experience of watching movies and playing device is quite smooth. The display on the device merges into the phone's metallic frame, which among the other things, also houses the phone's side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Placed to the right of the frame, this fingerprint scanner is quite responsive to the touch and feels more ergonomic than rear-facing scanners on competing phones. Completing the design is the rear panel of the device which is made out of Samsung's glass-like polycarbonate material, "Glastic". But as we found out, the quality of the plastic sheet here is quite good and it does a very fine job at mimicking a glass-like finish.

The back panel is still a smudge magnet, and quite reflective because of its glossy finish, but overall, it impresses from the moment you lay your eyes on it. The uncomplicated design is as classy as they come, and complete with the moderately sized quad-camera set-up at the back, helps the Galaxy M31s stand out as one of the better-looking devices in the segment.

Samsung Galaxy M31s: Specifications, features, and battery

Under the hood, the Galaxy M31s brings with itself an octa-core SoC and up to 8GB of RAM on the phone. The chipset is a 2.3GHz Exynos 9611 octa-core chipset fabricated using a 10nm FinFet process. On our review unit, the chipset houses a Mali G72 MP3 GPU and is paired with 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage.

Don't be surprised if this chipset feels very familiar. This is because the company has earlier used the same chip on the Galaxy M31 and even last year's M30s, as well as the more recently launched Galaxy A51.

The chipset is quite competent at most tasks, however, as we have found before, it is not the safest bet if you plan to use your new phone for heavy gaming, or subject it to the ire of stress tests. As processors go, this chipset is not the most powerful for handling performance-oriented tasks.

Having said that, it's still great at handling basic apps of daily use, good at handling multitasking, or even playing graphics-intensive games such as Call of Duty Mobile at medium graphics settings. However, the fact that this is a year-old chipset, it still raises some questions over how future proof the chipset is going forward.

The Galaxy M31s also brings one of the most refined UI experiences available to Android users at present. The phone ships with One UI 2 that’s based on Android 10 and is the latest version of Samsung’s revamped One UI software.

Despite a little bloatware, it’s generally clean and brings to the table a lag-free, smooth experience that not only works well but also looks premium while doing so. The UI of the device also brings some impressive gains when it comes to battery life to the table. And the fact that that the phone gets a massive 6000mAh pack helps it last almost two days on a single charge. However, once it does run out of juice, charging it takes very little time as it supports 25W fast charging and also reverses charging to juice up other phones and devices.

Samsung Galaxy M31s: Cameras

The cameras on-board are a quad rear camera setup that includes a 64-megapixel primary sensor. Other sensors in this set-up include a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens, a 5-megapixel depth sensor, and another 5-megapixel Macro sensor with an f/2.4 aperture.

As we found out during our review, the Galaxy M31s does quite a good job with the cameras. For the price, the M31s houses one of the better cameras in the segment. This is especially true for the daylight performance of the primary camera of the device, which manages to click some really impressive shots with accurate colors and enough details to make the pictures stand out.

The phone's primary camera is quick to focus on subjects and the device also features fast shutter speed to ensure that pictures come out blur-free in most cases. This impressive daytime performance is also replicated by the ultra-wide lens which again manages to capture a lot of detail and reproduce accurate colors. The depth sensor on the device also feels above par, with shots clicked using it coming out really nice.

The low-light performance of these lenses, especially the ultra-wide lens leaves a little to be desired, but overall, when put in perspective with the competition and seen in the context of the price point the phone retails at, the Galaxy M31s appears to justify its performance.

On the front, the phone sports a camera that features a 32-megapixel lens. This lens captures accurate skin colors and enough detail to make selfies look great. Thankfully, the front camera also doesn't smoothen the textures too much, thereby helping retain skin detail in pictures clicked by the phone's front camera.

The Galaxy M31s also supports a number of premium software features on both the front and the rear cameras. Features such as Single Take which were first introduced with the Galaxy S20 series of phones now find a place on this mid-segment device, giving the Galaxy M31s an advantage over competing phones. There are also other features like Night Mode and Macro Mode among others included in the phone's camera software.

Samsung Galaxy M31s: Should you buy it?

The Samsung Galaxy M31s has a lot going for it. The phone brings a big display, which both looks and performs quite well. There's also a big 6000mAh battery and 25W fast charging to complete the package. And if you were still left unsure, the phone also impresses with its 64-megapixel lens-based quad cameras that are equipped to get the job done under all scenarios.

Yet, Samsung's decision to launch the phone with the Exynos 9611 SoC may prove to be the Achilles heel of the device. While the chipset is still quite competent, the fact that this very chipset is available on much cheaper Samsung smartphones may not fly well buyers. And then there's also the competition to deal with. But before the Galaxy M31s becomes a hit, it will have to take on competing devices such as the Redmi K20, which despite being a year old still remains quite popular with buyers.

Samsung Galaxy M31s review 7.5/10 Pros

Gorgeous display

Premium looks

Big battery.