Samsung Galaxy M31 Hands-on Review

Even while the Galaxy M series already had hit budget-midrange segment phones such as M20 and M30s, the company again launched the toned version and successor of these phones and named Samsung Galaxy M31. Galaxy M series is all about delivering good everything in the budget-midrange price range, and the inclusion of Galaxy M31 pushed these concepts even further. Recently, I got my hands-on to this fantastic device, and the experience was wowing. The performance, the battery, the cameras, everything just felt good while I used it or abused it sometimes, so let me share my experience and pass on some honest opinion about this device to you guys in terms of the review.

What I liked	What I did not like
Great battery backup	Stereo speakers instead a mono would have been great
Great powerful performance	Device heated a bit while gaming
Great overall camera performance	No glass protection at the back
Great display	Fingerprint dents would dirty the back of the device
Good design	Only 15W Fast charging, a bit higher would be good
Good speaker	Ultra-wide shots weren’t that good

Also Do, Read: Samsung Mobile Price in Nepal | Latest 2024 Update

Superb Display combined with Sleek Design

I found the display to be excellent, and it never let me down whenever I watched Netflix series, movies, or videos, whether it was inside my room or outside in bright sunlight. The frame rate felt smooth while playing PUBG, and those vibrant, well saturated, contrast colors were something else. This 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U 1080x2340p display gives you a typical Samsung taste. With Gorilla Glass 3, its safe from scratches, and the viewing experience never gets demented.

When it comes to design, Galaxy M31 is the same as its predecessor M30s, except for a small useful tweak in M31 of the fourth camera. The rectangular camera module is a bit stretched, and the fourth camera is added right by the side of the first sensor and above the flashlight. It is comfortable to hold this device in your hand and gives a premium feel, maybe because of the ‘glastic’ back.

The fingerprint sensor is in the middle, making it a bit hard to reach without shifting your hand a bit or using another hand’s finger. The phone is all plastic made yet is very glossy and shiny ‘Glastic’ to say, but the down part is that the fingerprint dents get dispersed all around the rear side of the phone, making it look a bit scrappy, so you will have to get yourself a cover.

Also, Do Read: Galaxy A01 Launched in Nepal

Mega Snappy 64MP Quad Camera Lunacy

They said, never underestimate the camera sensor of Samsung, Well said. The Quad camera setup of this device does an outstanding job. I took photos everywhere, even at 8:00 PM, to check its power of Night Mode. It impressed me, but when I was kind of disappointed with Ultra-wide-angle mode, the detail wasn’t much there and was grainy. Whereas the normal main sensor mode, Pro Mode, Macro Mode are awesome, and for portraits, Live focus mode has your back.

The company cleverly combines 64MP main sensor (Same as Galaxy A70s) with 8MP ultra-wide sensor, 5MP depth sensor, and another 5MP Macro Lens. This setup also records well-stabilized video in 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30fps, and has modes like Slow-mo and Hyperlapse.

Good news for Selfieholics, the 32MP camera sensor of M31 as a selfie shooter, has you covered. The quality of the selfies it snaps is something, and with Beauty intensity option, you can fully control the skin smoothing, skin whitening, and other beauty options as you please. Those settings can change a burnt roti into smooth raspberry quick, trust me on this. This setup can shoot videos in 4K at 30fps and in 1080p at 30fps.

Also, Do Read: Galaxy M11 Launches In Nepal; Find Price And Specs

Gigantic Battery and Powerful Performance

The M31 has a 6000mAh battery, which gives enough juice to the device for the whole day, even in extensive usage. Well, I played PUBG for 4 hours straight, and then went from 92% to still 54%, enough juice left to get things done. This titan sized battery also supports 15W Fast charging through Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. Battery backup in this device was great, and I was impressed.

Equipped with Samsung’s own Exynos 9611 chipset along with Octa-core CPU and Mali-G72 as GPU supported by 6GB RAM, the performance is immense to say. I played PUBG in Balanced graphics with an Extreme Frame Rate setting, and yet the gameplay was butter smooth. But the device heated a bit, but that’s a compromise we should all consider. The mono speaker also did a great job, and the sound was excellent while gaming and watching videos.

Running on the latest Android 10 skinned with the latest One UI 2.0 the software experience is another thing that I appreciated. One hand usability is significantly done by the company and the Dark Mode, its so pleasing. Overall, there’s no complaint in M31’s performance and the gaming performance it delivers is really good. This device can handle heavy gaming and heavy graphics work really well.

Also, Do Read: S20 Ultra Goes Official In Nepal

Price and Value

Samsung Galaxy M31 is priced at Rs. 30,999 for a 6GB/128GB variant and Rs. 35,699 for 8GB/128GB variant. The color options that the phones offer are Blue, Red, and Black.

Getting a phone in just Rs. 30,999, having all of the modern-day specifications sounds good to me. Maybe Samsung wants to top the budget-midrange segment as it does in the flagship segment with its Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note Series.

M31 is an excellent phone in the mid-range price segment and surely will be added into our list of Best phones under Rs. 30,000 in Nepal. If you are a Samsung phone and like to consider other options, check our list on Samsung phones price in Nepal list to know about the cost of all available phones from Samsung in Nepal.

Does Samsung Galaxy M31 worth the price even when Redmi Note 9 Pro also comes in the same price range?

Now the question remains, is Galaxy M31 worth buying for Rs. 30,999 for 6GB/128GB variant when you have the option of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro, which has a price tag of Rs. 29,999 for the same variant. Redmi Note 9 Pro has a Quad camera setup with a 48MP primary sensor, but Galaxy M31 has the same setup with a 64MP primary sensor.

Redmi Note 9 Pro equips 5020mAh battery, whereas Galaxy M31 has a giant 6000mAh battery. Galaxy M31 overtakes with Super AMOLED display where Redmi Note Pro rocks an IPS LCD one, and even the front camera is of 32MP in Galaxy M31, whereas only 16MP in Redmi Note 9 Pro. When it comes to heavy gaming, Redmi Note 9 Pro delivers better performance because of its Snapdragon 720G chipset which is superior to Galaxy M31’s Exynos 9611 chipset in terms of delivering performance.

Tell us what do you think of the Galaxy M31 and the phone review, please pass your feedback.