Samsung Galaxy M31s review: A heavy powerhouse

Brand: Samsung
Product name: Galaxy M31s
Key specs: Exynos 9611 SoC, 6,000mAh battery, 64MP quad camera, 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED display.
Price: ₹19,499 (base model)
Rating: 3.5/5

Samsung’s latest smartphone in the Galaxy M series is the Galaxy M31s. It’s also the most expensive Galaxy M phone so far. Galaxy M31s starts at ₹19,499 and goes up to ₹21,499. The smartphone is an upgrade over the Galaxy M31 as it offers an updated design, processor and slightly better cameras as well.

With borrowed bits from its predecessor and some new polishing, the Galaxy M31s offers a new choice for consumers in the mid-range category. But how much of a performer is the Galaxy M31s, and should you buy it? Find out in our review.

Display, design

With this phone, Samsung has tried out this two-tone colour hue and you get two combinations of it. There’s black and grey, and blue and grey. The design is very subtle. At 203 grams, it is very heavy though, and I could not get used to it at all. I even had the tragic experience of the phone slipping and falling on my face! But if you do not have a problem with the bulkiness of the phone, then it should be fine.

On the Galaxy M31s, you get a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution. The display is really good and it’s probably my favourite part of the phone. The colours are bright and warm, and look good in both dark and light mode. The smoothness also gives a very feel-good experience when you’re simply typing on it.

Performance

The Galaxy M31s is powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 9611 chipset. This is the same chipset that’s on the Galaxy A50s and which did not perform well in our review. The experience with the Galaxy M31s was very different. There were no issues with the phone when carrying out regular activities such as streaming, gaming, and multi-tasking as well. But there are way too many pre-installed apps on the Galaxy M31s along with Samsung’s hard push to promote its Galaxy Store. But nothing that a quick clean-up won’t solve.

Adding to this is its 6,000mAh battery which lasted for around 20 hours straight. This is in normal usage but with a few moments of light gaming and streaming as well. The giant battery, however, takes very long to charge even with 25W fast charging speed. It takes around 2 hours for the phone to full charge as opposed to its 97 minutes claimed by Samsung.

The phone’s single speaker, however, is not helpful at all. There’s a single speaker grille at the bottom which blocks out the audio completely even when it’s slightly covered by your finger. This was quite an annoying experience especially when streaming content. Everything else worked completely fine.

From whatever little photos I could take with the Galaxy M31s, the results were pretty good as expected. Daylight shoots naturally come out the best and low-light wasn’t that bad either. You get four rear cameras at the back with a 64-megapixel primary sensor and a 32-megapixel camera for selfies.

Verdict

The Galaxy M31s performs well in almost every aspect. There are some minor issues with the smartphone which does not necessarily affect the overall performance. The M31s delivers as promised, and you can definitely consider it if you are looking for a good mid-range phone. It is important to note that there are competitors which offer the same package but at a lower price.