Friends+Design
- Sleek, classy design - the Galaxy M31s seems identical to the Galaxy A51, with a glossy polycarbonate back design - giving it a premium look
- The front gets a new trendy look with a hole-punch display, a first for the M-series
- It has good ergonomics and feels comfortable to hold and operate
- The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is quick to unlock the device
- The Galaxy M31s feels hefty at 9.3mm thickness and 203g weight (though, it's worth it for the 6000 mAh battery it packs)
Display
- Vivid, crisp and punchy 6.5-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with excellent viewing angles, and brightness levels - easily one of the best displays in the price bracket
- It also comes with "Widevine L1" certification, which helps stream content in crisp HD resolution
- Blacks are deep on the AMOLED display, which looks good with Dark mode enabled
Software
- Samsung's OneUI is today one of the more clean, refined Android UIs that's especially well optimized for large displays like this one
- One UI also brings in other useful stuff, like a System-wide Dark mode (which turns the background completely black and looks great on the M31s' AMOLED display), and Always On Display option
Performance
- Decent performance with the Exynos 9611 at the core (similar to Snapdragon 665) - the phone is good for basic operations
- However, it is an old chipset and heavy gaming and multi-tasking are taxing for the phone - the POCO X2 and the Realme 6 Pro are much better options that will handle gaming better than the Galaxy M31s
Camera
- Good quad rear camera setup - 64MP main sensor + 12MP wide-angle lens + 5MP depth sensor + a 5MP macro camera
- Shots taken with the primary camera during daylight are quite satisfactory, images are detailed, especially the 64MP shots, and they showcase the good dynamic range
- The ultra-wide sensor, like on any budget phone, is a good addition - it takes social media-worthy images in great lighting conditions (in low-light, the quality dips and pictures look grainy and noisy, wide-angle shots also have barrel distortion at the edges)
- Photos taken in low-light looks good - switching to Night mode helps reduce grain in the output and further improves image quality
- Live Focus shots are quite impeccable and the camera app does give you the option to set the level of blur before taking a shot - edge detection is very good and the Galaxy M31 does a good job of separating the subject from the background
- The macro camera takes decent shots outdoors (though, the quality dips when indoors and the output is restricted to 5MP in resolution)
- The single take is a nice addition from the more expensive S20 series, it lets you capture multiple formats at once
- The 32MP selfie camera is quite good and takes detailed selfies (though in low light, the quality goes down a notch and results are grainy)
- Overall, the cameras on the M31s are good for the price bracket, even though they are not the best (that title crowned to the POCO X2)
Battery
- Monster 6000mAh battery delivers an incredible 2-3 days of usage easily, making for one of the largest battery life smartphones currently available
- Supports 25W fast charging - the phone takes around 2 hours to charge the battery completely, which is decent
Verdict
- Consider the Galaxy M31s for its vivid display, capable optics and stellar on-battery time
- Look elsewhere if performance and gaming capabilities are your primary deciding factors - the phones like Realme 6 Pro and Redmi X2 are better equipped to meet your requirements in the performance segment
