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Samsung Galaxy M31 hands-on review

The Galaxy M31 is the latest in Samsung's lineup of affordable online-exclusive smartphones designed specifically for Asian markets like India. The M31 is an iterative upgrade over the Galaxy M30s launched late last year and features mostly camera related changes to differentiate itself.

With the Galaxy M31, Samsung has swapped the 48MP camera on the Galaxy M30s for a new 64MP unit and has also added a dedicated macro camera. The 16MP front camera has also been replaced with a 32MP sensor. The new M31 also ships with the latest Android 10 out of the box. Apart from that, the two phones are nearly identical.

We reviewed the M30s recently and were reasonably happy with it. For the price, it was a good phone and offered almost everything you can expect in that price range. Of particular note was the massive battery capacity.

With the M31, Samsung's goal was to merely bump up the camera to 2020 standards. This means we get an even higher resolution main sensor on the back and the increasingly fashionable macro lens. Samsung isn't discontinuing the M30s, so you get to decide how much the higher resolution and macro photography matter to you.

The Galaxy M31 ships with fairly basic packaging. Apart from the device itself, you get a 15W fast charger and a charging/data cable.

For a budget device, we can't really expect a lot but we would have liked to see the phone come with a protective case, which is pretty common for phones in this price range or even lower. The case is especially necessary considering how easy it is to scratch the plastic back of the phone.

The back of the phone houses the camera in the top left corner. The design is similar to that of the M30s but with an extra lens thrown in there. The camera cluster is the only major visual difference between the two phones. Next to the camera module is a fingerprint sensor, which, like the volume buttons, is placed a bit too high. Perhaps Samsung things people hold their phone in the middle, like they do in product shots, and not at the bottom supported by their pinkie finger, as they generally tend to do.

We mentioned in our Galaxy M30s review that the fingerprint sensor on the back was substandard. It required you to swipe your fingers to register your print and the phone took much longer to unlock than expected. The fingerprint reader on the Galaxy M31 is excellent. You can just tap the finger to register your print and the phone unlocks lightning fast with just the lightest tap on the sensor. It's good that Samsung chose to take feedback on the lackluster sensor on the M30s and implement a better one on the M31.

The build quality of the Galaxy M31 is fine. There is no dust or water resistance but the phone feels sturdy in hand. The plastic body also makes it more durable than glass phones. However, the plastic body also has a few downsides.

The back of the phone is a massive fingerprint magnet, especially on our black model. You can clean it but it never cleans thoroughly and it only takes seconds for it to get greasy again. The plastic is also soft so every time you wipe it it also picks up hairline scratches.

The other annoyance with the plastic is that the surface of the back is uneven. You can see this when light hits it and just gets warped. The plastic is especially bumpy around the fingerprint sensor and the area between the camera module and fingerprint sensor was also slightly raised on our unit, which doesn't look very pleasing. This is not a premium-looking device by any means and if that's something that matters to you then you will be disappointed.