Samsung Galaxy A31 Review: can it beat the competition? By editorji

The galaxy a31 is the new cadet in Samsung's ever-growing army of a-series smartphones. It also happens to be a massive upgrade over the a30s that was launched in India last year. Now the phone gets a bigger battery, better display and more cameras, but is all of that enough to justify its price tag of 21 999 rupees. Let's find out much like its other a series brethren, the Samsung Galaxy a31 sports, a beautiful AMOLED screen. It's 6.4 inches across gets a 1080 by 2400 resolution and delivers terrific brightness levels. Moreover, video streaming platforms can play content at glorious, full HD resolution, because the phone supports google's wide wine l1 certification.

A 6.4 inch display also means that the a31 is a big phone, but the weight is well distributed and Samsung has even managed to find a space for a headphone jack here. Additionally, the in-display fingerprint sensor is very reliable when it comes to unlocking the device. I didn't even once experience a false reading, while using it the top part of the display features an u-shaped notch that houses the front camera and while you do get used to it being there I feel punch hole design would have helped in lending more screen real estate. Meanwhile, the polycarbonate backside picks up the same prism, cut design that we've seen on the galaxy a30s and the more recent galaxy a51. As a result, the phone gets a stylish rainbow like sheen when light reflects off it at different angles, be warned, though the back is super glossy, which means a lot of fingerprint smudges.

So that's something that bothers you, then you might want to use the CPU case that comes with the handset on the back. You'll also find no less than four cameras. The main camera is a 48 megapixel one, and it's joined by an 8 megapixel ultra-wide snapper, a 5 megapixel macro sensor and a 5 megapixel depth sensor. Now, that's a big step up from the triple rear camera setup offered on the galaxy a30s and overall offers greater flexibility when it comes to photography. The macro lens is a nice addition and clicked some perfect close-up shots low light.

Photography, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired as photos lack detail with a considerable amount of noise. Creeping in dedicated night mode is also missing from the package and in the year 2020. This should have been an obvious inclusion. On the plus side, the 20 megapixel front, shooter captured lively, portraits that are very much Instagram friendly having the galaxy a31. For some strange reason is the MediaTek hello p65 chip instead of Samsung's homegrown Enos soc.

I say strange because every other Samsung Galaxy a series or m series phone that I've reviewed has come equipped with an Enos CPU. So I'm not sure why Samsung has opted for a MediaTek one on the a31. But despite that, the phone is more than capable of carrying out day-to-day tasks without breaking a sweat. It isn't quite as zippy as other mid-range offerings that the competition have to offer, but the 6 TV of ram offers good, multitasking and packs enough grunt for gaming. As long as you don't push the game to its highest graphic.

Setting the single speaker also enhances gameplay and gets fairly loud when it needs to the 128gb of on-board storage should be plenty for most people, but this is expandable to up to 512gb if more space is required. Taking things along is the brilliant 5000mah battery that, on an average, lasted me around one and a half days with heavy usage. However, the 15 watt fast charging isn't really fast and takes roughly 2 hours to top up the phone from dead via the USB port. Although this really isn't an issue, because you won't be charging this mammoth battery. All that, often to begin with.

In terms of software, the galaxy a31 runs on android 10, along with Samsung's one UI version 2.1, which helps in lending the phone a clean look while operating on top of this there's also support for Samsung pay, which is basically the equivalent of carrying around a debit or credit card. More importantly, though, unlike Xiaomi and realm phones, there's not a lot of bloatware available here so to round up the galaxy a31 seems to offer all the things that matter to a budget conscious, buyer, a great display, fantastic battery life and versatile camera setup. At the same time, this phone is also facing heavy competition from the likes of Xiaomi and realm, who are offering more affordable handsets, but the galaxy a31 does have a couple of advantages over those brands. Firstly, you get the excellent Samsung customer service. Secondly, you get a balanced performance across the spectrum and, finally, you get a way smoother software experience.

So keeping all of that in mind. The Samsung Galaxy a31 doesn't seem like a bad deal at all. You.

Source : editorji