Samsung this week launched the Galaxy Take note 20, a smartphone with a 4-determine price tag tag. The beefier Galaxy Observe Ultra was even additional high-priced – $1,300 in contrast to the Be aware 20’s $1,000. Each types have been savagely undercut by a brilliant smartphone from an up-and-coming smartphone producer: Samsung.

This week I acquired the Samsung Galaxy M31, a sensational smartphone that is around a quarter of the selling price of Samsung’s new Notes. Certainly, it is not really as potent, not really as slick, but it has a beautiful display, 4 cameras and battery life that is bordering on the unbelievable. I’m not confident I’d swap it for possibly Galaxy Note if an individual provided one particular to me for absolutely free.

Samsung Galaxy M31 Specs

Most men and women would suspect that a sub-$300 telephone would have distinctly humdrum specs. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy M31 punches well earlier mentioned its rate selection.

Let’s get started with the display screen, a 6.4in 1,080 x 2,340 Super AMOLED display that is beautifully crisp. So sharp, in actuality, that it is essentially sharper than the 6.7in screen on the new Observe 20, which has a resolution of 1,080 x 2,400 – supplying it a pixel density of 393 ppi as opposed to the M31’s 403 ppi.

They each screen 16 million hues, both equally are lined in the protective Gorilla Glass (the Observe 20’s remaining a more latest variation), despite the fact that the Be aware 20 has help for HDR, which might be important to individuals who look at Netflix on their telephones. Believe in me, on the other hand, the Galaxy M31’s display screen is magnificent: finely specific, impactful hues, punchy distinction.

As I pointed out, there are 4 cameras on board the M31. There is a 64-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, a 5-megapixel macro digicam and a depth sensor. Then there’s the 32-megapixel on the entrance, which is carved into a very small round notch in the edge-to-edge exhibit. It doesn’t have the optical zoom that you’ll come across on the Notes, but you won’t be upset by the images the M31 requires. It is a much more than respectable smartphone camera set-up.

Movie sensible, it is capable of taking 4K footage, but only at 30 frames per 2nd. The Notes will give you a smoother 60 frames per next at 4K, right up to an indisputably extraordinary 240 frames for every 2nd at Entire High definition. Nonetheless, for day-to-day video shots, the M31 is great, if not amazing.

The Galaxy M31’s compromises

Compromises eventually have to be made on a cellphone that’s this inexpensive. There’s no h2o or dustproof score, no wireless charging, no 5G. The speaker is distinctly weedy in contrast to even the a single on my outdated Samsung Galaxy S9, allow by yourself the new Notes.

Potentially the most significant compromise comes in phrases of effectiveness. The Galaxy M31 is primarily based on the mid-assortment Exynos 9611 chipset and Mali G72 GPU, neither of which are heading to get near to the Notes in the benchmarks.

That said, day-to-day effectiveness is good. Applications consider a half beat extended to open up than they would on a flagship machine and there’s the occasional stutter, but very little super-frustrating.

Effectiveness in game titles such as Minecraft is sound, but if you want a cell phone which is likely to be untouchable in graphically demanding titles this kind of as Fortnite, then the M31 is not for you. It is not a blistering performer.

Did we point out the battery existence?

On the other hand, individuals somewhat underpowered internals do give the Galaxy M31 one massive gain. Blended with the large 6,000 mAh battery (the Note 20 has a 4,300 mAh battery by comparison), battery daily life is remarkable. The most effective I’ve ever found in a modern day smartphone.

I took the M31 off the charger at 6:30am on Thursday morning, used it moderately greatly more than the upcoming two times – which includes for a number of hrs streaming songs with Bluetooth headphones and for a short stint as a satnav in my automobile – and by 11pm on Friday night the battery however had 42% remaining.

In other words, it is a telephone that will comfortably give you two days’ battery existence, 3 at a stretch, if you convert it off overnight (as I did). I can’t inform you how lengthy I’ve waited for a cellphone exactly where I’m not regularly fretting about the battery everyday living when I’m out. It is match shifting and it is a lower-price range handset.

Why fork out extra?

The Samsung Galaxy M31 is a ridiculously superior cell phone for the price, presently an Amazon exceptional in the U.K., but most likely to achieve other territories soon, just like its predecessor, the M30.

Even if the Galaxy M31 doesn’t really tick all your bins, there are so many other good sub-$500 telephones out there. The Moto G 5G Plus gives superior performance and the 5G radio, if which is important to you the OnePlus Nord is similarly punchy on efficiency and cost even the Iphone SE is presenting really serious benefit for Apple lovers.

Certainly, large-conclusion telephones this sort of as the Notes are wonderfully created and do give distinctive features these types of as the stylus. But are they seriously worthy of two or a few times the value? It is pretty tough to see how.