Samsung Galaxy M31 - The price bargain convinces in the test

Despite some strong competitors from China, affordable Samsung smartphones are still very popular and that has a good reason: The mid-range Galaxy A series offers several strong smartphones. The Galaxy M series is less known, and in Central Europe it is mostly available exclusively in Samsung's online shop and at some selected partners.

The Samsung Galaxy M31 that we recently tested shows that it is also worth taking a look. Even though the mid-range smartphone that is available for significantly less than 300 Euros (~$348) does not offer any top-end performance values, it is able to convince with its very bright and saturated AMOLED display.

The battery life also convinced us. The smartphone lasted for more than 22 hours in our WLAN test, while at the same time being neither extremely heavy nor too large to carry in the pants pocket.

In the test, we were annoyed by the rather mediocre voice quality and the high power consumption. In addition, the device throttles its performance significantly during longer load. Those who value a clean system also have to first uninstall a bunch of bloatware after the first start, but at least this is possible for most apps without many problems.

The smartphone is also well equipped for international use with numerous LTE frequencies, and the accurate locating was another highlight in our test of the Galaxy M31.

On the other hand, those who value design need to lower their expectations. While the case is robust and shows good workmanship, its shiny plastic does not appear very elegant. But this is also fitting for this smartphone, which prefers to bring solid equipment rather than experimenting.

If you are interested in seeing more details and test results on the Galaxy M31, we recommend our detailed review.