Table of Contents
amazon SAMSUNG GALAXY A31 reviews
Design: still a drop of water
The design of the Galaxy A31 looks like a mix of Samsung Galaxy A51 and Samsung Galaxy M31. The front is a water drop screen like the Galaxy M31, a rather confusing move when the juniors in the recent Galaxy A series like Samsung Galaxy A11 and Samsung Galaxy A21s already have a hole punch screen. So looking at the front of this phone is not with the freshness of 2020.
Meanwhile, the back of the product is like Galaxy A51 with 4 L-shaped camera cluster. It still uses the back and frame made of plastic material like other mid-range products of Samsung. The Galaxy A31’s body is slightly thinner than the Galaxy M31 (8.6mm and 8.9mm), mainly due to the smaller capacity battery.
The form part of the Galaxy A31 is nothing new and eye-catching. However, the plus point in Samsung’s mid-range machines is that the screen components, bezels, and chassis are seamlessly mounted, comfortable to hold, and not uncomfortable. So is the Galaxy A31.
The Galaxy A31 uses an in-display optical fingerprint sensor similar to the Galaxy A51. This year, Samsung has sharply upgraded the in-screen fingerprint sensor on mid-range smartphones compared to last year. So, the sensor’s recognition speed is quite fast and accurate, a plus point considering the price range of the A31.
On the sides, the machine is full of familiar things: USB Type C charging port with 15W fast charging capability, 3.5mm audio jack, two SIM slots, and independent memory card.
Screen: vivid colors, comfortable outdoor use
Galaxy A31 uses a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED screen with Full-HD + resolution, a 20: 9 aspect ratio. In the default mode (vivid mode), this screen has very good display quality: vibrant colors, deep blacks, and wide viewing angles. Samsung also offers a Natural color mode if the user wants the screen to reproduce colors more accurately, but the color saturation is more fading.
In particular, the brightness of the screen is very high. When taking photos outside in the sun, the Galaxy A31’s screen is still bright enough to see the captured image. This is the point where the Galaxy A31 is significantly higher than the same price range smartphones using IPS LCD panels.
Camera: All 5 cameras show round shoulders
Galaxy A31 has a cluster of 4 rear cameras including a 48MP main camera, an 8MP super wide-angle camera, a 5MP macro camera and a 5MP secondary camera to capture depth of images that support font capture mode. In the front, the machine uses a 20MP camera. The camera specs of the Galaxy A31 are identical to a mid-range product we’ve reviewed recently, the Galaxy M21. The camera of the two machines has only 1 difference: the M21 does not have a 5MP macro camera.
So, it is not surprising that the experience and quality of photos taken from the main camera, super wide-angle camera, portrait capture, and selfie camera of Galaxy A31 are not significantly different from Galaxy M21. Bright enough photos from the 48MP camera for good quality, slightly worse in detail and color than the 64MP camera on the Galaxy M31. In many situations, the main camera tends to push colors and color saturation darker than the actual color. This trend can be seen clearly in photos with a sky or green background, and the blues are often pushed greener. There may be people who like natural shots with true scenes, but often pushing the color saturation up a bit more eye catching.
In a low-light environment, the A31’s main camera still goes up with good colors and especially the brightness is often pushed up. Samsung also uses algorithms to limit noise for photos, even in very low-light situations. Of course, the consequence of that treatment is the detail that will have to be traded. But this is a reasonable orientation when most users today view and share photos on mobile devices, do not require too much detail as viewing on a computer.
The font deletion photo is not much different from the recent Galaxy M21. The font deletion image separates the subject and background quite well, the border is erased relatively smooth, sometimes the hair is still slightly blurred, but must be enlarged to notice.
The 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera also tends to handle the same color as the main camera, pushing saturation even more strongly. In a well-lit environment, the photo taken is not inferior to the main camera. The colors are bright, the saturation is high and the details are pretty good. That impression, however, is only available in favorable bright conditions. When shooting in low light or the context of strong difference, the camera angle immediately shows weakness, flat image and broken details.
This year, Samsung is equipping a 5MP macro camera for many mid-range products. In practical use, the macro camera works quite effectively, delivering creative close-ups. However, due to the lack of support for autofocus, the process of taking photos will require patience or blurring.
The selfie cameras of the A31 and M21 are the same, with a resolution of 20MP and the image quality is similar. Selfies are more detailed, wide brightness bands and colors are handled naturally. The font deletion image also has good transparency, less blurry border. Samsung also allows users of this phone to adjust the level of font deletion before and after shooting. The camera also has a wide native mode to capture groups of people or need to get more of the background behind.
In general, the entire main camera, super wide angle, font removal and selfie of the Galaxy A31 are shown at a role, giving the quality of the photo is quite good. Images tend to be processed that push the color saturation a little higher than it is.
where can you get a SAMSUNG GALAXY A31 online
Samsung Galaxy A31-128GB / 4GB – A315G/DSL Unlocked Dual Sim Phone w/Quad Camera 48MP+8MP+5MP+5MP GSM International Version (Prism Crush White): Buy it now
Samsung Galaxy A31 64GB / 4GB – A315G/DSL Unlocked Dual Sim Phone w/Quad Camera 48MP+8MP+5MP+5MP GSM International Version (Prism Crush White): Buy it now
Samsung Galaxy A31 (128GB, 4GB) 6.4″ FHD+, Quad Camera, 5000mAh Battery, Dual SIM GSM Unlocked US + Global 4G LTE International Model – A315G/DSL (Prism Crush Blue, 128GB + 128GB SD + Case Bundle): Buy it now
Samsung Galaxy A31 (128GB, 4GB) 6.4″ FHD+, Quad Camera, 5000mAh Battery, Dual SIM GSM Unlocked US + Global 4G LTE International Model – A315G/DSL (Prism Crush Black, 128GB + 128GB SD + Case Bundle): Buy it now
Samsung Galaxy A31 (128GB, 4GB) 6.4″ FHD+, Quad Camera, 5000mAh Battery, Dual SIM GSM Unlocked US + Global 4G LTE International Model – A315G/DSL (Prism Crush White, 128GB + 128GB SD + Case Bundle): Buy it now
Performance and software
Galaxy A31 is equipped with Helio P65 processor instead of Exynos chip developed by Samsung. This chip performs in between Exynos 9611 on Galaxy A51 and Exynos 850 on Galaxy A21s. This isn’t the first time Samsung has used a Mediatek chip, but it’s the first we’ve seen on the Galaxy A series.
On performance measurement applications, Galaxy A31 scores much lower than smartphones using the Exynos 9611 chip commonly used by Samsung on mid-range phones since late last year. Specifically, machines like the Galaxy M31 reach about 200,000 Antutu points, higher than the 155,000 points of the Galaxy A31.
The Helio P65’s score on Galaxy A31 is also lower than the M31’s Exynos 9611. In the article measuring the graphics processing capabilities of the GPU on the GFXBench application, Galaxy A31 only reached 13 fps when operating at the real resolution of the screen (onscreen) while the Galaxy M31 reached 24 fps.
It can be said that the configuration of Galaxy A31 is quite weak compared to the same price range of over $500. The Helio P65 chip is only enough to meet the needs of general use or play basic games, not enough to burden games with heavy graphics. However, the plus point in the performance of this phone is that the memory is quite ample with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal memory.
In terms of software, the Galaxy A31 currently comes pre-installed with Samsung’s latest One UI 2.1 customized based on Android 10. However, it is possible that due to the new chip platform the phone lacks some of the features that are present. Previous mid-range smartphones from Samsung such as screen recording function or the hyperlapse and slow motion feature in the camera app.
Battery time
With a large capacity battery, power-saving Super AMOLED screen and a non-powerful chip operating on a 12nm process, it’s not surprising that the Galaxy A31’s battery life is at a very good level. In the familiar measurements of BiaReview, this phone is only inferior to the Galaxy M31 with a 6,000 mAh battery but much higher than other smartphones of the same price range.
In terms of charging time, the 15W charger comes in about 2 hours and 15 minutes to fully charge the phone, of which the first 30 minutes charge 27% and 1 hour charge 55%.
Summary
Galaxy A31 is a smartphone with a beautiful screen, strong battery life, good camera, abundant memory, and a design that does not follow the trend but has good perfection, easy to hold. However, these advantages are very common in this year’s mid-range smartphones from Samsung. We can see it on products like Galaxy M21 or Galaxy M31. Meanwhile, the performance of the Helio P65 chip of Galaxy A31 is much more drowned than the same price range machine, including Samsung or other manufacturers.
The Galaxy M31 has many advantages: a larger battery, the main camera taking better pictures, and significantly stronger performance. The plus point of the Galaxy A31 is quite lackluster, just a slimmer body and a more trendy in-display fingerprint sensor.