Easily, the M30 beats its predecessor, the M20. We’ll be discussing why it’s so great, and whether you should make the purchase or not. Doesn’t that sound good?
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The M30 is a mid-ranger on the higher end of the price spectrum. Its price range is huge, but the warranty, as well as the memory variant you choose, will affect the final price. Just a word of advice, company warranties are more expensive than store ones.
The M30 is a good-looking phone, mainly due to the gradient on its back. Samsung knew what they were doing as it’s eye-catching, but not loud and in-your-face. So, what colours can you get the gradient in? The M30 comes in 2 colours, which isn’t the widest range out there. However, they’re blue and black, which are always appreciated.
Samsung loves popping plastic backs on their mid-range devices. No surprise, the M30 comes with a plastic rear. You might be fooled into thinking otherwise as it’s pretty glossy. Let’s not forget that its gradient is to-die-for as well, helping sell the illusion.
When held in your hand, you’ll realize that the phone has quite a bit of heft to it. The M30 is a 174 g device, after all.
No doubt about it, the M30 is big as it is heavy. Its dimensions are, 159 x 75.1 x 8.5 mm. It’s not uncomfortable to hold, thankfully. This is due to its 3D curved back, making its edges fit snuggly into anyone’s palms.
If you look at its dimensions, you’ll notice that the M30 is pretty thin. Once again, this helps sell the illusion of being expensive. But at the end of the day, more and more mid-rangers are being built like this, especially Samsung devices.
What’s cool is its camera set up. If you get the blue M30, its secondary camera would have a blue lens, with similar things in play for the black variant.
Like the rest of us, you might find it hard to reach its fingerprint sensor. This is an issue that’s seen in Samsung’s mid-rangers over and over again. We’ve gotten over it.
The M30 rocks a huge display. It’s 6.4 inches, so you get quite the viewing experience. What helps is the fact that its screen is Super AMOLED. Then again, the M30 isn’t that cheap, and Super AMOLED displays are even seen in Samsung’s cheaper devices.
We’re total fans of its screen to body ratio. The larger the ratio is, the less bezel you’ll get. The Samsung device comes with an 84.2% ratio, meaning you’ll never worry about bezels again. Its notch is a major contributor to this. It’s the much smaller U-notch.
What about its screen resolution? The M30 is pretty detailed. It comes with a 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution. So, you’ll need a magnifying glass to spot blurriness.
So far so good, but you’re probably wondering what glass makes up its display. You don’t get Gorilla glass, but a regular strengthened glass. Does this matter? From Colombo to Negombo, wherever you may be, getting a hold of tempered glass is not that difficult.
Battery-wise, saying that we’re pleased with the M30 is an understatement. You get an enormous 5000 mAh unit. You can easily squeeze 2 days out of it. However, seeing a battery its size is nothing special. The M30 has a beast of a screen to feed after all.
You also get a fast charger. We don’t know how to feel about it though. It’s a regular 15 W fast charger seen in cheaper mid-rangers. It takes the phone around 2 hours to fully charge.
Before we move on, yes, the M30 comes with a USB- C port for you to plug your cables in.
It’s 2020 and Android 10 is here. Unfortunately for you, the M30 comes with Android 8 out of the box. No need to worry, the phone has recently been receiving the Android 10 update.
The Samsung device is powered by the Exynos 7904 chip. Although great, it’s polarizing as its Snapdragon counterparts are superior. That being said, regular use and extensive does not tax the chipset. This isn’t true for games, however. Stay away from PUBG.
What about its memory variants? You’ll have a field day choosing from the many options. You can choose from 32, 64, or 128 gigs of space. And in terms of RAM, your options are either 3, 4, or 6 GB capacities.
128 GBs should be more than enough for you, but if you think otherwise, know that the phone has a microSD slot. Doesn’t that sound good?
We believe that the M30’s camera hits all the right spots. You get a triple camera set up as mentioned above. It comes with a 13 MP primary sensor, and 5 MP (ultra-wide) secondary one, as well as a 5 MP (depth) tertiary camera. It does well in low light, but not the best. And in well-lit environments, details are phenomenal. We’re especially thankful for its depth sensor as it makes focusing a breeze.
Front camera-wise, you get a spectacular 16 MP camera. You’ll always be Instagram ready.
Having run through everything you need to know, it’s only right that we end our review by comparing the M30 with its alternatives.
Being released in 2020, the M31 comes with new and improved specs. For starters, it rocks the Exynos 9611 chip. It runs laps around the M30’s processor.
Unlike its counterpart, the phone doesn’t have to wait for the Android 10 update. It comes with it out of the box.
Being an M30 alternative, the M31’s a large phone. It’s also 6.4 inches but is much heavier. The device is 191 grams, in case you’re wondering.
Like its brother, the M31 packs quite the punch as its display is Super AMOLED and has a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. This means you get a viewing experience that’s vivid and clear.
The phone’s battery is to die for. Your jaw will drop when you hear that it’s 6000 mAh. Using it for over 2 days is possible. That being said, it comes with the same 15 W fast charger that we still don’t know how to feel about.
We do know how to feel about its camera though. It out beats the M30’s any day of the week. There’s a quadruple-camera set up with a 64 MP primary sensor, an 8 MP ultra-wide, a 5 MP depth, and a 5 MP macro sensor. Its set up allows for superb low light shots and extremely detailed pictures. However, focusing is near identical to the M30 as the same depth sensor is present. Front camera-wise, the M31 has a more powerful 32 MP sensor.
In terms of memory variants, the M31 comes with 64 or 128 gigs of space. Along with this, you only get 6 gigs of RAM.
What about its build? Well, the phone’s heavier than the M30 as mentioned, which we enjoy. It’s just as comfortable due to the 3d curved back. However, we were disappointed that the M30’s eye-catching gradient wasn’t present.
Like the M31, the M30s comes with a gigantic battery. It’s 6000 mAh and can easily last two days. What’s even better is the fact that you get a fast charger. However, it’s the same 15 W fast charger that we discussed before.
Just so you know, the phone’s heavy. It’s a 188 g device. Similar to the M31, both phones have 6.4-inch displays. Something that the M30s shares with the M31 and M30 are the presence of a Super AMOLED display. Moreover, the M30 and M30s almost have the same screen to body ratios. The M31’s smaller by 0.1%.
An Exynos chip is in the M30s. However, it’s not the 7904. Instead, you get the 9611, which as mentioned in the M31 review, is more powerful than the M30’s processor.
The device is fast, but the amount of RAM you get greatly influences this. Luckily for you, there is a couple of memory variants for you to choose from. You can either have 64 or 128 GBs of space, along with 4 or 6 gigs of RAM. Just like the other M30 and M31, the M30s can be expanded with a microSD card.
Let’s talk about its camera:
Its triple camera set up is much better than M30’s. After all, its primary sensor is 48 MP. In terms of the secondary and tertiary sensors, they’re identical to the M30’s. Selfie cam-wise, both phones have the same specs.
The A5’s is heavy. It’s not arm work out heavy, but your wrists might get sore dealing with its 195-gram body. That being said, it’s still has a plastic rear. You get Gorilla Glass 3 on its front though, similar to the Samsung device.
Speaking of its back, we just love the pearl-like rainbow effect on its back. We have to say, it’s our favourite.
Brace yourself for some bad news. You don’t get a Super AMOLED display. We’re bummed by the A5’s screen quality as it’s an IPS LCD. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not terrible, but it’s not as vibrant as the M30’s. Now, how detailed is it? Not much. It comes with a 720 x 1600 pixel screen resolution.
Its screen-to-body ratio is good, but not that great when compared to the M30’s. It’s 82.7%, after all. Speaking of its screen-to-body ratio, we just have to talk about its notch. You don’t get a U-shaped one, but a V-shaped notch instead.
Other than this, there is a large battery. The one in the A5 is identical to the M30’s. The phone can last as long, which is a thrill.
What’s also a thrill is its processor. You get the Snapdragon 660 chip. How does it fair? Really well actually. The A5 beats the M30’s chipset.
Camera-wise, you get a superior 4 camera set up. But is bigger always better? No. The A5 produces some muddy shots. In terms of its front camera, you get a single 8 MP sensor. We have no complaints.
Before we forget, the A5’s huge. It’s a 6.5-inch beast.
What’s the verdict? The Samsung M30 is a phone more than worth your time. Although on the higher end of the price spectrum, the memory variant you get seriously affects the final price. Think about getting the 32 GB variant if you want to save costs. MicroSD cards exist for a reason.
Overall, the phone comes with a killer display and camera, but most importantly, its battery is to die for. Performance-wise, it’s okay but isn’t something worth writing home about.
In terms of its alternatives, they’re great, but the M30 still packs a punch, so purchasing it’s a good move.
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