Samsung Galaxy M31s hands-on review

Software

The Galaxy M31s runs on Samsung One UI 2.1 based on Android 10. Our review unit was running the July 1 security patch at the time of publishing.

The software on the Galaxy M31s is pretty much identical in design and layout to other 2020 Samsung smartphones (and several 2019 models as well). You can expect all the basic features, such as a system-wide dark mode, a gesture-based navigation system, themes, customizable app icons, and face unlock. There are also many more features like an always-on display, life and double-tap to wake, smart stay, game launcher, and fingerprint swipe gesture to bring down the notification panel.

In terms of features, there is almost everything here that most users would need. The default Samsung apps are also quite usable so you don't need to rush out to download replacements.

Samsung One UI 2.1

Unfortunately, as we have often noted with budget Samsung devices, especially sold in countries like India, there is a fair bit of bloatware pre-installed, with multiple attempts to shove even more at you. Right during the setup process, you are inundated with multiple screens where you are asked to choose third party apps to install. You have to go out of your way to uncheck these otherwise they will just be installed along with the existing bloatware on the phone. By now we know how to navigate our way around these screens and try to have as clean an installation as possible but most users wouldn't be able to do this and not realize why their new phone is suddenly filled with so many unnecessary apps.

Pre-installed apps

You will also get a screen during setup where the phone asks for your access to exclusive Samsung services. "Asks" is a nice way to describe this, as there is no way to deny this request and you simply have no choice but to give Samsung permission to whatever it is it wants out of you.

"Here's some more bloatware for you. We insist."

The good news is that a majority of this trash can be cleared off the phone. You can uninstall each app manually from the app drawer or go to the Galaxy Store and then inside the My page menu find all the apps installed on the phone and delete all of the ones that can be uninstalled. The phone will annoyingly ask you for every item if you want to delete it but this still beats uninstalling multiple apps from the app drawer. Of course, the Galaxy Store itself is also a minefield that throws app suggestions at you at every opportunity but by now you are hopefully more adept at avoiding this.

We have brought this topic of 'suggested' app installations up multiple times in our previous budget and mid-range Samsung reviews but obviously, nothing we say here will change how Samsung conducts its business unless there is a sufficient backlash from the users. Unfortunately, customers purchasing in this price range are more likely to be new or novice users who really don't know any better, which is why they are often taken advantage of by companies.

Performance

The Galaxy M31s runs on the Exynos 9611 chipset, which has an octa-core CPU (4x 2.3GHz Cortex-A73 cores + 4x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) and Mali G72 MP3 GPU. Our review unit had 6GB of memory and 128GB storage but there is also a variant available with 8GB memory.

The performance of the Galaxy M31s is mediocre. The chipset is starting to show its age and you can feel the phone stuttering occasionally during operation. Couple that with a 60Hz display and you get a phone that feels outdated even when brand new.

The GPU on the Exynos 9611 is particularly outdated at this point, as even much cheaper Snapdragon models have a better GPU right now. This means gaming is lackluster at best, especially if you are into the more demanding titles.

At this point, Samsung continuing to stick with its Exynos chipsets is hurting the company more than anything else. It is a constant game of 'stop hitting yourself' between the silicon and mobile divisions of the company that is getting increasingly hard to watch and we all think Samsung should just swallow its pride and switch to Snapdragons full time.

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
  1785
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  1785
• Motorola One Fusion+
  1705
• Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
  1692
• Realme 6 Pro
  1666
• Samsung Galaxy M21
  1319
• Samsung Galaxy M31
  1315
• Redmi Note 9
  1292
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  1261

GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  571
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
  570
• Realme 6 Pro
  565
• Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
  548
• Motorola One Fusion+
  542
• Redmi Note 9
  361
• Samsung Galaxy M31
  349
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  349
• Samsung Galaxy M21
  346

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  279625
• Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
  272229
• Realme 6 Pro
  268785
• Motorola One Fusion+
  267980
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
  254000
• Redmi Note 9
  200414
• Samsung Galaxy M31
  195284
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  187863
• Samsung Galaxy M21
  180711

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 6 Pro
  18
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
  18
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  18
• Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
  17
• Motorola One Fusion+
  16
• Samsung Galaxy M31
  10
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  10
• Samsung Galaxy M21
  10

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme 6 Pro
  16
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (India)
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi K30 (Poco X2)
  15
• Redmi Note 9 Pro (Max)
  15
• Motorola One Fusion+
  14
• Samsung Galaxy M31
  9.2
• Samsung Galaxy M21
  9.2
• Samsung Galaxy M31s
  7.6