Samsung Galaxy M30 Review – Can it beat the Redmi Note 7 Pro?

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Continuing with its aggressive take on the affordable market, Samsung India introduced the impending Galaxy M30 that shall now lead the M-for-Millennial series troika. It’s tightly squeezed between the Galaxy M20 that we recently reviewed and the Galaxy A30 that Samsung launched alongside. It’s also the closest Samsung alternative to the new Redmi Note 7 Pro (price-wise). (Samsung Galaxy M30 Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

Does Galaxy M30 bring notable improvements over the Galaxy M20? How does it compare against the new Galaxy A30 or the Note 7 Pro (review)? Let’s answer all of these questions and more in our Galaxy M30 review.

But first, the specs.

Page Contents:

Samsung Galaxy M30 Price and Specifications

ModelSamsung Galaxy M30
Display6.4 inches, 1080 x 2280 px, Infinity-U Display
Processor1.8 GHz, Octa-core, Samsung Exynos 7904 Processor
RAM4GB, 6GB; LPDDR4x RAM
Internal Storage64GB / 128GB(expandable up to 512GB)Dedicated card slot
SoftwareAndroid 8.1 Oreo, Experience UI
Primary Camera13MP (F1.9) + 5MP (depth sensor) + 5MP (ultra-wide)
Front Camera16MP (F2.0)
Fingerprint sensorYes, rear-mounted
Battery5000mAh with adaptive fast charging
India Price Rs 14,990 – 4GB RAM+ 64GB storage
    Rs 17,990 – 6GB RAM+ 128GB storage

Samsung Galaxy M30 Unboxing: What’s In the Box?

Samsung doesn’t add headphones or case cover in the Galaxy M30 box. Here’s what you do get:

  • Handset
  • Fast Charger and Charging cable
  • Sim ejector tool
  • documentation

ALSO READ: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy A50 Comparison

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Design and Build

The Samsung Galaxy M30 has a gorgeous AMOLED screen and looks just awesome from the front. The front camera resides in a U-shaped notch, which is inconsequentially smaller than the V-shaped notch on the Galaxy M20 and M10.

Like other M-series phones, the back panel is still second-rate plastic, but Samsung does add a gradient finish to spice things up. Perhaps it won’t matter once you plant the phone in a case. Or, perhaps it will.

Either way, there’s no denying that the Galaxy M30 is super comfortable to wield – which really is saying something since the phone houses a massive 5000mAh battery. The charging port at the bottom is reversible Type-C and the SIM tray has a dedicated card slot.

On the downside, the fingerprint unlock requires us to really stretch our index fingers all the way to the top, which is to say it’s a bit inaccessible. But there is Face Unlock too and it proved to be a more reliable alternative on the handset.

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Display

The gorgeous AMOLED display is what really makes the Galaxy M30 tick. We liked the display on the Galaxy M20 as well, but the AMOLED panel on the M30 is simply better than anything else that’s currently available at the same price.

There is also an option to choose between four different color profiles, and the maximum brightness is good enough for occasional usage under direct sun.

For anyone who is asking, there is an option to black out the status bar and hide the notch. But, we guess not many people will be using it.

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Performance and Software

The Galaxy M30 has the same Exynos 7904 chipset that we see on Galaxy M20 and Galaxy A30. Simply put, this octa-core mobile platform is rather mediocre and falls short of Snapdragon 675 and Snapdragon 660 that are other options available in the same price range.

We didn’t face any issues with regular usage, even when engaging with multiple apps. However, high-end games like PUBG are barely playable at low graphics. The base variant, the one that we are testing, has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, and a dedicated card slot. Or in other words, we expect the performance to hold well in the long term.

Both the fingerprint sensors and face unlock are moderately fast. We’d have liked them faster.

The software on the Galaxy M30 is a hybrid of Samsung’s Experience UI and One UI. It’s still based on Android Oreo, but Samsung assures that the Pie update is under works. What differentiates a good interface from a not-so-good interface are usually subtle refinements and simplicity of usage, but it’s still a subjective matter.

If you ask us, we quite like the software experience on the Galaxy M30, and it definitely gives M30 an edge over Xiaomi, Realme, and Vivo phones.  And yes, unlike most phones in this segment, the Galaxy M30 can stream HD content from Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Unlike the Galaxy M20, the M30 has dual-band Wi-Fi support. We didn’t face any issue with calling or connectivity in our area.

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Camera Performance

Compared to the M20, the Galaxy M30 adds a third camera sensor to sweeten the pot. This extra unit is a depth sensor that makes the live focus mode so much better than software powered portrait mode on Galaxy M20.

The other two rear cameras remain same – a 13MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture lens, and a 5MP wide-angle shooter with f/2.2 aperture.

We haven’t noticed any major improvement in the camera performance over M20. Yes the images do look significantly better when compared on phone screen, but that’s mostly because of the AMOLED panel on M30. We are adding a few camera samples here, but You can read more about the camera performance in details in our Galaxy M20 review.

The selfie camera, however, has a higher resolution 16MP sensor and this increase is accompanied by an analogous improvement in selfie quality.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A50 Review – A classy Mid-Rangers

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Battery and Audio

The battery backup on the Galaxy M30 is excellent. The phone can easily last for a day of heavy usage, it supports fast charging -and- Samsung also bundles a fast charger in the box. All of that makes the Galaxy M30 perfectly apt for consumers who prioritize battery backup above all else.

The audio output via loudspeaker at the bottom is fairly decent. When using headphones, the audio experience is excellent.

Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Verdict, Pros, and Cons

The Galaxy M30 almost renders the Galaxy M20 redundant. For the extra 2000 bucks, you get an AMOLED screen, better selfies, better connectivity (dual-band Wi-Fi), and a better portrait mode for the rear camera.

When compared to the new and emerging competition like Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Galaxy M30 has its advantages (AMOLED display, HD streaming, software, battery, fast charging) and let downs (performance, primary rear camera, plastic body), but it should still largely bank on the Samsung brand value to win the bout. The Note 7 Pro leads in several key aspects.

If you are not much into high-end gaming, would value display quality over the camera performance, and are restricted by a budget, the Galaxy M30 won’t disappoint. You could also look into stretching your budget a bit for Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50.

Pros

  • Excellent Display
  • Battery backup
  • Supports HD streaming
  • Dedicated card slot
  • USB Type-C port and fast charging

Cons

  • No notification light
  • Not for heavy gaming
  • No case cover in the box
  • plastic build
Deepak SinghDeepak Singh
Deepak has more than 8 years of experience in covering technology for several eminent publications in India. He currently leads an enthusiastic team of young writers at Smartprix and tries to uphold the highest quality standards.

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Discuss

7 Comments
User
saravanan g
Anonymous
3 years ago

i face lot of network issue

Reply
User
Raghvendra
Anonymous
4 years ago

I faced charging issue. The problem was fixed by service center. Phone has just average performance comparing to other phone in same segment..triple camera is just ok.

Reply
User
POOJA CHOPRA
Anonymous
4 years ago

This is one of the worst phones. Dont even think to buy it, it is merely a wastage of money. Problems faced by me in a week of unboxing the phone are:- 1. It takes ages in unlocking the phone that too on the next day of unboxing new phone. 2. Screen doesn’t get active when get any incoming call. 3. Network issue I have replaced my new phone, and the phone i got in replacement is also behaving the same. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER.

Reply
User
Gaurav
Anonymous
4 years ago

Pooja, would you mind telling here which phone did you go with after abandoning M30. As I was planning to buy M30, I am curious to know its alternative that has a better camera.

User
Sandy Dhumale
Anonymous
4 years ago

Oh yes, Network receiver is truly bad I am facing lot of issues. even in open area network receiver is not functioning, I use to put it in Flight mode then remove it so it can accelerate my network receiver more faster.

Reply
User
Basavaraj
Anonymous
4 years ago

Samsung M30 is one of the waste mobile 1. After taking this phone within 20 days display was frinkling 2. Hanging is big issue 3. Mobile getting hot during phone call. 4. During phone call net is not working. Service center service also not good, I given this phone for display proble they are not fixed properly dust entering into that gap. I am not happy with this phone and Samsung service

Reply
User
Venkat
Anonymous
4 years ago

How’s the network reception?

Reply
Show Replies (1)
User
Rahul
Anonymous
4 years ago

Good for knowledge

Reply