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Regular-article-logo Friday, 19 April 2024

A weekend with the Samsung Galaxy M20, which launched on Monday

Great camera, plus brilliant battery, plus perfect size equals a versatile phone

Mathures Paul Published 28.01.19, 01:40 PM
Samsung Galaxy M20

Samsung Galaxy M20 Mathures Paul

The word “millennial” brings to mind the image of Mark Zuckerberg in a hoodie on the verge of making his Facebook move and Snapchat creator Evan Spiegel teaching the world the disappearing act.

This is the crowd that toggles. They toggle between Snapchat and Instagram. They toggle between streaming services and gaming. They toggle between their passion projects and broadcasting every minute of the day (wardrobe to food choices). The youngest members of this demographic, in fact, would not remember a time before social media.

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The point has not been lost on Samsung, the South Korean electronic biggie, which itself has been in the business so long that reinvention has become a cornerstone of their business strategy. While the world awaits the flagship Galaxy S10 to be unveiled in San Francisco on February 20, Samsung has made another leap... a leap into the most competitive segment of the smartphone market with its new series, the Galaxy M. It’s manufactured in India but it can thrill any market. After reviewing the Galaxy M10 and M20 over the weekend, we think Samsung’s strategy is simple — communicate five elements: sleek design, powerful camera, sufficient storage, eye-friendly display and a battery with enough juice.

Instead of boring you with specifications, let’s take a look at how the Galaxy M20 has tackled daily tasks. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back with the third season of Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour, rampaging around the world in muscle cars and pick-up trucks. Three episodes down — each with an average runtime of one hour — in one day, punctuated by a slew of music videos on YouTube.

The Galaxy M20 squeezes the 6.3-inch FHD+ screen into the corners of the phone, with very little in the way of bezel or chin. Videos appear crisp and bright with excellent colour reproduction and accuracy.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take a bad photograph on a flagship phone! The Galaxy M20 is not a flagship device but the camera it offers is very capable. The dual-camera system on the back (13MP — F1.9, main; and 5MP — F2.2, ultra-wide) produces well-detailed images in good light and performs equally impressively in low light. When it comes to portrait shots, the camera shallows out its depth of field just the right amount, keeping colours accurate and able to take on costlier phones.

What we like most about the Galaxy M20 is its battery, a massive 5,000 mAh with fast-charging. Fully charged, the phone was not just able to take on a few hours of Amazon Prime shows and music, but games like Sniper 3D and, of course, PUBG, besides video editing using FilmoraGo and a bit of Facebook-ing, Instagram-ing and Uber-ing. Even with all the “ings”, we were left with around 25 per cent of charge. Of course, much of the smooth running of the games, consistent web-browsing experience and quick app launching are due to the Exynos 7904 1.8GHz octa-core processor.

Besides being comfortable to hold, we are glad that the fingerprint scanner on the rear is well placed in the upper half, away from the camera. And the Infinity-V display (looks more like a waterdrop Notch) doesn’t take anything away from the design.

The M10 has also fared well, even though it has a 6.2-inch HD+ TFT display, 3,400mAh battery and is powered by the Exynos 7870 1.6GHz octa-core processor.

Some nitpicking: I have chubby palms and when I take a photo using one hand, the flab doesn’t do the sensitive smartscreen justice, popping up the widget screen. And the USB cable could have been longer.

The bottom line: Great camera, plus brilliant battery, plus perfect size equals a versatile phone. Yes, Xiaomi is always around the corner, especially with its Redmi Note 7 being widely discussed. But Samsung has upped the game without making compromises. The Galaxy M10 and M20 ensure you get two great phones and still have some cash lying around; they’re as versatile as the millennials.

Under the hood

Samsung Galaxy M20

Screen: 6.3” FHD+ TFT Infinity-V display

Camera: Rear — 13MP (F1.9, main) and 5MP (F2.2, ultra-wide); front — 8MP (F2.0)

Processor: Exynos 7904 1.8GHz, octa-core

Battery: 5,000 mAh with fast-charging

Unlock: Facial and fingerprint

Colours: Ocean Blue and Charcoal Black

Price: Rs 12,990 (4GB+64GB) and Rs 10,990 (3GB+32GB) [Galaxy M10 is priced at Rs 8,990 — 3GB+32GB; and, Rs 7,990 — 2GB+16GB.] Both come with expandable storage of up to 512GB and dual SIM VoLTE support

Available on: Amazon.in and Samsung.com, February 5 onwards

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