Samsung Galaxy M30s, user experience after 10 days

Samsung has managed to improve its mid-range catalog to try to compete with Xiaomi and other manufacturers that offer cheap terminals at a reduced price. And they have not only done it with the Galaxy A, but also with the Galaxy M range, which stands out for having a cheaper price and great autonomy. The Galaxy M30S is one of the most recent models, a mobile that comes with a remarkable photographic section and a huge battery. All of this, without sacrificing price or weight. I have been able to test this terminal for a few weeks. What does it offer? Is it better than Xiaomi? This is my analysis with personal opinion.

Design

One of the strengths of the Samsung Galaxy M30S is its design . It is not the most beautiful terminal, nor with the best finishes, taking into account its price we know that it does not compete against the high-end or the Premium mid-range (that's what the Galaxy A are for). The M30S stands out for its light weight, 180 grams. A priori it might seem normal in a device, but we must take into account the battery size: 6,000 mAh.

How have they managed to add such a large battery in a device that is not very heavy and looks thin?Here's the catch, the back of the Galaxy M30S is made of polycarbonate. This makes the device weigh less, since the glass is a fairly heavy material and taking into account the size of the battery, it surely exceeds 200 grams of weight (already excessive in a mid-range device and with this screen size) . The other trick is that the side frames are a continuation of the rear. That is, it is the same piece. Therefore, the frames are also made of polycarbonate and the same color. This not only offers better ergonomics when holding the terminal, but also makes it look slimmer. We can see the difference in thickness by placing the device on a flat surface, with the screen facing up. It has 9mm frames.

The back has a glossy finish with different colors that makes it more striking. We have the camera module on the left, with the triple lens in a black rectangle. This does not protrude from the edge. Right in the center is the fingerprint reader. It is fast and is in a suitable space to put your finger and unlock the terminal. Of course, I would have preferred the fingerprint reader under the screen, as the Galaxy A70 already has, but this would have increased the price. The volume button is in the right area, along with the power and lock button. On the left side we find the slot to house the Nano SIM trays. We have three slots: two of them to add a SIM (it is compatible with dual SIM) and the third slot is used to house an SD memoryand expand the storage of the terminal. The bottom of the frame is occupied by the main speaker and the USB C port for uploading and file transfer.

On the front, its large 6.5-inch screen stands out. We found a drop-type notch where the camera for selfies is housed, as well as the speaker for calls in the upper area. At the bottom there is a small bezel, but the navigation buttons are directly on the screen.

The Samsung Galaxy M30S is not the most beautiful terminal on the market, but its design does not leave you indifferent. The back has a striking color that mimics glass, although to the touch it shows that it is polycarbonate. Even so, it is quite comfortable in the hand. In addition, it is resistant. Although this type of material makes the terminal scratch easily, the finish in this color hides very well the small scratches of day to day. Its thinness and weight are surprising despite the large battery it incorporates.

Samsung Galaxy M30s data sheet

The Samsung Galaxy M30S battery

The Samsung Galaxy M30S has a 6,000 mAh battery , is it that bad ? First, it must be made clear that not everything is capacity, although it is a very important point, the battery level of a mobile also influences the screen size, its resolution, the power of the processor and the optimization, and the software configuration . For example, an OLED screen with dark mode consumes less battery than an LCD screen with dark mode, since the blacks of the OLED panel are off pixels, which means that they do not work and do not consume autonomy. It has already been proven that we can save up to 30 percent battery life with dark mode.

Luckily, the Galaxy M30S has an AMOLED panel, and One UI allows a dark mode, but it really is not necessary, since its autonomy is more than enough to last two days with very, very intensive use without any problem. And by intensive use I mean really intensive, with games, videos on YouTube at full resolution, browsing through social networks and more. With a more moderate use we can go up to 3 days without going through the charger. With a softer use we can reach up to 20 hours of active screen. What about the cargo? It supports 15W fast charging, but since it is a large battery, it takes a long time to charge. We can get 50 percent in 60 minutes and 100 percent of the load is done after 2 hours.

The Samsung Galaxy M30S can offer battery to other terminals as if it were a Powerbank, we only need a USB C to USB C cable, connect it to two terminals and activate the charging mode.

The performance of the Samsung Galaxy M30s

Rear of the Samsung Galaxy M30S with the triple camera. This module does not stand out, unlike other devices of the firm.

Samsung has decided to add its own processor to this device. Specifically, the Exynos 7 9611. It is the same chip that incorporates the Galaxy A50S, a model that at the moment is only marketed in India . In this case it is accompanied by 4 GB of RAM and a storage of 128 GB , which is also expandable through micro SD. One detail of the processor is that it is compatible with 64 megapixel cameras. However, that of this Galaxy M30S is 48 megapixels.

But let's focus on performance, how does the Galaxy M30S perform on a day-to-day basis? The truth is that for basic tasks, such as social networks, WhatsApp, surfing the internet, mobile purchases and little else, it works perfectly. The terminal is capable of carrying out processes quickly and without any type of cut, although on occasion, especially when we move quickly through the terminal (when sharing photos, going from app to app…) we do see some LAG.

In basic games it also works well, although it takes more work . I have also seen that it is difficult for the terminal to strain when we demand somewhat more complicated tasks, such as somewhat more powerful games or more intensive use. Therefore, we could say that in performance it complies if the use that you are going to give the terminal is basic. That is, photographs, browsing through social networks and the occasional game. In the event that you want something else, it might fall short. This does not mean that you cannot play games like Asphalt or Call Of Duty, in fact, you can run them without any problem. However, not at full resolution, and this is a negative point because the panel has a lot to offer.

Samsung Galaxy M30S screen

And since I'm talking about the display, I continue to focus in detail on this 6.38-inch panel. A strange size but one that convinces a large part of users. It is not excessively large, but not too small. The panel in question has AMOLED technology and has a Full HD + resolution. It is a Samsung's own screen, and the truth is that it performs very well in practically all its aspects.

Perhaps the most negative point is the lack of brightness outdoors. I miss a little more brightness when the light from the sor hits the terminal directly. However, the good colors, sharpness and viewing angles are surprising. It is a device in which you enjoy watching multimedia content. The pixel density is more than decent for watching multimedia content and playing games, and the colors, despite being saturated by the AMOLED panel, convince.

The Galaxy M30S screen offers different options within the system settings. We do not have the option to go down to HD + , as we see in other high-end devices. Although the truth is that it is not necessary, since its battery can support this resolution. What we do see is the possibility of changing the tones to warmer or colder, depending on the taste of each user. We can also activate the night mode, which yellows the colors to avoid tired eyes. It does not have to be paired with dark mode, as this mode darkens colors to blacker tones, while night mode changes the hue of the screen

Camera: does not stand out, but complies

The triple camera of the Samsung Galaxy M30s

Samsung lowers the price of these models by cutting into the photographic section. The truth is that the Galaxy M30s camera does not stand out, but it does very well in most situations. First of all, let's see what this sensor offers. We find a triple main camera. The primary lens is 48 megapixels . As usual, it does not shoot at this high resolution, as it would take up a lot of storage space (a 48 megapixel photograph weighs about 15 MB). By default it takes photos at 12 megapixels. In addition to this, we find a second 8 megapixel ultra wide angle camera. Finally, a lens with a depth of field of 5 megapixels.

Is there much difference between wide angle and ultra wide angle? This last lens manages to capture more information in the image, since its angle is more open than the angular sensor. The first lens also gets a lot of information, but it doesn't cover the edges like the 8 megapixel camera does. Below we can see the differences between both lenses.

Normal photography

Wide angle photography.

The main camera results are generally good. In acceptable lighting conditions, such as outdoors, the results are more than decent to post and share on social networks, with correct detail and well-interpreted colors. The exposure is good, although a better interpretation in against light conditions is missing. Indoors these good results are maintained, although the detail drops somewhat due to the lack of natural light. I miss some sparkle in some scenes. In night situations, as is normal, it loses a lot of detail and color. Still manages to take decent pictures.

The ultra-wide sensor also achieves good results in the daytime. The level of detail is correct and the results are very similar to the primary lens, even though it has a lower resolution. The angle is quite good and we do not see that distortion in the edges that can be seen in other models of the same price. In addition, Samsung has an option in the editing options that removes that 'fisheye' effect, although it cuts the image. Indoors we see a little more noise and in night situations this camera is practically useless, since it does not collect as much light as the main sensor and it is very difficult to collect the information from the edges.

What about the depth of field lens? This supports the main camera and is intended for portrait mode photographs. This 5 megapixel camera is responsible for recognizing the background in order to get a better cut, and the truth is that it does its job very well. The portrait mode of the M30S is good, with decent results from the main camera and a correct crop by the 5-megapixel sensor.

No portrait mode.

With portrait mode

As for the selfie; good results without being the best in its range , but more than enough for video calls or the occasional selfie. The same is true for video recording. It allows recording up to Full HD resolution, in good light the quality is correct, but the focus and stabilization are quite weak.

Samsung Galaxy M30s, photo gallery.

The Galaxy M30s inherits one of the main features that came with the Galaxy S9: the AR Emojis. They are animated stickers that we can customize to our liking or likeness and that use the front camera to detect our facial expressions and imitate them. In this way we can make videos or capture images to send to our friends.

To create an AR Emoji we just have to take a picture and select our sex and age . The terminal will automatically create an animated emoji similar to us that we can later customize to our liking. We can change the appearance of our face, skin or hair color, clothing, accessories, etc. In addition to being able to make videos with AR Emojis, a gallery of stickers with our emoji will be added to send to our friends through social networks. In this case, the rear camera does not allow you to play with the AR Emojis, although it has a depth of field sensor. That does happen in the Galaxy Note 10+, so at the moment it is an exclusive function for the high-end.

Camera app

I can only talk about the camera application, which is very similar to the one we see in most Samsung terminals. One of the features that I like the most about the Samsung camera app is the ability to sort the camera modes. In this way you can have the functions that I use the most at hand and be able to eliminate those that I access the least. Another interesting feature is to be able to apply the HEIF format , which saves images with greater efficiency for the image does not take up so much storage. For the rest, we find the classic modes, such as professional, blur mode, video recording and AR Emoji.

One UI: Samsung's interface

We come to the software section. Samsung has always opted for its own interface, with its applications, services and options. Every year they improve their personalization layer with new functions. The drastic change came last year with One UI, the current personalization layer that is already in its version number 2, and I do not know if this device will receive it. In theory, it would have to, since it is a terminal announced this year and it comes with Android 9.0 Pie.

One UI has a very different design from the rest of Android terminals. The icons have a square shape with rounded edges and the color palette is very light in color. One of the negative points of this interface is that it comes with a lot of Blodwrae, that is, with a large number of pre-installed applications. Most are from Samsung, and thankfully they can be uninstalled. We also have Microsoft applications, and these unfortunately cannot be deleted, but only allow to deactivate them (they continue to occupy space in the storage).

Of course, there are some very interesting own applications. We have a Radio app and a voice recorder app that works very well . There is also a files app that allows us to manage all the files that we find in the internal storage and the SD memory. Another interesting app is the Galaxy Store, Samsung's own application store. And it's interesting because we can download apps that are not on Google Play, like Fortnite. We also have access to promotions and offers. And speaking of games, the Game Laucnher app is one of my favorites. Although the performance does not accompany too much, this application allows us to know how much time we spend with each game and gives us different options to manage video games.

Beyond the applications, One UI has very interesting modes . One of them is dark mode or night mode (It is not the same as night mode). This makes the white colors that we find in the interface go black, including the applications. The truth is that it is quite well implemented. Another remarkable function is the possibility of seeing notifications in a floating terminal window and then being able to respond immediately, without having to enter the application. We can also activate dual messaging. That is, clone the main messaging applications to be able to use two accounts on the same phone.

The Samsung Galaxy M30s allows you to change the navigation button by gestures. These "gestures" work like hidden navigation buttons at the bottom, so to access the navigation we have to slide from the bottom up, depending on the edge it will perform one function or another.

• Right part: reverse function.
• Central part : Home function.
• Left part: multitasking function.

It's easy to get used to, but personally they don't seem like the most intuitive to me. In addition to these gestures we also have the ability to slide from the fingerprint reader to open the notification panel. So we don't have to do that little climb on the screen.

Price and conclusions

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy M30s. An AMOLED panel with a drop-type notch and minimal bezels at the bottom. Gesture navigation.

The Samsung Galaxy M30s is on sale at a price of 220 euros for the version with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory. It can be purchased exclusively on Amazon.

Samsung has managed to launch a mid-range terminal that does compete with Xiaomi's Redmi. Its strong point is autonomy. We are hardly going to find a mobile for this price range with such a large autonomy, and that also does not sacrifice weight, ergonomics and design. And this is another of its strengths. The Galaxy M30S is not the most premium terminal, but it is very beautiful, striking and comfortable, which is above all what matters. Also, quite resistant.

Its screen has also left me a good taste in my mouth , an AMOLED panel remarkable in terms of colors and sharpness and excellent in its viewing angles, with a good tactile response and a very well achieved night mode.

And of course, its triple camera. Again, it has a negative point, and that is that it is not the most versatile configuration in a mobile for this price range. Some Xiaomi terminals have a quadruple camera that add the odd addition. Still, the camera delivers perfectly and personally, I don't need any more mode. The king is the portrait mode, which achieves very good results and also allows us to customize the level of blur. Normal photographs, with the main camera, are also good. Maybe I miss some shine, as I have said, but it is nothing that is not solved with a quick edit.

What weaknesses does this terminal have? Mainly its performance. For the day-to-day it can be more than enough, but when we demand something more, we do notice a low power and we begin to see LAG and small cuts. Another negative point is its sound, the volume level is high, but the quality is not the most adequate, resembling a terminal with a much lower price. And the truth is that it is a shame, because the screen is very good. Of course, we can solve it with good headphones.

Does this terminal deserve? Yes, if what you are looking for is battery above all, but without sacrificing on screen and on camera. Because in these sections it fulfills very well. Also if you want a comfortable and attractive design, and if you are a user with an average use in terms of performance, such as browsing social networks, basic photo editing and a specific game.