Samsung Galaxy M10 and M20 : Samsung finally gave up!


Samsung finally answered the prayers of budget phone lovers buy releasing their new Galaxy M series smartphones.

As you might've already seen, these phones embrace a new design language and a much more affordable price tag. But are they truly as wonderful as they are made out to be?

Should you even buy them in the Xiaomi-dominated budget segment? Let's see if we can get to a viable decision.

What's good with the new M's




The Build and Design:



Both the M10 and the M20 has a pretty decent build quality. The lower end M10 is just as well made as the M20, which is great. Build quality should never be a cost cutting measure. Xiaomi was the first company to realize it, and thankfully, Sammy picked that up.

However, it's worth noting you're not gonna get any metal or glass here. Both phones are made of a poly carbonate unibody. But they don't look or feel cheap by any means though.

Even with the ginormous battery inside, the M20 maintains a slim and ergonomic form factor. A design achievement which I first credited to the Zenfone Max Pro M1 back in its glory days.

The Display:


Samsung rarely produces bad displays (save for their On series phones of the past). It's not a surprise that both the Galaxy M10 and M20 have beautiful display panels on them. No, it's not AMOLED, it's not even IPS LCD, but TFT.

TFTs have come a long way since 2010, so these displays are not crappy, not even by a long shot.

The rear camera setup:


Note that I said camera "setup" and not camera "quality".







I love the fact that the secondary lens is a wide angle one, and it's the same sensor on both phones. Taking cues from Google this time. Cool.

Front camera quality:

Noticed the difference in the previous title and this one? The front camera image quality is actually quite good on both the devices.

The Bad stuff

Hardware differences:

Though I praised Samsung for keeping the cameras same across the 2 phones, some other hardware compromises are pushing me towards a rant.

Why doesn't the M10 have a fingerprint sensor? How can they omit that but keep the wide angle camera?

I mean, I get the reduction in battery capacity From 5000 mAh down to 3400 mAh, but why this?

Looks like Samsung took the wrong cue from Xiaomi and stuck with micro USB port for the M10. Not cool, Sammy!

Rear Camera quality:

I love the rear camera 'setup', but the image quality itself is another story.

Samsung is seemingly back to its over sharpening roots with the new M's. Even bright outdoors cannot guarentee natural looking shots all the time.

And the fact that the new, camera-centric Redmi Note 7 will be a direct competition to these phones, particularly the M20, is not good news for Sammy.

Final verdict:


I don't want to call this section as the "final verdict", because it isn't. This is not my full and final 'review' of the phones.

I chose not to going depth into these, because y'all might already know I'm a flagship boi. I don't bother covering a gadget in full detail unless it involves a huge investment from the consumer, or it was sent to me for fre..Uh, I mean, for professional feedback.

Anyway, the Galaxy M10 and M20 are definitely a step in the right direction for Samsung. The company finally gave up and embraced the current trends. You know, the notch, and everything. Bowing to the consumer's raw demands has always been the fastest way to stay relevant and make some profit when it comes to the budget smartphone segment.

Redmi Note 7: A Budget Beast on the move!
But, if you were planning on buying either one, I want to tell you to hold on a bit longer. Forget about the M10; the M20 seems like a very good option right about now, and it could possibly be the phone for you. But if I were you, I would wait for the seemingly incredible Redmi note 7, and see how they compare.

In fact, it will probably be one of the topics that I'll do a deep dive in. So, why don't you subscribe to my email newsletter so you're notified when that post drops. I won't spam your inbox, pinky-promise.

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Until next time, Cheers!

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