“The Galaxy M30 comes with a triple-camera setup at the back that features an ultra-wide shooter, a and depth sensor, along with the regular shooter”
Samsung managed to create a lot of buzz in the market with the launch of Galaxy M series last month. When I reviewed the Galaxy M10, I concluded that Samsung has finally introduced a competitive smartphone in the affordable range that is ready to go toe-to-toe with offerings from Xiaomi and Realme that currently dominate the segment. This is why I was excited to check out the new top-of-the-line handset offering in the Galaxy M series, i.e. Galaxy M30, which has been launched in India today. I managed to spend some time with the Galaxy M30 before its official unveiling and can now share my initial impressions of the handset with you.
Let’s start with unboxing experience. The Galaxy M30 comes with fairly standard box contents. The retail box comes with a wall charger, a USB Type-C cable, standard documentation, and a SIM ejection tool. Sadly, Samsung has not yet started bundling AKG-tuned earphones with mid-range handsets.
With its latest smartphone, Samsung has not experimented much in the design department. Some might argue that this is one of the least exciting aspects of the new phone, but the Chaebol has clearly gone ahead with a utilitarian approach in mind. There is a fingerprint sensor in the middle at the back and the triple-camera module is placed on the top-left of the handset. The volume rocker and power button are placed on the right spine and as has been the case with most phones recently, the ergonomics are not an issue. The Galaxy M30’s body is primarily made out of plastic and unfortunately, the phone doesn’t feel particularly premium in the hand.
The bottom of the handset features a 3.5mm audio socket, a USB Type-C charging port, and speaker grille. The front of the phone packs a 6.4-inch FHD+ display with a waterdrop notch up top. In our brief time with the handset, we found the display to be extremely vibrant, just like most panels from the brand. The brightness wasn’t an issue either, but we managed to test the phone just in indoor conditions.
Samsung Galaxy M30 Design Gallery
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If we talk about the software, the handset runs the brand’s proprietary Experience UI v9.5 skin on top of Android Oreo. The Galaxy M30 packs an octa-core Exynos 7904 chipset coupled with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, depending on the variant. We did not face any stutter or lag issues while navigating through the device in our usage. The handset also features the lock screen stories feature, which was also available on the Galaxy M10 and M20 (review). We will be able to share more about the performance once we spend some more time with the M30.
Moving on to the optics, the Galaxy M30 boasts a triple-camera setup, which might be a popular trend among mid-range smartphones this year. This module includes a primary 13MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture, one 5MP f/2.2 depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and a 5MP f/2.2 Ultra Wide camera with a 123-degree field-of-view. In our limited time with the device, we could notice a fisheye effect in the images taken from the ultra-wide sensor but we will reserve our opinion on optics till we test out the cameras in more conditions.
Coming to the rest of the specifications, the phone houses a 5,000mAh battery and will be made available in Gradation Blue and Gradation Black colours. The 4GB + 64GB variant has been priced by the company at Rs 14,990, while the model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage has been priced at Rs 17,990. In this price range, the Galaxy M30 will be competing against the likes of the OPPO K1 (first impressions), Realme 2 Pro (review), and most importantly, the soon-to-be-launched Redmi Note 7 (review).
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