Samsung’s update of its A range phones continues with the A31, released in April this year, 13 months after the original. Like many of the other A range updates this one is focused on camera and battery to give it an edge over the similar priced competition. Like their annoyingly catchy ad tune for other A range phones says, “Awesome screen, awesome camera, long lasting battery life”.
The screen was already a pretty awesome 6.4” Super AMOLED in the A30 and so there has been no need to change that, with an 84.9% screen to body ratio. This has a resolution of 1080p, with a slightly increased 411ppi density as well as a 20:9 ratio. With a plastic back and frame, the A31 weighs in at 185g, some 20g more than the A30 – primarily as result of the bigger battery and more camera lenses (see below).
Enormous 5000 mAh battery
Inside it is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio P65 processor that is supported by 4 or 6GB of RAM and 64 or 128GB of expandable storage. The A31 also ships with the latest Android 10 and Samsung’s own one UI 2.0.
It has a single speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack as well as having the fingerprint sensor moved from the back, on the A30, to an under the screen optical one on the A31. Finally, the battery has been upgraded by 25% to a massive 5000mAh with 15W fast charging.
Impressive quad array camera
Both front and rear cameras have been upgraded. On the rear it has now doubled in numbers to be a quad array, arranged in an L shape in the ubiquitous black rectangular camera mount, that Samsung seem to be using for all their phones in 2020.
This array consists of a main 48MP f/2.0, 26mm wide lens with PDAF, an 8MP f/2.2, 13mm ultrawide, a 5MP f/2.4 macro and a 5MP f/2.4 depth. It will take 1080p video at 30fps. Not a bad line up for such a relatively inexpensive phone. In fact, this setup is almost identical to the one on the more expensive A51.
On the front, the selfie camera is located in a central U-shaped notch. This is now a 20MP f/2.2 wide lens that takes 1080p video at 30fps.
Worth the upgrade
Available in the same 4 colours as the A30 – Black, Blue, Red and White, these are all now prefixed with ‘Prism Crush’. This is to describe the lined effect on the back of the phone.
Expected to be around the same price as the A30, the A31 certainly looks worth getting for the better cameras and bigger battery. Which means you should be able to get a great deal on the older A30!
