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Samsung's A31 is our pick for your next mid-priced phone

There are a number of reasons you might want to buy a phone around the $500 mark.

Maybe you’re a parent looking for a reasonably priced smartphone for your tween. Or maybe you want something for yourself that can get you online but doesn’t need to run every single app that was ever made.

Not everyone needs a full-blown high-specs mini computer in their pocket, which is where something like the Samsung A31 is exactly the right offering.

First impressions out of the box? It looks and feels far, far sleeker and more expensive than it has any right to at this price point. Sure, we’re not talking bottom dollar here, but considering you can pick up an A31 for less than $500, the build quality is great.

Samsung A31 front view
Samsung's A31 looks much more expensive than it actually is. Picture: Supplied

The housing has been upgraded from previous years’ models, giving it a more premium look – even though, as an A-series phone, the back is made of plastic, not glass. This is a high-density, high-gloss plastic, though – there’s nothing flimsy or ‘plasticky’ about it.

A polymer case also happens to be hardier for younger users, and elderly users, who are two of the key markets that are likely to be using (and dropping...) this phone.

Samsung A31 rear view in prism black
The A31's rear view has a premium look at a midrange price. Picture: Supplied

A large 6.4-inch screen means you can genuinely use the phone as a content-consumption device, particularly since it has a wide aspect ratio, so nearly the entire screen is employed as a viewing platform instead of having big black bands framing your content. There’s no sense of wasted space here.

When watching videos, the colours are bright, images are crisp and the AMOLED display feels, again, more ‘premium’ than you might expect at this price.

Facial recognition is seamless and smooth to use for the face-unlock feature, which is another function you wouldn’t necessarily assume would be built in to a sub-$500 phone.

The ‘Quad camera’ aka a four-lens camera can take macro, wide-angle, ultra-wide angle and decent night photos.

The 48MP main camera is perfectly decent, although frankly I continue to feel let down by Samsung’s ‘Bokeh’ feature, which often ends up blurring out the edges of items that should be clear in the front of the frame.

The A31's 48MP main camera has more than enough oomph to get a good shot. Picture: Supplied
The A31's 48MP main camera has more than enough oomph to get a good shot. Picture: Supplied

The 20MP front camera is really good, so if selfies are your jam, the A31 has you sorted.

Battery life is solid, typically giving me at least a full day if not a day and a half.

In terms of overall performance, I’ll be honest: the A31 doesn’t have the processing power of a high-end cellphone, so you’re occasionally going to see a little bit of lag as you switch between apps.

But for less than $500, the A31 is extremely hard to beat.

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