Samsung Galaxy A31 (2020)

Terrible phone has been no end of trouble – Purchased phone in April from Officeworks. Used for business purposes, including receiving staff hours etc for pay. Screen became unresponsive in May (unfortunately on pay day, resulting in staff all having significant delay in pays being processed). Samsung inform me it can be fixed under warranty but ONLY if they wipe the phone completely. I say… Read more

that is unreasonable as I use it for business but they won't budge. The tech agent tells me they can replace the screen with genuine, but it will cost me $300 as Samsung won't cover it under warranty if they don't wipe the phone. Begrudgingly, I agreed as it would cost me more than $300 in time to recover the lost information if the phone is wiped. Less than 2 months later, the screen has again become unresponsive. This phone has so far cost me $750 for a very basic phone that repeatedly fails. Unfortunately the Samsung name means nothing, to them we are all just lemmings.

Samsung treats customers privacy with contempt – Yesterday I received from Samsung a text requesting the latest terms and conditions and privacy. I originally bought the A31 back in 2019. The terms and conditions and privacy go for several pages and are received on a regular basis. These are quite complex legal documents that customers are meant to agree to, even though not understood, is this… Read more

even legal. I contacted Samsung and went through a dehumanising phone service. I ended up in a call center in the Philippines. There was poor communication and misunderstanding. another example of ruthless corporate cost cutting. With the call ending in frustration and nothing resolved. Where is Australian Consumer Affair on these types of matters, it is time for a proper investigation into these unethical practices. What is Samsung Australia doing with our private information are they profiteering this requires investigation. None of these issues could be answered today. It is time to start a public campaign against Samsung and these unethical practices.

Sad Service Samsung and Officeworks – My issue is about how I have been treated by Samsung and Officeworks. I purchased a Samsung A31 phone from Officeworks in Malaga on 26/12/20. It would suit my needs as I am retired and do not need sophisticated systems. Sometime after the purchase, a friend noticed that the phone is bent. I had not noticed it before and tried to think of how that… Read more

would have happened as over the last 30 years of owning numerous mobiles it had never happened before. I could not come up with any reasonable explanation. I took the phone back to Officeworks. They contacted Samsung who said it would not be covered by warranty as it would not have left the factory like that. Samsung suggested to Officeworks that I go to a Samsung customer service centre which I did and suggested that I come back if I was still not happy. The Samsung person I spoke to simply told me (rather patronizingly) it was my fault. When I asked what force would be required to bend the phone I was told it would need to be considerable. He offered to send the phone back but was clear that any change would be unlikely. I did not appreciate his attitude and response when I said that I needed the phone and decided that any further discussion was pointless. I went back to Officeworks as suggested. My details were taken and I was told that the Team Leader would be emailed and they would get back to me. I have heard nothing further after over a month. I am over 70 and have spent considerable money with both Officeworks and Samsung in the past. I do not appreciate the way in which I have been treated and will think very carefully about whether I use either again.

Excellent Budget Phone – Bought this phone 2 months ago for under $350. For me, this phone suits me well as I don't need a high spec'd phone or flagship phone when this phone will do everything I need it to do. I was worried about the specs of this phone but was pleasantly surprised that this phone will handle everything I throw at it. All my work apps are on it and… Read more

functions without issue. The 6.4 inch Samsung display is beautiful to look at, crisp clear and vibrant. The brightness of the display is visible in full sun. The quad camera system on this phone is very good quality for the most part. Not good for low light or fireworks although I manage to get some reasonable photos at night with some lighting. This doesn't worry me as I've just bought a Nikon camera. The battery on this phone is awesome. The A50 takes exceptional low light photos and I would imagine the A51 would too. My A50 was stolen and bought the A31 to replace it. I'm giving the phone 5 stars because at this price point, I'm impressed with this phone.

By the way, if you need always on display, go for the A51. The A31 is half way there with tap and view display which is all I need.

No good – Just brought yesterday and I was using the fingerprint scan. But after a few hours of restarting the phone, it now says to add a pin to unlock, I never used a pin. So now I can not unlock it and can not get my money back. Not happy. Show details

Great phone that does as advertised – I wrote a very negative review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 a while back. To be frank, I never wanted to buy another Samsung product again, including TVs, in particular because the design, usefulness and quality had dramatically declined over the years. And, as predicted, my Samsung Galaxy S6 died in August 2020 after two and a half years of… Read more ·  1

ownership. It already had issues with short battery life, the battery suddenly discharging from day one, the fingerprint sensor usually didn't recognise my fingerprint, the NFC often didn't work, GPS sucked (usually couldn't find satellites), low audio volume, the face started to peel off etc. Every new Samsung product over the past decade seemed to be a poorly designed, poor-upgrade of the previous version. Not better in any way.

So, when my S6 died, I needed a phone right away. I couldn't find a phone that gave me the features I wanted under $500 - except for pesky Samsung A31. However, the reviews on Youtube were "good"... but they usually are as these are professional reviewers who get paid to give a good review... or they can keep the product as an incentive to say good things.

As there was no equivalent, I took the plunge and ordered the Samsung Galaxy A31 (Dual SIM 4G, 6.4", 5000mAh, 128GB/4GB). I've now had the phone for two months. In complete contrast to my last few Samsung phones, this model has elevated my trust in the Samsung company again. Following is a brief overview:

Pros: - Amazing long standby times. I can have the screen on without the battery running empty before my eyes. Even after 30 minutes of using the phone with screen on, it's still got 98% battery left. This is exceptionally good. - Fingerprint and face recognition are extremely fast and accurate. - Audio quality is very good. - GPS finds satellites within seconds giving very accurate guidance. - The unit is super fast. No freezing. No crashes. - NFC works great for cardless purchases. - Connections with my PC always work. - Great screen resolution and colours.

Cons: - Macro shots of camera are very poor, blurry. Even if it focuses on the screen, the end result is often a blurry image. - Recording of conversations is no longer possible with Android and Samsung have put further measures in place to prevent call recordings. This sucks as I like to record, and have a right to record, some conversations for training and other purposes.

Conclusion: My S6 appears to take better images albeit an older phone that died. I had no problems recording voice calls. But if you want a phone that's fast, has good audio quality and great battery life, the A31 is a good alternative to the higher priced Samsung phones.

The worst mobile phone for your home – You can't store heaps and heaps of documents, photos and videos on it in HD/4K. The staff were rude to me and the service was terrible so I won't recommend buying this phone since it causes heaps of problems. Show details

Great Experience – This phone is amazing for the price. I bought an oppo which was a $100 cheaper this morning and it was a total nightmare of a phone. Went and exchanged it with higher quality which is a Samsung, and this A31 is an amazing phone for such a low price. I just love the camera and battery life, its amazing after upgrading from a J7 pro which has served me well for 2 years. Show details ·  1

inexpensive and great – Have this phone for about a month and no regrets so far. Easy to use, quality photos. The screen is just right size, not too big and not too small. You can open phone with face recognition which works very well every time. Show details ·  1