Samsung Galaxy M34 5G Review: A Compelling Mid-Ranger

In a market teeming with budget-friendly smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy M34 5G wants to carve a niche by combining an impressive set of features with a wallet-friendly price tag. Starting at ₹18,999, the M34 5G is an affordable mid-range smartphone that ticks all the right boxes with an aim to cater to a diverse range of users. 

Design

At first glance, the Galaxy M34 5G's design might not immediately stand out as groundbreaking, but it has been refined to align with its latest crop of smartphones. Nevertheless, its plastic build with curved edges feels durable in the hand, making it reliable for daily use.

The M34 5G is slim at 8.8 mm and weighs around 208 grams. It lends a comfortable in-hand feel, and the button placement is ergonomic for one-handed use. The power button has a fingerprint reader, which unlocks the phone quickly, and there’s a 3.5mm jack at the bottom which is much appreciated.

Due to the glossy finish, the plastic rear panel is a fingerprint and smudge magnet, so buyers will likely have to slap an after-market case for additional protection from daily wear and tear.

Display

The 6.5-inch AMOLED display on the M34 steals the spotlight with its smooth visuals and vibrant colours. It’s a Full HD+ resolution screen supporting up to 120Hz refresh rate, which sadly does not support HDR playback. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 5, which ensures durability for day-to-day use. Even though the presence of a dated U-shaped notch makes the appearance a bit bland, it doesn’t affect the viewing experience much.

Additionally, Samsung’s Vision Booster technology further optimises brightness and saturation levels for a better viewing experience even under bright sunlight. Samsung claims 1000 nits of peak brightness, but in our testing, we got to around 832 nits of brightness, which is still bright enough for use.

Cameras

The Galaxy M34 5G has a triple rear camera setup, led by a 50MP primary sensor with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), an 8MP ultra-wide camera with 120-degree FOV and a 2MP macro sensor. The rear and front 13MP selfie cameras can record 1080p videos at 30fps.

The primary camera is excellent at capturing details, textures and overall accurate colours in daylight. It offers decent dynamic range but sometimes over-exposes the pictures while processing the image. The portrait mode produces a natural-looking blur effect in well-lit conditions but struggles to capture the little details when the lighting on the subject isn’t adequate. 

The 8MP ultra-wide camera provides decent colours but lacks in picking up finer details. Meanwhile, the 2MP macro camera can go up close, but since it is a low-resolution sensor, it doesn’t offer much detail to go about. As for the 13MP selfie camera, it can take acceptable self-portraits with tons of filters and effects to play around with.

Performance

The Galaxy M34 5G is powered by a 5nm Exynos 1280 octa-core chipset, paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. The software experience is driven by Android 13-based OneUI 5.1, offering a wide range of customisation options.

The Galaxy M34 can score well in benchmarks like AnTuTu, Geekbench and PCMark, which translates to a well-rounded performance. In the CPU throttling test, the M34 was able to run at up to 88% of its maximum capacity before throttling kicked in, meaning that the phone is capable of carrying out intensive tasks with ease.

The Exynos 1280 handles basic tasks and light gaming comfortably. I did not face any lags or issues when multitasking, watching and browsing on the M34. That said, prolonged gaming sessions might reveal some lag and frame drops.

Battery and Charging

One of the highlighting features of the Galaxy M34 5G is its massive 6,000mAh battery. Samsung’s claim of a two-day battery life with the M34 is well founded as I tested the battery endurance of the phone, and it lasted for around 9-10 hours on average. In our video loop test, the M34 ran straight for 17 hours, while the PC Mark Battery test revealed a similar result with over 15 hours worth of battery life.

All of this goes on to prove that the M34 5G will be able to last for two days for casual users. However, it's worth noting that while the device supports 25W fast charging, it takes over 2 hours to charge fully, and the charger is sold separately. 

Verdict

With its compelling mix of features, including a vibrant AMOLED display, enduring battery life, and robust daily performance, the Galaxy M34 5G presents itself as a strong contender for users seeking an all-around package within the ₹20k budget segment. Samsung also offers up to four years of software updates and five years of security updates, making it a more appealing package.

However, it's essential to acknowledge that the Galaxy M34 5G is not without its limitations. The design might seem a bit plain to some, but the secondary cameras have shortcomings, and the charging could be faster. Nevertheless, the M34 5G certainly deserves a spot as it can carve out its own niche in the market.