I used to love my P2 for its fairly small size, £200 price point, fantastic AMOLED screen and amazing 5,000mah battery life. I was tempted away by an LG V20 for a couple of years once the P2 software got a bit old and I wanted a better camera. But I've always missed it. Apart from the camera it was everything I needed in a phone. I've not been able to find something similar... until now.
Samsung released the M30s as a real budget phone for the Indian market to compete with the cheap chinese phones. Recently they upgraded it to the M30s with a faster SOC and to add NFC. A few days ago Amazon reduced the price to £205 so I thought I'd git it a try.
I've only been using it a few hours but so far I'm very happy with it. It does feel a real successor to the P2. It is the same price point, a great AMOLED screen, an even better 6,000mah battery and it still feels light (because it has a plastic body). It's a little larger than the P2 but mostly in the vertical. So it still feels nice in the hand. The camera is apparently not much better and it lacks the wireless charging of the P2 (which I never used). It also has a strange colour gradient on the back which I am not keen on. But I don't use a phone for the fashion statement; I want a functional phone. I'm very happy so far.
I did consider some of the cheap chinese phones. They actually have better specs. But I preferred a non-chinese phone after the Huawei issues in case more manufacturers are removed from Google Play. I also considered the Samsung A50 and A70. But the M30s looks to be better than the A50 in several areas despite Samsung's A series being a higher model range than the budget M series. I almost bought the A70 but it was £130 more in the UK and £80 if I bought from Europe. It didn't seem worth the extra money.
Samsung released the M30s as a real budget phone for the Indian market to compete with the cheap chinese phones. Recently they upgraded it to the M30s with a faster SOC and to add NFC. A few days ago Amazon reduced the price to £205 so I thought I'd git it a try.
I've only been using it a few hours but so far I'm very happy with it. It does feel a real successor to the P2. It is the same price point, a great AMOLED screen, an even better 6,000mah battery and it still feels light (because it has a plastic body). It's a little larger than the P2 but mostly in the vertical. So it still feels nice in the hand. The camera is apparently not much better and it lacks the wireless charging of the P2 (which I never used). It also has a strange colour gradient on the back which I am not keen on. But I don't use a phone for the fashion statement; I want a functional phone. I'm very happy so far.
I did consider some of the cheap chinese phones. They actually have better specs. But I preferred a non-chinese phone after the Huawei issues in case more manufacturers are removed from Google Play. I also considered the Samsung A50 and A70. But the M30s looks to be better than the A50 in several areas despite Samsung's A series being a higher model range than the budget M series. I almost bought the A70 but it was £130 more in the UK and £80 if I bought from Europe. It didn't seem worth the extra money.
