Samsung Galaxy M13 review: Feature-packed budget 5G phone

Recently, Samsung launched Galaxy M13 series budget phones in India. It comes in two variants – a regular Galaxy M13 4G and a top-end Galaxy M13 5G.

The company is offering the Galaxy M13 5G in two configurations – 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage – for Rs 13,999 and Rs 15,999 respectively.

I’ve been using the Galaxy M13 5G for almost a week and here are my thoughts on Samsung’s latest budget 5G phone.

Design, build quality and display
The Galaxy M13 5G relies on a slim design language. It has a smooth shell on the back and the dark hue of the midnight blue model means fingerprints on the back are less visible. It has two circular camera sensors aligned vertically, very similar to what we see in the top-of-the-line Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The phone features rounded corners and the back cover is made of polycarbonate material. Though it’s sleek, the slim profile (8.8mm thickness) makes it easier to hold the phone with less risk of slipping and feels sturdy too.

On the front, it sports a 6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1600p) PLS (Plane to Line Switching) LCD screen (270 ppi) that is said to offer more brightness compared to standard LCD panels. It also supports a 90Hz refresh rate and 400 nits peak brightness.

The display is really good enough to read news on the websites outdoors without having to strain my eyes. However, I have to say that I manually increased the brightness to the maximum level.

It also comes with an eye comfort mode for low light conditions. It reduces blue light emissions that damage eyes, especially at night.

The display has a Gorilla Glass 3 shield that ensures protection from scratches from pens and keys when kept in a pocket or purse.

Also, the side-mounted fingerprint sensor, which also doubles as the power button, is very tactile and responsive, much better than the in-screen biometric sensor.

perfomance
The Galaxy M13 5G features a MediaTek MT6833 Density 700 (2.2GHz Cortex-A76 x 2 cores + 2.0GHz Cortex-A55 x 6 cores) 7nm class octa-core chipset powered by a Mali -G57 MC2 GPU is supported and runs on Android 12 based One UI Core 4 OS out of the box.

It comes in two flavors: 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage. Our review unit has the latter, enough to store multiple apps and hundreds of photos and videos.

It also supports a microSD card and users can expand it up to 1TB). In addition, users expand the physical memory by up to 6GB through the RAM Plus feature, which means it can reach up to 12GB provided there is enough space.

The main intention of RAM Plus is to allow most of the apps you use to work in the background as well, enhancing the device’s performance in terms of charging speed, daily tasks like web browsing, and the camera lag-free.

It also supports Asphalt 9: Legends and even most games in the Battle Royale genre, and the performance is decent, on par with any of the phones under the Rs 18,000 price bracket. I had no pressing issues to complain about.

The device houses a 5,000mAh battery with 15W charging support. The device was able to deliver a constant one and a half days with normal use. Even if you indulge in video binging, it can still provide a full day of use without fear of running out of battery before getting home from the office.

Also, Galaxy M13 is one of the cheapest phones that supports 5G and Samsung says it supports 11 bands – 5G FDD Sub6: N1 (2100), N3 (1800), N5 (850), N7 (2600), N8 ( 900), N20(800), N28(700) and 5G TDD Sub6: N38(2600), N40(2300), N41(2500), N78(3500).

It’s certain to have at least Airtel and Reliance Jio covering it as they roll out commercial 5G operations in the coming weeks.

It should be noted that Airtel has signed a multi-year deal with Samsung to supply equipment as part of the modernization of cellular infrastructure to provide 5G services in India.

With low latency, Galaxy M13 5G users can play cloud-based games better and also stream high-quality 4K or 8K content without buffering lags. Or even download 8K content in seconds.

photography
Samsung’s new budget phone has a dual camera – a 50-megapixel wide-angle main sensor (with f/1.8, PDAF: phase-detection autofocus), surrounded by a 2-megapixel depth sensor (f/2, 4) With LED flash on the back is supported.

It takes pretty good pictures in natural sunlight and even under cloudy skies. It over-processes the colors, especially the reds and pinks of the flowers. But it manages to capture finer details.

Even the portrait images are of good quality and bring the bokeh effect into the background without looking too artificial.

In night mode the picture becomes good under certain conditions and you should have a steady hand as the autofocus slows down.

It can record videos in Full HD (1080p) and HD (720) at 30 fps (frames per second). The video quality is on par with any phone under Rs 18,000.

On the front is a 5-megapixel wide-angle sensor (f/2.0,). Selfies and even video capture quality are good in natural light, but noise starts to creep in when shooting indoors or in low-light conditions. But the quality is still good for the asking price.

Surprisingly, Samsung doesn’t offer superficial filters and editing tools to enhance facial structure like we see in Chinese smartphone brands. Instead, it offers AR Zone, which comes with a range of modes like AR Doodles, AR Emoji Studio, and AR Emoji Stickers to create your own emojis, caricatures, and many more fun tools.

Final Thoughts
With 5G service expected to roll out in India soon, the new Galaxy M13 is a compelling phone. The performance in terms of everyday use and the camera is fine for the affordable price. Most importantly, the large battery can come in handy when streaming content using a 5G cellular connection.

Samsung also offers the generic Galaxy M13 4G mode. It is available in two variants – 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB RAM + 128GB storage – for Rs 11,999 and Rs 13,999 respectively.

It differs in terms of display size, processor, battery capacity and camera specifications.

Read more | Key features of the Samsung Galaxy M13 4G

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