It feels like Samsung is having a good year with its smartphones. In a market crowded by the likes of Nord and Nothing/CMF, the company’s latest, Galaxy M35 5G, shines in the software and camera departments. And it’s a good alternative to the Galaxy A35, especially when pricing is considered.

Simple design

To keep pricing under check, Samsung has gone with a plastic build, which is on the slippery side. But making up for it is the sizeable 6,000mAh battery running the show, though it adds some bulk to the phone. Another compromise: The bezels are not the thinnest and there is no IP rating. The protection you do get is Gorilla and Victus+ on the display to ensure there are no scratches or damages from accidental drops.

Galaxy M35 5G comes with Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on the display.

What Samsung has splurged on is the Super AMOLED display, complete with great colour calibration, great touch response and enough degree of brightness (1,000 nits) for outdoor usage.

The 6.6-inch display is complemented with decent stereo speakers. There is good sound separation and vocals are not overpowered, making it a good phone for streaming films.

Punching above its weight

The phone’s vibration motor is better than on many mid-range phones; you have good haptic feedback. The vibration you feel while typing long e-mails is top-notch.

Staying on with performance, the phone is powered by an Exynos 1380 chipset. The octa-core chipset is perfect for a budget phone. Over the few weeks of usage, I had no issues multitasking or playing simple games. Samsung has even thrown in a vapour-cooling chamber, which is a tough find in this price category. Even if you are playing Asphalt 9, there will be no heating issues. The review unit comes with 8GB RAM, making browsing and scrolling through news feeds a smooth experience. The screen comes with 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling performance.

Does this translate into a gaming phone? No and Samsung is not marketing the phone in that category. You can play simple titles but complicated games, like Genshin Impact, where you need higher fps need a more powerful chipset.

Shines in the camera department

Two areas where the Samsung phone does a good job are photography and software. The phone comes loaded with Android 14 and even though there is some bloatware, the OS experience is quite good. Samsung is giving four years of software updates and five years of security patches. Such figures were unheard of in the past for a budget phone.

A sample image taken using the main camera on the phone.

In the camera department, there is a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos out of the main sensor. It handles high-contrast scenarios very well, complete with a balanced exposure. There’s decent detail, even if you use the 2X crop to get closer to a subject. In low light, you will get clear pictures but you and your subject need to be still. I have several blurry shots of my cat because she never stays put. Overall, it has a better camera system than on, say, CMF Phone 1

Selfies from the 13MP camera are decent in daylight conditions but, at night, there’s noise in selfies.

Should you buy it?

Despite competition from OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite and CMF Phone 1, Samsung manages to shine with display, software and camera performance on the Galaxy M35 5G, which is leading the race in the budget category.

At a glance

Device: Samsung Galaxy M35 5G

Price: Upwards of Rs 19,999

High notes

• Excellent software support

• Good camera performance

• Battery is big enough to see you through more than a day

Muffled note

• Simple design