A palmful of news anchors have made a name for themselves because of the way they shout down voices that go against their ideology. Such behaviour has proved infectious, moving from news channels to online tech bloggers, some of whom have the support of marketing teams of certain brands. Such behaviour comes to the fore especially when budget devices are discussed. Every phone has its target audience and Samsung Galaxy M02s knows it well.

Good enough for viewing short-format content

What you get out of the box is a 6.5-inch HD+ TFT screen with obviously a plastic back. Personally, I use a phone that’s flagship grade, which can be an issue with some reviewers — they tend to forget the audience a budget phone targets. Instead of using it myself all the time, I handed it over to my mother for a couple of days. She is pushing 70 and likes to watch every show that hits streaming platforms. Once done with the set, she said only two hours was spent watching videos and that too those on YouTube because it’s the television she likes to relax in front of after a day’s work. Most of the videos seen on the phone pertain to cooking and gardening. More important to her are payment apps and delivery services.

Yes, many of us download and watch shows on mobile phones but that’s mostly during commutes — something that’s not happening often — or during breaks, and that too short videos which are available on certain platforms. Basically, a HD+ TFT screen is good enough for most people unless one needs to do photo editing and colour correction.

In case macro shots interest you

There are three cameras on the rear — a 13MP main camera, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP macro camera. There are two ways of looking at it. The main camera takes decent pictures but don’t expect every shot to shine, especially under uneven lighting. There is no night mode here. Second — and on a personal level — the macro camera is useless. I rarely take close-ups of flowers or things lying around the house. But to someone like my mother, she thrives on taking macro shots. It would have been great had the phone featured an ultra-wide lens. There are some fun filters to play around with but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. What I am getting at is, for many people, the phone’s camera has enough power to take random photos. More important to them is battery life and storage, which is our next topic.

Juice up; forget it

There is a big 5,000mAh battery keeping the phone alive. Well, 5,000mAh may not sound very big to those using flagship phones but the processor on the M02s is not the latest one and draws very little power. There’s enough juices to last the user at least two days.

Having a Snapdragon 450 processor means you will have to be happy playing some casual games, which again is the crowd Samsung is targeting. What I don’t understand is the charging brick inside the box. The phone allows 15W fast charging but the adapter in the box is 7.5W, meaning it will take a few hours to power up.

Is it for you?

For a few thousand more one can pick up the Redmi 9 Power while Poco M2 comes at a competitive price. But let’s not forget that the South Korean brand that has a good number of loyalists in India. Be it after sales service or longevity, the brand has done well for itself. Samsung Galaxy M02s (Rs 8,999) is for those who want a limited set of features on a phone but want them to be as good as it gets.

Galaxy M02s flies because…

⦿ It has a powerful 5,000mAh battery

⦿ The phone doesn’t look cheap even with a plastic back

⦿ The camera does a decent job for a decent price tag

⦿ Has powerful speakers

Galaxy M02s could have flown higher had it…

⦿ Come with a more powerful charging brick

⦿ Offered an ultra-wide lens