Another budget phone, the Galaxy M17, has been launched by Samsung. It has a huge battery, AMOLED display, good cameras and long-term software updates. Is this phone really the best for budget users?
Design and Build Quality
The design feels quite premium. The back is a bit shiny, reflective and a bit mirrored. However, fingerprints are not an issue here, which is a good thing. You also find the Samsung branding at the bottom. It’s quite subtle.
There are some white accents on the sides. There are three cameras in the middle, so there is a round circle in the middle. It looks pretty good. It has been tried to give it a bit of a premium touch. The LED flash is visible from the outside.
The feel is pretty smooth. No worries about fingerprints or anything like that. And in terms of thickness, it’s only 7.5mm, which is a bit thinner than last year’s model, which is a good thing.
Display
Moving on to the display. Here you will find a 6.7-inch Full HD+ 90Hz Super AMOLED display. So, I really like the display here. The colors really pop out beautifully.
You also get a 240Hz touch sampling rate. You also get Gorilla Glass protection. The company hasn’t revealed the exact protection provided on last year’s model. However, it’s pretty strong. Which keeps the phone from breaking if it falls.
Talking about the maximum brightness here, it is 1100 nits. The previous version of the M16 had 800 nits. So, we see an improvement here.
The buttons are the volume buttons and which one is the power button. It’s pretty nice. Also, if we talk about the in-hand feel, I really like it. It can be a little slippery at times, but it’s not ideal for one-handed use. Yeah, and now, talking about the front, you’ll see quite a thick bezel on the display,
Performance
Here you will also see a drop notch, not a punch-hole display. I think Samsung should pay a little attention to this. It is IP54 rated. That is good. It comes with a polycarbonate build quality. But it still feels quite sturdy. It feels good to hold. It gives a feeling of confidence.
Samsung’s XNOS 1330 processor is paired with LPDR 4X RAM and UFS 2.2 storage. So, overall, it’s a pretty good package, and the base variant comes with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Aldo weighs 192 grams. Last year, it was 191 grams. A gram or more doesn’t matter. It’s a good thing to be thin. And you see the same thing overall.
You don’t get dual stereo speakers.
The software here is 1UI 7, the latest version, which comes with Android 15. Samsung’s UI is pretty amazing. It’s a lot of fun to use, and has a lot of neat features. You can also find Knock Security here. It’s pretty good, and there are a lot of AI features like Live, Now Bar, Voice Focus, and more.
Overall, you will see some AI here and the software is pretty good. But if we talk about preloaded apps, then there are 53 preloaded apps while you will get 13 third-party apps.
Samsung’s wallet is also available, as it also has an NFC chip. This allows you to make payments and other payments without any problems.
6 years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches, which is pretty crazy for this price. So, if the software experience is well supported, then the phone will definitely last.
Cameras
Let’s talk about the cameras on the Samsung Galaxy M17. Here, you’ll find a decent triple camera setup, with the main camera featuring a 50-megapixel sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and a 1/2.76 aperture. The secondary camera is a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and the third camera is a 2-megapixel macro camera.
For maximum video recording, you can shoot at Full HD 30fps, which is a good thing. Now, talking about the front camera, you get a 13-megapixel front camera. You can also shoot at Full HD 30fps, which is a good thing.
The ultra-wide angle is pretty good. The main camera is pretty good too. The macro camera is okay, I’d say.
You can also record videos. The operating system is pretty good, and it’s perfect for vlogging as you can switch between the main camera, the ultra-wide camera, and even the front camera at Full HD 30fps.
Battery and Charging
You get a 5000 mAh battery. So, the battery is pretty good. That is, for this price, you are getting a good battery. But to tell you about the battery backup and other aspects, let’s run a test called PC Mark test. PC Mark test involves charging the phone to 100%. Then, let’s run this test. This test will run continuously until the battery reaches 20%. What will it do? It’s like daily work. Sometimes you are browsing, sometimes playing games, sometimes watching videos. All these tasks will run continuously until the battery reaches 20%.
Verdict: Should You Buy the Galaxy M17?
Is this phone good under 15000? Is it better than the market competition or is it better than your last year’s model?
