Samsung Galaxy M36 review: Designed to impress

Rating: 3.5/5

Samsung recently launched its pretty-looking glossy smartphone -- Galaxy M36 5G in India. The smartphone comes with a minimalistic design that the company says will be liked by many. Along with a good design, the smartphone also packs a good set of specifications. To evaluate the company's claim of being one of the best-performing smartphones in its price segment, we thoroughly tested the Samsung Galaxy M36. Below is a comprehensive review of its performance.

Design

The Galaxy M36 is Samsung’s one smartphone that stands out in terms of its design aesthetics. The smartphone manages to strike a perfect balance between simplicity and polish. Its slim 7.7mm profile and Gorilla Glass Victus+ front give it a sturdy feel, while the smooth matte finish rear panel adds to its looks. The smartphone comes in two colour options — Serene Green and Orange Haze. We got the Orange Haze colour option which gives it a touch of elegance.


The smooth rear panel of the smartphone houses the triple rear camera which is placed inside a pill-shaped camera module neatly tucked in the top left corner. Along with the camera module you will also notice the Samsung branding which merges completely with the Orange colour.

The smartphone is light in weight and is easy to use with one hand. Coming to the button placement, the power button and volume rockers are placed on the right side of the smartphone, while the SIM card tray sits on the left. The bottom part houses the USB Type-C charging port and the speaker grill. The front of Samsung Galaxy M36 is dominated by a 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display which houses the 13MP selfie camera. To sum up, Samsung Galaxy M36 is a pretty-looking smartphone which will be loved by many.

Display

Samsung Galaxy M36 features a 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with 1080x2340 pixel resolution. The display offers up to 120Hz refresh rate and it comes with a coating of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ which protects the screen from scratches and minor drops. The vibrant AMOLED display of the smartphone offers deep blacks, excellent contrast, and vivid colours. The 120Hz refresh rate ensures ultra-smooth scrolling and fluid animations, making interactions feel responsive and polished. Outdoor visibility is impressive too, thanks to high peak brightness levels that keep the screen legible even under direct sunlight. The display on this mid-range smartphone is surrounded by thin bezels on all sides allowing maximum viewing space. Like other Samsung smartphones, this one also comes with the eye comfort mode which will protect your eyes from getting strained. In all, the display on the Samsung Galaxy M36 delivers accurate and sharp colour reproduction allowing you to enjoy both binge-watching and gaming on the smartphone.

Performance

Samsung Galaxy M36 is powered by an octa-core Exynos 1380 chipset. The smartphone comes in two variants — 6GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB. The Samsung Galaxy M36 impresses with its performance, making it a notable feature of the smartphone. Equipped with a capable mid-range chipset, the device operates smoothly without any noticeable issues or lag during everyday tasks. Multitasking is seamless, and app switching is a breeze. Even with multiple browser tabs open, the smartphone maintains its glitch-free performance. Editing apps run smoothly, offering a hassle-free experience.

Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy M36 is excellent for gaming. It can easily handle casual games, and you can even enjoy graphics-intensive games without any issues. However, it is important to note that extended gaming sessions may cause the device to overheat. The audio experience provided by the Samsung Galaxy M36 is satisfactory. The device features bottom-firing speakers that deliver loud and clear sound quality when played through loudspeakers. Furthermore, the audio quality remains impressive when using headphones.

Coming to the software, Samsung Galaxy M36 runs Android 15 operating system topped with the company's own layer of Samsung One UI 7. The interface feels intuitive and visually refined with smooth transitions. One UI 7 introduces several AI-powered tools like Erase Reflections and AI Smart Select, which prove handy for tasks like photo editing and text extraction. Samsung has also promised that the smartphone will get six years of OS updates and seven years of security patches. The handset comes with a few pre-installed apps. Having said that most can be removed, keeping the system clean and user-friendly.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy M36 features a triple rear camera which comprises 50MP main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, 8MP ultra-wide angle lens with f/1.8 aperture and 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture. Front houses the 13MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture. This mid-range 5G smartphone from Samsung manages to deliver a really good camera performance. Daylight shots are crisp with good dynamic range. The images look natural and not over-saturated. The camera also performs well in artificial light. However, you may notice some noise in low-light photos, but the details are still there. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is average, and the photos it takes are not as impressive as the main camera. However, the macro camera is very good and takes sharp, detailed photos of close-up subjects. The colours are accurate and the details are very impressive. The 13MP front camera is solid for video calls and casual selfies.

Both front and rear cameras support 4K video recording, a rare perk at this price point. Overall, the camera system is capable but not groundbreaking.

Battery

Samsung Galaxy M36 is backed by a 5,000 mAh battery which comes with 25W fast charging support. Like all the other M-series smartphones, the Galaxy M36 also performs well in this department. During our testing, the smartphone easily lasted more than a day of mixed usage on a single charge. Charging is capped at 25W, which feels slow compared to rivals offering 33W or more. A full charge takes about 75 minutes, so you’ll want to plan ahead if you’re heading out.

Verdict

Samsung Galaxy M36 comes with a starting price tag of Rs 17,499. The smartphone offers a good build quality and delivers satisfactory performance with its Exynos processor. Samsung Galaxy M36 comes with the latest operating system and will get four more Android updates in the future. It is a reasonably good smartphone that will impress you with its design.



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