TOI TechAlthough Samsung's Galaxy line-up of smartphones is most popularly known for the flagship S and Note series, the brand name Galaxy also comprises numerous other smartphones. And the J series of devices represents the budget category.
Samsung's Galaxy J line-up has included some really well rounded smartphones in the past, and it continues to do so. However, it has been facing stiff competition lately from the mushrooming Chinese smartphone makers such as Coolpad, Oppo and Vivo.
The company's latest offering in this series is the Galaxy J7 Prime. With this smartphone, Samsung has tried to better the competition by offering 'features' such as a fingerprint sensor, which has become common in even the cheapest of smartphones available today. Other than that, the J7 Prime also has a respectable spec sheet. But is it enough to make the "budget-conscious" Indian buyer steer away from the Coolpads and the Xiaomis ? We try to find out.
Design and display
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime has a metal body and curved edges. The 2.5D screen with Corning Gorilla Glass protection gives it a premium feel. That said, the smartphone is also quite prone to smudges and easily slips from the hand if not held firmly.
At the front, Galaxy J7 Prime has a physical Home button that also integrates a fingerprint sensor. It's flanked by two capacitive buttons mapped to Recent and Back functions. Above the display lie an earpiece, an 8MP selfie shooter and the usual array of sensors.
The non-removable back panel of the Galaxy J7 Prime has a 13MP rear camera and an LED flash, along the Samsung branding below it. The rear camera is non-protruding, so it won't get scratched when the device is laid flat on a surface.
At the bottom, there's a 3.5mm headset jack and a micro-USB port. The power button is placed on the right edge. Interestingly the mono speaker is also placed on the right, above the power button. This overcomes the problem of muffled audio when listening to music on the smartphone when it's resting on a surface or held in the hand. The left edge has the volume buttons, as well as the dual SIM tray and microSD tray.
Since the J7 Prime has a dedicated expansion slot, you don't have to choose between dual-SIM functionality and expandable storage.
Moving on to the display, Samsung Galaxy J7 comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD TFT display of 1080x1920 pixel resolution and around 401ppi pixel density. The side bezels are quite thin, just like on the A7.
In our testing, we found the display to be quite decent. Viewing angles are appreciably good and colour reproduction is great as well. And although there's (surprisingly) no ambient light sensor here, the screen is quite legible under direct sunlight if the brightness is increased.
Performance and camera
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime is powered by a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor with 3GB of RAM. It also has 16GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD cards.
During our time with the device, we found the overall performance of the Galaxy J7 Prime to be quite impressive. We used the smartphone for light games such as Temple Run 2 and for multi-tabbed browsing with Google Chrome, and didn't experience any lag or heating issues whatsoever. The fingerprint sensor, too, works fine and is quite easy to set up. The sound quality from the speaker is quite good as well.
As for the cellular reception, it was good during our testing. Call quality is generally good, even in areas of problematic coverage such as basements and elevators.
Coming to the battery life, the J7 Prime's 3,300mAh battery easily lasted us a full day on a single charge. This included playing games and browsing social media, all while staying connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data. The phone comes with its own 'S power planning' feature that provides some options to further increase battery life. It can reserve battery for calls when it reaches below 15% or forward calls to selected contacts when the battery level is low.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the company's TouchWiz UI layer baked on top. It comes pre-loaded with Samsung apps such as S planner and S Secure, in addition to specific modes such as S Bike. There are also third-party apps from Microsoft (e.g. OneNote) as well as Opera Max and Facebook pre-loaded. In general, the interface is pretty clean and user friendly.
Moving on to the imaging department, the 13MP rear camera (with autofocus and LED flash) has a f/1.9 aperture. There's also an 8MP selfie-shooter on board.
During our testing, we found the images captured by the rear camera to offer good detail. Colour reproduction is accurate and noise levels are quite low. Images captured in well-lit conditions are quite good. Even low light shots are quite decent. Full HD recording from the rear camera is just about average, but decent for occasional use. As for the 8MP front-camera, it produces appreciably good selfies. All in all, we were quite happy with the picture quality (both front and rear).
The camera app on the Galaxy J7 Prime is pretty basic. However, it comes with different features and shooting modes such as HDR and Panorama, among others.
Verdict
Available at a price of Rs 18,790, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime is well-rounded device. The metal unibody design, 3GB RAM and 3,300mAh battery are all really good. But this kind of hardware is already available in competing devices and that too at lower prices. Moreover, the Galaxy J7 Prime misses out on a few essentials such as an ambient light sensor and an LCD screen. If you want to stick to a reputed brand and get a decent smartphone that covers all the basics well, go ahead and buy the J7 Prime. But if you'd rather have more bang for your buck, it's better to go for alternatives such as Gionee S6s and Oppo F1s.
Samsung's Galaxy J line-up has included some really well rounded smartphones in the past, and it continues to do so. However, it has been facing stiff competition lately from the mushrooming Chinese smartphone makers such as Coolpad, Oppo and Vivo.
The company's latest offering in this series is the Galaxy J7 Prime. With this smartphone, Samsung has tried to better the competition by offering 'features' such as a fingerprint sensor, which has become common in even the cheapest of smartphones available today. Other than that, the J7 Prime also has a respectable spec sheet. But is it enough to make the "budget-conscious" Indian buyer steer away from the Coolpads and the Xiaomis ? We try to find out.
Design and display
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime has a metal body and curved edges. The 2.5D screen with Corning Gorilla Glass protection gives it a premium feel. That said, the smartphone is also quite prone to smudges and easily slips from the hand if not held firmly.
At the front, Galaxy J7 Prime has a physical Home button that also integrates a fingerprint sensor. It's flanked by two capacitive buttons mapped to Recent and Back functions. Above the display lie an earpiece, an 8MP selfie shooter and the usual array of sensors.
The non-removable back panel of the Galaxy J7 Prime has a 13MP rear camera and an LED flash, along the Samsung branding below it. The rear camera is non-protruding, so it won't get scratched when the device is laid flat on a surface.
At the bottom, there's a 3.5mm headset jack and a micro-USB port. The power button is placed on the right edge. Interestingly the mono speaker is also placed on the right, above the power button. This overcomes the problem of muffled audio when listening to music on the smartphone when it's resting on a surface or held in the hand. The left edge has the volume buttons, as well as the dual SIM tray and microSD tray.
Since the J7 Prime has a dedicated expansion slot, you don't have to choose between dual-SIM functionality and expandable storage.
Moving on to the display, Samsung Galaxy J7 comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD TFT display of 1080x1920 pixel resolution and around 401ppi pixel density. The side bezels are quite thin, just like on the A7.
In our testing, we found the display to be quite decent. Viewing angles are appreciably good and colour reproduction is great as well. And although there's (surprisingly) no ambient light sensor here, the screen is quite legible under direct sunlight if the brightness is increased.
Performance and camera
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime is powered by a 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor with 3GB of RAM. It also has 16GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD cards.
During our time with the device, we found the overall performance of the Galaxy J7 Prime to be quite impressive. We used the smartphone for light games such as Temple Run 2 and for multi-tabbed browsing with Google Chrome, and didn't experience any lag or heating issues whatsoever. The fingerprint sensor, too, works fine and is quite easy to set up. The sound quality from the speaker is quite good as well.
As for the cellular reception, it was good during our testing. Call quality is generally good, even in areas of problematic coverage such as basements and elevators.
Coming to the battery life, the J7 Prime's 3,300mAh battery easily lasted us a full day on a single charge. This included playing games and browsing social media, all while staying connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data. The phone comes with its own 'S power planning' feature that provides some options to further increase battery life. It can reserve battery for calls when it reaches below 15% or forward calls to selected contacts when the battery level is low.
Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the company's TouchWiz UI layer baked on top. It comes pre-loaded with Samsung apps such as S planner and S Secure, in addition to specific modes such as S Bike. There are also third-party apps from Microsoft (e.g. OneNote) as well as Opera Max and Facebook pre-loaded. In general, the interface is pretty clean and user friendly.
Moving on to the imaging department, the 13MP rear camera (with autofocus and LED flash) has a f/1.9 aperture. There's also an 8MP selfie-shooter on board.
During our testing, we found the images captured by the rear camera to offer good detail. Colour reproduction is accurate and noise levels are quite low. Images captured in well-lit conditions are quite good. Even low light shots are quite decent. Full HD recording from the rear camera is just about average, but decent for occasional use. As for the 8MP front-camera, it produces appreciably good selfies. All in all, we were quite happy with the picture quality (both front and rear).
The camera app on the Galaxy J7 Prime is pretty basic. However, it comes with different features and shooting modes such as HDR and Panorama, among others.
Verdict
Available at a price of Rs 18,790, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime is well-rounded device. The metal unibody design, 3GB RAM and 3,300mAh battery are all really good. But this kind of hardware is already available in competing devices and that too at lower prices. Moreover, the Galaxy J7 Prime misses out on a few essentials such as an ambient light sensor and an LCD screen. If you want to stick to a reputed brand and get a decent smartphone that covers all the basics well, go ahead and buy the J7 Prime. But if you'd rather have more bang for your buck, it's better to go for alternatives such as Gionee S6s and Oppo F1s.
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