Samsung has been in the smartphone industry for quite some time and they are arguably the number one company in this category. They have been producing smartphones for several years. From budget to flagship phones – they surely are giving stiff competition to Apple and Huawei, their close rivals. They have made phablets to tablets and much more. They are a versatile company and will surely not give away the top spot. We will now review the newest model of Galaxy J7 series – the Galaxy J7 (2016).
Check out: Samsung Galaxy J7 2016 Price in Pakistan
Specifications
- 5.5” Super AMOLED Display with 267 PPI Density
- 3300 mAh Removable Battery
- 5MP Front Camera and 13MP Back Camera
- Runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
- 16GB of Internal Storage and 2GB RAM with MicroSD Card Slot
- Snapdragon 617 Chipset with Octa-Core 1.6GHz Processor
Build Quality
The Galaxy J7 2016’s design is quite similar to other smartphones built by Samsung. The same old front panel and back panel. I would like Samsung to change their generic design. The home button is on the bottom of the front panel with the capacitive buttons on either side, as usual. The back panel is made of plastic which diminishes the premium look given by the metallic frame. The speaker grill is on the back which is ideal for me because the whenever I hold my iPhone 6 horizontally, it blocks the speakers. The even better location of the speakers would be on the front like that of the Moto G3, no obstruction whatsoever.
The power button and volume rockers are on the right and left side respectively which is excellent as you will not get confused where each button is. There are two capacitive buttons. One for closing background applications and one for going back while using applications. It weighs about 160g and is 7.8mm thick. Some smartphones are too light and thin, they feel fake but that is not the case here. It feels sturdy. The weight really hits the sweet spot.
Display
It has a 5.5” super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 267. The screen is big for my taste, but it is ideal for watching videos and playing games. The “Super” AMOLED display is sharp and colors are vibrant. Indoors, the display is nice but can’t say the same for the outdoors. On a bright day, the screen is painful to read. You must be thinking “just turn the brightness up” but that really isn’t an effective solution. When the brightness is maximum, the colors start to blow out making it look terrible. Another flaw of this phone is the absence of the “Auto Brightness Mode”. This is really impactful on the battery as brightness is a major source of battery consumption.
Performance and Battery Life
The Galaxy J7 has 16GB of internal storage with 2GB of RAM. There is also a MicroSD card slot for expanding memory storage to up to 128GB. Clearly, space will never be an issue in this phone. It has a Snapdragon 617 chipset with an Octa-Core 1.6GHz processor. This seems fine and dandy but the GPU is not great. The Mali-T830MP2 is a mediocre GPU. It will no doubt have an effect on your gaming experience. Light games work great yet the heaviest games like Asphalt 7 or Temple Run don’t work as well. Other than that, multitasking and basic usage on the J7 is great.
It has a 3300mAh battery which is removable. The feature of removing the battery is brilliant. Most of the time, after a few years the battery life of smartphones get really sloppy. This is where the removable feature comes in. You can buy and insert a new battery which makes the battery same as it was out of the box. Battery life is amazing. It lasts throughout the day without any boost charging in the afternoon or evening.
Camera
It has a 13MP primary camera and a 5MP secondary camera. For its price, the Galaxy J7 takes great photos from the back camera. The front camera isn’t great. The image quality is not too good. The images are grainy and colors aren’t vibrant.
The camera app is spectacular. It has a “Pro Mode” which allows you to play around with the ISO, HDR etc. It allows a complete range of control. Or you could choose the much simpler “Auto Mode” You can also shoot a panorama, which is luxury rarely seen in smartphone cameras today. Other modes include “Sports Mode” and “Night Mode”.
Software
It runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Its stock launcher is great but we know Android is very customizable. You can download any launcher if you don’t like the built-in one. It doesn’t come with unusual apps and random bloatware. Just your everyday apps including gallery, file management app, calendar etc.
Nothing unique about its OS. No special gestures (like that of the OnePlus 3). There is only one neat function. If you double tap the home button, it’ll open up the camera app immediately. The question is yet to be confirmed whether or not updates will be available or not.
Wrap-Up
Samsung Galaxy J7 2016 is a fine smartphone for the. 30,000 Rupees price range but it does lack some basic features like fast-charging, auto brightness mode, a good GPU and whatsoever. In this price range, I can speak without any doubt that the Motorola Moto G3 is much better and the leader of the budget category. Samsung has much to improve on the Galaxy J7 2016.
