Mini smartphones were first seen during the times of the Galaxy S3 and they’ve existed ever since. They’re a toned down version of their more powerful variants but with nearly similar designs and build quality. As a continuation of that, before the curtain draws on 2016, Samsung has come up with the Galaxy J1 mini prime. Launched in mid-December 2016 with a price-tag close to 8,900 rupees, this smartphone is likely to have more friends than enemies because of its very affordable price-tag.

Ye ole’ design is back again

Samsung has stuck with its customary lower-end design and build materials for the J1 mini prime. Plastic makes about 90% of the smartphone with shades of metal separating the front and back panels. The smartphone is very thick, at 10.8mm, which is disappointing to say the least but it’s fairly compact and sits comfortably in the palm.

Display: no quality and no quantity either

The J1 mini prime is a fairly compact smartphone which is one of the biggest attributes of a “mini” device. That automatically cancels out these smartphones sheltering large touchscreens so if you were hoping for something close to 5.0 inches, you’ll be disappointed. The J1 mini prime features a 4.0 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen with 233ppi pixel density. Equating to a 480p resolution, this may not look that bad when using the smartphone as its display size is pretty small too. That being said, the chances of a pixelated display are very probable considering its lowly pixel density.

How on earth do VGAs still exist?

That’s exactly what we asked ourselves when reading the specifications of the J1 mini prime. Fortunately, the primary camera features a satisfying 5 megapixel sensor with an LED flash but its selfie sensor takes all the gloss off its primary counterpart by housing a shabby VGA sensor of its own. We would’ve loved to see a 2 megapixel sensor there but hey! This was Samsung’s idea.

Slightly powerful but not enough

The J1 mini prime is powered by a Quad-Core processor with 1GB of RAM. Coming out of the box with either Android Marshmallow or Lollipop, the smartphone lacks the necessary resources to cater the huge demands of its Android OS. Its internal storage stands at 8 gigs while an external memory card slot, capable of expanding up to 256GB, is also present. Its battery can be removed and replaced in event of degraded performance but its meager 1500 mAh capacity leaves a-lot to be desired.

Galaxy J1 mini prime pros:

• Priced at around 8,900 rupees, the smartphone will make good friends with people facing affordability issues
• A 5 megapixel primary camera is definitely one of its strongest points
• External memory card slot expandable up to 256GB is welcome news
• Removable battery allows you to replace a worn-out one

Galaxy J1 mini prime cons:

• Extremely low battery capacity
• Only 4 to 5 gigs of internal storage is available to the user
• Using a large external card slot will further slowdown an already underpowered smartphone
• 4.0 inches touchscreen is pretty small
• VGA selfie snapper. Enough said!