Samsung Galaxy J2 - 6(2016) is a redefined version samsung Galaxy J2(2015). Samsung Galaxy J2 - 6 is redesigned with great new features like Turbo speed Technology(TST), smart glow and a good colour LED screen and notification system.The smartphone, priced at Rupees 9500 onwards and has the great features at that cost.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Display: 5-inch 720 p HD Super AMOLED display
OS: Samsung’s Touch Wiz UI running atop Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
CPU: 1.5 GHz 32-bit SC 9830
RAM: 1.5 GB
GPU: Mali-400 MP2
Storage: 8 GB internal storage, micro SD support
Cameras: 8 MP f/2.2 rear camera(LED flash), 5 MP f/2.2 front camera
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, 3G/4G/2G, GPS, Bluetooth, micro USB 2.0
Battery: 2, 600 mAh
Dimensions: 142.4 X 71.1 X 8.0 mm
DESIGN:
Samsung Galaxy J2 - 6(2016) is a beautiful to carry smartphone. Samsung has made a metal infused, the series of texture lines along the corners and underneath the samsung logo on the backside. The glowing feature of the samsung logo is awsome.
BUILD QUALITY:
The build quality of the device is also nothing to write home about. The all plastic construction doesn’t inspire much confidence and feels rather cheap.
The back is removable and is very smooth and slippery. As with every J series smartphone, the quality of the removable back panel is rather poor. However, it must be noted that the back panel is of a better quality than the one found on the Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7, which feels like it will break with just a modicum of force.
The removable back comes with the usual advantages of having a removable battery and easy access to the two SIM card slots and the micro SD card slot.
The volume and power keys are a bit on the small side and are very hard and clicky. The single external speaker unit is loud enough, but sounds muddled and tinny at full volume. The earpiece is great though and calls made through the phone could be heard loud and clear.
Samsung needs to realise that the market landscape has changed drastically, with the introduction of Chinese brands who have helped push the envelope forward when it comes to design and build quality.
It’s high time Samsung stops riding on the wave of its brand name and starts taking the design and build of its lower end devices seriously.
DISPLAY:
The display, in trademark Samsung fashion, is a sAMOLED panel and thus has ultra-vivid colors, which border on looking a tad unrealistic.
The blacks are deep and inky and images and video’pop’ on the screen. The viewing angles are also great and so is sunlight legibility.
Of course due to the lack of an auto brightness sensor, you would have to manually increase the brightness every single time you go outside. Samsung has included something called an outdoor mode, which can be activated by a toggle that sits right next to the brightness bar in the quick setting toggle.
HARDWARE:
The Samsung Galaxy J2 is powered by the 32-bit Spreadtrum SC9830 processor clocked at 1.5GHz coupled with a Mali-400MP2 GPU, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage(expandable via a microSD card slot) and a 2, 600mAh battery
The Galaxy J2 also comes with 2 unique features, Smart Glow, a color notification LED system and Turbo Speed Technology(TST), which according to Samsung helps improve the device’s speed and performance. We will talk about these features in detail further on.
8GB of internal storage is a big disappointment, and the phone comes with only 3.6GB of usable storage out of the box. With just our benchmarking applications, Facebook, WhatsApp and 3 games, the phone was just left with 1.4GB of internal storage.
PERFORMANCE:
Before we talk about the Samsung Galaxy J2 2016’s performance, or lack of it actually, we need to talk about the CPU and GPU that Samsung has included in the smartphone.
Samsung is marketing the device as having a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. To the layman, this sounds great, quad-core means good performance!
The 32-bit Spreadtrum SC9830 processor runs four Cortex A7 cores. The smartphone world stopped using Cortex A7 over two years ago. ARM announced the Cortex A7 back in 2012, and was seen in the first generation Snapdragon 200 and 400 processors.
In fact, all low end devices these days use the 64-Bit Cortex A53, which is much more modern and efficient than the obsolete A7. The Galaxy J2 2016 comes with the Mali-400 MP2 GPU, a dinosaur in today’s day and age. Let’s put things into context. As pointed out by C4E Tech on Youtube, Samsung used the same GPU in its Galaxy S2 smartphone in 2011.
The version of the Mali 400MP2 on the S2 had a higher clock speed and 2 more cores and was used to power a 480p display. Now Samsung has included a less powerful version of the MP2 to power a 720p HD display.
Thus, the performance on the Galaxy J2 2016 is sub-par to say the least. The UI feels laggy, apps take a second or two extra to load, web browsing is frustrating and the camera itself is slow to focus and take pictures.
Gaming performance is average at best. Simple games like Subway surfers and Candy Crush Saga play reasonably well, but heavier games are best avoided.
TURBO SPEED TECHNOLOGY:
Samsung claims that Turbo Speed Technology(TST) is a revolutionary innovation which results in superior device performance. Samsung has rewritten native apps such as camera, gallery, and contacts, etc. that are most frequently used by consumers in order to make them as light as possible.
It also proactively shuts down idle processes running in the background and declutters RAM using its intelligent memory system to ensure resources like RAM and processor are free and ready to take on new tasks.
SMART GLOW:
Smart Glow consists of an LED ring around the rear camera which can be customized for priority notifications of any app or contact. It also alerts a user if they are running low on battery, internal memory, or mobile data.
You can choose any color you want, and there is a full RGB color picker. While does this offer infinite combinations, it is a bit difficult to use as there is no preview of the color on offer in the interface.
SOFTWARE:
The Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 runs on Samsung’s own TouchWiz UI running atop Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Doze mode, application permission control and all other Marshmallow goodness is on offer here, just with a dash of Samsung’s customisation.
Out of the box, the quick notifications tray has 18 icons, which thankfully are user customisable and can be whittled down to a more reasonable size.
Long pressing the home button opens up Google Now on Tap and a double press leads to the camera app instead of Samsung’s rarely used S Voice. It’s good to see Samsung finally ditching S Voice for the much more popular and powerful Google Now. Out of the box, the device comes with tons of pre-loaded applications, including a whole suite of Microsoft Applications, namely Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, OneNote and Skype. Thankfully, these can be uninstalled.
Samsung has gone the extra mile in the Galaxy J2 in simplifying TouchWIz. As a part of the Turbo Speed Technology, Samsung has decluttered the OS and made certain changes aimed at simplifying the user experience.
For example, the application list in now vertical scrolling instead of horizontal, which makes it much easier to navigate to whichever application you want to open, especially if you have a lot of apps installed.
Samsung has also included shortcuts for the Calculator, FM Radio, Flashlight as well as a mirror application right on the lock screen. As these are not content sensitive, these can be accessed without entering the device’s password.
Additionally, the OS doesn’t automatically place shortcuts for newly installed applications on the home screen in a bid to avoid clutter.
All these modifications are great, and do help make this iteration of TouchWiz the best I have used to date in terms of user friendliness. However, compared to stock Android, TouchWiz still seems a bit incoherent and messy.
ULTRA DATA SAVING MODE:
The J2 2016 also comes with Samsung’s much touted Ultra Data Savings mode, which Samsung claims provides up to 50% mobile data savings by blocking unnecessary background applications from consuming data.
S BIKE MODE:
The Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 also comes with Samsung’s much hyped S bike mode. The smartphone comes with a specialised NFC sticker/tag that sticks to the bike fuel tank. ?The rider needs to switch on the S bike mode on the smartphone before setting off on the ride, and then tap the sticker with the handset.
Upon activation, the S bike mode mutes incoming calls and notifies the caller with an automated message that the user is riding a two-wheeler and cannot take calls at the moment. If however, the caller wants to convey a message urgently and cannot wait for the rider to call back, then he/ she has the option of redirecting the call by pressing 1 on their smartphone.
CAMERA:
The Samsung Galaxy J2 comes with an 8MP rear camera with autofocus and LED flash and a 5MP front camera. Both the cameras have an aperture of f/2.2.
The rear camera is above average and in well-lit situations, it produces sharp and vibrant images with vivid colors. In outdoor low light situations however, images lack detailing and have a noticeable amount of noise. The camera is quite poor when it comes to shooting pictures indoor, as it really struggles with artificial light. In indoor low light scenarios, the situation is even worse as camera produces really muddy and dark images with a lot of noise.
The camera is also quite slow to focus and process images.
A big disappointment is the fact that the rear camera cannot shoot 1080 p HD videos, which is quite astonishing in this day and age in a 10, 000-rupee smartphone. 720 p video shot by the camera is just about okay, usable only for Facebook or WhatsApp.
BATTERY LIFE:
The Samsung Galaxy J2 is powered by a 2, 600mAh battery unit which is average at best. The device can make it through one day of light to moderate use. However, intensive use kills the battery before the sun sets.