Remember the Galaxy J2? You probably don’t, and that’s okay. Launched last year as the cheapest device in Samsung’s Galaxy J lineup, the Galaxy J2’s claim to fame was its Super AMOLED display. The rest of its hardware was extremely unimpressive, and the J2 flew under the radar as a result. It wasn’t very widely available either, but according to Samsung, it went on to become the best-selling Galaxy smartphone, at least in the Indian market.
Still, it is surprising to see that the Korean manufacturer has put so much work behind the Galaxy J2(2016), the successor to the Galaxy J2. Samsung hasn’t made major changes to the hardware, but the device is special because of its Smart Glow notification ring, a feature developed by Samsung India as an alternative to a regular notification LED. Samsung has also put in what it calls Turbo Speed Technology(TST), a fancy name for software optimization the company says improves performance despite the underpowered hardware ticking away inside.
The Galaxy J2(2016) is Samsung’s attempt to stay relevant in the extremely competitive budget smartphone segment in markets like India, and the company is hoping people will see features like Smart Glow, TST and S Bike Mode as reasons to pick the device over the competition. But do these features really make the sequel to a run-of-the-mill smartphone worth buying? Continue reading our review to find out!