Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) Powerfully Elegant

Budget smartphones have changed so much over the past year, it\’s quite difficult to recognize one by simply looking at it. That is great news for everyone not looking to spend a fortune on a new phone. Even though we are fairly confident that most people would love any of the new flagships on the market, parting with such a large amount of money isn’t easy.

And why should you, if you aren’t a power user? What if you just want a phone that looks good, performs decently, and doesn’t require a second mortgage to get? Well, Samsung just might have the right answer with its latest Galaxy J5 (2016)!

Nothing has changed more on budget devices than their appearance, as unattractive designs are slowly becoming a thing of the past. As manufacturers start to flood the market with more devices, they are desperately seeking for ways to differentiate themselves from others.

Design is the perfect starting point because it’s the first thing a user sees, and no matter how powerful the hardware is, making something unsightly is bound to put people off. Thankfully Samsung’s Galaxy J5 (2016) takes all the right steps to become an absolute visual delight in the budget segment. It’s made out of polycarbonate, but that doesn’t stop it from having visual details such as gently curved rear edges and excellent structural rigidity.

Polycarbonate designs also allow for removable back covers, making battery and card changes a breeze. Dimensions of 145.8 x 72.3 x 8.1 mm and a weight of 159 grams are something we are fairly used to nowadays, thus we didn’t have any trouble adjusting.

A very shocking fact is that Samsung managed to squeeze in a Super AMOLED panel onto a budget smartphone. We know that technology trickles down to entry-level phones eventually, but this happened much sooner than we expected.

Samsung’s rivals for instance still feature screens with only 85% of sRGB gamut while J5 (2016) manages to produce 100% of the range together with 0.00cd/m2 blacks and unbelievable contrast. The Super AMOLED panel in question is remarkably similar to the ones found on Samsung’s flagship devices such as Galaxy S7, making the achievement event more incredible.

Super AMOLED panels are renowned for their rich colours and incredible contrast. You might not be used to an explosion of colour at first, however nothing accentuates details more than this type of screen. A resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels stretched over 5.2-inches is the perfect canvas for any smartphone user without straining valuable hardware resources.

Samsung’s engineers went all-out in the display department so they had to keep hardware specs at a more modest level to stay within J5’s price range. Featuring Qualcomm’s reliable Snapdragon 410 CPU backed by 2GB of RAM and Adreno 306 GPU, J5 (2016) delivers respectable performance in the segment.

Daily tasks such as browsing social networks, checking email, browsing the web, and even light gaming are handled without any issues. Load times on websites even exceed budget standards, but can take a tiny bit longer if there’s too much content to process. Light games can be played without any performance issues, however more demanding titles such as Asphalt will experience framerate drops.

This isn’t unusual for budget phones simply because entry-level hardware components can’t keep pace with Android’s most demanding titles. Internal memory comes in at 8GB and can be expanded using a microSD card. If you don’t want to keep shuffling stuff around constantly, we recommend buying a memory card right away.

Another huge feature of J5 (2016) is battery life and we simply couldn’t believe our eyes when  it lasting around 18 hours. Galaxy J5 (2016) is the stamina champion of smartphones which is great news for users trying to maximize their battery life on the go.

Taking care of photos is a 13-megapixel rear sensor accompanied by a 5-megapixel front sensor. As is the case with most budget smartphones, performance varies according to lighting conditions. At times we’ve managed to capture incredibly detailed photos, while at other times photos appeared overexposed.

Imaging definitely has room for improvement within the budget segment, and we hope Samsung’s next generation of devices takes it to a whole new level like it did with the Super AMOLED screen.

Creating a unique device with limited resources is tough beyond any measure, yet Galaxy J5 (2016) manages to stand out from the crowd with its extraordinary battery life and glorious Super AMOLED screen. In addition to those features, designers put in every ounce of effort to make this an incredibly handsome device. Taking everything into account, Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) is surely one of the best budget smartphones on the market today.