Secrets of samsung galaxy j1. The cheapest AMOLED smartphone is Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016). Connectors and controls

Budget smartphones are becoming more and more popular, as many people understand that the phone will still have to be replaced after a year, either due to a breakdown or obsolescence of the model. And contrary to the popular belief about the low reliability and weak hardware of cheap smartphones, there are pleasant exceptions, for example, the updated 2016 Samsung Galaxy J1 model. The company decided to update its last year ultra-budget model, slightly improving the characteristics, and at the same time installing a more recent version of the OS. Among the advantages of the smartphone, the manufacturer emphasizes the AMOLED screen with bright and rich colors. The cost of the device for the summer of 2016 is approximately $120. The price of course depends on the store.

The new product is available in three colors: white, black and gold. The main changes to the front of the smartphone affected the location of the front camera, proximity sensors and accelerometer - they “moved” from the left side to the right and changed the design. The silver grille of the speaker has also disappeared - instead there is now a slot with a mesh. The new front panel design visually expands the screen and prevents it from being confused with other smartphones. The mother-of-pearl back panel of the Galaxy J1 (SM-J120) is made of high-quality plastic, the ends are also made of plastic, but stylized as metal.



Specifications Samsung Galaxy J1 SM-J120H

The phone has an excellent quad-core Exynos 3475 Quad chipset, Mali-T720 graphics processor and 1 GB of RAM. Only 4 GB out of 8 available are available to the user for storing personal data. However, thanks to the microSD slot, you can expand the internal memory up to 128 GB. The phone is also equipped with Wi-Fi with a transfer speed of 300 Mbps and Bluetooth v4.1, which is characterized by low consumption. Samsung Galaxy J 1 is powered by a battery with a capacity of 2050 mAh.


CPU

The Samsung Exynos 3475 chip consists of 4 Cortex-A7 cores that can operate at a frequency of 1.3 GHz. Graphics are processed by the Mali-T720 video chip at a frequency of 533 MHz. The video chip is not the worst. The same hardware was in last year's Samsung Galaxy J2. It is capable of providing smooth operation in the interface and sufficient performance in games and applications. In operation, the smartphone copes with all tasks without delay. Of course, in the most resource-intensive games, the graphics quality will be reduced as much as possible to ensure optimal performance. In the synthetic AnTuTu test, the smartphone scores 21,000 points.


Memory

RAM capacity- 1 GB. The required minimum, thanks to which the smartphone will work without delay, even with several applications running simultaneously.

Built-in storage capacity- 8 GB, of which half was used for system needs. That is, the user has 4 GB at his disposal. Not a lot, but with the right approach this volume will be enough for all the necessary applications, and even for installing several resource-intensive games. Great news for those who need a lot of free space: the smartphone supports MicroSD memory cards with a capacity of up to 128 GB.

Smartphone operating time

The smartphone is equipped with a removable battery with a capacity of 2050 mAh. With such a battery you can count on 1 day of operation under moderate loads. If you just make calls (40 minutes a day), the charge will last for 5 days. The settings have an extreme energy saving mode that limits the operation of certain functions. The brightness decreases, the color of the display disappears, it becomes black and white. It remains possible to make and receive calls, access the Internet, and SMS. If desired, the list of available features in this mode can be expanded with some applications for social networks.


Photo and video camera

The main camera allows you to take photos with a maximum resolution of 5 megapixels. The lens aperture is f/2.2. There is an LED flash and autofocus. The camera app interface has various filters that can be applied in real time. There are even settings that allow you to adjust ISO, white balance and exposure. Below are two examples of pictures taken with the main camera, the first without a filter, and the second with a filter recommended for shooting under sunlight.


Display

An interesting part of this smartphone is its display, or more precisely, the type of AMOLED matrix. Typically, LED displays are the lot of much more expensive devices. However, in 2016, the production of such matrices becomes more accessible and they are being introduced even into budget devices. The holder of the patent for the production of AMOLED matrices is Samsung. The advantages of such displays are brighter, rich colors (often unnatural, but they can be customized) and they are less energy-consuming, unlike IPS displays.

  • Diagonal 4.5 inches
  • Resolution 480 x 800 pixels
  • Screen type AMOLED
  • Pixel density 245 ppi
  • Impact-resistant protective glass



Network communications

This device supports 2 SIM cards of Micro-SIM size. Can work in 2G, 3G networks. GPS/GLONASS navigation is supported, A-GPS is present. WiFi is single-band, but the Wi-Fi Direct wireless data transfer standard is supported. Unfortunately, the smartphone does not provide the ability to connect external peripheral devices using USB OTG.


Phone sound

The main audio speaker does not produce too loud sound. When watching videos, I would like it to be louder. But during a telephone conversation, no problems were noticed with the volume and sound quality of the speaker. The sound in the headphones is clear and the volume is good.

Software

Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) runs on Android 5.1 operating system. The system interface has been changed only slightly, it looks nice, and is not overloaded with unnecessary elements and applications. This device most likely won't get an update to Android 6, but that's okay. The current version of the OS is quite up-to-date; this device doesn’t need anything more.

Advantages and disadvantages of Samsung Galaxy J120

Pros:

  • bright display colors, good viewing angles;
  • the ability to install a flash drive of substantial capacity;
  • The battery lasts for up to 4 days when talking for an hour.

Minuses:

  • no backlighting of touch buttons;
  • very easily soiled case;
  • small screen resolution;
  • somewhat outdated design.

conclusions


This is a typical budget smartphone that can be recommended to those who choose a relatively affordable smartphone from a brand manufacturer. However, this is not the best option in terms of price to technical capabilities. This smartphone is suitable for people who like a bright and rich picture, but they are not particularly interested in high image clarity. Otherwise, the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) SM-J120H is a typical budget phone, which does everything that is required from this level of device: calls, games on low graphics settings, watching videos, surfing the Internet, taking pictures with a camera, listening to music and basic phone functions.

Specifications

  • Android 4.4.4
  • TFT screen, 4.3 inches, 480x800 pixels, no automatic brightness adjustment, 217 ppi, capacitive
  • Battery 1850 mAh Li-Ion, up to 10 hours of talk time, up to 40 hours of music playback, video playback up to 9 hours, network work up to 9 hours (3G/Wi-Fi)
  • Speadtrum processor, 2 cores up to 1.2 GHz (version H/DS), Marvell PXA1908 4 cores up to 1.2 GHz, graphics coprocessor Vivante GC7000UL (version F)
  • RAM 512 MB (768 MB version SM-J100F), internal memory 4 GB (half available), memory cards up to 128 GB
  • Front camera 2 megapixels, main camera 5 megapixels, flash, autofocus
  • Two microSIM cards (DS version)
  • 2G/3G (900/2100)
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.0, USB 2.0
  • Dimensions - 129x68.2x8.9 mm, weight - 122 grams

Contents of delivery

  • Telephone
  • Battery Li-Ion 1850 mAh
  • Charger with USB cable
  • Instructions

Positioning

Samsung took a long time to become a leader in the mobile phone market, and the basis of the company's success were budget devices, phones that had an excellent price/quality ratio, reliable build and adequate characteristics. It was these products that created fame for the Samsung brand, and it owes its further success to them. It is all the more surprising to see how the company abandons its roots over and over again, releasing budget devices with the cost of a small aircraft. The calculation is based solely on the fact that the brand is quite popular, the consumer is inexperienced and will give his last pants to own a Samsung phone. This is some kind of magical world in which reality is not present in any form, and budget phones from Samsung increasingly become synonymous with inefficiency, high prices and an excellent comparison for Chinese smartphones, which, compared to the devices of the Korean company, earn a lot of extra points in the eyes buyers.

In theory, the J series should have become affordable and widespread. In practice, the first J1 model is inferior in consumer efficiency even to Microsoft's Lumia, which means it's inefficient squared. To create something worse in terms of consumer characteristics than what Microsoft is doing, you need to make not just hellish efforts, but perform a feat of inhuman proportions. Remember the conversation with the blacksmith in the film about Count Cagliostro? Here is an excerpt from the film “Formula of Love”:

The guests' carriage broke down. How long will it take you to do it?
- I can handle it in a day.
- How about five?
- If you try, you can do it in five.
- How about ten?
- Well... You can’t do it alone in ten days, you need an assistant.

I have a feeling that the budget J series was created not by one assistant, but by a whole army of them. Since to imagine that such a device was created by one person means to doubt his perception of the market and the world around him. They sell us stale goods in a beautiful wrapper, which costs several times less than the price they ask for it. That rare case when a device from a large company can act as an ideal standard of what not to do in terms of price. Let's see together why I have a complaint about the cost and I cannot recommend this device for purchase under any circumstances.

Although, given that the model is presented in different versions, it is necessary to distinguish between them. For example, the option with LTE on board, namely the SM-J100F, has one SIM card, but a different platform and is much faster than the cheapest device. Outwardly, these are absolutely identical phones, they are called the same in retail, so carefully read what you are buying. The difference can be staggering.

Design, dimensions, control elements

Externally, this is a classic Samsung device, solidly built, with a border around the screen that makes it a little more interesting. The aesthetics are the same as other devices - typical Samsung, nothing budget in appearance. There are three color options - white with a pearlescent tint, black and blue.

The quality of the plastic is beyond praise, it is excellent, and this distinguishes the model from many budget devices. On the left side there is a paired volume rocker (also unusual), on the right side there is an on/off button. On the bottom end you can see a microUSB connector, on the top - 3.5 mm for a headset.





We open the back cover, inside there is a battery and two slots for microSIM cards (in models with one card, there is no second slot, instead there is a plug), as well as a slot for microSD.




I like how the device fits in my hand, it’s not bad (129x68.2x8.9 mm, weight 122 grams). And it hides easily in clothing pockets. Below the screen there is a mechanical key, as well as two touch ones. From the point of view of assembly and appearance, the device has no complaints. Everything is typical for a budget model, the quality is above average.



Display

The screen has a diagonal of 4.3 inches, resolution - 480x800 pixels. For a budget device, the quality of the TFT matrix is ​​excellent; it is bright and clearly visible in different conditions, including on the street. A serious disadvantage and a penny saving is the absence of a light indicator, adjustment only manually for screen brightness, which makes the device ultra-budgetary; few people save on this component.

Traditionally, there is a choice of different fonts, their styles and sizes. The model is nice in terms of these features, but this is a standard option for all similar devices from the company.



Battery

The Li-Ion 1850 mAh battery provides, according to the manufacturer, up to 9 hours of Internet browsing (3G or Wi-Fi), up to 10 hours of talking, and up to 40 hours of music playback. In real conditions, the device works for a day under a very heavy load; ordinary consumers will get about two full days. This is a good result, which was made possible thanks to both the screen and the not very rushed processor.


The device has a maximum energy saving mode, it turns off everything except the main functions, and the operating time increases. Considering that the screen is a regular TFT, this does not provide any huge increase in operating time compared to a similar function in the company’s flagships.

The complete charging time for the battery using the included device is 1 hour 45 minutes.

Processor, memory, performance

The device has 512 MB of RAM, which even for a budget device in 2015 looks like an unusually small amount. We usually find this amount of memory in the most inexpensive, budget devices from small manufacturers. The Spreadtrum SC8830 chipset, two cores with a frequency of up to 1.2 GHz, is an ultra-budget and very cheap solution. Result? Not a single synthetic test that has 3D tests can be completed on this device - they simply crash. They say that there are lucky people who can complete Antutu on pristine devices and get about 12 thousand virtual parrots. But dancing with a tambourine, calling spirits and other tricks could not bring our apparatus to such a state. This test does not work, it crashes.

In practice, this means that the interface is slow, jerky and not very pleasing to the eye. This can be seen in very inexpensive models from last year; in modern state-of-the-art models, the interface works noticeably faster.

Memory cards can be installed up to 128 GB, but who will do this in such an inexpensive device? The main thing is that there is 4 GB of internal memory, of which just under 2 GB is available for your needs.

If for the younger versions of this model everything is bad with performance, then the model with the F index offers completely different opportunities. It has 768 MB of RAM, which is not much by today’s standards, but is quite enough for fairly fast work, and this is noticeable to the naked eye when you look at the two devices. All other characteristics are the same, but the Marvell PXA1908 chipset 4 cores up to 1.2 GHz, the Vivante GC7000UL graphics coprocessor, give a completely different impression of the model. And unlike the inexpensive option, the same Antutu ends normally, showing these results.

If the Broadcom versions of this device are perceived as nothing in terms of performance, then the budget Marvell phone already looks normal from the market point of view.

Communication capabilities

The usual and familiar set, there is synchronization with a PC (USB 2.0, KIES), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, BT 4.0, there is no NFC, but there is support for GPS/Glonass. The positioning speed is low not because of the quality of the antenna, but rather because of the general brakes of the device.

Version F includes NFC and also supports LTE. There are no problems with the implementation of this technology; everything works well.

Camera

The front camera is 2 megapixels, which is noticeably better than most budget devices. Main camera with autofocus, 5 megapixels, HD video recording (30 frames per second). I like the way this camera takes pictures, albeit slowly, but the pictures come out normal for this class of device. There are a couple of unusual features: the device can recognize your raised hand (selfie mode) and take a photo. Or maybe click on the screen to take a photo. But believe me, these innovations are not at all important in the grand scheme of things.

Photo examples

Software features

Inside Android 4.4.4, there can be no update to 5, the chipset does not support it. I would be very surprised if such a miracle suddenly happens. I won’t describe the standard functionality, I’ll just note that there is an FM radio, it works with a headset, and there is a recording from the air. Notes, calculator, voice recorder - everything is traditional for Samsung, you can see the screenshots below.


Impression

The call quality is normal, although there is only one microphone, so in noisy conditions the interlocutor will hear you poorly. The vibration alert is average, the normal call is above average, and is clearly distinguishable.

To understand how bad things are with the J1, you can look at my eternal standard of badness - Microsoft's Lumia. For 10,000 rubles, you can buy such a new product as the Lumia 640: a 5-inch screen with HD resolution, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal memory, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. The feeling is that these are devices of different classes, which, in fact, this is true. The price of the new product from Microsoft is 10,000 rubles. A curtain.



But the funny thing is that the market is full of Android devices that beat the J1 in all respects. Let's look at the operator market, it could be a Megafon Login+ phablet (5.5 inches, 960x540 pixels, faster processor, more memory, and so on). Price 3,990 rubles plus about a thousand rubles on account.


Want some more laughs? Roughly comparable and slightly worse in terms of characteristics, the ZTE V815 costs 2,990 rubles from MegaFon, of which another 500 are returned to your account. That is, for the cost of this device you can buy a quarter of J1 or a third, as you like. For 10,000 rubles you can buy a normal device of a completely different class.


Or let's take something more expensive, for example, the excellently made Alcatel Idol Mini 2, the price is about 6,000 rubles. Bigger screen, higher resolution, better camera - it's just a product from another universe. It works much faster.

In principle, for 7-10 thousand rubles, you can already look at smartphones with 5-inch screens with HD resolution, a main camera of 8-13 megapixels, good characteristics, and definitely fast. And that's okay.

It's easy to get confused about the different versions of the J1, but they are very different from each other. So, if the cheapest devices cause melancholy, then the SM-J100F with support for LTE and NFC, on a faster, albeit budget chipset, does not look like a complete outsider (in Russia, MTS has an exclusive for this model for some time). This device costs 9,990 rubles (in the review version before the correction, this price was for younger models, which are not in the Russian Federation and apparently will not be). In theory, the cheapest J1s cost around $80-90 depending on the market and are the most inexpensive devices from Samsung. This does not change their shortcomings related to the platform, performance, and so on. The situation is a little better, since in Russia they would cost about 5-6 thousand rubles if they suddenly appeared. Still very expensive, but not as prohibitive as at a cost of 9990 rubles, which is not available for them.

The LTE version of this device doesn't look cheap, but at least it has its own features that can justify its existence. Still expensive, but not so prohibitive, and Chinese devices in this price group usually do not have LTE. Another question is how much do consumers in this segment need it? I don't think it's particularly needed.

I have only one question - why don’t all the reviews that are in Russian (Russian publications did not write, the device is “popular” in Ukraine) call a spade a spade - why these bashful phrases, “has a right to exist”? It has no right in the current market, since the price is unrealistic and differs from the real one at least twice, or even three times. The manufacturer has the right to know that he is positioning his device incorrectly. Likewise, consumers should know for sure that it is not worth throwing money away on it. "Disappointment" isn't quite the right word here, but this budget model proves that any company can release something worse than the Lumia if it wants to. Although it would seem this is impossible. But no, there are craftsmen.

Not every user has an idea of ​​all the useful functions of their smartphone. Samsung Galaxy. The problem is that many features are hidden deep in the gadget’s settings. Today we will talk about eight hidden features of a smartphone running the latest version of OS Android 5.0 Lollipop, which can be found in the endless list of application settings in the menu.

On most Android-devices, you can take a screenshot by simultaneously pressing the Volume Down button and the Power button.

In the case of the Samsung Galaxy, to take a screenshot you need to press the power button and the “Home” button at the same time - this action requires both hands. However, there is a much more interesting way: simply swipe the screen with your entire palm.

Activating the function:

  • GS3: Settings > Motion > Palm swipe to capture (under Hand motions)
  • GS4: Settings > My device > Motions and gestures > Palm motion > Capture screen
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > Controls > Palm motion > Capture screen
  • GS5, GS6/GS6 Edge, Note 4, Note Edge: Settings > Motions and gestures > Palm swipe to capture
  1. Simplified mode

Countless buttons and settings TouchWiz UI may confuse inexperienced users. If the interface seems too complicated, you can switch to a simplified screen mode. In this mode, larger icons are displayed on the screen, and the only applications available are phone, Internet browser, email and custom applications, the list of which the user can create himself.

This feature is especially useful for children and elderly people.

Activating the function:

  • GS3: Settings > Home screen mode > Easy mode
  • GS4: Settings > My device > Home screen mode > Easy mode
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > Device > Easy mode
  • GS5, GS6/GS6 Edge, Galaxy Note 4/Note Edge: Settings > Easy mode
  1. Unlock with fingerprint

Fingerprints are one of the most reliable ways to identify a person. If a user wants a high level of information security on his gadget, he will probably choose to unlock the screen using a fingerprint.

There are two types of fingerprint unlocking on Samsung flagship smartphones. Galaxy S5 Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge use the older, less accurate swipe sensor: the user swipes down the display to the Home button. The new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have a built-in fingerprint sensor that works on the principle TouchID V iPhone: The user presses his finger on the “Home” button.

In addition to this, your fingerprint(s) can be used to log into Samsung accounts, other websites, and to confirm your PayPal purchases.

Activating the function:

  • GS5, Galaxy Note 4/Note Edge: Settings > Finger Scanner
  • GS6/GS6 Edge: Settings > Lock screen and security > Fingerprints

The GS3, GS4 and Galaxy Note 3 gadgets do not have a fingerprint scanner.

  1. Using a smartphone with gloves

As a rule, it is impossible to work with modern touchscreens with ordinary gloves: you either have to buy special gloves for touchscreens or freeze your fingers. In Samsung Galaxy, you can increase the sensitivity of the display so that the user can operate the smartphone even with regular gloves.

Activating the function:

  • GS4: Settings > My device > Display > High touch sensitivity
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > Controls > Increase touch sensitivity
  • GS5, Galaxy Note 4 / Note Edge: Settings > Display > Increase touch sensitivity

Only the GS3 does not have such a setting. And in the new GS6 and GS6 Edge, sensitivity is high by default, and no additional manipulations with the settings are required.

  1. Find your phone

Samsung Galaxy gadgets have a “Find My Mobile” feature. To activate it, the user must create a Samsung account and use it to manage this function. Owners of devices that do not have the Find My Mobile feature can enable and manage Android Device Manager using their Google account.

Activating the function:

  • GS3: Settings > Security > Remote controls
  • GS4: Settings > More > Security > Device administrators > Android Device Manager
  • GS5: Settings > Security > Device administrators > Android Device Manager
  • GS6/S6 Edge: Settings > Lock screen and security > Find My Mobile
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > General > Security > Device administrators > Android Device Manager
  • Galaxy Note 4/Note Edge: Settings > Security > Remote controls
  1. Run two applications simultaneously

Many users believe that the Galaxy Note is the only Galaxy gadget that can run two applications simultaneously. This is not true, because “Multi window” works on the Galaxy S3, S4, S5 and the new S6/S6 Edge.

The "Multi window" feature is activated using two fingers: the user swipes two fingers down from the notification panel and turns it on in the quick settings panel. The user can also activate it in the application settings.

Activating the function:

  • GS3: Settings > Display > Multi window
  • GS4: Settings > My device > Display > Multi window
  • GS5, Galaxy Note 4/Note Edge: Settings > Multi window
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > Device > Multi window

In GS3, GS4, GS5, Galaxy Note 3, Note 4/Note EDGE, the Multi window function is activated by long pressing the “Back” button. In the Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, Multi window is activated by long pressing the multitasking panel (to the left of the “Home” button).

  1. Auto unlock (by face/voice/signature)

Users of GS3, GS4, Galaxy Note or Note II gadgets can unlock their devices simply by looking at the screen. The front camera recognizes the user's face and the gadget unlocks.

It's not the safest way to protect your phone, as the camera can easily be fooled by taking a photo, but when it works, it looks really cool.

Activating the function:

  • GS3: Settings > Lock screen > Screen lock > Face unlock
  • GS4: Settings > My device > Lock screen > Screen lock > Face unlock
  • Galaxy Note: Settings > Security > Screen lock > Face unlock.
  • Galaxy Note II: Settings > Lock screen > Screen lock > Face unlock

For added security, you can add a voice command by selecting "Face and voice" in your screen lock settings.

The Galaxy Note 3 does not have a visual unlock feature, but instead has a signature unlock: the user signs with the S Pen stylus.

GS5, GS6 / GS6 Edge, Note 4 and Note Edge gadgets are unlocked in the traditional way for all Android devices.

First introduced on the Galaxy S3, Smart Stay uses the front-facing camera to determine when to dim the brightness and turn off the display. The screen will remain active as long as the camera captures your face looking at the device's display.

Activating the function:

  • GS3, GS5, Galaxy Note 4/Note Edge, GS6/GS6 Edge: Settings > Display > Smart stay
  • GS4: Settings > My device > Smart screen > Smart stay
  • Galaxy Note 3: Settings > Controls > Smart screen > Smart stay


On the eve of the release of the new flagship Galaxy S6, Samsung introduced a number of interesting smartphones in a more affordable price range. In addition to the thinnest ones, the most inexpensive newcomers also appeared in the manufacturer’s model range. Galaxy J1- a budget device that attracts attention not only with its price, but also with several features with intricate characteristics. One of its modifications came to us for testing.

The camera menu is not burdened with settings; only the most necessary list is presented. HDR mode is not provided. The front camera can track your face and recognize gestures for releasing the shutter; you can also assign specific actions to the volume button. Effects can be applied in real time, but for post-processing you will have to install a photo editor.





The sound from the external speaker corresponds to the class of the device; it is oversaturated with high frequencies and is quite unpleasant. You can hear the call well indoors, but much worse from your pocket. Sometimes the vibration alert saves the day, which, however, is at the level of other modern smartphones. Thus, the possibility of missing a call is not excluded. As for listening to music, the situation is better here: when using a headset of average quality (30-60 cu), the sound will satisfy most listeners. For amateurs, there is also a radio function. The sound in the conversational dynamics is not distorted, the interlocutor is recognizable, and on his part there were no complaints about the quality of voice transmission.

Performance and autonomy

And now we come to the most mysterious part of the review. As mentioned above, the smartphone was released in several modifications. The model in question (SM-J100FN) is similar in power to Galaxy S II. The Belarusian market has been replenished with a device with a 4-core platform (SoC) Marvell ARMADA PXA1908, supporting 64-bit computing. Its Cortex-A53 processor cores operate at frequencies up to 1.2 GHz. The graphics are handled by the Vivante GC 7000 Ultra Lite accelerator. Contrary to the stated gigabyte of RAM, the test sample has 660 MB available, although this is enough to run several applications and work with five tabs in the browser without noticeable “brakes”. The built-in memory is small - only 4 GB, of which about half is available to the user. The salvation in this case will be the microSD memory card slot, which supports drives up to 64 GB.

The memory card slot is paired with one of the microSIM pockets. There can be either two such pockets (when sold by a store) or one (version with SIM-lock for telecom operators). To install the main SIM card, you will need to remove the battery. Networks up to 4G (FDD Cat .4) are supported. In the networks available in the Republic of Belarus at the time of review, the Galaxy J1 works confidently. Of course, there is only one communication module in the device, so when one SIM card is used, the second one will be unavailable. Communication capabilities are supplemented by Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n (2.4 GHz, supports Wi-Fi Direct), NFC modules. Navigation is carried out using GPS (with A-GPS support) and GLONASS. The search for satellites occurs within 2-5 minutes. The set of sensors is minimal: there is an accelerometer and a proximity sensor.


Thanks to the use of an energy-efficient platform and system optimization, a small 1850 mAh battery plays YouTube playlists for about 7 hours (Full HD video playback is also supported), and in 3D games it “lives” for just under 3 hours (at 50% brightness and the Wi-Fi). The system power is not enough for all games; whenever possible, we set the parameters to average values ​​manually. In the scenario of daily use with a high load (3G surfing/communication/multimedia), the smartphone worked for 12 hours; in the gentle mode it is possible to extend the operating time for a day. There is also a maximum energy saving mode, which limits functionality, but can add another ten hours to autonomy (depending on the battery charge level).

Charging from a standard unit lasts 1 hour 40 minutes.

conclusions

The device turned out to be very ambiguous, but no less interesting. There are a few things to complain about: the assembly could be better (there is a gap between the back cover and the body, but we received a non-serial copy), the Home button is installed unevenly. The weak points of the device are the screen with a faded picture and low resolution and the rather “dirty” sound of the external speaker. The use of mediocre cameras in such a device is expected, but the two-megapixel module looks advantageous in this price segment.


On the other hand, economical battery consumption, a well-optimized system with the ability to upgrade to 5, compact size, support for two SIMs and memory cards make this smartphone very competitive in its class. Its cost is approaching 150 euros, but after a while it will fall, as has already happened with other new products from the company. For such an amount you can find both the best and worst devices, and therefore it can be called a kind of golden mean, aimed at fans of the Korean brand.

We thank the companySamsung for providing the smartphone for testing

Reprinting text and photographs of Onliner.by is prohibited without the permission of the editors. [email protected]

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Specifications





Samsung Galaxy S6
Start of sales Oct. 2014 March 2013 Dec. 2013
Availability in stores Not available Available Available Available
Weight 115 g 130 g 130 g 146 g
Dimensions 132.4 mm, 65.5 mm, 6.7 mm 123.5 mm, 63.8 mm, 10.2 mm 136.6 mm, 69.8 mm, 7.9 mm 137 mm, 70 mm, 8.6 mm
Number of processor cores
CPU frequency 1.8 GHz 1.3 GHz 1.9 GHz 2.3 GHz 1.8 GHz
Processor model (Chipset) Exynos 5 Octa 5430 Mediatek MT6572 Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 Exynos Octa 7 7420
GPU model Mali-T628 MP6 Adreno 320 Adreno 330
Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB 512 MB 2 GB 3 GB 3 GB
Built-in memory 32 GB 4 GB 16 GB 128 GB
Memory card (maximum) 32 GB 64 GB 64 GB
Screen type TFT capacitive touch Super AMOLED capacitive touch, 16M colors Super AMOLED capacitive touch, 16M colors
Permission 2592 x 1944 px
Diagonal (inches) 4.7 5.5
Protection TBC Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
operating system Android OS, v4.4.4 (KitKat) Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat) Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4.2 (KitKat) Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4 (KitKat) Android (5.0)
SIM Nano-SIM Dual SIM (Mini-SIM, dual stand-by) Micro-SIM Micro-SIM
WiFi 802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n 802.11 a, 802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n, 802.11 ac 802.11 a, 802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n, 802.11 ac
Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, EDR, LE v4.0,LE v4.0, A2DP, EDR, LE v4.0, A2DP, EDR, LE
Infrared port (IRDA) Yes Yes
GPS navigation Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS Yes, with A-GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
2G GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
3G HSDPA 900, HSDPA 2100 HSDPA 850, HSDPA 900, HSDPA 1900, HSDPA 2100 HSDPA 800, HSDPA 850, HSDPA 2100
4G (LTE) LTE 800, LTE 850, LTE 900, LTE 1800, LTE 1900, LTE 2100, LTE 2600 LTE 700, LTE 800, LTE 850, LTE 900, LTE 1800, LTE 2100, LTE 2600 LTE 900, LTE 1800, LTE 2100
Battery capacity 1860 mAh 1500 mAh 2600 mAh 2600 mAh
Type Li-Ion Li-Ion Li-Ion Li-Ion
Standby time 350 372 350
Talk time 11 4 17
Resolution in megapixels 12 5 13 13
Flash Yes Yes Yes
Additional camera 2.1 2 2 2
Sensors and sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, heart rate Accelerometer, proximity Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature, humidity, gesture

Other news on the topic:

News on the topic

2015-03-01 16:48:05 March 1, 2015 16:48:05

The worst kept secrets about the Samsung Galaxy S6 are in the run-up to MWC 2015. And apparently, the secret will be revealed in February. Samsung has published the date and time of the upcoming event. The official release will take place on the official website of Samsung Spain on March 1, 18:30 pm...

2015-03-01 16:35:41

Amazing video concept of Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

March 1, 2015, 4:35:41 pm

The upcoming release of the Samsung Galaxy S6 has inspired hoaxes about its design. Today we will talk about the real look of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. A video concept dedicated to the Samsung Galaxy S6 was created by designers Ivo Maric and Jermaine Smit and summarizes the entire range of information...

2015-03-01 16:31:48

Samsung Galaxy S6 will be very expensive

March 1, 2015, 4:31:48 pm

A screenshot appeared on XDA, the author of which managed to add the Galaxy S6 smartphone to the cart on the British Samsung website. The price of the device shown in the shopping cart is £699. At the current exchange rate this is 66,430 rubles. True, in the UK many Samsung devices are more expensive than here. So, for Galaxy...

2015-03-01 12:41:08 March 1, 2015 12:41:08

When comparing two flagship smartphones, you always need to remain impartial, especially when comparing devices made by Samsung and Sony. Therefore, it is important not only to compare the strengths of smartphones, but also to list some of the weaknesses. This time it will be more interesting than ever...

2015-03-01 12:28:12 March 1, 2015 12:28:12
2015-03-01 11:24:26 March 1, 2015 11:24:26

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones will receive new desktop wallpapers. By default, the devices will have the following images installed. Beautiful, isn't it? The new wallpapers turned out to be very delicate and not similar to those that were in previous versions of “galactic” smartphones...

2015-03-01 06:10:01

Background images from Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge

March 1, 2015, 6:10:01 am

Samsung will traditionally be among the first famous brands to present their new works of mobile art to the public. They will be the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. We've heard a lot about these devices over the past few weeks. So, their technical parameters were leaked onto the Internet: 5.1”...

2015-03-01 02:12:50 March 1, 2015, 2:12:50

The great day is already approaching. In a few hours, a whole news marathon will begin with information about the most anticipated smartphone of 2015. Samsung decided to stir up the excitement and released a new video. The new video was presented on the company's official YouTube channel. In principle, we have nothing new here...

2015-03-01 02:12:50 March 1, 2015, 2:12:50

There are about 19 hours left until the start of the presentation of the Galaxy S6 and its “curved” brother Galaxy S6 Edge. I hope you'll join us in watching the Samsung Unpacked 2015 event. For now, we want to give you the opportunity to check out the wallpapers that will be loaded on future flagships. These are the ones you will see at the presentation...

2015-03-01 01:21:05 March 1, 2015, 1:21:05

MWC 2015 officially starts in Barcelona next Monday, but some press conferences will take place tomorrow. Especially for you, we have collected in one place all the information about upcoming presentations, indicating the places where you can watch them in real time. Before...

2015-02-28 23:41:31 February 28, 2015 23:41:31

We have a new leader: one of the most famous and respected Antutu benchmarks gave the hotly anticipated Asus Zenfone 2 smartphone more than 50,000 points. According to the annual performance report, the undisputed leader was the Chinese Meizu MX4 (review). Google Nexus took second place in 2014. Everyone who followed...

2015-02-28 22:36:10

Official photos of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone have been published

February 28, 2015, 10:36:10 pm

A few hours before the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone, its official photographs of quite good quality spread on the Internet. The device depicted on them is quite similar to the gadget presented in the teaser picture a couple of days ago. As you can see from the pictures, the smartphone...

2015-02-28 21:41:34 February 28, 2015 21:41:34

Last week, a surprising number of different events took place, both related to the MWC 2015 exhibition, which will start in Barcelona in the coming days, and absolutely far from it. And if you take into account the surprisingly informative articles from our creative team, then it immediately becomes clear - the digest...

2015-02-28 20:55:38

Headphones for Samsung Galaxy S6: we've already seen this somewhere

28 February 2015, 20:55:38

There are already so many stories on our website about how Samsung “borrows” various ideas from Apple that it’s time to open a separate section. Recently, another exhibit appeared in the museum of Korean plagiarism: headphones that come with upcoming smartphones were leaked onto the Internet...

2015-02-28 20:26:19

Replaceable themes in Samsung Galaxy S6 have wide functionality

February 28, 2015 08:26:19 PM

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Reviews on the topic

2015-02-28 10:39:44 February 28, 2015 10:39:44

Advantages: battery, contactless control, large screen, powerful processor for games, display, internet, camera, build quality, beautiful design, easy to use, features, functionality Disadvantages: didn’t notice I’ve been using this device for more than a year, and I know it inside and out , I won't stretch it...

2015-02-24 07:50:41

Samsung Galaxy Alpha: not bad at all)

February 24, 2015, 7:50:41 am

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2015-02-12 21:52:39 February 12, 2015 21:52:39

Advantages: wi-fi, bluetooth, built-in memory 4GB, price Not long ago my husband purchased a Samsung Galaxy Star Plus. As the owner of a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, I was of course interested in using it and seeing how it differs because the difference in price is significant. As for the price, we bought it...

2015-02-10 16:22:38 February 10, 2015 16:22:38

Pros: fast, great design, high quality and reliability, lightweight and compact, improved camera Cons: battery drains quickly Good evening everyone! I received an iPhone 5S as a gift for last New Year. Before this I had a Samsung Galaxy S4. I can't say I was happy with it...

2015-02-08 19:36:49 February 8, 2015 19:36:49

Advantages: stylish body, clear sound, display brightness Disadvantages: the battery discharges quickly, sometimes it turns off just like that. My husband gave it a year and two months ago. During this time he behaved almost perfectly. Sometimes it may turn off and with prolonged use the battery begins to heat up....

2015-02-06 11:28:25

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini: I didn’t like it(

February 6, 2015, 11:28:25 AM

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2015-02-06 10:49:56 February 6, 2015 10:49:56

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2015-02-02 10:24:35

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005: This is the best smartphone from Samsung!

February 2, 2015, 10:24:35 AM

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2015-02-02 08:23:10 February 2, 2015 8:23:10

Advantages: moisture resistant, non-standard design, good sound Disadvantages: cheap display, uncomfortable soft keys I really wanted to buy a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but this one turned up, almost three times cheaper, and I bought it. It has only one plus, and that is its moisture resistance, that is, with such a phone you can not only...

2015-01-31 22:33:12 January 31, 2015 22:33:12

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Instructions on the topic

2015-02-27 09:33:21

You can already download wallpapers from Samsung Galaxy S6!

February 27, 2015, 9:33:21 am

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2015-02-24 20:01:29 February 24, 2015 20:01:29

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2015-02-20 19:41:49

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2015-02-16 11:37:54

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14 February 2015, 15:40:50

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Samsung started 2016 by releasing cheap smartphones. However, this is not entirely true - in December 2015, new metal Galaxy A were announced, which belong to the fashion middle segment, but they went on sale only in January. However, the company had something to announce in January 2016.

The most “real” phone turned out to be the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) – a new budget model, the most inexpensive among the Korean manufacturer’s smartphones. Why is he more “real” than the others? Everything is very simple - this handset went on sale almost immediately. Moreover, in comparison with, it was seriously refreshed.

In fact, Galaxy J1 (2016) marks a new milestone in the smartphone industry. Samsung has not yet used Super AMOLED screens in such cheap devices. This handset became the first of its kind, while simultaneously gaining an undeniable advantage over many competitors - whatever one may say, AMOLED technology is more promising than liquid crystals, even if it is an IPS matrix. And IPS matrices are different - no one will install top-end technologies in inexpensive phones.

In general, let's figure out what else is good about the Galaxy J1 (2016) and what its shortcomings are.

Video review of Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016)

As always, first we suggest you look at the Galaxy J1 (2016) in the video:

Design

Samsung decided to start designing in 2015. First, the first generation Galaxy A metal smartphones were released, followed by the flagships from the Galaxy S line. And in 2016, the South Korean manufacturer took up budget devices.


The Galaxy J1 (2016) bears little resemblance to a typical Samsung device. Although it would seem that the strongly rounded corners and the traditional three buttons under the screen have been preserved here. It seems to be the same familiar “remnant”, but it looks completely different.


The secret of the transformation turned out to be extremely simple - a black frame surrounds the screen, at the same time extending onto the top panel. It is precisely in this contrast that new budget smartphones are emerging – in this simple way the company has achieved a noticeable refresh of the design.


Of course, this “innovation” can only be seen on a white (Galaxy J1 (2016) white) or gold (Galaxy J1 (2016) gold) handset. The black Galaxy J1 (2016) black is practically indistinguishable from its predecessors. It should also be noted that Samsung has used a similar design concept for the entire budget line (we have already met the older one), so this design option will soon become boring.


But in the back, almost nothing has changed. There is a regular plastic cover with a soft-touch coating, with sloping sides flowing into silver ends. From this angle, the innovations are not visible, so during a conversation you won’t be able to boast about Samsung’s updated appearance.


At the same time, the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016), despite its budget, is excellently executed and very well put together. Moreover, for an inexpensive device, its thickness is not that great - 8.9 mm, and the weight is quite small - 131 grams. With such parameters, using a smartphone is more than convenient.

The redesign of the affordable Samsung family can be considered successful. Galaxy J1 (2016) looks good as a younger model, and it doesn’t disappoint in terms of workmanship.

Connectors and controls

Redesign is a redesign, but Samsung has not changed the ergonomics for many years, leaving all the elements in their places. We cannot help but praise her for such a decision.


There are many elements above the screen: earpiece, front camera lens, light and proximity sensors. But there is no LED indicator about events. For some reason, Samsung decided to abandon it in many of its models.


Under the display you can see three typical Samsung buttons: application list, Back and Home. The latter, as always, is mechanical, and the first two are touch-sensitive, but lack backlighting. Samsung doesn't use it in low-cost products.


At the back, all elements are grouped at the top. Here you can see the rear camera lens, LED flash and external speaker.


On the left side there is a volume rocker.


On the right, as always, is the power button.


At the top you can see a 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones and headsets. In Samsung's flagship products it is already located at the bottom, which is much more convenient, but inexpensive smartphones do not yet have this privilege.


At the bottom there is a microUSB connector, and just to the right of it there is a speaking microphone. There is also no noise-canceling microphone.


But, unlike top smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) can be easily and simply disassembled, as well as replacing the battery yourself.


The microSIM card compartments are located in an unusual place - right under the battery. Usually on Samsung phones you can find them on the side of the battery, like the microSD card slot. If you suddenly cannot cope with installing the cards, we suggest watching our short video about this:

Overall, we have no complaints about the ergonomics of the Galaxy J1 (2016) - everything is in its usual place, even if not in the most comfortable place, like the Samsung flagships. But let us remind you that we are dealing with one of the most affordable smartphones from the Korean company.

Case for Galaxy J1 (2016)

It turned out to be extremely difficult to buy a case or cover for the Galaxy J1 (2016) at the time of writing this article - this handset is too new, and therefore nothing special has been released yet.


Potentially, such a book case is expected for the Galaxy J1 (2016). Its price is still unknown, but it is unlikely to exceed 1,500 rubles.


A flip case for the Galaxy J1 (2016) like this costs something like 1,000 rubles. It doesn't look very good, though.

Screen

The smartphone screen market has seen significant changes in 2015 and now 2016. Moreover, they started with the light hand of Samsung, which began to increase the sale of OLED displays on the side. Other manufacturers, including Apple, have seen the benefits of this technology, including excellent color reproduction, wide viewing angles, deep blacks and, most importantly, lower power consumption, and are now releasing more products with new types of displays. Samsung, which is important, itself facilitates this process as much as possible, installing AMOLED matrices even in budget solutions.

Galaxy J1 (2016) is one of the cheapest smartphones with an AMOLED screen on the market. Actually, this is its main feature - an LED display at a low price. But, of course, its capabilities were limited in a certain way so that the affordable handset would not compete with older models. It's worth starting with the fact that the screen resolution is quite modest by modern standards - only 800x480 pixels. The first generation Galaxy J1 has the same, but there the diagonal was 4.3", and here we have 4.5". In other words, the pixel density has dropped to 207 ppi, so the picture is not very sharp. In our opinion, increasing the resolution to 960x540 pixels would not be difficult - this would not compete with other products from the company.

But otherwise, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) showed its best side. Undoubtedly, the manufacturer did not use the latest generation, but it still looks much better than similar-priced devices with IPS matrices offer. The display has a decent amount of brightness, excellent viewing angles, and is distinguished by a bright and rich picture.

Objective measurements only confirm what has been said - the maximum brightness was measured at 434.76 cd/m2, which is very good and generally above average. The brightness of black, remember, with OLED technology tends to zero, which is why black looks so natural.


It is noteworthy that the Galaxy J1 (2016) received the ability to select screen profiles, just like older models. As always, the Adaptive profile provides a wider color gamut that approaches the Adobe RGB color space. If you switch to Basic, where the colors are calmer, more similar to IPS displays, the color gamut will narrow to sRGB. But it will not be visible to the eye.


Color temperature also depends on the selected profile. So on Adaptive it is overestimated by about 800-1300K, that is, colder. The “calmness” of the colors of the Main profile is also explained by the warmer temperature - here the excess relative to the 6500K standard is within the range of 500-600K.


The gamma curves turned out strange. On both tested profiles, Basic and Adaptive, they are significantly higher than the reference curve 2.2. This causes the image to appear lighter than necessary. Again, this is unlikely to be noticeable to the eye, but still I would like to see the color rendition as close to correct as possible.


The screen of the Galaxy J1 (2016) recognizes up to five simultaneous touches. This is also an artificial limitation - Samsung flagships have such displays that work with all fingers at once without question.

The screen settings pleased with the presence of the “Screen Mode” section, where these same profiles are selected. In addition to Adaptive and Basic, there is also Photo and Film, the names of which speak for themselves. But there’s another artificial limitation regarding the ability to auto-adjust brightness that’s most frustrating – of all the display’s drawbacks, this is the most significant and noticeable. But Samsung has made an “Outdoor” mode, which, when turned on, increases the display brightness by about a quarter.

Overall, we liked the screen of the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016). After all, this is AMOLED with all that it implies. True, certain limitations made to prevent the smartphone from competing with the company’s more expensive products are frustrating: low resolution and lack of automatic brightness adjustment. The remaining disadvantages are not so significant and will not be noticeable.

Camera

Many people know that the camera of Samsung devices is one of their strongest components. However, this is not entirely true for budget products. The company may not deprive them of its advanced image processing algorithms, but the sensors it installs are not the best, and not the highest resolution. As a result, Galaxy J1 (2016) received a 5 MP rear camera.




To work with it, a standard application from Samsung is designed - we saw this in many of its smartphones in 2015 and 2016. On the left are quick options, including filter switching and a timer.





In addition, there are various shooting modes, including Pro, where you can set individual photo parameters: white balance, photosensitivity and exposure compensation.



The resolution is set in the settings. Note that 5 MP frames can only be obtained when choosing an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Obviously, the main sensor in the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) deserves the “so-so” characteristic, but at the same time, the processing algorithms are clearly trying, pulling out everything they can from the resulting images to the last. So it turns out that on a fine sunny day you can see decent photographs, but when the lighting becomes less, noise appears and sharpness decreases. At the same time, more or less correct white balance is maintained.


Video shooting is limited to a resolution of 1280x720 pixels - this is also normal Samsung practice.

Videos turn out normal if shot during the day. Here everything is exactly the same as in the photo: in good conditions they come out well, but in the evening it will be “so-so”.


The front camera also has a couple of shooting modes.


Its resolution is not cut to zero and is 2 MP with a frame aspect ratio of 4:3. Otherwise, by the way, it is not supported.

The facial sensor doesn't take pictures as bad as it could. The frames desperately lack sharpness, but the colors are generally not bad, the white balance is correct, and there is no characteristic flare.


Another limitation is imposed on the video from the front camera - the resolution is no higher than 0.3 MP.

The video quality is generally good, but everything is spoiled by the low VGA resolution.

In general, the cameras of the Galaxy J1 (2016) correspond to the level of the device - there are not enough stars in the sky, but it’s difficult to call them completely bad. Of course, the low resolution of video recording from the front camera is depressing, but otherwise everything is more or less tolerable, especially if you shoot outdoors during the day.

Characteristics of Galaxy J1 (2016)

Samsung would not be itself if it had not made a bunch of modifications to a potentially popular smartphone model. As a result, the phone in question exists in several modifications. So there is our Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) Duos labeled SM-J120F (on an Exynos 3475 processor) and SM-J120H (the one we had, on a Spreadtrum SC8830 chip). We also discovered a certain Galaxy J1 mini, also known as J1 Nxt, with a smaller 4-inch LCD screen. Also on sale so far you can find 2015 models: Galaxy J1, Galaxy J1 4G, Galaxy J1 mini.


As you can see, the difference between the Galaxy J1 (2016) and the first Galaxy J1 is not very big, although in some respects it is clearly noticeable and directly affects the usability. So, the more modern model now has a 4-core processor, twice as much memory, and an increased screen diagonal and battery capacity. And the screen itself has changed from an inexpensive LCD (not even IPS) to a decent AMOLED. In general, the new smartphone looks noticeably better, and to be honest, the previous one should have been “not slaughtered” so much.

The processor inside the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) may be quad-core, but it’s still the same Spreadtrum SC8830 that we somehow happened to see in the tablet. Its cores are based on the not-so-recent 32-bit Cortex-A7 architecture and operate at a not very high frequency of 1.2 GHz. But, undoubtedly, the smoothness and responsiveness of the interface on the new smartphone is noticeably better than that of its predecessor.

It should be noted that we may have a modification SM-J120F on sale, with a Samsung Exynos 3475 processor. It looks more interesting due to two points: four Cortex-A7 cores operating at a higher frequency of 1.3 GHz, and also this Mali-T720 video card. The phone we had (SM-J120H) offers an outdated Mali-400 MP2 graphics chip, which is no longer very productive and does not support current graphic interfaces - only OpenGL ES 2.0. Even if the Mali-T720 is not much faster, it is at least compatible with OpenGL ES 3.0.


In terms of memory, the 2016 Galaxy J1 has been noticeably improved - it received 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of flash. In fact, there is nothing outstanding in these parameters - today this is the norm. But the first generation Galaxy J1 was seriously limited by these characteristics - 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of flash, and even for the money that was asked for it at the start, it was a complete mockery. Now Samsung has corrected itself, which is good news.

Otherwise, the Galaxy J1 (2016) looks like a typical budget handset. There is no 4G support here, although we will not rule out the appearance of an option with it in the near future. Other communications are also more than usual: Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. But the increased battery capacity from 1850 to 2050 mAh cannot but rejoice. True, the weight has increased by 9 grams, but it is still quite small.

It turns out that the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) is a typical budget smartphone, but with an outstanding screen. Its remaining characteristics do not go beyond the scope of most similar proposals.

Performance testing

We decided to evaluate the speed of the Galaxy J1 (2016) in comparison with its predecessor Galaxy J1, also known as SM-J100H. Let's see if there is any noticeable increase over the year.



The old system-wide tests Smartbench 2012 and Quadrant gave a clear victory to the new Galaxy J1 (2016). The presence of a couple more nuclei clearly has an effect. Even graphics performance was higher, albeit not significantly. But we won’t provide data from the more modern Antutu benchmark - it didn’t run on the old Galaxy J1. On the new one, if you're interested, we got 21964 points, which is not very much.


The SunSpider browser test also gave victory to the 2016 smartphone, and its superiority is quite significant.


The video card in both phones is really weak, since even in electopia, which is far from the most modern 3D test, they barely reached 30 FPS.

The more serious 3DMark benchmark gave victory to the Galaxy J1 (2016), although the graphics performance of both handsets is approximately equally low.


When testing the autonomy of the Galaxy J1 (2016), we received extremely strange results - the smartphone only had 30% charge left after completing all tasks. This is extremely small and completely atypical for Samsung products. Therefore, we are inclined to attribute this circumstance to the shortcomings of the test non-sale sample, as well as the imperfection of its firmware. Obviously, the retail version will not have such a disadvantage. You can count on this for the following reasons: the first Galaxy J1 provides good battery life, the new model has a more energy-efficient AMOLED screen, and it also has an increased battery capacity to 2050 mAh.

The best part is that Samsung did not deprive its budget smartphone of the extreme energy saving mode, which fully reveals itself with the AMOLED display, turning everything into black and white colors.

Games on Galaxy J1 (2016)

Today, the biggest “gaming” problem on inexpensive smartphones is the small amount of built-in memory, and not at all the lack of processing power. The volume of games reaches hundreds of megabytes and even several gigabytes, which is why they will quickly take up all the available space on the device.


  • Riptide GP2: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Asphalt 7: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Modern Combat 5: Blackout: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • N.O.V.A. 3: Some delays are visible;


  • Dead Trigger: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Dead Trigger 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Real Racing 3: Some delays are visible;


  • Need For Speed: No Limits: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Frontline Commando: Normandy: Some delays are visible;


  • Frontline Commando 2: noticeable delays are visible;


  • Eternity Warriors 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • Eternity Warriors 3: not in Play Store;


  • Eternity Warriors 4: Some delays are visible;


  • Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Dead Effect: excellent, the game does not slow down;
  • Dead Effect 2: did not start;


  • Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;


  • Iron Man 3: Some delays are visible;


  • Dead Target: excellent, the game does not slow down.

As you can see, most games run really well on the Galaxy J1 (2016). Questions arose only from certain “heavyweights” like N.O.V.A. 3, Eternity Warriors 4, Real Racing 3. And even then, everything is not so bad there that it is completely impossible to play.

BY

It's 2016, which means it's time to use Android 5.1 everywhere. In fact, the situation looks like this: all Samsung devices released before the Galaxy S7 run Android 5.1, and those that come later will mostly receive Android 6.0. Of course, some of the “old” models will be upgraded to “six”, but with regard to the Galaxy J1 (2016) you don’t have to have such hopes - the Korean company does not make such concessions to budget products.


So, Galaxy J1 (2016), Android 5.1 and the proprietary TouchWIZ shell, so familiar and familiar if you have already dealt with Samsung devices.

Here everything is the same that we have seen more than once. So this is a notification panel, like in “pure” Android, but with a different quick settings panel. The list of recent applications, also known as the task manager, is almost no different from the “original” one, but with the ability to close all programs.


There is a certain set of standard widgets, and notifications are displayed on the lock screen.

There are not very many applications on the Galaxy J1 (2016). More precisely, not so - there is a standard set of them necessary to get started. It includes a browser, email client, calendar, alarm clock, calculator and so on. All in a special version from Samsung. But there are no additional “branded” utilities like S Health and the like - this is left to more expensive models.

It is noteworthy that the Galaxy Apps store has a special Galaxy Essentials section. If anyone doesn’t know, here are programs that Samsung provides to users of its products, but does not install them on smartphones and tablets, so as not to clog their memory. In general, there is something for a budget model, which is nice.

Otherwise, everything is typical here. There is a branded S Planner calendar.


A simple and moderately functional file manager.

The Clock application combines an alarm clock, world time, stopwatch and timer.


There is no particular point in describing the rest - these are all ordinary applications that are on every smartphone. Galaxy J1 (2016), due to its availability, does not differ in any special set of software. Everything here is typical, only in the familiar Samsung shell.

Conclusion

Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) looks noticeably better than its predecessor, presented a year earlier. The new smartphone can no longer be called a “black sheep” with inexplicably degraded characteristics and, because of this, an inadequate price. The current phone is quite trendy, both in terms of its parameters and cost.

In addition, now the device has acquired a “trick”, something that noticeably distinguishes it from the rest. We are talking about an AMOLED screen, which is not only better than the display that was on the first Galaxy J1, but also superior to the IPS matrices used in competing models.

The smartphone also has a refreshed design, high-quality assembly, and more or less normal shooting quality. True, the lack of automatic brightness adjustment is somewhat frustrating, and the screen resolution is low. But there’s nothing you can do about it – the Galaxy J1 (2016) shouldn’t outperform older, more expensive models. But how much does it cost?

Galaxy J1 (2016) price

You can buy a Galaxy J1 (2016) for 9 thousand rubles, which is not so much. As it turns out, this phone really has no direct competitors. With a similar screen diagonal and price, everything is sold a little cheaper and with a worse display, or more expensive and the screen is also very “average” IPS.


Take, for example, with a price of 7 thousand rubles. Yes, it is cheaper, it has a 4.5-inch screen, albeit a slightly higher resolution of 854x480 pixels. But this is not even IPS, but an inexpensive TFT. The processor is the same, plus or minus, MediaTek MT6735M, 2000 mAh battery, 5 MP camera, Android 5.1. In terms of size, the handset is similar to the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) and at the same time costs less, but don’t forget about the AMOLED screen - if you pick up two smartphones, the difference between them will be striking.


Or here’s another, ASUS ZenFone Go (ZC451TG) for 7500-8000 rubles. The parameters here are exactly the same as those of the Lenovo A2010: 4.5-inch TFT screen with a resolution of 854x480, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of flash, 5 MP camera (and 0.3 MP front camera - a complete disgrace), and at the same time an outdated 4 -MediaTek MT6580 core processor, approximately the same as that of the tested Samsung. Add here Android 5.1 and a small 1600 mAh battery. I don’t know about you, but the Galaxy J1 (2016) looks more interesting. By the way, it is also thinner than both of the described competing tubes.

Pros:

  • high-quality AMOLED screen with the ability to select profiles;
  • good price for its characteristics;
  • excellent assembly;
  • refreshed design;
  • acceptable camera quality;
  • There is an extreme power saving mode.

Minuses:

  • no LED indicator for events;
  • touch buttons are not backlit;
  • no automatic screen brightness adjustment;
  • The screen resolution could be higher.