Introduction
Alongside the premium “S” lineup and the upper middle class reserved for the “A” lineup, a good deal of Samsung’s offer is definitely the “J” lineup. It is meant for users who seek a big screen and a good performance for not too much money. Today we have the J7 (2016) which has a 5.5” screen and a middle class chipset. It is entirely make of plastic, except for the metal frame in the middle, and it has an easily removable battery (which comes in the box). In the box, there’s a warranty card, a Samsung’s charging adapter, a microUSB charging and data transfer cable and 3.5mm headphones. The cameras have standard configuration for the lower middle class of 2016: a 13MP main camera, and a 5MP selfie camera. The device comes in several colors: White, Black, Rose Gold and Gold, which we have here for the review.
Unboxing
Display
The “J” series phones usually have slightly bigger screens. In the J7 (2016) there is a 5.5” HD SuperAMOLED display. HD (1280 x 720 pixels) resolution on this diagonal translates to 267PPI, and the screen takes up 72.3% of the front panel. The screen shows up to 16.7 million colors. The colors are very well represented, as usual for Samsung devices. The display is sharp enough and there should be no problems surfing on desktop versions of websites. The contrast is also very good, the blacks are perfect, and the visibility on the sunlight is quite good.
Hardware and OS
The hardware is suitable for this class. The J7 (2016) comes in 2 versions: with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617, and Samsung Exynos 7870 Octa. We have the Exynos 7870 Octa version. This chipset is made up of 4 Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.6 GHz, and another 4 A53 cores clocked at 1 GHz. Mali T830-MP2 is in charge of graphics, and it is well suitable for this device. We have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage expandable via a microSD card up to 256GB. The chipset performed great even when after extensive gaming. The device doesn’t overheat, and on the AnTuTu benchmark it had a score of 44.417. The device comes with preinstalled Android v6.0 Marshmallow, and future updates will surely bring 7.0 Nougat version.
Camera
As we have previously mentioned, the J7 has a 13MP main camera, as well as a 5MP front facing camera. The aperture of the main camera is f/1.9, with the width of 28mm, and it is equipped with auto-focus. For low light conditions, there’s an LED flash. When it comes to other camera options there are: Geo-Tagging, Touch Focus, Face Detection, Panorama and HDR. Video is captured in FullHD resolution at 30fps. Picture quality is good for this class. There are many details, and an acceptable level of noise. The colors are nice, and HDR pictures are even better. As a downside, we have not that precise auto-focus in video recording. There’s also the PRO mode, but it is far poorer in settings than, for example, in the S7. The front facing camera has 5MP resolution with the same aperture as the main camera. The front facing camera offers great results, but the HDR is weaker. Video is also captured in FullHD resoultion.
Connectivity
The J7 (2016) has a nice list of connections. It is a SingleSIM device which uses microSIM cards, and has a microSD card slot which supports extensions of up to 256GB. As we have said, the device is LTE compatible, with up to 150Mbps download speeds, and up to 50Mbps upload speeds.
When it comes to wireless connections, some of the options are:
- GRPS and Edge
- WiFi 812.11 with HotSpot
- BlueTooth v4.1
- NFC
- A-GPS
- FM Radio
Battery
The battery of this device is removable and easily accessible by removing the back cover. It is a 3300mAh Li-Ion battery. The device isn’t equipped with fast charging, and the full charge takes around two and a half hours.
One full charge is enough for:
- around 360 stand-by hours
- around 32 hours of 3G network usage
Final words
Looking at the market right now, the J7 (2016) brings a whole bunch for its price. A good screen and a good chipset are there, but the downside is the quality of the plastic. The classic TouchWiz UI fits very nicely, and it has a lot of functions. If you seek a device for not too much money, and you are satisfied with social networks and a good selfie camera – the J7 (2016) is a great choice for you.
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Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) Full Specifications
