Samsung has launched the J2 2016 handset in India, priced at Rs. 9,750. Read this Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 review to know if the handset is worth the price. Key highlight is the TST technology and the Smart Glow feature.
J2 2016 unboxing
Inside the box you will find the handset, battery of 2600 mAh capacity, user guide in Hindi and English language, warranty card, standard quality earphone, data cable and travel charger 5V / 1A. SAR value : 0.780 W/Kh (head).
Design, Display and OS
Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 handset is using a plastic body, the back panel can be removed. It has a curvy design comfortable to hold and the side have couple of parallel lines that run all the way along the sides and merge on the back just below the camera module (with Samsung logo). This design gives a refreshing, look and feel to the handset.
Weight with battery is 136 grams and dimensions are 71.02 x 142.11 x 7.82 (mm). Power button is on the right side, volume rocker on the left, audio jack on the top and microphone + micro USB port at the bottom. There is a single microphone.
J2 2016 is a dual SIM handset – there are 2x micro SIM slot and a separate micro SD card slot. 4G with VoLTE is supported. There is LED notification via the Smart Glow feature and this handset is loaded with 2 sensors – accelerometer and proximity. There is no light sensor, you will need to manually adjust the brightness, when you are outdoor you can use the outdoor mode that will increase the brightness to the maximum for about 15 minutes and then automatically switch back to your previous brightness setting.
J2 2016 sports a 5 inch super AMOLED screen supporting 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. There is no protection on the screen, though it is scratch resistant to a minimal level, better use a screen guard. Color reproduction, viewing angles and touch response are very good.
This handset is running Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box.
Memory and storage
There is 1.5GB RAM and 8GB ROM (internal storage). On the first boot you will get around 5GB free space and about 518MB free RAM. You can use micro SD card for storing data, do note that apps will install on internal storage.
OTG is supported.
Performance
J2 2016 houses the Spreadtrum SC8830 chipset, it’s quad core 32 bit clocked at 1.5GHz coupled with Mali 400 MP GPU. The handset performance is decent works great with TST technology, however when it comes to gaming, it is not at all powerful.
Benchmark
- Quadrant – 5644
- Antutu (32bit) – 19484 | 3D score –unsupported
- Nenamark 2 – 52.7fps
- Internal storage Speed – Read (70MB/s), Write (45MB/s)
- Multi Touch – 2 Point
Gaming performance
There is limited storage space, I was able to install MC5 as well as Asphalt 8 but after that the available free space was too low and hence I removed the MC5 gaming. Asphalt 8 worked okay (still some lag) in very low visual quality mode. This handset is definitely not recommended for gaming users.
J2 2016 Camera
There is an 8MP AF camera on the rear with LED flash support and a 5MP camera on the front. Camera quality is average, do check the sample images and videos, rear camera can shoot 720p videos (records in mp4 format), the hardware however can play FHD videos.
New features
TST technology
TST stands for turbo speed technology. Samsung has modified the native apps, compressed and have optimized to run 40% faster that when compared with other handsets with more RAM. The handset does perform faster when using native apps, but do note that the TST does not have any effect on apps that you download from Google (non native).
However there are another interesting part of TST and that is, it will automatically close running applications that remain inactive for a longer time. If you open any app on android OS the app is still running in the background and using memory space, the only way to remove is to manually close the apps, rebooting the handset will not solve the issue.
TST takes care of inactive running apps but terminating them when needed, this not only works at outer levels but also works at kernel levels.
Smart Glow
There is a big LED on the rear that surrounds the camera module and controlled by a dedicated apps called Smart Glow. You can not only assign colours for application notification but can also assign unique colours for individual contacts (check video review listed below).
Smart Glow feature can also be used for selfie assist i.e. use rear camera for taking selfie. The rear LED will light up when your face is in the center of the frame, if your face is partly out of frame, then part of the LED will light up (left or right) giving you an idea where to move.
Others
Sound is loud and clear, in call sound is also great. I did not find any issues with 4G LTE and the network, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth worked well.
This handset also comes with categorized notification – priority, utility and social you can assign apps in any of these categories.
S-Bike mode is supported, though there is no NFC you can enable this mode by holding the power button for few seconds – you will then get the power off, restart and S-Bike mode there.
Battery
The 2600 mAh battery does a very good job – you can expect 6 to 8 hours of non-stop moderate to heavy usage. For normal mixed usage it will easily last for up to two days, with mixed usage up to one and a half days and with heavy usage an easy one day.
Galaxy J2 2016 Battery Performance (time / battery % drop / estimated battery temperature).
- Running Benchmark app – 9 minutes / 2% / 31 degrees
- Asphalt 8 game play – 39 minutes / 10% / 31 degrees
- FHD video playback with full brightness (WiFi /4G on) – 24 minutes / 5% / 31 degrees.
It took me 2 hour 35 minutes to charge the handset using wall charger from 24% to 100%. For a full charge it will take under 3 hours.
Verdict
The Galaxy J2 2016 is not for gamers but this is a good handset for those looking for unique feature, better battery life and the trust / after sales support from a well known brand.
Rating 3.5 out of 5.
Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 is available for Rs. 9,750.
Image Gallery
Samsung Galaxy J2 2016 video review
J2 2016 Rear Camera Sample
Front Camera Sample
