Samsung launched the Galaxy J3 2016 handset in the Indian markets with some cool features and with an attractive price tag of under ₹9,000. Here is the review of Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 that will give you an idea about the feature and performance in general.
Galaxy J3 2016 Unboxing
Box content : Handset, data cable, user guide / warranty card / SAR booklet etc, travel charger 5V / 1A, standard quality earphone, S-Bike NFC tag and removable battery of 2600 mAh capacity.
Design
Galaxy J3 2016 looks great and premium considering the price. It’s packed inside a plastic body with metallic finishing. The back panel comes with nice texture that add to the premium look. J3 will be available in exciting colour options. Handset weight is 137 grams and dimensions are 71.61 x 142.12 x 7.96 (mm).
J3 is comfortable to hold and operate. Power button is on the right, audio jack on the top, volume rocker on the left and micro USB port at the bottom. There is a single microphone at the bottom.
This is a dual SIM handset – there are 2 x micro SIM slot and a micro SD card slot. There is no LED notification. J3 is loaded with 2 sensors – accelerometer and proximity.
Light sensor is missing you will need to manually adjust the brightness.
J3 Display
Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 sports a 5 inch screen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution. This handset is using a Super AMOLED display usually found on premium handsets. Unfortunately light sensors are missing. Colour reproduction, viewing angles and touch response are very good.
There is no mention if the screen comes with any protection, however it is scratch resistant to a small extent – better use a screen guard.
Memory, Storage and OS
There is 1.5GB RAM and 8GB ROM. You will get around 600MB free RAM and around 4GB free space on first boot. OTG is supported. Apps are getting installed on internal storage but some apps can be moved to external storage.
Galaxy J3 2016 is running Lollipop 5.1.1 with TouchWiz UI.
Performance
J3 houses the Spreadtrum SC8830 quad core chipset with 4G LTE support. It’s a 32 bit quad core processor cortex A7 clocked at 1.5 GHz coupled with Mali 400 MP GPU. The processor is good, hardly heats up. It can play high end games in very low visual quality mode, not really recommended for gaming users.
Benchmark
- Quadrant – 6101.
- Antutu (32 bit) 1nd time– 24535 | 3D score – 882
- Antutu (32 bit) 2nd time – 24744 | 3D score – 787
- Nenamark 2 – 56.9fps
- Internal storage Speed – Read (69MB/s), Write (41MB/s)
- Multi Touch – 2 Point.
Gaming
I tried Asphalt 8 – got installed on internal storage. Game was laggy in high and medium quality mode. In low visual quality mode it played well, playable, but still not very smooth. In very low mode the game played smoothly.
Camera
J3 comes packed with an 8MP AF camera on the rear and a 5MP fixed focus camera on the front. Both front and rear cameras can shoot 720p videos. This handset however can play full HD videos. There are several modes available including pro and HDR. Camera quality is average. Do check the sample images and videos.
Galaxy J3 rear camera sample
Front camera sample
HD video sample
Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 Unique features
For the price this handset not only comes with a sAMOLED screen but also includes NFC, 4G with ultra data saving mode, 14 Regional languages support and S Bike Mode.
Samsung Bike Mode (S Bike)
This is a unique feature that is linked with NFC. You will need to download the S Bike app from Samsung store. After installing just switch on the NFC, switch on GPS and then bring the handset closer to the S Bike NFC tag (included in the box). You can attach this tag on your bike or helmet if you want.
The S Bike is a unique app that when enabled (can be enabled only using NFC tag) limits the smartphone functionality – buttons and touch screen will get disabled and you will not be able to make calls you can however receive calls. To exit out of the S-Bike mode you will need to press the button in the center of the screen and hold it for few seconds.
Use this mode when you are planning to ride a bike. When S-Bike mode is enabled and if someone is calling you, they will hear your pre-recorded message – example ” I am riding the bike if it is really urgent then press 1“. When there is an urgent call you will get a notification on the phone if you want to pick up the call, you will need to stop your bike for the motion sensor to deactivate – this means you will not be able to use the phone when you are actually riding the bike.
The S-Bike app will also monitor the distance / time and you can also win awards. The basic idea of this app is to keep the biker from using the phone when they are actually riding a bike.
Others
Speaker sound is loud and clear. In-call sound is also pretty good and clear. No issues found with network signal. 4G, WiFi, GPS, NFC and Bluetooth worked well without any issues.
Battery
J3 comes with a 2600 mAh removable battery. Battery backup is very good you can expect 4 to 11 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage time on a single charge. An easy one and a half day of mixed moderate usage.
Battery Performance (time / battery % drop / battery temperature).
- Running Benchmark app – 14 minutes / 2% / 32 degrees
- Played Asphalt 8 – 20 minutes / 8% / 34 degrees
- FHD (1080p) video playback with full brightness (WiFi /4G on) – 34 minutes / 7% / 33 degrees
Full battery charge using wall charger – 5% to 100% in 2 hours 47 minutes.
Verdict
Galaxy J3 2016 is a good buy considering the price, brand and unique features. Hardware is good, but not really for gaming users. The J3 is specially made for bikers using NFC with the S-Bike app.
Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 is priced at under ₹9,000.
Image Gallery
