By Sourabh Kulesh
New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS) The South Korean giant Samsung, which is recuperating from the aftermath of the premium Galaxy Note 7 failure, recently launched a mid-range device that offers better security and longer battery life to woo new customers in India.
The Rs 18,790 Galaxy J7 Prime comes with indigenously developed "S-Secure" and "S-Power Planning" features.
We tested the 16GB (expandable up to 256GB) and 3GB RAM device and here's what works for it.
A full-metal unibody smartphone, the device comes with 2.5D Gorilla Glass, giving it a premium look.
Running on the Android Marshmallow OS, the phone is an amalgamation of the old classic Samsung, built with new features. Unlike other devices which now offer fingerprint scanner at the back, Galaxy J7 Prime has the scanner in front.
There are no iPhone-ish speaker grills on the lower bumper as the speakers are placed at right above the power button. While volume buttons are on the left, camera and flash take up very little space on the shiny but slippery back panel.
The smartphone is packed with 1.6Ghz octa-core processor -- fast enough for day-to-day tasks -- and 3,300 mAh battery that gave us a run-time of 26 hours and 13 minutes (including usage in the power-saver mode).
Some of the best features we liked are the memory card and SIM trays. There are two trays -- one for a nano-SIM card and the other a hybrid tray for a second SIM and microSD card -- which most of the current devices lack.
It has 13MP rear camera that shoots better low-light photos with night mode on and 8MP front shooter that clicks selfies under ample light conditions.
Samsung is famous for its displays and J7 Prime's 5.5-inch full-HD display is a treat for the eyes.
Since the device has "S-Secure" and "S-Power Planning" features as its USPs, we tested Galaxy J7 Prime broadly for these two features.
S-secure has a folder that is password protected. You can hide media and even apps (are you a Tinder person?) in that folder. The icon is similar to the file explorer and can be hidden within other icons.
Samsung's secured wi-fi protects the device from being hacked by a third party when used on a public network by blocking any non-secure requests.
The "S-Power planning" cuts the battery drainage when it falls below the lowest battery threshold (say 20 per cent) and extends the battery life. The feature kills the animations and gives six editable icons for call, messages and other apps.
What doesn't work?
Although the device performs as one wants it to -- minus the battery feature -- the smartphone is a bit pricey in its segment with similar specifications.
The Rs 14,999 Xiaomi Mi Max has 4,850 mAh battery and Lenovo Z2 Plus (Rs 19,999 for the 4GB/64GB and Rs 17,999 for the 3GB/32GB variant) -- which is offering a similar battery size with more heavy hardware -- may cut the Galaxy J7 Prime market a bit.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a secured device with longer battery life and want to use two SIM cards and memory card together, go for Galaxy J7 Prime.
(Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in )
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