In the recent past, Samsung was known as the undisputed king of the smartphone world, but ever since the new challengers have stepped in, its only been an edge of the seat drama for the Korean giant. The idea of flash sales has clicked so well, that even debut companies are showing record sales, selling off their devices by the batch. Samsung has not acclimatised to the concept, and its not likely to happen in the future, as Samsung has now indirectly moved on to bigger things. Earlier, all segments of smartphones were Samsung dominated , but it looks like its only the phablet area thats under their control right now. There were a lot of Samsung launches in the past few months, all of which were focussed on refreshing the low end and mid range lineup of the company, but so far, none of the devices have delivered a true knockout performance. Looks like Samsung is ready with yet another device and this time , they have named it ‘J1’. The J1 is nothing more than a carbon copy of any other samsung entry level device, and I really doubt its going to do the company any favors . Lets take a look at the device anyway –
- Connectivity – The J1 features 2G and 3G connectivity with an optional dual sim version. First of all, no 4G connectivity, which means , future proofing goes out the window. All phones these days , irrespective of segment, feature 4G connectivity, and the fact that this device doesn’t is half the reason you shouldn’t go for this device.
- Display – The device features a 4.3 inch display with a resolution of 480*800 pixels with a stock pixel density of 217 ppi. Nothing to boast about here for Samsung as what they have bundled in the display package is what you can expect in any entry-level device. There are a few competitors who have bigger displays and better pixel densities, and comparing them to the J1 would not be fair.
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- Performance – I expected the J1 to feature the Sapdragon 400 series, or atleast the Exynos chipset, but what I did find was that , the J1 is powered by something else altogether. We have, in the J1, a spreadtrum chipset. What this chipset features is a 1.2 GHz Dual core Cortex A-7 CPU along with a Mali-400 GPU. If you do end up buying this device, do not, I repeat, do not expect any miracles whatsoever. Overall, its a somewhat mediocre performance package , and the market right now, is home to many , better performing alternatives.
- Memory – What we get in the Galaxy J1 is 4 GB internal memory, with expansion via SD card upto 128 GB. The RAM is 512 MB, which , in android terms is unacceptable. When you say 512 MB RAM on Windows phone, you can expect zero lag , and proper multi-tasking, as the OS itself is very light on memory. But, when you say 512 MB RAM on Android KitKat, I wouldn’t hold high hopes on the multi-tasking. Overall, I would say, the Memory package is an out and out dud , and you would have to be a Sammy Fan to actually even consider this Galaxy.
- Camera – We get a 5MP rear camera with autofocus and LED flash, along with a 2MP front camera. While the Front camera may be decent for an entry level, the rear camera falls short here, as you have entry level devices these days sporting 8 MP and sometimes, even 13 MP rear cameras. Overall, not the strongest camera package in the market. Samsung could have done much better , but it looks like entry level, is no longer on their agenda.
- Battery – The J1 features a Li-Ion 1850 mAh battery, which should give you about a day of usage on single charge. A Lollipop upgrade is doubtful for this device , so theres not going to be any special tweaks for power management.
All in all, Samsung has got the formula for an entry level device wrong, yet again, which is convincing evidence that the Korean Giant is not going to be focussing on this segment, and what you will get from them in this genre are devices like this – devoid of fresh design, and lacking in all sections. Its understandable that Samsung wants to re-affirm their top spot status by puuting in all their time and money in to their S and Note lineup, but they shouldn’t forget that its devices on the lower rungs that help drive sales in emerging markets, and sometimes, can act as good backup, should a flagship fail.
