The article presents the technical characteristics of the samsung galaxy j7 2017 phone, an overview, advantages and disadvantages, cons.
The Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 laptop has a gorgeous 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED active matrix, a good battery, and a rather attractive metal body. It is equipped with two SIM cards, LTE, NFC, a fingerprint reader and a good camera, the seventh Android works quickly. Next, we provide a detailed review of the brand, which experts have been checking for several weeks.
Smartphones from well-known manufacturers are chosen by people who believe in the power of the brand. They are suspicious of Chinese products. A separate group of individuals spends a lot of time browsing online reviews of mobile technology. They understand that the operation of the device does not depend on the name of the product and trust its specification more.
"Our Hero" costs three hundred and twenty dollars. Now let's look at its individual nodes and find out whether it is necessary to purchase a South Korean product for everyday use.
Smartphone samsung galaxy j7 2017 gold review
The information block is one of the biggest advantages of the South Korean gadget.
The Galaxy J7 has a 2.5D glass panel with curved edges, which has a positive effect on tactile comfort, especially near the side edges. The black border around the display does not look good, especially in the gold version of the device. In the upper part of the frame there is a front camera (13 MP) with a diode, proximity and light sensors, as well as a loudspeaker connector for calls.
Below the monitor are three buttons. HOME - return to the main desktop (1 click), quick camera change (2 clicks), enable one-handed mode, reduce the interface (3 clicks). Recent applications (sensor on the left), Undo - the key on the right.
HOME has a personal identification function enabled. The authentication tool (the limb of the hand instead of entering the password) performs its duties accurately, quickly, but a little slower than similar devices from Xiaomi or Huawei. On the left edge of the surface of the handset you can see buttons for volume control and two separate drawers.
During the experiment, the Samsung Galaxy J7 worked on the Android 7 platform. The model has a chance to receive subsequent updates, but they are small. A potential buyer should know that he will have to be content with the seventh operating system until the end of his “friendship” with this sample. However, we hope that, over time, some patches will be changed and the security of the OS will be improved.
The tested version worked extremely correctly and quickly. But the smartphone could not always open five or more additional applications instantly. The built-in storage device does not have impressive speed. There are a number of other features that need to be noted.
1.Spam Protection(Caller Recognition) - a very useful feature built into the OS, can identify the phone number from which someone is calling, even if it is not saved in contacts. “Usefulness” is enabled in the menu “Settings –> “Additional functions” –> “Identifier” and “Spam protection”. The operation is based on the Hiya app.
2. Active Dual SIM- two different SIM cards in one device, a convenient and popular solution. The J7 model has an active dual SIM card. It is allowed to use both numbers at the same time.
3. Programs in separate windows. Ability to transfer selected utilities from full screen mode to small windows. To enable the option, you need to go to the settings and find there "Additional functions" -\u003e "Multiple windows", drag your finger from the top of the screen to its middle.
4. Split display half vertical and use two apps at the same time. The mode is in advanced functions. To use it, you should press the "Multiple Windows" button and hold down the last utility key.
5. One-hand operation. It is easier to process data on a smartphone with one hand. It hides in additional functions. It is necessary to press the middle button under the display three times.
6.S amsung Cloud - 15 GB free space in the cloud. It is not a sin to store contacts, photos, notes, videos, etc. on this disk. The account is restored on another communication gadget from Samsung.
7. Always On Display- basic information is always displayed on the lock screen (time, date, battery percentage, notification icons).
8. Safe Directory– documents, files are encrypted and securely stored in one place. Access only after entering a password or fingerprint.
The efficiency of the Galaxy J7 equipment was rated by experts as a four with a minus. The device copes well with simple games and undemanding programs.
The tube makes high-quality images, both bright lenses contribute to this. The detailing of the pictures does not cause criticism, the saturation and contrast of colors for such a price of a cellular device is quite acceptable. There are no visible noises and noticeable artifacts in the pictures. The HDR mode, traditionally for this manufacturer of mobile phones, is one of the best. Excellent optics have a positive effect on night scenes, but this does not mean good shots in the dark.
Pictures still require excellent sensor performance and advanced processing algorithms. In general, photos in low light look good, but at full size (1: 1), blur and distorted details appear. Autofocus copes with its tasks normally, although not very quickly. Self portraits are high resolution. When scaled down, they look great, but when scaled up, they lack sharpness and detail.
When viewing your favorite sites, social networks, small YouTube videos, electricity will last for a long time. The function of the on-screen display (Always On Display) will extend the autonomous battery life. The charger received only 1.55 A. This means that filling the device with electricity to 100% will take more than two and a half hours.
1. Excellent display and good battery.
2. Dual active SIM - card.
3. A separate place for a microSD memory card.
4. NFC (non-contact communication, Android Pay payments).
5. Fingerprint reader.
6. LED front and rear lighting.
7. Metal case.
8. Many useful features in the system.
9. Good rear camera and cool HDR images.
10. Front camera 13 Mpx.
11. "Always on display" function (basic information on the locked screen).
1. The speaker can be easily closed with your finger while holding the smartphone horizontally.
2. The case is not waterproof.
3. No fast battery charging.
4. Installed an old micro USB port instead of USB - type C.
"Our Hero" is a medium power cellular device, with a classic panel (16:9) for displaying information, instead of the trendy 18:9 screen aspect ratio. The closest competitors of the Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 are samples from Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi, as well as a number of brands from China. But everyone decides for himself what to choose.
Specifications of the phone, smartphone samsung galaxy j7 2017 video review:
The Korean company has finally decided to clean up its own line of gadgets. Now users do not have to puzzle over which device to prefer. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ flagships should soon receive replenishment in the form of a Mini. The Galaxy A series will now act as the middle line. The J-series continues to be the most affordable.
For the last two rulers, three sizes are used, which receive the corresponding indices. In addition to dimensions, there are several other differences, but they are not cardinal. However, while the updated line of budget versions of smartphones from Koreans contains only two gadgets - 5 and 7. Today we will pay attention samsung j7, buy which would be the correct solution. And in this detailed analysis of the features of the older model, everyone can be convinced of the distinctive qualities of this smartphone, which make it an attractive option in the cheap segment.
Device samsung j7 2017 is a smartphone running Android. The model received a 5.5-inch display, the resolution of which is FullHD. It is worth noting that the screen chosen is not quite familiar to the category in which the gadget fell. We are talking about SuperAMOLED, which complements Exynos. For comfortable operation of the device, it was supplemented with three gigabytes of RAM, as well as the ability to use two SIM cards at once. To get high-quality images in any weather, the owners of the device have access to a 13 megapixel camera.
If we talk about the line as a whole, then you can see its complete transformation in comparison with last year's list of models. The metal frame that was previously used by the manufacturer, as well as the plastic cover, have been replaced with an all-metal body. At the same time design samsung j7 2017 changed not so dramatically. Buyers have the opportunity to use the models in gold, blue and standard black case. One of the highlights of the product is its Exynos7870 chipset, which provides excellent performance. To play applications, users have access to a SuperAMOLED screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
What else can please the device? The presence of protection IP54. This is an important acquisition, because due to compliance with this standard, the device will not break down due to splashes or dust accidentally falling on it. A plus is the Always On Display option, which appeared in the device, unlike models in a higher price segment.
The gadget uses Android, which can be improved by the manufacturer's own shell. At the same time, the device is complemented by a fingerprint scanner. Own memory can be expanded through the use of flash cards of 256 GB. About autonomy samsung galaxy j7 reviews almost always positive, because the architecture chosen for it is rather undemanding, and the use of a 3600 mAh battery makes it possible to use the device for several days without recharging.
The front panel has a fairly typical design, which is fully consistent with the style of the company. The device is distinguished by the rounded outlines of the case, as well as the use of 2.5D glass. The latter received rounded edges along the entire length and width of the panel. In total, about 73 percent of the front plane is allocated to the display, the side frames are quite narrow and look aesthetically pleasing. At the bottom of the front panel, you can see mechanical and touch keys, as well as a scanner. Above the screen is a speaker and a camera. The latter this time received a flash, which allows you to provide good selfies even at night.
A feature of the device can be called the fact that it has a rounded shape. All the necessary functional connectors are located in their places.
As shown samsung galaxy j7 review, The build quality of the device is quite high. The buttons are durable and have a metal construction, as is the case with other modern Korean devices. The key travel is quite distinct, however, a slight wobble is still present. You can notice it with constant repeated use, but it does not cause discomfort. The external speaker, the only one for this smartphone, is located at the end. It is worth noting that the position for him is chosen quite well. Placing the phone on the table, the sound will not change, and the speaker does not overlap with your hand during use.
On the left side face you can see two volume keys and special trays. One of them allows you to place nanoSIM, the second provides the installation of MicroSD.
To create a back panel samsung galaxy j7 2017 It was decided to use a metal cover. At the bottom and top you can see plastic inserts that cover the antennas. To create them, an unusual shape was chosen, which makes the appearance of the device more original.
The central part of the back panel is occupied by the corporate logo, and on top you can see the rear camera sensor. It is complemented by an LED flash. difference j7 2017 from its predecessor lies in the fact that the camera is flush with the rear panel, and does not stick out.
Appearance has become much more presentable when compared with last year's counterpart. The manufacturer decided to use better materials, in addition, the shape was chosen more successful. Holding a smartphone in your hand has become much more comfortable. At the same time, the feeling of budget is practically not felt by users, and passers-by can even take the model for an expensive flagship.
Considering samsung j7 2017 specifications, special attention to itself necessarily attracts the screen of the device. The model works on a SuperAMOLED-matrix, the resolution of which is 1920x1080. To protect the display, the developer used a protective glass with rounded edges. Official data on glass has not yet been found. We can only safely say that the device is additionally covered with an oleophobic layer. The brightness is sufficient to comfortably use a smartphone even in bright sunlight. The display features typical viewing angles, as well as a rich palette of colors.
The proprietary shell allows you to customize the display scale and the blue transmission filter. All this gives helps to significantly reduce the load on the user's eyes.
Standard mode allows you to see the clock and date on the screen. Also here you can see the battery charge status and a panel with notifications, which can be accessed by double-tapping.
Smartphone samsung j7, price which remains attractive, allows you to choose among several screen modes. Adaptive allows you to customize the color palette, as is the case with flagship models.
As has already become a tradition for SuperAMOLED displays, black reproduction is as close to reality as possible. The minimum brightness indicator is at around 0, and the degree of contrast rushed to infinity. The test results on the colorimeter are shown below.
| Device name | Brightness of the white field, cd/m 2 |
Black field brightness, cd/m 2 |
Contrast |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) | 288.621 | 0 | ∞ |
| Samsung Galaxy A7 | 348.82 | 0 | ∞ |
| Xiaomi Mi Note 2 | 327.23 | 0 | ∞ |
| Meizu PRO 6 Plus | 429.007 | 0 | ∞ |
| BlackBerry DTEK60 | 256.186 | 0 | ∞ |
| Moto Z | 347.398 | 0 | ∞ |
The smartphone differs only in a few details when compared to last year's version. The same Exynos 7870, which has an eight-core architecture, is used to run applications. The increase in the amount of RAM is striking. If last year only 2 GB of memory was available to users, then this year there are already 1 GB more. The chipset can be classified in the budget group, but it shows excellent stability and easily plays modern applications. If you wish, you can run any game novelties.
From more expensive models, the Game Tools utility also migrated to the J-line. It collects all games in one place, allows you to take screenshots and videos of the gameplay, disable touch buttons and notifications during the game:
In our country, it will be possible to order only a model with 16 GB of flash memory on board. The company also produces devices with 2 times the volume, but they will go to other markets. It is possible to fix the acute shortage in the data storage thanks to the MicroSD slot, which is located separately from the SIM card tray. The device offers users various communication interfaces that have already become familiar to new models. We are talking about Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, NFC plus is supported by ANT + for sports gadgets.
To guarantee each user the opportunity to use the device for a long time, the manufacturer decided to supplement the model with a 3600 mAh battery. Considering that the smartphone runs on energy-efficient hardware and received an AMOLED display, then one charge will allow you to use it for quite a long time. Maximum loads in the form of demanding applications, streaming video and other processes make it possible to use the device throughout the day. If the phone works in the normal mode of use, then from charging to charging it will take at least 2 days. The only drawback, as for a modern device, is the impossibility of fast charging the gadget. However, any questions are removed, given that we have a J-line model.
The device is running Android 7.0. The Koreans also decided to please users and supplemented it with their own Experience 8.1 shell. It allows you to significantly expand the operational capabilities of a modern smartphone. You can find out all the nuances of the shell in the Samsung Galaxy Galaxy S8+ review. For the top model of this line, the decision to use Experience is quite deliberate. However, you should not count on getting the same multifunctional shell that can be seen in the manufacturer's flagship smartphones. The user has several options for displaying the display, which allows you to customize the gadget to your needs.
This is what the notification panel looks like with icons in two pages:
For convenience, you can use one-handed control or select multi-screen work:
There are many different settings for adjusting windows:
If we talk about the highlights of the shell, which were not even in the flagship models, then it is worth remembering the possibility of setting up two accounts in each of the popular applications.
Below are screenshots with settings, as well as pre-installed applications. It is worth noting separately that Microsoft applications are installed out of the box, and it is impossible to remove them using the usual methods. The scanner works in the usual mode, providing fast and high-quality fingerprint recognition.
In general, we can say about the shell that it turned out to be very convenient and functional. Its appearance is quite pleasant and does not bother.
It was decided to supplement the device with two cameras at once, each of which received a 13 megapixel sensor. They are located on the front and rear panels and are equipped with powerful flashes. Both sensors make it possible to record videos in FullHD. The rear camera has an aperture of f / 1.7, and the front one - f / 1.9. Only the rear camera has got autofocus. In terms of functionality, the cameras are similar to standard solutions from the manufacturer. The main settings panel is represented by the shutter, flash adjustment and camera settings. Thanks to the swipe, you can go to the choice of modes, as well as apply filters. But the decision to switch the HDR option to swipe looks debatable.
The main camera in good lighting takes very good pictures. In the evening, getting a clear picture is more difficult, but also quite realistic. The camera is better than most Chinese in this price segment:
Summarizing
The device from the Korean manufacturer is quite stylish and modern. The decision to transform its budget line can be called successful, because the result was more attractive when compared with last year's counterparts. As a result, users have the opportunity to purchase a reliable and functional gadget, the appearance of which does not indicate its budget. The device will certainly be interesting for fans of A-brands who do not want to use even high-quality smartphones from Chinese companies. The latter are ready to provide customers with powerful hardware for the same amount, but in terms of camera quality, even Chinese companies will not be able to bypass the top J-class model.
The gadget has a reliable assembly, and also has a sophisticated appearance, thanks to the use of high-quality materials. The solid screen deserves special attention. The Always On Display option came up perfectly. Communication modules allow you to always get a high-quality connection, and thanks to a powerful battery, the user does not need to constantly save power. There are few unpleasant moments and they were all mentioned above.
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This summer, the Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 smartphone was introduced, which replenished the budget Galaxy J series. The feature of the device is a metal case. Samsung is extremely reluctant to use metal in its devices, preferring plastic for budget models and glass for flagships. Thanks to the use of metal in the body, the Samsung Galaxy J7 looks solid. The version with a black front panel is similar even to the top Galaxy S7 brother.
By the way, what do we know about inexpensive ones? Apple's main competitor has released several fancy flagships this year, which everyone who is interested in the latest in the mobile market knows about. The South Korean manufacturer produces models of the J and A series without much noise. This year, for example, the line of entry-level devices J has replenished with three models at once. One of them, Galaxy J7 2017, received unexpectedly (for a budget series) powerful hardware.
In the price segment of devices for 18,000 - 20,000 thousand, the buyer is quite picky and picky. He has a lot to choose from, so he wants to get a smartphone with the best possible performance from the many options available. J7 is inferior to A7 in many ways. The latter is very similar in appearance to the company's flagship devices, it has protection against dust and moisture. The J7 smartphone is much simpler, it can be considered as a reliable workhorse that will last for more than one year.
Let's figure out what the Galaxy J7 2017 is good for, whether it is inferior and find out what disadvantages it has.
The model is based on last year's device with the difference that it received more premium characteristics.
The hardware base of the phone is an eight-core Exynos 7870 processor. The same chipset was used in last year's model. Exynos 7870 belongs to the budget segment, but its performance for everyday tasks and stable applications is enough for the eyes. Fly in the ointment - due to the shell and clumsy hands of firmware developers, the smartphone works slowly, sometimes thinking even when scrolling through the application menu. These are not “lags”, but the slowness of the device.
The device handles small undemanding games without problems, something more serious is given to it with difficulty.
Compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy J7 2017 received more RAM - 3 GB. For the budget segment of devices, this is the best option. Built-in storage is designed for 16 GB, of which only 10 GB is available to the user. This volume, of course, is not enough. The problem of lack of memory is solved, as usual, using memory cards. Samsung has installed a separate slot for memory cards in the smartphone, and now the user does not need to choose what he needs - a second SIM card or an increased amount of device memory.
The undoubted plus of the smartphone is a capacity of 3600 mAh. It provides the device with excellent autonomy. In normal mode, which implies up to an hour of talks, automatic screen brightness, data transfer to 4G and about 5 hours of display operation, the smartphone can work for about two days. The device plays video at maximum brightness for 19 hours. This is an impressive result. However, the device did not bypass its predecessor in terms of battery life - the Galaxy J7 2016 shows about the same battery life.
Wireless charging is not supported, but this is not critical, but fast charging would not hurt, because the phone takes a long time to charge - about three hours.
The smartphone has power-saving modes that allow, if necessary, to significantly extend the operating time. For example, when the maximum power saving mode is enabled, the machine reduces the brightness of the display, limits the CPU speed and limits the running of applications in the background, which allows you to extend the battery life by 49 hours. It is gratifying that modern technologies, previously implemented in flagship models, are now available to owners of budget phones.
The smartphone received a typical appearance for Samsung mobile devices: a case with rounded corners and a screen covering the entire front panel.
J7 2017 received four body color options: black, blue, pink and gold. The most advantageous is the blue color, it is more interesting. A smartphone in a black case also looks good - it resembles the top-end Galaxy S7. The last two options (gold and pink) are traditionally positioned as women's.
The case is monolithic, metal. This is quite unexpected for the South Korean manufacturer, who usually does not favor metal in the body materials of their devices. Separately, I note the good quality of the surface color: even after a long time of intensive use, there are no scuffs on the metal, the paint is not erased. Only the antenna inserts are made of plastic. They are built into the case rather unusually, but in the end it turned out nice and extraordinary.
The screen occupies approximately 73.1% of the front surface, the lower and upper indents are average, the side frames are narrow. Above the display are proximity and light sensors, a speaker and a front camera with a flash. A little lower there was a place for the company logo. There is no notification indicator in this model, for me this is a minus, but this is a subjective opinion. It may well be replaced by the Always On Display function. I repeat: I am glad that Samsung has begun to apply advanced technologies in budget devices.
Under the screen you can see two touch and one mechanical control buttons. The keys do not have backlighting, and for some this may be a minus of the model.
The fingerprint scanner is located in the physical button. It works quickly, without errors. The classic location of the scanner can be attributed to the advantages of the model, since the company's experience shows that placing it on the rear panel is not the best solution. The user can save no more than three fingerprints, but this can hardly be called a drawback of the device - how many of us give the right to access our smartphone?
The speaker hole for playing music is unusually located - on the right side of the phone. Such an extraordinary location does not cause inconvenience.
With the ergonomics of the phone, everything is fine - it fits comfortably in both male and female hands. The Galaxy J7 2017 stays in the palm of your hand and fits comfortably almost anywhere: in a woman's purse, trouser or shirt pocket.
On the metal back panel there is a vertical main camera module and an LED flash. Below them is the manufacturer's logo. The camera, unlike last year's model, does not protrude above the panel, but is slightly recessed into it.
Thanks to high-quality materials, good design and excellent assembly, the phone visually looks much more expensive than it is. In appearance, you can’t say that this is one of the representatives of Samsung’s entry-level devices.
Galaxy J7 2017 is equipped with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 and SuperAMOLED matrix. Compared to last year's smartphone, the company has carefully worked on the screen, improving it in almost all respects. Display brightness and color reproduction have been greatly improved. The screen reads great in the sun. The user has access to four screen modes. The automatic brightness adjustment works great. This is one of those useful features that can be advised to everyone. The screen itself adjusts to the level of ambient light, preserving the health of the user's eyes and at the same time saving battery power.
As mentioned above, J7 2017 implements such a very useful thing as AlwaysOn Display technology. When the screen is locked, the user can see notifications, clock and necessary applications on the display. Battery charge while AlwaysOn Display consumes sparingly.
There is a high-quality oleophobic coating.
Despite the fact that the Galaxy J7 2017 is a representative of an affordable line, it is equipped with good ones. The main camera received a resolution of 13 megapixels and f / 1.7 aperture. The front camera has the same resolution of the photomodule, but the aperture optics are worse here - f / 1.9. Like all inexpensive devices, the main camera shoots well in good light. In the evening and at night, it does not work so well: the picture starts to blur, noise appears. To get a decent picture in low light conditions, you have to try. At the same time, the J7 2017 camera will be better than analogues in Chinese devices in this price segment.
The front camera has a flash and, in addition, many modes for all kinds of selfie decoration. This feature will appeal, perhaps, only to young smartphone users.
The software basis of the device is with a shell. There are several options for displaying the desktop: with a separate program menu or uploading applications to desktops. The shell itself is comfortable to use, with a pleasant interface, but in the case of the Galaxy J7, it does not work as fast as we would like.
The pluses include the latest version of Android and frequent device updates. Minus: the impossibility of removing many standard programs, in particular, the Microsoft office suite. Lots of junk apps. Particularly annoying is the content aggregator, which intrusively clogs the notification shade with news.
In official stores at the time of this writing, they ask for 19,990 rubles for a phone. Compared to competitors, the price is too high, which is not surprising for the manufacturer's device, which is one of the A-brands.
The device would have fewer competitors if it were not for the inflated price for it. In this price category, there are many devices that are more attractive in terms of cost. One of the obvious competitors is Honor 9. It costs a little more, but it offers top-end hardware, a dual camera and a beautiful glass case.
The same as the Galaxy J7 costs. His stuffing is much more powerful.
OnePlus 3 costs 4-5 thousand rubles more and is a full-fledged flagship, albeit released last year.
If you are not afraid of huge screens - take a closer look at. For 20 thousand rubles, you will get the most powerful device in terms of performance and autonomy with an excellent display.
In which the Galaxy J5 (2016) did not perform in the best way. Well, let's see how the flagship smartphone of the J-series turned out this year.
Let's briefly look at the characteristics of the device and move on:
| Display | Super AMOLED, 16 million colors |
| Display Diagonal | 5.5″ |
| Display Resolution | 1920x1080, 401ppi |
| operating system | Android 7.0 |
| CPU | Samsung Exynos 7870, 8 cores, frequency 1.6 GHz |
| video accelerator | Mali T830MP2 |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| ROM size | 16 GB |
| Memory card slot | Yes, up to 256 GB, separate |
| rear camera | 13 MP, f/1.7, single flash |
| Front-camera | 13 MP, f/1.9, single flash |
| Video filming | |
| Number of SIM cards | 2 (nano SIM) |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz); GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS); Bluetooth v4.1 (A2DP);microUSB 2.0; NFC 3.5mm headphone jack; FM radio |
| Fingerprint's scanner | Yes, frontal |
| fast charging | No |
| Battery | 3600 mAh, non-removable |
| Weight | 181 g |
| Dimensions | 152 x 75 x 8mm |
| Colors | Black, gold, blue, pink |
| Other | Samsung Pay support |
The device came out quite heavy. From brothers from the older family - Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 - he received a FullHD Super AMOLED matrix, although it differs diagonally: 5.5 inches versus 5.7 in the Galaxy A7 and 5.2 in the Galaxy A5. The processor here is simpler, and the permanent memory is not enough - only 16 GB, which, however, is partially compensated by a separate slot for a memory card. In addition, the smartphone is not waterproof. Also, the smartphone is distinguished by the presence of an outdated microUSB connector and a very large weight for such a diagonal.
The device comes in a familiar blue box, inside which, in addition to the standard set in the form of the smartphone itself, charger, cable, paper clip and a set of documents, Samsung also put headphones. A very nice bonus for a budget series device.
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) is a monolithic aluminum slightly glossy “brick”. The case, it should be noted, is very easily soiled, prints stick to it. The device lies well in the hand, the body material does not slip, although, of course, you cannot call it light and it is problematic to hold the smartphone in one hand for a long time. The lock button is placed on the right end, the volume control buttons are on the left. Next to the lock button is a hole for the speaker. Admittedly, this is a very unusual design decision.
There is a physical Home button combined with a fingerprint scanner. On the left and right sides, the touch button for calling the list of running applications and the “back” button were attached. A microUSB connector is located in the center of the bottom end, and a 3.5 mm jack sits to the right of it. There is nothing on the upper edge except for plastic inserts. In general, the device is pleasant to the touch, although we personally did not like the fact that the headphone jack is on the bottom.
The screen in the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) is made using traditional Super AMOLED technology. The display diagonal is 5.5 inches and the resolution is 1920x1080. The color reproduction is pleasant, the screen does not fade in the sun, although it is inferior in saturation to more premium models. There is Always On technology, which allows you to display information on a locked smartphone. There are no complaints about the matrix: the screen is very good for a budget model.
The operating system is Android 7.0. Samsung has its own shell and is different from stock Android. By default, applications from Google, Microsoft and, of course, Samsung are installed. However, there are not so many of them and superfluous applications do not irritate the eyes. Menus and animations sometimes do not keep up with user actions - weak hardware affects (but more on that below). The rest of the shell is pleasant to use.
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We have come to the most important drawback of the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017). The performance of the processor of this smartphone can not be called sufficient. Synthetic tests confirm this. Of course, it will be enough to launch a navigator or applications for social networks, but it is hardly capable of more. In 3D games, especially demanding ones, the smartphone will slow down and skip frames. Only setting to the lowest graphics settings can somehow smooth the picture.
Surprisingly enough RAM was installed - as much as 3 GB, which is very good for a budget A-brand smartphone. But the permanent memory is only 16 GB, which is quite a bit in the current realities with increased appetites for even simple applications. Of course, you can install a separate memory card, especially since it has a separate slot (which is very good), but, firstly, its speed will be less than that of the built-in one, and secondly, not all applications still support transfer to a memory card.
As mentioned above, the scanner in this model is combined with the physical Home button and is located on the front surface of the smartphone. It works great, recognizes prints with a light touch. There are no complaints about him.
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) has the standard set of a mid-budget smartphone: it has Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, GPS (also A-GPS, GLONASS and BDS), 3.5mm headphone jack. There is compatibility with ANT +, support for Samsung Pay (which, however, has slightly lost its relevance with the introduction of Android Pay). But the charging connector was left the old one - microUSB 2.0, which is a little sad. FM radio is also supported.
That's what you can praise the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) for is autonomy. In the video playback mode at medium brightness, the smartphone lasted 16 hours. Such an operating time from a single charge is achieved thanks to the sAMOLED matrix and a capacious 3600 mAh battery. Unfortunately, fast charging is not provided, the standard charger supports only 1.5 A at a voltage of 5 V. Using it, the smartphone will charge to the maximum in about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The sound quality of the speaker can be considered good, but slightly quiet even at maximum volume. When talking, the interlocutor is heard well, he also hears us perfectly. Unfortunately, there is no noise cancellation, which results in some problems when talking in the wind.
As mentioned, the smartphone is equipped with headphones. Exactly the same ones are supplied with Galaxy A series smartphones. They sound nice: tops, mids and bottoms are balanced. I can’t even believe that good headphones were put in such a budget solution.
The smartphone supports LTE bands 7 and 20, which are the main ones in the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, there is no support for the 38 range, but in most cases it will not be useful to you.
The resolution of both cameras - main and front - is 13 megapixels, flashes are installed next to both. We love Samsung's tradition of putting cameras of equal resolution on their smartphones. Of course, the main camera shoots much better, but the attention to the front camera cannot but please fans of selfies and Instagram. In addition, the front camera in a duet with a flash produces very good photos.
Various shooting modes are supported, including PRO-mode with manual settings.
You can judge the quality of the photos from the pictures below:
Of course, the quality of the photo cannot be called excellent - the camera of the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) is far from its older counterparts, but the quality of the pictures cannot be called poor either. HDR mode helps in some situations. By the way, with HDR turned on, the camera shoots fast enough, which is surprising. In general, both the main and the front camera are very tolerable. The front camera will even be better than competitors in this price segment.
The smartphone is not the best in its class, that's for sure. At a very high cost, it offers very weak hardware. On the other hand, it has a lot of advantages: good build, excellent screen, separate microSD card slot, good camera, capacious battery, the latest version of Android, excellent fingerprint scanner, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. In general, it can be recommended to people who can’t stand the “Chinese” in spirit (sometimes for good reasons) and completely trust only A-brand products, and also don’t play games, but don’t have the money to buy flagship solutions. We, in turn, would advise adding 4-5 thousand rubles and taking the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), which showed itself very well in
Key Features of Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
The youngest of the large modern Samsung smartphones. Above it is last year's A7 out of sales for 22 thousand, fresh A7 2016 for 30 thousand. Well, then - the flagships from the S and Note families.
Naturally, the traditional marketing task is to take a bite out of the youngest so that he does not compete with his older brothers.
Let's go have a bite. Low screen resolution. No light sensor (!), No LED. No tasty modern buns like a fingerprint sensor or fast charging. And for this - almost 20 thousand rubles? Are we leaving?
Miracles (fucking) with the battery. Latest fast processor. A very good camera. Are we staying?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! We stay! In some incredible way, marketers managed to bite off something that is not very important to me personally. Believe it or not, HD resolution at five and a half inches is enough for me. I don't use auto dimming. And instead of the light sensor, you can put the ancient NoLED software (or, better, find some modern analogue of it).
And there are no stupid microscopic Nano-SIMs, no stupid combined slots for cards, a removable battery ... And I, in my opinion, have never seen such perfect GPS work.
The only thing that truly saddens me is the crunchy "Home" button. Either a speck of dust has leaked in there, or something else. But - crunches, an infection. Otherwise, the Galaxy J7 2016 is simply magical. For me at least.
LTE, from two gigabytes of RAM, a powerful processor, a reasonable battery. Formally, even Lenovo K3 Note, which can be bought (in a "gray" version, of course) for only 9 thousand rubles, will fall under these requirements. They say it's pretty good. Although, I'm afraid, the difference in class will be felt very, very much.
Even if you throw out the little-known Chinese, the list of competitors is quite large.
| Chipset | Memory | Screen | Battery | cameras | Price | |
| Lenovo K3 Note | MTK6752 | 2+16368 MB+SD | IPS FHD | 3000 | 13+5 | 9 thousand |
| meizu m2 note | MTK6753 | 2+32+SD | IPS FHD | 3100 | 13+5 | 10-14 thousand |
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 | Helio X10 | 2+16+SD | IPS FHD | 3060 | 13+5 | 11-12 thousand |
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 | Helio X10 | 3+32 | IPS FHD | 4000 | 13+5 | 11-16 thousand |
| Meizu M3 | Helio P10 | 3+32+SD | LTPS FHD | 4100 | 13+16 | 13-17 thousand |
| Philips S616 | MTK6753 | 2+16+SD | IPS FHD | 3000 | 13+2 | 13-16 thousand |
| Neffos C5 Max | MTK6753 | 2+16+SD | IPS FHD | 3045 | 13+5 | 13-16 thousand |
| Huawei Honor 4X | Kirin 620 | 2+8+SD | IPS HD | 3000 | 13+5.1 | 14 thousand |
| Highscreen Bay | MTK6753 | 2+16+SD | AML HD | 3150 | 13+5 | 14-17 thousand |
| Meizu MX5 | Helio X10 | 3+64 | S-AML FHD | 3150 | 20.7+5 | 15-25 thousand |
| Huawei Honor 5X | Snapdragon 615 | 2+16+SD | IPS FHD | 3000 | 13+5 | 15-19 thousand |
| ZenFone Selfie | Snapdragon 615 | 3+32+SD | IPS FHD | 3000 | 13+13 | 16-19 thousand |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) | Exynos 7870 | 2+16+SD | S-AML HD | 3300 | 13+5 | 16-20 thousand |
| BQ Aquaris M5.5 | Snapdragon 615 | 3+32+SD | IPS FHD | 3620 | 13+5 | 19-23 thousand |
| Galaxy A7 2016 | Exynos 7580 | 3+16+SD | S-AML FHD | 3300 | 13+5 | 24-30 thousand |
| Moto X Play | Snapdragon 615 | 2+32+SD | IPS FHD | 3630 | 21+5 | 26 thousand |
I left Xiaomi smartphones in the list of competitors, but keep in mind that they do not have support for LTE Band 20, which is important for our country. It seems that the same applies to Meizu.
Everything is standard. Headphones, charger, Micro-USB cable, necessary useful pieces of paper.
| Weight | 169 g |
| Size | 151.7 x 76 x 7.8mm |
| Protection | No |
Metal sides, glass front, plastic removable back cover.
Three color options - white, black, gold. The golden one looks very pretty. The rest - I do not know, I have not seen. The main thing is that there is no sloppiness, it does not get dirty, it is not covered with prints.
The quality of workmanship - do not offend - it is excellent.
Fly in the ointment - buttons. They are not screen, they are quite physical. "Home" (which began to creak) - mechanical. The other two are sensory. Drawn dimly, no backlight.
The sides are slippery. The back is somewhat less so. It used to be worse, but it’s still better to get it out of your pocket carefully and hold it tight.
Boring details about appearance
Above the screen - sensors, front camera with flash, speaker.
Under the screen - the buttons "Recent tasks", "Home", "Back".
Behind - speaker, camera, flash.
The top is empty.
Bottom - 3.5 mm audio output, Micro-USB connector, the only microphone.
On the right is the on/off button.
On the left is the volume rocker.
Cards (two Micro-SIM and one Micro-SD) - under the back cover. The lid does not open too easily, you have to exert some effort. Well, some caution - otherwise the latches would not be broken.
| AnTuTu | 40121 (v5.7.1) |
| AnTuTu | 44170 (v6.1.4) |
| Chipset | Exynos 7870 |
| Nuclei | 8 x Cortex-A53, 1.6 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-T830 |
| RAM (free) | 2 GB (1 GB) |
| ROM (free) | 16 GB (10.3 GB) |
| Micro SD | Up to 128 GB |
The freshest chip of our own production. If I understand correctly, - the first device where it is used.
Perhaps, if there was some super-duper 2K / 4K screen in it, such hardware could not be enough. But for HD resolution, for a FHD camera, and in general for all the tasks that can come up in my brilliant head, this processor is more than enough. The smartphone is smart and pleasant.
RAM at the present time - the average amount. Plus, half is devoured by Android with a proprietary shell. But I had enough, I did not feel the lack.
With flash memory, it's a little worse. 16 GB is a lot, plus you can write photos and videos from the camera to a memory card. But you cannot use a memory card to install programs. The signature feature of the sixth Android has been sawn out. Theoretically, supposedly there is the possibility of transferring applications. In fact, this is not a transfer, but a mockery. If you try to transfer some serious toy that takes up a couple of gigabytes, you will be surprised to find that fifty megabytes have been transferred, which will not save you anyway. The main part of the data will still remain in the internal memory of the smartphone.
Well, besides toys - what else can you want to carry something? For everything else and internal memory - more than enough. Considering that the smartphone is very good for games, it's a little insulting.
The set of sensors is more than modest - only an accelerometer and a proximity sensor. No light sensor, no gyroscope, no compass, not to mention all sorts of barometers and other frills.
As usual, there is not much to talk about in this section. The lack of 5 GHz Wi-Fi support was a little disappointing.
The screen is good. The resolution, however, is definitely not flagship. And, I suspect, it is it that will repel many from buying. But for me it is quite enough. No discomfort.
Oleophobic coating is good.
Four display modes - "Basic", "Adaptive", "Photo", "Movie". As usual, the eyes calmly adapt to any of them and you stop noticing the difference.
The branded stupid forced decrease in brightness when the battery is discharged to 5% has not gone away.
There is no automatic brightness adjustment depending on the surrounding reality.
With brightness, in my opinion, they are generally a little too clever. It is manually adjustable from 4 cd/m2 (excellent result) to 295 cd/m2. For sunny weather, 295 cd / m2 is not bad, but still a bit small. I was convinced of this myself - the other day, the sun was unexpectedly shown to St. Petersburg.
But. You can turn on a special turbo mode "Outdoors". And the brightness will jump up to 420 cd / m2. Which is enough even for sunny weather. Why it was necessary to produce entities and make it a separate mode, and why it was impossible to simply make smooth manual adjustment over the entire range is a mystery.
Outdoor mode has another feature. It will automatically turn off after 15 minutes unless you left the screen on. Those. turn on the mode, turn on the navigator - go with the screen on - the mode will remain on. Turned on the mode, turned off the screen, quickly turned it back on - the mode remained on. We turned on the mode, turned off the screen, turned it on after 15 minutes - the mode turned off by itself. It is clear that this is such a protection from a fool and from the rapid discharge of the battery, but it is painfully cunning.
Android 6.0.1 operating system plus proprietary shell from Samsung. For some reason, many sites indicate the version of Android 5.1, but six have already arrived in a sealed box.
Over the air updates happen.
The pre-installed software is enough. Including - a bunch of different things from Microsoft. Most, unfortunately, are not removed.
As the first (which is to the left of the main) desktop - branded garbage dump with news named Briefing. Fortunately, you can turn it off and forget about it like a nightmare.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Galaxy J7 is the battery. More precisely, how he spends it.
Capacity - 3300 mAh. Not too much for a phablet. But - the results of battery tests - 227% of the standard! It's just some kind of fantasy! Days of video!
Fantasy - fiction, but the details are extremely interesting.
1) Extremely energy efficient iron. A light toy or a video of not prohibitive resolution is nothing at all, the processor will hardly eat the battery. If the toy is "heavy" (such as Asphalt 8) - then yes, it will eat, and how.
2) Internet / GPS eat the battery quite significantly.
3) Screen. AMOLED in full growth. Which means that a bright picture will consume milliamp hours faster than a dark one. And it's not just about the fact that you can "turn off" (make black) the point of the screen and then it will not drain the battery. The point is that a dark (but not completely turned off) point eats less than a light one.
If you look closely at the test results, you will see that the toy lasted longer than a pure white screen. Simply because the toy is light and dark, and the screen is light. That's just AMOLED in action.
Did another experiment. My videos, where I routinely test all batteries, are pretty dark. Created two videos with the same parameters - codec, duration, resolution, etc. But one thing is light (alpine skiing on a sunny day). The other is dark (a series of TV series). Skis ran out of battery at 13:40, the series - at 18:45. Feel the difference.
Another important point to be aware of. The screen has an "Outdoor" mode (maximum brightness). The white screen in this mode burns the battery very quickly, in just 4 and a half hours.
The battery output is as follows. Under normal conditions, I had enough of it for two days easily and with a margin. It is extremely difficult to discharge in one day even in traveler mode (constant use of the camera and GPS). Difficult - but possible if the weather is sunny and the traveler abuses the screen on at maximum brightness.
Everything is very good, I have no comments. Although, of course, a noise-canceling microphone would be useful.
A flashlight from a flash is so-so, not very bright.
Galaxy J7 fell into my hands somehow very in time. And he had to work with the camera from the heart. Impressions are twofold.
On the one hand, there are a lot of garbage shots. A lot of blurry shots, there are misses with white balance. Not always the smartphone managed to cope with the lack of lighting. And there were problems with bright sunny photographs.
On the other hand, there are some very good shots. And - the most different. And macro, and landscapes, and sunny, and darkish.
