Introduction
Samsung is flying high on the wings of its flagships success, but it hasn't turned its back on the entry-level market. The Galaxy J2 is the latest affordable smartphone by Samsung, having its sight on strengthening Samsung's push for low-end market dominance. The Galaxy J5 and the more distant Galaxy J1 were rather successful previous endeavors in this segment and history is quite likely to repeat itself with the Galaxy J2. If our readers' immense interest is to be the judge of that, Samsung is ought to pop the champagne early.
The Galaxy J2 follows a simple recipe - cut corners wherever possible, but keep user experience as solid as possible. Samsung has been in this particular kitchen far too long and this latest dish isn't undercooked.
It all starts with a solid foundation that is the in-house made Exynos 3475 chipset and 1GB of RAM. This configuration runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop effortlessly and secures 4G data speeds - although it does skimp on the FullHD video recording. The user experience is delivered on a 4.7" Super AMOLED panel - an adequate size for a 2015 smartphone and you know us - we're suckers for AMOLED technology.
Where the Galaxy J2 falls short is the resolution of the said screen. It is a qHD one (960 x 540 pixels) and we sure hope it's not a deal breaker in this price range. Let's check out what else you're getting for the money
The Galaxy J2 suffers from similar drawbacks as many of its competitors in the low-end smartphone market. Nevertheless, the Super AMOLED display is a welcome upgrade from the previous generation Galaxy J1. The user experience is possibly further enhanced by Android 5.1.1 Lollipop running on the modest, yet decent enough Exynos 3475 chipset.
Charming customers with a solid user experience and a familiar Samsung build quality won't be enough, though. In this segment price is king and the company isn't fresh out of college to ignore that so the Galaxy J2 is competitively priced on its target Asian markets at around $125/€110.
Samsung Galaxy J2 360° spin
The Galaxy J2 measures 136.5 x 69 x 8.4 mm - a perfectly reasonable footprint for a device of this class. It's thinner than the majority of its competitors and at a weight of 129g - lighter, too. Apart from its physical dimensions, the 3D spin of the phone will hardly surprise anyone in terms of looks.
Hardware
One of our major gripes with the Samsung Galaxy J2 is that it looks overly familiar to many previous company smartphones circa the Galaxy S III era. In terms of looks it's nothing bold. On the contrary, Samsung is moving forward with its J-series strategy and bets on a safe, proven design we first saw in 2013. The design wasn't particularly striking back then when it was introduced with the S III and is decidedly long in the tooth now.
You will neither love it, nor really hate it. We would've loved for Samsung to try something different for its 2015 J-series of devices, but alas. Where some manufacturers try to captivate customers in the budget-oriented market with flamboyant, bold and cool design, Samsung bets on the safe move. We can't really blame them, but we just wished we saw something different this time around
As a result, what we have with the Galaxy J2 is Samsung betting on a safe horse. The phone has taken a lot of design cues from previous generation flagship devices.
Unmistakably Samsung, the Galaxy J2 relies on an entirely plastic body with soft edges. The faux leather back is a nice throwback to the Galaxy S IV, but isn't as nice to feel. It's up to you decide if it all feels a bit tacky, but we quite like the look of the phone.
The controls configuration is going to feel familiar with anyone who's even owned a Samsung phone. The volume rocker is on the right, while the Power/Lock key is on the right. Below the display is a big physical home button surrounded by capacitive Task switcher and Back buttons on the left and right sides.
The keys offer great tactile feedback and are comfortable to use.
On the front, there's a 4.7" qHD display with fairly large bezels. Just like the Galaxy J5, Samsung has skimped on the ambient light sensor or a notification light.
Above the display, the Galaxy J2 sports a proximity sensor, an earpiece and a 2MP camera. Unlike the Galaxy J5, there's no LED flash to join it here.
Turn the phone around and you would see the 5MP main camera placed in the center with the single LED flash on its left and a mono-speaker on the right side.
The bottom of the Galaxy J2 houses the microUSB port and a single microphone pinhole. The 3.5mm audio jack is at the top.
