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Samsung Galaxy J5
Samsung Galaxy J5 review: A good alternative to the
Moto G4
Katharine
7 Oct 2016
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Our
Rating
Price
when reviewed
150
inc VAT (SIM-free)
Page 1 of
2Samsung Galaxy J5
review: A good alternative to the Moto G4
With its incredible battery life and
beautiful Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy J5 is Samsung's best budget phone
yet
Specifications
Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
410, Screen Size: 5in, Screen
resolution: 1,280x720, Rear camera: 13 megapixels, Storage (free): 8GB (4.6GB), Wireless
data: 3G, 4G, Size: 142x72x7.9mm, Weight: 146g, Operating
system: Android 5.1.1
Well,
that's a bit embarrassing. The Galaxy J5, one of Samsung's brand-new budget
handsets for 2016, has just beaten Samsung's flagship Galaxy S7 in our battery life test. Only by two minutes, mind, but it just goes to
show that you don't necessarily need to fork out hundreds of pounds to get a
smartphone with plenty of stamina.
With the
screen brightness set to our standard measurement of 170cd/m2, the J5 lasted an
incredible 17h 50m in our continuous video playback test, just edging out the
S7 as the second-longest-lasting smartphone I've ever tested (behind the
Amazing, but explosive, Samsung Galaxy Note 7). That's amazing for a smartphone
that only costs £160 SIM-free or £13.50-per-month contract, and it blows other
budget smartphones like the 3rd Gen Moto G right out
of the water.
Design
Galaxy S7
owners needn't be too worried, though, since the J5 makes compromises in other
areas, such as performance and overall build quality, in order to help keep the
price as low as possible. Its plastic frame, for example, doesn't protect
against water damage, and its glossy finish can't help but look and feel a
little tacky after the beautifully sculpted metal frames on Samsung's mid-range A series. Still, when the latest version of the A5 is almost
double the price of the J5, a plastic chassis is fairly forgivable.
The most important thing is that it feels
well-made, and the J5 delivers on this in spades. Its matt cover is rather
plain compared to the grooved finish on the 3rd Gen Moto G, but both phones
feel like they could survive the odd knock. The J5's slim dimensions also make
it very easy to hold, and its curved sides are grippy rather than slippery.
Display
Where the J5 leaps ahead of the 3rd Gen
Moto G is its 5in, 1,280 x 720 Super AMOLED display. This is the cheapest
Samsung phone I've ever seen to come with one of its Super AMOLED panels, and
it makes other budget LCD-based displays look positively insipid by comparison.
The screen on the Moto G, for instance, is pretty good, but it can't match the
sheer vibrancy of the J5's display. With its 100% sRGB colour gamut coverage,
perfect black and contrast ratio, images on the J5 look absolutely stunning,
and I've yet to see an LCD-based screen at this kind of price that can best it.
Of course, the one downside of AMOLED
screens is that they're nowhere near as bright as LCD. However, the J5's peak
brightness of 358cd/m2 is still pretty respectable, and should be more than
enough for most lighting conditions. Only in bright sunshine will you need to
have it on max.
Performance
Admittedly, it's not the fastest handset
around, as its quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor and 1.5GB of
RAM put its day-to-day performance on par with almost every other budget
smartphone. In Geekbench 3, the J5 scored 459 in the single core test and 1,343
in the multicore test, putting it just behind the Moto G on our budget
leaderboard.
That said, Samsung's Android 5.1.1-based
TouchWiz interface still feels relatively smooth and responsive, and apps don't
take an age to open either. The Moto G proved quicker at loading games, but web
browsing was more or less a level playing field, as evidenced by the J5's
Peacekeeper score of 634, which is only around 100 points short of the Moto G.
Scrolling was a little jerky in places, and browsing could be rather stop-start
when pages were still loading, but otherwise surfing the web was pretty hassle
free.
The J5 isn't really capable of playing the
latest games, as it only managed 113 frames (or 1.8fps) in the offscreen
Manhattan 3.0 test in GFX Bench GL. This is to be expected on a budget
smartphone, so Hearthstone fanatics should probably look elsewhere. However, I
was able to play simple games such as Threes! absolutely fine, so you should
still be able to get your Candy Crush fix on the J5 without too much trouble.
With its incredible battery life and
beautiful Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy J5 is Samsung's best budget phone
yet
Specifications
Processor:
Quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, Screen Size:
5in, Screen
resolution: 1,280x720, Rear camera:
13 megapixels, Storage
(free): 8GB (4.6GB), Wireless data: 3G, 4G, Size:
142x72x7.9mm, Weight: 146g, Operating
system: Android 5.1.1
Camera
Like a lot of budget smartphones these days, the J5
comes equipped with a 13-megapixel rear camera. More pixels doesn't necessarily
mean better quality photos, though, as I found the J5 could be quite
temperamental depending on the lighting conditions.
In bright, late afternoon sunshine, for instance, the
J5 struggled to expose the sky correctly, often blowing out its whites to
create large halos of light around anything else in the frame. Detail levels
were reasonably good, but the resulting photos weren't very satisfactory.
Bewilderingly, there's also no HDR mode on hand to try and correct the problem
either.
Cloudy weather wasn't much better, with colours
appearing very dark and drab despite its high level of detail. However, point
the camera at a well-lit object when the sun's behind you and pictures look
great. Some areas were still a little overexposed in our test shots, but
colours were bright and accurate and there's plenty of sharp, crisp detail on
show.
^ This shot was
taken in the afternoon, when the sun was spilling in from the side, and the
sensor's exposure levels simply couldn't cope
^ Take photos
with the sun behind you, though, and pictures look fantastic, showing rich,
vibrant colours and lots of detail
Indoor photography was less successful, as even
tapping the screen to focus resulted in rather soft, blurry shots in low
lighting conditions. The flash does help, but you'll want to make sure your
subjects are as well-lit as possible to get the best results.
^ Indoors, the
J5 struggled to focus, producing pretty soft images that were lacking in
crispness and definition
Conclusion
The camera on the Galaxy J5 is really the phone's only
issue, though, as the rest of it is great value. Its excellent screen and
amazing battery life exceed anything else in this price range, and it's
certainly got enough speed to get you through most of your daily smartphone
tasks.
The only other slight downside is that it's unlikely
to receive an upgrade to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which is something new 3rd Gen Moto G owners
can download right now without delay. Even the Galaxy S6 has only just got Android 6.0 and Samsung has traditionally always dragged
its feet bringing software updates to its lower-end smartphones, so you might
want to consider the Moto G if you want all the latest Android features.
Then there's the issue of the Motorola Moto G4,
which has appeared since I originally wrote this review. Although still unable
to match the Samsung Galaxy J5's battery life or its superb screen quality, the
Moto G4 beats it most other respects. It's a far more powerful handset. It has
a larger, higher-resolution Full HD 5.5in display. One disappointment is that
it isn’t water-resistant, so it’s no tougher than the Samsung Galaxy J5.
Despite this, it’s clear that the Motorola Moto G4 is
the phone to beat in the budget smartphone space right now. But that’s not to
say there are no reasons to choose the Samsung Galaxy J5. It remains a good
option if you value screen quality and battery life above all else. You might
prefer it if you're switching across from another Samsung handset and don't
fancy changing to a different manufacturer. And you might prefer a smaller
handset; the Samsung Galaxy J5 is more compact, more easily usable in one hand
and easier to slip into a pocket. Despite the emergence of the Moto G4, then,
it hangs on to its Recommended award.
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