Budget smartphones from Samsung are a very popular category of devices on the market. This may be evidenced by customer reviews that they leave on various sites and forums. A huge number of people regularly use such devices.
And this is not at all surprising, given their cost, quality and purpose. At a price, many of the smartphones of the Korean company do not exceed a hundred dollars, but the assembly and functionality distinguish them from many other devices.
In this article, we will talk about another phone that is manufactured under the brand name of the Korean tech giant. This is the Samsung J1. Customer reviews , information from all kinds of reviews and tests, criticism and praise - we used everything we could find interesting about this device. And they put it in one article, which we recommend you read.
General concept
If you look at the smartphone, you won’t be able to notice anything unusual in it. The device is a classic for Samsung - a standard design, body design, a similar set of functions, like many other models. You can safely call it typical of the corporation that issued it.
However, despite this, the phone is in demand. They really buy it for themselves and as a gift, get it for children and as a spare device. Moreover, we managed to find a lot of positive comments and good recommendations from buyers who advise you to buy a gadget, because it is really worth the money.
At the same time , reviews by some mobile experts describing Samsung J1 mark the device as, on the contrary, a device too simple for its price, on which Koreans simply want to make money. There are a lot of such opinions on the Internet: the J1 series smartphone is simply beautifully presented, although in terms of its characteristics it clearly lags behind similar gadgets with the same cost.
Such a mismatch, the difference in position relative to the smartphone gives us the basis for analysis. Let's see for yourself what this device can do and how it was equipped to say more precisely what it is.
Design
Let's start, of course, with the look. As noted above, Samsung J1 Ace has a typical Korean manufacturer's design - it is a “smooth brick” in which more than one generation of phones under this brand has been released.
Three color variations are on sale: white, black and mother-of-pearl (with a blue tint). Such a variety is obviously intended to broaden the reach of potential buyers. The material from which the phone is made is a simple plastic. True, the outer layer was apparently covered with some other substance, since it is quite pleasant to the touch: this is uncharacteristic for budget devices of this type.
Around the device’s perimeter is a bezel standard for Korean phones, which allows you to conveniently lay the device face down on a flat surface, without fear for the integrity of the display.
Navigation elements here are provided similar to those that we can see on other “Samsung”: “home” key in the center, at the bottom of the screen; the screen unlock button on the right and sound controls on the left sides.
In general, we can say that the appearance of the device is typical - customer reviews describing Samsung J1 can confirm this.
Screen
The next would like to describe the display of the device, its quality and technical parameters. Given the budget nature of the model, it is not surprising that the manufacturer installed a simple TFT-screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 here. In general, adjusted for the price, the picture on the screen can be called suitable for a phone of this class.
With brightness in daylight, as user comments show, there are no problems either. The only (but serious enough) drawback is the lack of a light sensor on the smartphone. Without it, the screen cannot adjust to what level of light around the device, because of which, as noted by the Samsung J1 reviews, working with it can be uncomfortable in the dark if the screen literally beats in the eye, as well as in good A lit place where the display seems overly dim.
CPU
What Samsung seriously decided to save on when releasing this model was the processor and the hardware as a whole. As the official specifications for the Samsung J1 show, a very simple (in its capabilities and indicators) Spreadtrum SC8830, consisting of 2 cores, is installed here. The clock frequency of each oscillates at 1.2 GHz, however, these numbers do not say enough about how slow this smartphone is.
As users describe their problems, the phone must be reset to the factory settings after several months of use. Only in this way, at least, can it be somehow helped. Otherwise, the device starts to hang very much, shows slow operation even with simple applications, and a software performance test through AnTuTu cannot pass at all due to a constant error.
RAM
So, we continue on the performance of Samsung J1. Specifications note that only 512 megabytes of RAM are installed on the device. In practice, this is expressed by constant twitching, slowing down and other instabilities. And this is all even without launching any complex programs with high operating parameters. Simply scroll through the “Menu” - and you will see a lot of unpleasant moments in the form of some kind of errors.
You can, of course, refer to the fact that the Samsung J1 model has a price of only about $ 100 ... But Xiaomi itself costs a little more - about $ 150; the mass of “Chinese” will cost $ 120-140, but they all have much higher performance, equipped with 1 GB of RAM and some kind of MediaTek processor. In the case of the Samsung J1, whose price is slightly lower, things are really sad with the speed of work. This shows both our review and customer recommendations. Perhaps this we can call the main drawback of the model.
Memory
Turning to the issue of physical memory, let's say that 4 GB of internal volume is allocated on the device’s disk for data storage. Another 128 GB can be connected via a memory card. The slot for it is located under the back cover of the device.
There can be no problems in this matter, since there is support for memory cards here, and already with one such device you can make a real multimedia center. True, again, you can’t play the “cool” games on the device - the technical parameters of the gadget will not be pulled. On the Samsung J1 device, the memory card fits the usual, most common microSD format.
Camera
Like all other Samsung devices of this and more expensive classes, the model we characterize has a main camera and a front camera. The first has a resolution of 5 megapixels, the second - 2 megapixels. The first image quality is enough to take several neutral photos (for example, it captures text without problems); while the second is used to work with selfie photos and makes it possible to organize a Skype-conference.
In general, there are no complaints about the quality of this module. However, alas, she will not correct the opinion of working with such a slow smartphone.
Battery
An important issue in any device is its autonomy - the ability to work as long as possible without additional charge. As the technical specifications show, Samsung J1 smartphones are equipped with an 1850 mAh battery.
At first glance, this may seem like a small indicator, but you should not think so. We are talking about, do not forget, the budget model with a simple processor and TFT-screen. Therefore, the energy consumption here is relatively small, which allows you to keep the device in a healthy state for a sufficiently long period of time. At the very least, reviews confirm the 9-10 hours of working on the Internet stated in the specifications.
It is worth noting that the battery here is removable, so it can be replaced if necessary or removed if the device stops responding to commands.
Communication
As shown in the instructions that came with the Samsung J1, the smartphone has two modifications that differ from each other, including communication capabilities. So, in both versions there is GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. In the more expensive, you can also find an NFC module and 4G.
Thus, although the smartphone does not show the highest speed, it can boast of the presence of the “lotions” described above, designed to make working with it more comfortable. However, as the reviews show, and they sometimes fail.
OS
As is clear, and without resorting to technical documentation, the smartphone works on the basis of the Android operating system, modification 4.4.4. Nothing is known about whether an update is available for this device and whether it can work with it in principle.
The reviews indicate that the graphical shell is standard here - Samsung is not developing a separate interface for its devices. True, as noted by the recommendations of customers, the phone comes with standard programs from the manufacturer, which causes some discomfort and forces you to remove them.
Reviews
No matter what the performance tests show, no matter what processor the model is endowed with, but the customer comments that we were able to find testify to it exclusively on the positive side. Many reviews note that at its cost, this unit is an excellent solution for everyday tasks. Someone, in addition, likes the autonomy of the device, a high degree of battery saving on the gadget; others rejoice in assembly and design.
Of the negative comments, we managed to find only the few that describe the RAM of the smartphone, complain of poor performance and frequent errors that occur during operation. In addition, the device may freeze for some time if some bulky (by its standards) program has been downloaded. In such cases, it really becomes necessary to remove the battery and turn on the smartphone again.
Finally, there are comments on the appearance - they say, the gadget has an insufficiently fortified case. However, this review should not be considered, since it is enough to purchase a cover for “Samsung J1” - and this “problem” will be solved.
conclusions
What can we specifically say about this device, the authors of the review? First of all, this is what Samsung really knows how to produce high-quality devices. Experience has shown this on different models, so the fact continues to be a fact. True, this time they decided to save on the Samsung J1. The review showed that the device really has a small amount of RAM, due to which all these braking and freezes occur on the screen. Perhaps, developers should nevertheless work on this issue more carefully. We can also note the lack of a light sensor on the screen.
In all other respects, the model is really good. It has wide functionality, which can no longer be captivating. Add to this the quality elements of the case and attractive design - and you get the Samsung J1 (a review can prove this).
As the reviews show, this makes the purchase of this unit justified if you want to have a GPS, camera, access to the network or a recording device and so on.