Samsung’s New Range Of Smartphones Targets Selfie-Takers, & They’re Doing It Well

In the world of smartphones, it can often be hard to tell one apart from the next. Apart from their makers, there’s not much else that differentiates smartphones anymore. You have the same candybar form, front and back cameras, coloured touch screen interfaces, and the similarly impressive, snappy chipsets powering them.

So when makers like Samsung — who is known for pioneering the first large-screened phone/tablet combo — introduces a new innovation for smartphones, it becomes a very welcome addition. This time however, they’re capitalising on what most thought would be a passing technological capability and fascination — selfies.

The Galaxy J5 and J7 from Samsung may seem like the latest in a line of mid-range offerings from the smartphone behemoth, but it does have a few clever tricks up its sleeve, designed specifically to deliver ultimate selfie success.

The Selfie Generation

For starters, the J Series features a front camera flash. It also comes with stock filters and features that automatically smoothen your skin and brighten your eyes. The front camera is also equipped with the ability to handle wide angle shots. But perhaps the most essential selfie-ready component of them all is the hands-free feature that allows selfie-enthusiasts to snap a photo just by flashing an open palm in front of the camera.

Internals

Of course, as expected, its internals are impressively built. The J5 runs on the Quadcore A53 1.2Ghz processor, while the J7 works with the Octacore A53 1.5GHz chipset. The phones run on Android Lollipop, both with HD Super AMOLED Display, 13 megapixel rear camera with flash and a 5 megapixel front camera, also with flash. They also come with dual-SIM capabilities and 4G access.

Fresh from the success of its higher end counterparts, the J5 and J7 take their aesthetic cues from the Galaxy S series, which highlight a sleek plastic chassis with metallic edges. They’re available in black, white and gold.

But how do they fare compared to mid-range mobiles that were introduced earlier in the year?

It seems to have quite surprisingly raised the bar. A lot of complaints were lodged with the new Android Lollipop upgrade, as the OS — though it promised a better user experience — made phones more sluggish. But with the Samsung J series, both worked faster and snappier — chalk it up to the powerful chipsets that manage the backend.

Compared to its contemporaries, the 5-inch screen of the Galaxy J5 and the 5.5-inch of the J7 are also more vibrant. This makes their cameras even more useful, where you can easily shoot and view images and videos with ease. After all, isn’t the J Series’ camera the pièce de résistance of the mobiles?

Camera

The camera app pops open less than a second after you tap it, and has a snappy response time. The added photography options are a welcome addition to its arsenal of features, but notably, both devices’ continuous and pro mode fell short of my expectations. In continuous mode, the phone didn’t capture images as quick as I would have wanted, while the pro mode seems to offer less manual options that other mid-range models offer. These downsides though, are nothing compared to the image capturing perks that the J series offers.

Battery Life

In my short time with the devices, I wasn’t able to check how their batteries fared. But if I had to guess, the lack of power-sucking features such as motion sensors and super high resolution screens means their 2600 mAh (J5) and 3000 mAh (J7) should do fairly well. Do watch out for an update on this article once we get to run an all day battery test.

Check out the full specs below: