Test of the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016), autonomy at too high

Samsung and entry-level and mid-range smartphones, it's a long love story. Galaxy Core, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Grand, Galaxy Trend… the Korean has multiplied them to the point of disgust, to the point of stopping everything and “simplifying” its ranges with letters. The Galaxy J are part of these new ranges, which are supposed to be more understandable, even if it is difficult to know where to place them precisely. The Galaxy J5 2016 is the perfect example of the micmac: the device is sold for less than 300 euros, but has an entry-level technical sheet. Let's take a closer look at what he has in his stomach.

Our video test

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Data sheet

What about the Galaxy J5 2016 except that it's nothing special? Between its aging SoC, its 2 GB of RAM and its 5.2-inch diagonal HD screen, everything indicates that we are dealing with an entry-level smartphone… At least before seeing its selling price, very high, 279 euros. For this price, however, we have a smartphone installed under the latest version of Android: Marshmallow.

Design: didn't we already meet in 2014?

At Samsung, there is a before and after Galaxy S6. The next one is the one we appreciate the most: glass, metal, premium materials and a classy design. The Galaxy Ax 2016 are part of this after. The Galaxy J5 2016 is clearly part of the front. Its design is both banal and recognizable. It looks like a Samsung smartphone as we've seen for about two years. It is no coincidence, it takes up a few details the design of the Galaxy Grand Prime, of which it is the official successor.

One is the Galaxy Grand Prime and the other is the Galaxy J5 2016. It's hard to tell them apart.

Galaxy J5 2016 on the left, Galaxy Grand Prime on the right.

On the front, no surprise, there is a black paving stone with rounded corners, without much originality. There is also the Samsung logo (too bad), a central physical button – which does not act as a fingerprint sensor – and multitasking and reverse navigation buttons compared to Android Stock. No question of a 2.5 D screen (a slightly curved glass) here, the edges of the screen – from the metal edges – are sharp and not very comfortable.

As for the back of the device, it is extremely simple. The shell -removable- is made of matte and smooth plastic, of good quality by the way and does not take fingerprints. The photo sensor, on the other hand, protrudes a good millimeter – which is a shame when you know that the phone is already 8.1 mm thick – and is located between a speaker and a dual-tone flash.

The edges of the phone are made of metal.

The touch of the plastic shell is quite pleasant.

This slightly domed shell also makes the phone rather pleasant to hold. In general, the Galaxy J5 2016 gives off a rather pleasant feeling of solidity. The finishes are of good quality and we particularly appreciate that Samsung has integrated edges and metal buttons on its phone, reinforcing the premium aspect. Main counterpart, it weighs heavy, almost 160 grams. That's high for a 5.2-inch phone with a plastic shell.

The photo sensor protrudes slightly from the shell.

Screen: Samsung, the master of AMOLED

What can we expect from a good smartphone under 300 euros today? The “small” Chinese manufacturers have demonstrated that it is possible to have Full HD displays. Samsung sticks to its guns and offers the Galaxy J5 2016 a smartphone with an “only” HD screen. As a result, the resolution of 282 dpi is a bit weak. Nothing really disabling, you have to have bionic eyes to discern the pixels.

Brightness, color rendering… the screen of the Galaxy J5 (2016) is excellent.

Samsung has incorporated a Super AMOLED display into its device. And the least we can say is that it is not a second-hand screen. Our probe indicates that it is an excellent screen, with very faithful colors although a little cold (the red is rather weak, a usual fault of AMOLED), in basic mode. Add to that a maximum brightness of 353 cd / m² which can go up to 430 cd / m² when you activate the outdoor mode, which is in the shortcut bar. For a mid-range smartphone, these are excellent results. We regret the absence of a light sensor.

Samsung has also included in the phone interface the possibility of changing the screen mode. Cinema, Photo, Adaptive and Basic modes are present – ​​as on the Galaxy S7 – and significantly change the way colors are displayed (or saturated) on the screen. As usual, it is the basic mode that makes the display most faithful to reality.

Software: TouchWiz and Android Marshmallow hand in hand

Unlike the Galaxy A 2016, which was under Android Lollipop, Samsung has finally decided to install its new devices natively under Android Marshmallow. The Galaxy J5 2016 – but also all the other Galaxy J 2016 – is therefore running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with the April 2016 security updates installed by default. A good point when you know that in this rare mid-year manufacturers are still offering the latest version of Android on their devices.

The interface of the Galaxy J5 2016 is basically identical to that of the Galaxy S7.

Concerning the rest of the interface, TouchWiz, there are not really any surprises, it is the same interface as that found on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, with a few less options. The shortcut bar is therefore in shades of gray with touches of blue in the icons, the options menu, as long as a Sunday without video games, is rather clear and the preinstalled applications are rather practical.

Samsung's pre-installed apps are few and quite handy.

In addition to the traditional Google applications, there are three or four Samsung applications (S Health, an Internet browser, a file manager and the Galaxy Apps application store), but also the traditional Microsoft applications: Word, Excel, OneDrive or Skype. It seems a long time ago when we could accuse Samsung of stuffing its devices with bloatware and we are not going to complain about it.

The theme store responds well, as does Briefing, Samsung's in-house newsreader.

Note that Samsung has not integrated the flagship TouchWiz features found in the Galaxy S7. The Always on Display mode – despite a good battery and a Super AMOLED screen – and the Game Center are missing from the phone options. Latest version of TouchWiz, yes, but not the latest refinements.

Performance unworthy of a mid-range smartphone from 2016

The Galaxy J5 2016 is equipped with an entry-level SoC, the Snapdragon 410 to which Samsung has associated 2 GB of RAM . This is a very lazy configuration: this is what was found, for example, on many entry-level smartphones from last year. And the benchmarks are not wrong.

We put the Galaxy J5 2016 against a series of smartphones sold for less than 300 euros. The table above is very easy to read, the J5 2016 is last in all areas and benchmarks. Samsung therefore markets a smartphone with a less worked design than its Galaxy A3, certainly smaller, whose performance is better, but the equivalent price. There is very clearly something wrong with the Korean's strategy.

On a daily basis, there are no real surprises, the Galaxy J5 is not really a thunderbolt, but it runs properly. The settings menu is a bit sluggish, apps tend to reload regularly in multitasking mode, and it's best not to watch the framerate too closely in heavy 3D games like Smash Hit or Real Racing. For everyday use – social networks, Internet browser, Google Maps – the phone is however fluid and does not pose a problem. That said, it's expected to age rather poorly and slack off quickly over time.

Communication and GPS

No unpleasant surprises in terms of communication, the Galaxy J5 is a smartphone compatible with 4G category 4 and all French 4G frequency bands. No reception problems to report, but the sound from the loudspeaker during a call is rather average, with a slightly distant sound while my interlocutors complained of a muffled sound. In short, we have already seen better.

The cover and battery of the J5 2016 are removable.

Last point, the Galaxy J5 is a single SIM smartphone (micro-SIM) and has a microSD port.

A mediocre camera

Samsung has equipped its smartphone with a 13-megapixel sensor combined with a single-tone flash. At the front is, in a very classic way, a 5 megapixel sensor. A word about the app before going into details. This is Samsung's "Camera" application, which is found on the majority of its devices. A fairly complete application, which includes both a Pro mode (with ISO and brightness adjustment, a few filters and an auto mode which allows you to adjust the exposure on the fly). An application that is both complete and relatively simple to understand.

The photo application is complete and relatively simple to use.

As for the photos taken by the Galaxy J5 2016, they are frankly mediocre. Three-quarters of the photos I took were either very blurry or overexposed. And we hardly speak of the glaring lack of detail in the photos when we start to zoom. A disappointing camera, so that we will mainly use for practical tasks.

Autonomy

With its removable 3100 mAh battery, its small processor and its "small" HD screen, the Galaxy J5 2016 seems to be built to last. And it is. Android Marshmallow's Doze Mode combined with all these good points does small miracles. The phone, in daily use, is able to last a good day and a half without needing to be recharged.

Our classic battery life test — one hour of YouTube video with brightness set to 200 cd/m² and sound at legal maximum — caused the phone to lose 7%, which is simply excellent. The average is around 14%.

Pricing and availability

The Galaxy J5 2016 is currently on sale in major physical stores or online. Its selling price for its launch is 279 euros. Note that only one version is available, the 16 GB version, but that three colors are available: black, white and gold.