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The J2 is super affordable, coming in at around Rs.15,000 island-wide. When it first came out, it was more expensive. With its price in mind, I think it’s well worth it.
How do you feel about owning a phone from 2015? Being so old, it’s no surprise that its appearance is dated. For one, it’s small. You’re looking at a device with a 4.7 inch screen. There’s some serious bezel action going on as well. Even the more affordable phones released recently barely have this.
I’m a fan of mobiles with weight – they feel more premium. Unfortunately for the J2, it’s light. It weighs 129 grams.
The device is rather thin. Its dimensions are 136.5 mm x 69 mm x 8.4 mm. More expensive units are paper-thin, so it’s great that it was made like these.
Samsung also made the unit ergonomic. Take a look at its sides, they are curved well.
As you’re not spending a lot, you can’t expect a quality build. The device rocks a plastic exterior. It would’ve been great if Samsung placed plastic that looked and felt like glass but this is not the case.
If you’re expecting a micro SD slot and 3.5 mm headphone jack, you won’t be disappointed. The J2 comes with the two.
You can purchase the unit in three different colours. They are black, white and gold. From the three, my favourite is the gold. It looks the most expensive.
Let’s talk about its display. As it’s so small, you won’t be able to immerse in the content so well. This is a shame as Samsung placed a panel that packs a punch. You’ve probably heard of Super AMOLED before, the colours produced would be very vibrant.
The mobile has a 64.7% screen-to- body ratio. With less bezels, its viewing experience would be more immersive.
Considering the J2’s size, its pixel resolution is good. It has a 540 x 960 pixel front which means that blurriness won’t be an issue.
We all know how bright it can get outdoors in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the device’s screen isn’t bright enough to handle glare. In fact, it’s not bright enough to view at certain angles either.
Having been released in 2015, it’s not shocking that the phone runs Android 5.1.1 out of the box. Android 11 is around these days. No, you won’t be able to upgrade its insides to the newer version of OS. From Android 5 to 11, there have been a lot of new security and optimization features.
Its overall UI isn’t easy on the eyes either.
The chipset inside is the Exynos 3475 Quad. I have to say, it’s one of the least powerful processors around. It’ll handle everyday tasks, but if you get heavy-handed with it, it’ll slow down.
This is not a unit with a fingerprint sensor. And as the J2 is so affordable, you shouldn’t be disappointed that face-unlock isn’t present. You’ll be using good old-fashion swipe-patterns and passcodes to keep the mobile safe.
If it came with more RAM, its insides would be snappier. You’ll be picking it up with 1 GB of memory. Due to the lack of RAM, apps will force-close. Moreover, they will load not very fast.
The handset has a microSD slot. This is good as the ROM it comes with isn’t the best. You’ll be purchasing the J2 with 8 GB storage. Older Samsung phones are notorious for having bloatware, so you’ll be met with much less than 8 gigs.
There is a 2,000 mAh battery inside it. If the budget device was bigger, the battery wouldn’t cut it. It’ll last around half a day with regular use. Yes, its battery can be removed. You’ll be charging it via a 10 W regular charger.
How long will the unit take to charge? Don’t expect it to be done soon; it’ll fully charge in over 2 hours.
Being an older phone, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t come with reverse or wireless charging. The two features weren’t very popular back then.
There are single shooters on its front and back. Its rear set-up consists of a 5 MP lens. It takes decent shots in lit settings. However, photographs will look grainy in dark environments. What will help you take shots in dark environments would be the LED flash.
Its selfie camera houses a 2 MP lens. Its pictures would be far from colour accurate. Unlike the main camera, there won’t be an LED sensor.
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