Samsung Galaxy J4

Samsung Galaxy J4 arrives as a high-ranged budget phone paired with some good internals. Priced at Rs. 8,450, the phone shows some decent improvement from the previous J-series models making a proper stand in the budget market.

Samsung Galaxy J4 may come with a dated design, but it steals the heart with its AMOLED display. However, the phone performs poorly and its camera performance at night is quite terrible, making it a difficult model to recommend even for a smartphone amateur.

Samsung Galaxy J4 has an attractive look despite being made of plastic. There is a metallic touch to the phone, and it has a robust build. Furthermore, it comes with a removable cover and removable battery which makes it quite a nostalgic device. It sits well in hand and does not feel as if it’s digging in the palms. You can insert two micro SIM card in this phone and also, there is an option to expand the memory using a MicroSD card. One of the problems with the phone is that it does not come with a fingerprint scanner, which has now become an essential requirement from a phone. Even budget phones have a fingerprint scanner, and so, this shortcoming can have quite an impact on the user.

The Galaxy J4 comes with a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED with HD resolution. Due to the AMOLED screen, you get the deep blacks and fantastic contrast. The colours are also quite bright and vibrant, with sharpness being quite accurate. The viewing angles are excellent, and the phone does not lose visibility outside easily. However, harsh sunlight may cause a visibility issue. Indoors, the phone brightness remains quite sharp. One problem with this phone is that it does not come with the modern 18:9 aspect ratio. Since many budget phones have already implemented the 18:9 aspect ratio, it makes the phone look dated. Plus, the Galaxy J4 comes with thick bezels, and this limits the screen space for the user.

Samsung Galaxy J4 gets its power from the Exynos 7570 Quad paired with 2GB RAM. It is a good processor for basic tasks. Facebook and Instagram can run smoothly, and there is little loading time during the launching of apps. However, running multiple apps at the same time can cause the phone to slow down. Switching between apps can get delayed too. While low-end games can run quite smoothly, high-end games experience frame-drops. Overall, while the performance is decent for basic tasks, it remains quite poor when handling multiple tasks, thereby providing a mediocre performance.

The Galaxy J4 comes with a 13MP primary camera with an f/1.9 aperture. It is quite powerful for an entry-level phone. In daylight, with proper lighting, the pictures come out sharp, with sufficient details getting captured. The colour accuracy is moderate, and the images do not appear washed out.

However, In low light situations, the camera quality drops drastically. The details are lost, and the picture appears washed out. Such a drastic fall in the quality of the camera is unforgivable.

The front-facing 5MP camera has an LED flash attached to it. It works excellently for clicking social media-worthy photographs. Even in low light, you get flash which clicks good shots.

Samsung Galaxy J4 arrives with a 3000mAh battery, and it is pretty decent. The phone has an impressive 3.5 hours of screen on time, which means that it can easily last you a day with moderate use. Plus, the phone gets recharged quite fast, taking about 2 hours to go from 0% to 100%.

The Samsung Galaxy J4 is a capable entry-level phone which provides a decent camera and a reliable battery. However, the phone struggles with performance. Despite looking good, it fails to provide the fingerprint scanner and the solid build that many budget phone arrives with. If you are seeking a cheap entry level phone to enter the smartphone generation, then this can be an excellent phone to start with. However, Redmi 5 is a good competitor that could be considered due to better performance and build quality.