INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Samsung has been in the smartphone race longer than most of its competitors
Naturally, the brand has a lot of recognition in India, such that people eagerly wait for each of its new phone announcements
One such smartphone is the Samsung Galaxy J8, which was launched recently in the sub-Rs
20,000 segment.With the Galaxy J8, the company is bringing the Infinity Display popularised by its S series of smartphones to the masses
The Samsung Galaxy J8 sports a big display with narrow borders, dual cameras at the back, and face recognition technology
But did Samsung cut any corners when designing the Galaxy J8 We find out. Samsung Galaxy J8 designThe Samsung Galaxy J8 is a good-looking
It has a big 6-inch display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio which makes the body tall and narrow
The 16-megapixel selfie camera is positioned above the screen along with a metallic earpiece and a single-LED flash
The space below the screen is blank, as the phone makes use of onscreen navigation buttons instead
Though Samsung uses the Infinity Display trademark, the screen on this phone doesn’t have curved sides like the ones on the Galaxy
S9 (Review) and S9 Plus (Review).Samsung has opted for a polycarbonate body, and it feels well-built
The phone weighs 177g but the weight has been well distributed
There’s a vertically oriented dual-camera setup at the back consisting of a 16-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel secondary one
The fingerprint scanner is positioned right under the camera module, where your finger rests naturally. The Galaxy J8 looks like a Galaxy
A6+ (Review) with a few components changed, as the positions of the buttons, cameras, and SIM trays are all identical
The power button is on the right, with the loudspeaker above it
We found that the speaker is easy to muffle while playing games or watching videos in landscape mode
The left side has the volume buttons, a single tray for Nano-SIM 1, and a second tray for Nano-SIM 2 and a dedicated microSD card slot
Samsung has opted for a Micro-USB port for charging, and we would have preferred a USB Type-C port
The 3.5mm headphone socket is positioned next to the charging port and you do get headphones in the box.Samsung Galaxy J8 specifications,
software, and featuresThe Korean smartphone maker has succeeded in making a good-looking device, but the hardware inside could've been
This smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor clocked at 1.8GHz
We have seen the same processor powering the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 (Review) which costs half as much as this phone
The Galaxy J8 has 4GB of RAM and a generous 64GB of storage, out of which around 51GB is available to the user.Samsung’s much-advertised
Infinity Display is an AMOLED panel with an HD+ resolution, which is lower than what competitors offer at this price point
Even less expensive smartphones such as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Review) and RealMe 1(Review) sport FHD+ panels
The AMOLED panel has a vivid output but the lower resolution does cause you to notice jagged edges
Samsung doesn’t offer any always-on display functionality, which would have been useful. This smartphone misses out on an ambient light
sensor, which is a shocking omission and forces you to change the screen’s brightness level manually all the time
It also lacks a magnetometer and a gyroscope
Without the magnetometer, it is impossible to determine your orientation, for example when using Google Maps for navigation
These omissions in the sub-Rs.20,000 segment put the Galaxy J8 at a major disadvantage compared to its competitors.Connectivity options on
the Galaxy J8 include Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 4G, and VoLTE
The two Nano-SIM slots support 4G but only one can use it actively at a time, while the other is limited to 3G
There’s a call forwarding function that diverts calls to the active SIM automatically
Samsung has packed a 3500mAh battery into the Galaxy J8.The Galaxy J8 runs Android Oreo with Samsung Experience UI on top, which brings a
This phone also comes loaded with a host of Google and Microsoft apps, which can only be disabled, not uninstalled
Samsung also has its own apps including Samsung Max, a data management app; Samsung Mall, which lets you search for products on e-commerce
websites using image recognition; and Samsung Pay Mini, which helps with mobile payments
This smartphone also supports themes, letting you tweak its look as per your taste.The Settings app has been rearranged and has multiple
Thankfully there’s a search function to help you find the right settings
Some of the additions include finger sensor gestures that let you pull down the notification shade by swiping down on the fingerprint
Smart Alert makes the phone vibrate when you pick it up if you have pending messages or missed calls
We tried this feature and found it to be useful since the display does not light up when you pick the smartphone up
Dual Messenger lets you run two instances of supported apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook. One of the new features that Samsung has
introduced to the J series is called Chat over Video
It allows users to chat using WhatsApp and the default messaging app while watching videos full-screen
You get a translucent overlay and keyboard that lets you reply to messages over an active video
We used this feature with YouTube and while playing a video in the stock player, and it worked as advertised.Swipe right from the home
screen and you will find Bixby, Samsung’s virtual assistant, which gives you the current weather, news, and suggestions from other apps
You can also summon the Google Assistant by long-pressing the home button
Galaxy Apps is an app store that comes preloaded on the phone, and is an alternative to the Google Play Store.Samsung Galaxy J8 performance,
cameras, and battery lifeThe Samsung Galaxy J8 has enough power to deliver a smooth experience while scrolling through its UI
We did not see any lag or stutter when launching multiple apps and multitasking, except when we slide from the home screen to access Bixby
Samsung’s face recognition is slow to unlock the phone, and the fingerprint scanner isn't much better.We played Asphalt 9 and Clash Royale
While Clash Royale ran without any issues, Asphalt 9 had jagged graphics when played at the highest settings
We ran our benchmark tests on this smartphone and it managed to clock 70,812 in AnTuTu
In Geekbench 4’s single-core and multi-core tests, the phone scored 741 and 3842 respectively
It scored 33fps in GFXBench T-Rex
In comparison, the less expensive Redmi Note 5 Pro scores 1,05,369 in AnTuTu, 1326 and 4232 in Geekbench 4’s single-core and multi-core
tests respectively. In our HD video loop battery test, the phone managed 16 hours and 24 minutes, which is really good considering the
We also put the phone to test in the real world, where our usage consisted of an active WhatsApp account, taking a couple of photos and
videos for our tests, playing games, watching videos on YouTube, and using Google Maps for an hour for navigation, and we ended our day with
around 50 percent of the battery left
Idle battery drain is quite low, and this smartphone has an App Power monitor that puts unused apps to sleep
With all this running in the background, you should be able to get close to two days of battery life with light to medium use.The Galaxy J8
features a 16-megapixel primary rear camera with an f/1.7 aperture, and a secondary 5-megapixel camera with an f/1.9 aperture
At the front, it has a 16-megapixel camera with an f/1.9 aperture
Both the front and rear have single-LED flashes
Samsung offers a lot of modes in its camera app such as Live Focus, Beauty, Night, Panorama, and Sports
It also offers a Pro mode that lets you control the ISO, white balance, exposure, and metering
Stickers mode lets you use AR stickers with both the front and the rear cameras
There are lots of stickers and stamps to choose from and you can download more within the camera app itself.One of the first issues we
encountered while shooting photos is the ability of the Galaxy J8 to lock focus as it kept hunting for focus
As a result, macro shots aren't easy to take, as you need to tap multiple times to get the phone to focus where you want
When the phone does manage to get a focus lock, colour accuracy is a little off and a few colours appear oversaturated
It is able to gauge metering correctly while shooting and enables HDR automatically if required
The output has good dynamic range though objects at a distance lose out on detail.Tap to see full-sized Samsung Galaxy J8 camera
samples Live Focus mode for the rear camera lets you take portraits with depth-of-field effects making use of the secondary 5-megapixel
You get a slider to determine the amount of blur you want to add to the background
Edge detection is good overall, but we observed that the smartphone fails to detect gaps between a person’s arms and body
You can also change the level of blur after an image is shot, or add effects to the background, in the gallery
If you like editing and adding filters to your photos you will like this option.The Galaxy J8 takes advantage of its primary camera’s
f/1.7 aperture in low light and keeps the ISO in check
However, it also drops the shutter speed so you need to keep your hand steady
Photos taken at night appear good when viewed as is, but zoom in and you will notice a lack of detail
Samsung uses aggressive noise reduction which leads to artefacts in the output.The Beautify mode helps smoothen faces out but still makes
them look natural, and the output is good enough to be shared on social media and messaging apps
Video recording maxes out at 1080p for the front and rear cameras
There is no option for EIS, which results in shaky footage
There is continuous autofocus when recording video using the rear camera.Samsung Galaxy J8 in picturesVerdictThe J series aims to offer the
Samsung experience at a mainstream price point
The Infinity Display does grab eyeballs, and this phone feels solidly built
The front and rear cameras perform decently, and some of the features such as Chat over Video are useful if you really love to multitask
Battery life is the strongest weapon in the Galaxy J8’s arsenal.However, it feels as though Samsung has cut a lot of corners with this
Its Infinity Display sports an HD+ resolution only, making pixels visible when you look closely
There’s no ambient light sensor or magnetometer, which is unacceptable at the price this phone commands
We have seen more powerful processors in phones at much lower price points, making it hard for the Galaxy J8 to justify its cost
If you are looking for a smartphone in the sub-Rs
20,000 segment and want a phone that offers more than just great battery life, you should consider the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro (Review),
Oppo F7 (Review), or the Nokia 6 (2018) (Review).
