Galaxy J7 Pro Review
This year i have been steadily plowing through some great mid range devices. Trying to find that perfect little back up device that i can take on some rough outdoor activity like rock climbing. With this comes certain challenges – I need a good camera, i need good battery life, i need good software, i need durability. Hence the Galaxy J7 Pro. The next to be put to its paces to see if i get what i need.
The specs – This will be quick
- Display 5.5″ FHD sAMOLED with 84% screen to body ratio
- Processor 1.6 Octa Exynos 7870
- Memory 3 / 32 GB Expandable up to 128GB
- Camera Rear 13 MP Front 13 MP
- Thickness 7.8 mm
- Battery 3,600 mAh
- No Water Proofing – which i don’t expect
The design – It’s labelled the pro Version yet the website depicts a young dude kissing girl at the bar and using samsung pay at the same time. With that image ,maybe it should have been called the Galaxy J7 Dude. Anyway that beside the point really.
The design is a all metal body with some antenna lines on the top and bottom at the back. They have nice curves, I got the gold model and at a quick glance the front looks exactly like my galaxy s7, the fingerprint scanner is where it used to be on their flagships and the back and recents buttons are baked behind the display which is a 5.5 inch fhd amoled. The all metal body looks nice and feels great to hold with nicely rounded corners curving from the back to the sides. At the top front you have sensors, 13m camera and a flash, the earpiece looks like a speaker grill but it isn’t, The speaker with is a little tinny is located on the top right SIDE of the device above the power button. I cannot and will not understand this, All in all though the device feels solid although can be a little slippery in dry weather.
The sofware – Now some may think – Who wants a watered down version of Touchwiz? Who wants less features? Afterall its hard to polish a turd. Well this software is a breath of fresh air. It doesn’t have all the features of a s8 or a s8 plus but i don’t use all those features for example i don’t use bixby (don’t get me started on that peice of crap) i don’t use edge features, I don’t need every customisation under the sun. This to me is a great software experience. It’s only when samsung tries to get cocky that they mess things up. So this washed down software is a awesome. I have ok Google set up, Still get the AOD just with less features, no bixby feed but i do get Briefing (i missed it)
The camera
With 2 13 megapixel cameras, 1 front 1 rear this J7 pro comes fairly well equipped for some situations. Now as with any camera in the right light this can take excellent photos and here are some examples. However it has its limitations, Some of the detail was lost in some pics and i couldn’t tell what conditions or when this was going to happen,. For example if i took a photo in a room with greenish walls then my subject ended up with a slightly green face so colour shift was there. I could counteract this with manual mode but i dont want to when im in a run and gun frame of mind. Low light was fairly mediocre, daylight colours were ok, focus was off sometimes and other times it was amazing. The front camera was great for selfies and sometimes out performed the rear camera that is almost identical. However keep in mind this is half the price of the moto x4 and the photos are just as good or maybe better. The camera app is fast and snappy, certainly no complaints about it, the camera is mediocre but is value for money.
Battery
The 3600 mah battery gives 5 – 6 hours screen on time every day, with heavy use and i work in a location that struggles to get good coverage on the vodafone network, so this is impressive. On this usage pattern i would go to bed with 10% left
Overall
The galaxy j7 pro is pretty purchase for the price. Yes it could be better but for just over 400 aussie bucks this is a beast of a device, the tuned down software is a positive, the build is a positive, the design is oldish but it works, the camera isn’t a world beater but it gets the job done.
If this is your price range then this is the device to get. No questions asked.
Seedubs Media 