Samsung Electronics launched the Galaxy J3 (2016) smartphone in India on Thursday, March 31st. The device had previously been launched in China as well as in the U.S. and was widely expected to launch in several other markets this year, including Europe. The smartphone has been priced at Rs. 8,990 ($135) and will reportedly be available in the country with immediate effect exclusively via online retailer Snapdeal. The phone was officially announced back in November last year, and is just one of the new Galaxy ‘J’ models that are being rolled out by Samsung globally, along with other devices like the Galaxy J1, J5 and J7 (all 2016 models).
While most of the hardware specs on the Galaxy J3 (2016) are keeping in line with devices from global manufacturers in this price range, the one interesting aspect that Samsung is highlighting happens to be a software feature called ‘S Bike Mode’, which allows the device to automatically reply to incoming calls with pre-recorded messages in as many as 14 different languages. Elaborating a bit on the innovative new feature on the Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016), the ‘S Bike Mode’ can be activated and de-activated by users while either driving a car or riding a bike, resulting in an undistracted driving or riding experience. What’s more, users will be able to mark a few contacts as important, so that owners of the handset will be notified about calls from these contacts even while the S Bike mode is activated.
As for the hardware spec-sheet, the Galaxy J3 (2016) features a 5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display panel and is powered by Spreadtrum’s SC7731 SoC, which incorporates a quad-core application processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. The device also comes with 1.5 GB of RAM and just 8 GB of internal storage, which however, is expandable by way of a microSD card. As for the rest of the specs, the newly-launched smartphone sports an 8-megapixel shooter on the back with autofocus and an LED flash, whereas the front-facing camera on the device comes with a 2-megapixel sensor. The device carries a 2,600 mAh battery and runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out the box. While the Indian version comes with dual-SIM connectivity, only one of the SIM slots apparently supports LTE. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC and MicroUSB 2.0.