Last month’s oddball budget piece, the Samsung Galaxy J2, brought a few unique features to the table, like Bike Mode and Smart Glow, which is the new LED notification ring around the camera that includes a few other features. The rather unique phone was a good bargain for consumers, netting them 8GB of storage, along with a 5.0-inch screen to interact with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow running on 1.5GB of RAM and a quad-core Spreadtrum SC8830 processor with Mali-400MP2 GPU, all powered by a 2,600mAh battery, and available for Rs 9,750. As of today, however, a spec bumped Pro version can be found on Snapdeal for only a little extra than the original price of the Galaxy J2.
The Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro isn’t a huge upgrade by any means. The screen size and resolution stay the same, as do the processor and battery. The same Smart Glow LED surrounds the same 8.0-megapixel camera, while the same front-facing 5.0-megapixel camera is on selfie duty for buyers of the regular and pro versions. The 4G LTE radios and Bluetooth 4.0 chip are the same as well. So, what is it that makes the Pro version worth RS 9,890, a bump-up of about RS 140 over the vanilla Galaxy J2? An extra 0.5 GB of RAM, and an extra 8GB of storage, bringing the full picture up to 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. While that may not seem like much, internal storage is a precious commodity, even with a MicroSD slot available, and a little bit of extra RAM can make the difference between a choppy experience with RAM-hungry apps and poor multitasking, and a quality experience where everything happens quickly and smoothly. The Galaxy J2 Pro is available from Snapdeal in black, silver and gold.
While the spec bump is nothing to write home about, neither is the price bump. With other budget options out there that are a bit cheaper, like the Moto E at RS 6,998, and far better options at only a slightly higher price, like the LeEco Le 2 at RS 11,999, the Pro update is almost certain to completely cannibalize any remaining would-be sales of the vanilla Galaxy J2, perhaps even replacing it entirely. As phones like this drive down the price of a near-premium Android experience, we’re going to continue seeing more power and innovation hit the market at lower price points each year.