Samsung Electronics has launched a couple of new mid-range smartphones in India that come with metal unibody construction and fingerprint sensors among other premium features that used to be the preserve of high-end handsets not so long ago. The Galaxy J7 Prime, priced at Rs. 18,790 ($280), is the more premium of the two and was launched in Vietnam earlier this month, while India seems to be the first market to have received the comparatively more humble Galaxy J5 Prime, which comes with a price-tag of Rs. 14,790 ($220). Both devices have dual-SIM functionality, support 4G LTE connectivity and sport front-facing fingerprint scanners integrated into the physical home buttons.
On the software front, the Galaxy J7 Prime and the Galaxy J5 Prime both come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed, along with a couple of new features called ‘S Secure’ and ‘S Battery’, both of which have reportedly been developed at the company’s R&D center in India. While the former helps users protect their apps and media files by using their fingerprints, the latter helps save precious battery life thanks to a number of new and innovative features. Both devices are being offered in Dynamic Black and Dynamic Gold, and will be available for purchase from various online and offline stores in the country. Actually, the Galaxy J7 has already been listed for sale on Samsung’s India-specific website while the Galaxy J5 Prime is expected to be available by the end of this month.
Taking a quick look at the tech specs of the two devices, the Galaxy J7 Prime features a 5.5-inch 1080p TFT display covered by 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by an Exynos 7870 SoC that comes with a 64-bit octa-core CPU. The phone also has 3GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage with support for microSD cards of up to 256GB in capacity. The phone comes with a micro-USB 2.0 port and carries a 3,300mAh battery. Imaging options include a 13-megapixel primary camera and a 5-megapixel secondary camera, both of which have f/1.9 apertures. As for the Galaxy J5 Prime, the device features a 5-inch 720p display panel with Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by a quad-core processor of unspecified make. The device comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and carries a 2,400mAh non-removable battery. Cameras include an 8-megapixel primary shooter on the rear and a 5-megapixel unit on the front.
