The Best J Series Phone of 2018?
Four days ago, we posted the photo that you see above on Instagram and asked you guys to guess what phone it was. Out of all the guesses, only one of you got it right. It was the Samsung Galaxy J8. It’s due for its launch sometime this month but, before that, let’s give you guys a sneak peek at the newest member of the J series and possibly the best one for the year.
What is the J8?
In our review of the Samsung Galaxy J6, we called it an alternative to the A6 and the J8 may very well be the more affordable option if you’ve been eyeing the Galaxy A6+. Both phones are similar in size and look almost identical but are built very differently. The A6+ has a unibody metal build, while the J8 is primarily made out of polycarbonate plastic with a metal frame but still feels solid in the hand.
Port placements are the same as well.
You’ve got the power button on the right side of the phone with the side-firing speaker above it.
The left of the device houses the volume rocker plus the two SIM trays.
While the bottom has the headphone jack plus the micro USB port.
The Samsung Galaxy J8 sports Samsung’s Super AMOLED display that measure in at 6-inches. It’s a panel that we’re very familiar with and it is arguably one of the best in the business. The display gives you deep blacks that provide a nice canvas for colors to pop. Unfortunately, the J8 gets a bit of a downgrade in resolution at HD+; something you’ll definitely notice if you’ve gotten accustomed to displays with higher pixel densities.
Above the screen, you’ve got a 16-megapixel front camera for taking selfies with an aperture of f/1.9 that has its own dedicated flash in case you want a photo with your friends while out at night.
There’s a dual camera setup on the back, which consists of a 16-megapixel main shooter that’s coupled with a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The main cam has an aperture of f/1.7 that’s sure to help with low-light photography and that secondary camera allows for Samsung Live Focus feature to give you that bokeh effect to help highlight your subject.
We’ll be taking a couple of photos throughout the day to give you guys a glimpse of what the camera is capable of.
Powering the Samsung Galaxy J8 is the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor in the A6+. This is paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. It’ll offer performance along the lines of the Samsung Galaxy A6+ and should have enough zip for the typical suite of social media apps plus a bit of light gaming on the side.
Juicing it up is a 3500mAh battery that should last you at least a day and a half with moderate use.
How much is it and when can you get your hands on it?
Well, unfortunately, Samsung Philippines is playing a little coy with their pricing and we have yet to confirm its availability too. Judging by how their other phones are priced, however, we can easily this device going for about Php 15,000. We advise you to take that with a grain of salt.
We’ll give you guys an update on pricing and availability once we’ve gotten confirmation.
Samsung Galaxy J8 Specifications
- 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor
- 3GB of RAM
- Adreno 506 GPU
- 6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display; 720×1480 resolution
- 32GB of expandable storage (up to 256GB via microSD card)
- 16-megapixel (f/1.7) + 5-megapixel (f/1.9) rear camera with LED Flash
- 16-megapixel (f/1.9) front camera with LED Flash
- 4G, LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth v4.2
- GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
- Fingerprint Scanner
- 3500mAh battery
- Android Oreo 8.0
Samsung Galaxy A6+ (2018) Review: A Bit of J Series with a Dash of the S Series
