Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime review: Another failed attempt?

There’s no doubt that Samsung makes great high-end smartphones, but when it comes to budget and mid-range smartphones, Samsung doesn’t do so well. Honestly, if you think about it, none of Samsung’s budget or mid-range products from the past few years are worth remembering. Now, the Korean giant has just launched a brand new budget smartphone, the Galaxy On7 Prime (starting at 12,990 yen), and we can’t help but wonder if Samsung has learned its lesson. Well, from the looks of it, the Galaxy On7 Prime looks well-equipped to take on the likes of Mi A1 and Moto G5S Plus. So what are you waiting for? Let’s start the review of Galaxy On7 Prime.

Galaxy On7 Prime specifications

Before we get into the review, let’s take a look at the specifications of On7 Prime.

what’s inside the box

You would expect Samsung phones to come with earphones in the box, but surprisingly, the On7 Prime only comes with a charging cable and charging adapter. Here’s what’s inside the box:

• Galaxy On7 Prime (of course!)
• microUSB charging cable
• charging adapter
• SIM removal tool
• User guides and other booklets

Quality of design and construction

After using smartphones like the Mi A1 and Honor 7X, which are arguably the best-looking smartphones in this price range, it’s hard to be drawn to the Galaxy On7 Prime. To be honest, the Galaxy On7 Prime looks like a regular Samsung phone from 2017, 2016, or even 2015 . There’s nothing modern about it. So, while it’s an okay looking device, there’s nothing appealing about it either. The back is made of plastic and metal, but the gold-colored version looks especially cheap.

Anyway, it has the usual Samsung button layout with a hardware home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner , which is great for those who prefer a front-facing fingerprint scanner.

There’s also a headphone jack, which is convenient. Another nice thing about the hardware is the speaker grills on the sides. This means that the speakers will not be blocked even when playing games. It also helps that the speakers are good .

One thing that bothers me about the On7 Prime is the microUSB port. I know that many budget phones still have microUSB ports , but as of 2018, I expect many phones to have USB-C ports.

Overall, the Galaxy On7 Prime looks okay, if a little dated, but if you’re a Samsung fan, that shouldn’t be a problem. That said, even if you’re not a Samsung fan, you can get better-looking phones in this price range.

screen

Moving on to the display, the Galaxy On7 Prime features a 5.5-inch Full HD TFT LCD display, which, at least on paper, is on par with the competition. In our hands-on experience, we found the On7 Prime’s display to be pretty average. The main problem with the On7 Prime’s display is that it gets too hot. The white looks a little yellowish, which is something I don’t like.

Like most Samsung smartphones, the On7 Prime’s display presents more saturated colors , and if that’s your thing, you’ll love the On7 Prime display. The visibility of the display in sunlight is good, especially when using the “outdoor mode” that Samsung has included in these phones. It’s a bit disappointing that it doesn’t have a night mode or blue light filter mode, which most mid-range and high-end Samsung phones have.

When it comes to display, the On7 Prime misses the mark once again. That means it’s not bezel-less like the Honor 7X and can’t match the display quality of the Mi A1. It’s a shame, especially since it’s Samsung we’re talking about here.

camera

Well, Samsung is known for packing some great camera units in all its phones, so I was expecting a decent performance on the camera front of the On7 Prime. The device has the same 13 MP f/1.9 camera sensor on both the front and back , which (again) sounds good on paper. Well, here are some photos we took during the day and in low light.

As you can see, the photos taken with the On7 Prime are very average . First of all, this phone has trouble focusing. Secondly, even photos taken in bright conditions will have some noise. Also, some photos have good detail, while others lack detail altogether. Some photos may be blurry or overexposed.

When it comes to low-light photography, this camera doesn’t capture the right amount of light, even though it has a fairly wide aperture of f/1.9. Additionally, if you take a photo in low light with a light source in the photo, almost every photo will have lens flare. I took some photos with On7 Prime and Mi A1, but Mi A1 takes better photos. Please take a look:

Moving on to the front camera, the 13 MP f/1.9 lens performs similarly, which is fine since it’s a selfie camera. In other words, it takes better selfies than the Mi A1 .

Well, the camera on the Galaxy On7 Prime is pretty disappointing. If you just wanted to take selfies, the On7 Prime might have been a better choice, but with the launch of the latest Honor 9 Lite, which by the way costs less than the On7 Prime, you can now get a dual-camera selfie unit. I did. Admittedly, the On7 Prime’s camera doesn’t make much sense.

Well, the camera on the Galaxy On7 Prime is pretty disappointing.

performance

Unlike in the past, when Samsung released budget smartphones with decent performance, the On7 Prime has decent performance. The device is powered by a 1.6 GHz Exynos 7870 octa-core processor paired with 3 gigs or 4 gigs of RAM.

We have the 4 GB version and performance seems to be decent at the moment . Apps launch quickly, the phone unlocks quickly, and 4GB of RAM makes multitasking a breeze, but this is a Samsung smartphone we’re talking about. This means that almost all Samsung phones work well for the first few days, but they all slow down after a while. I mean, I also used a Galaxy S8, and that also slowed down after a while. Well, this is why I’m skeptical about On7 Prime’s performance. I hope they don’t go down the same path, but Samsung’s track record hasn’t been all that great. Additionally, On7 Prime doesn’t do very well when it comes to benchmarks . Let’s take a look at the AnTuTu and GeekBench scores of On7 Prime and Mi A1.

software

Part of the skepticism about the software comes from the fact that Samsung phones don’t run on stock Android. Instead, it comes with Samsung’s own Experience UI, which is known to break even on high-end phones. That being said, Samsung Experience UI has a lot of cool and useful features. On7 Prime comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat with Samsung Experience UI 8.5 on top .

In addition to the usual Samsung features like Secure Folder, Samsung Pass, Samsung Cloud, App Locker, and Ultra Power Saving Mode, there are some unique new features that Samsung has launched with On7 Prime.

First, there’s Samsung Mall. This is basically Bixby Vision in a brand new avatar . At the mall, you can shop via camera. Basically, you can use the app’s camera to capture products of interest. The app will then recognize the product and display a list where you can purchase it.

Samsung Mall recognizes clothes, phones, shoes, furniture, computers, and more, and displays results from various online retailers such as Amazon, Shopclues, and more. Well, it was hit and miss for me. I captured an HP Envy laptop, but Samsung Mall always brought results for other HP laptops.

Another new feature is a lightweight version of Samsung Pay, aptly called Samsung Pay Mini . The app allows you to make payments via UPI or mobile wallets. It’s certainly a useful app to manage all your payments.

Bixby is also present, but only in the Bixby home form on the home screen. No Bixby Voice here.

All in all, it all depends on your personal preference. That said, I’m fine with the Experience UI as long as the phone doesn’t work, especially since I really like some of the features Samsung offers.

battery

As for the battery, the Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime packs a 3,300 mAh battery. In my usage, the On7 Prime’s battery life is pretty good . Even with moderate to heavy use of On7 Prime, I was able to get through the day.

Additionally, Samsung has some really cool power saving modes . For example, if you do not enable power saving mode, the device is estimated to last 3 hours approximately 23% of the time. Medium power saving mode reduces brightness, limits background network usage, and extends your device’s battery life by 28 minutes. Additionally, there is a “maximum” power saving mode, also known as ultra power saving mode, which extends battery life by about 10 hours. It’s already amazing! Moreover, all these modes are customizable so you can restrict your phone according to yourself.

connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the Galaxy On7 Prime has almost all the features you’d expect from a modern smartphone. There is 4G VoLTE connectivity and dual SIM support. Additionally, the SIM card slot is not hybrid, so there are separate slots for a second SIM card and a microSD card . Other than that, it has Bluetooth 4.1. Yes, there is currently no Bluetooth 5.0 or NFC in affordable phones.

Galaxy On7 Prime: Should you buy it?

You probably already know this answer. There are some great budget phones on the market, but the Galaxy On7 Prime fails to make a mark . I mean, nothing special. The design is bland but solid, the display is OK, the camera is disappointing, and the performance is OK but not something a Samsung phone can boast. There are some good things about it, including great battery life, a decent selfie camera, and a front-mounted fingerprint sensor. I mean, On7 Prime would have worked in 2016 or 2015, but there are some great budget smartphones coming out these days, and On7 Prime just can’t match them.

Currently, we have the Mi A1 Android One smartphone with amazing performance and decent dual cameras, Honor 7X with 18:9 display and dual cameras, and Honor 9 Lite with 18:9 display and four cameras. Well, you can use any of these phones. The Galaxy On7 Prime is a smartphone that we can’t really recommend in this price range.

The On7 Prime may have worked in 2016 or 2015, but there are some great budget smartphones out there these days, and the On7 Prime just can’t compete with them.

Strong Points:

• Sturdy construction
• excellent battery life
• decent front camera
• Nice software addition

Cons:

• Bland design
• microUSB port
• There is no dual camera, and the rear camera is disappointing.
• so-so performance
• Still running on Nougat
• Average display

Check out On7 Prime on Amazon: (from Rs. 12,990)

See also: Honor View 10 review: Your first AI smartphone

Galaxy On7 Prime: Another failed attempt by Samsung!

Now, when I started reviewing the Galaxy On7 Prime, I was hoping for a Samsung phone that would finally match the standards set by other companies. Unfortunately I was wrong. The On7 Prime is just another failed attempt by Samsung to make a budget smartphone. This phone may still end up doing well in offline stores in rural areas of the country, but Samsung has learned quickly to give us a phone we like compared to other great budget smartphones. I hope you provide it. These are my impressions about Galaxy On7 Prime. What did you think? Let us know in the comments section below.