Samsung Galaxy J3 Unlocked Mobile Cell-Phone

Design: Golden Looks For Not Much Silver

All too often, opting for a budget phone means settling for a cheap, plastic design, but the J3 defies that expectation. You're not going to confuse this phone for Samsung's Galaxy S6, but the 5.6 x 2.81 x 0.31-inch J3 has more in common with that phone's look than with the plastic-toy feel of something like the Acer Liquid Jade Z. A metallic finish and a splash of gold on the phone's back give it a touch of class and a feel of heft.

Even so, at 4.8 ounces, the J3 weighs in on the lighter end of the smartphone scale. Samsung's phone weighs roughly the same as the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 (4.9 ounces) and OnePlus X (4.86 ounces). By contrast, Huawei's Honor 5X — another phone whose sleek looks hide its bargain price tag — tips the scales at 5.57 ounces.

All in all, the J3 comes in a pretty solid package that easily slides in and out of a pants pocket. You can fault Samsung for restricting the J3's capacity to 16GB, a paltry amount of storage by today's mobile standards. However, you can add an additional 128GB of memory via a microSD card slot just above the phone's power button on the device's right-hand side.

Samsung J3 (2016) Specs

Carrier: Boost
Display (main): 5.0-inch, 1280 x 720
OS Family: Android
Operating System: Android 5.1.1
CPU: 1.2GHz Quad A7
RAM: 1.5GB
Internal Memory: 16GB
Memory Expansion Type: microSD card
Bluetooth Type: Bluetooth 4.1
Front Camera Resolution: 2 MP
Camera Resolution: 5 MP
Ports: microSD, micro USB, 3.5mm headphone

Display and Audio: More So-So Than Spectacular

Samsung equipped the J3 with a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, which delivers decent-looking images that won't necessarily wow you. A trailer for Hail, Caesar! showcased the glorious Technicolor that the Coen brothers intended for their tribute to 1950s Hollywood, but actors' faces lacked a certain sharpness around the edges. I noticed the same issue when streaming an episode of 30 Rock on Netflix: The picture looked OK, if not the kind of highly defined experience I'm used to on screens of all sizes. These days, the J3's 1280 x 720 resolution is the bare minimum for phones, not the standard-bearer.