The specifications of this new Samsung phone are very similar to Samsung Galaxy On Next and the old Galaxy J7 Prime. But this time the company has focused its attention towards software by providing features like Samsung Pay Mini and Samsung Mall. Samsung Mall feature has just been launched with this phone. The price of the phone starts from Rs 12,990. Because of this, Galaxy On7 Prime faces challenge from many phones of the company’s Galaxy J and Galaxy On series. Let’s try to find out how different and powerful this new model is…
Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime design and build quality
The metal unibody of Galaxy On7 Prime gives it a strong feel. This phone is slim with 8 mm thickness and has good grip in hands. The texture of the metal back is smooth and does not leave fingerprints. But this does not happen on the glass provided on the front panel. Knowingly or unknowingly, you will clearly see a glimpse of Galaxy J7 Prime in its design which was launched in 2016 itself. Except for the new style capacitive buttons, both the phones look almost identical.
The phone looks much better from the front due to the 2.5D curved glass. In Galaxy On7 Prime, the company has decided to provide a screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, which means you will miss the current trend of 18:9. The 5.5-inch screen has full-HD resolution. Because of this, photos and text appear very sharp. Colors also appear accurate due to the PLS TFT LCD.
The surprising thing is that this phone does not have an ambient light sensor. This thing came to light when we used the phone in the dark. At this price, the absence of features like NFC and Wi-Fi AC can be ignored. But it is disappointing that basic features like ambient light sensor are not provided. Because of this we had to manually control the brightness of the display again and again.
Above the display is a 13-megapixel selfie camera, notification LED and earpiece. At the same time, there is a physical home button at the bottom which is also a fingerprint sensor. There are capacitive buttons on both sides of this sensor. The sensor will quickly recognize your fingers. The display becomes active only by lightly touching the home button. The capacitive buttons aren’t backlit, which is also disappointing.
On the left, the volume buttons are at the top and below it are slots for two SIMs and a microSD card. The primary SIM card can be placed in the first slot. The secondary slot has space for a second SIM and a microSD card up to 256 GB. The speaker and power button are on the right side of the phone. Micro-USB port and 3.5 mm headphone socket have been found at the bottom. In the box you will find a travel adapter, data cable, SIM eject tool and other necessary documents.
Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime specifications and features
The octa-core Exynos 7870 chipset has been used in the new Galaxy On7 Prime. Samsung has been using this processor in its budget and mid-range devices since 2016. We have reviewed the expensive variant of this phone with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. But it also has a cheaper variant with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, GLONASS and Baidu for navigation, FM radio, and USB-OTG. ,
Samsung has not provided many sensors in this phone. You will get only proximity sensor and accelerometer. Apart from the ambient light sensor, there is no compass or gyroscope in the phone. There is support for VoLTE along with 4G. The phone also has the option of Wi-Fi calling. After making this service available by telecom companies, you will also be able to enjoy this feature.
You will get Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Sadly, the Android security patch has not been updated since August last year. The phone runs on Samsung’s Experience UI 8.5 which has been used in Samsung Galaxy On Max and other recently released phones of the company. After swiping right on the first home screen, you will reach the Bixby screen. Here you’ll find cards for weather, schedules, reminders, and notifications from your social feeds. You can decide which apps are allowed to send notifications or updates to Bixby.
Samsung Mall is the specialty of this phone. It is a home to multiple online shopping platforms and integrates Bixby’s visual search feature. Currently, Samsung has partnered with Jabong, Amazon, Tata Cliq and Shop Clues. Whenever you search about a particular product in this app, this mall shows the search results of these websites to the user. You must log in with a Samsung account before purchasing anything.
Your payment or delivery related information is not stored in the Mall app. If you want to buy a product, the app redirects you to the web checkout page of the selected shopping site. For example, if you want to buy a product available on Amazon, the app will redirect you to Amazon India’s web interface, even if you have the Amazon app installed on your phone. In this app you will see basic product description. You will be redirected to the page of that shopping website for complete information.
You don’t have the option to just type and search to find a product. If you want, you will be able to search the product through voice or pictures also. There are buttons for these below the search box. If you want, you can search the product in the Mall app with the help of a photo by clicking on the shopping bag icon in the photo gallery. There is also an option of ‘Samsung Mall’ in the camera app. Voice search works with Google and visual search with the help of Bixby.
Our experience with visual search was not very good. This feature did not work properly many times. For example, instead of identifying the Galaxy Note 8, the Mall app returned results for Samsung tablets and other phones. It is not that this feature never worked. Many times it also identifies the product correctly.
Samsung Pay Mini is also supported in the phone. With its help, you can do transactions through UPI and other online payment wallets like Paytm-MobiKwik. These work well. But due to lack of credit card integration, payment options are limited.
Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime performance, camera and battery life
In general use, the On7 Prime works well, but in our opinion the interface should have been smoother. There is a slight delay in switching between portrait and landscape orientations in apps. At times we found that the touch response did not register properly. Let us make it clear that this deficiency did not come to light again and again. But many times during the review, the experience of using the smartphone definitely got spoiled. The screen brightness is adequate for outdoor use, but you have to control it yourself. No compass means you won’t know which direction you’re looking while using Google Maps.
One thing we liked about this phone is that it does not heat up quickly. Be it playing games or using the camera outdoors, it rarely got hot which is a good thing. Benchmark performance was also not impressive. Casual games run well, but in games with powerful graphics like Asphalt 8, the frame rates are not smooth.
There was no problem in playing 1080 pixel videos in Galaxy On7 Prime. The speakers are not very good. This does not produce sufficient sound for the media file.
Now let’s talk about the camera. The phone has 13-megapixel sensors with F/1.9 aperture on the front and rear panels. The autofocus of the rear camera does not work fast, that too in good lighting. Capturing a moving subject is not easy. Details are fine in landscape shots. But the camera sometimes fails to achieve correct exposure. Because of this, sometimes some parts of the shot appear burnt out. There is also an HDR mode but the results are not very good. The wide aperture lens provides good depth of field in close up shots. But the colors are not very accurate.
Tap on the images to see camera samples of Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime
Even in low light, performance is below expectations. Details are not captured properly in landscape and autofocus is slow. You will be able to record videos up to 1080 pixel resolution. The quality of the recorded video is also very average. Please note that there is no electronic image stabilization in the phone. The camera app also has some shooting modes, but these are not for video.
The front camera is also 13 megapixels and it also has F/1.9 aperture. The front camera works well in daylight. But this does not happen in low light. It has a screen flash, but it’s not very effective. The selfie focus feature tries to give a portrait mode effect, but the results are not very good.
The camera app also has a social sharing feature. With its help, you will be able to quickly share any photo on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Battery life is good considering the 3300 mAh battery. In normal use, after fully charging the battery, we could use the phone for the whole day. The battery level does not drop too quickly even when using powerful apps. When the battery power is less than 5 percent, the screen brightness goes to the minimum level. If you want, you can also increase it. There is no fast charging support. It will take about 3 hours to charge the phone with the charger provided in the retail box.
our decision
After spending enough time with the Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime, we also realized why Samsung launched the Samsung Mall feature with this handset. Because without this there is nothing special in Galaxy On7 Prime. The variant we reviewed is priced at Rs 14,990. It is very expensive, especially when it does not provide some very basic features like ambient light sensor. It is certain that Samsung will soon make the Mall app a part of its other handsets as well.
Apart from good battery life, the phone does not excite in any other department. Samsung Mall is a good idea, but it is still in its initial stage. The visual search that Samsung has been touting needs a lot of work. If you want a Samsung phone under Rs 15,000, then Samsung Galaxy On Max is a better option. If seen, Moto G5S Plus (Review) and Xiaomi Mi A1 (Review) are a more profitable deal for you.