Samsung has been present in the Indian market since the very beginning. The company’s smartphones have always been solid: good-looking, with large screens and excellent user interfaces. For most Indian users, Samsung signifies quality, style, and reliability. The Samsung J8 is one of the company’s leading phones in the sub Rs. 20,000 segment. The phone was launched in June 2018 and is still going strong.
Wondering whether you should buy this phone? Is it worth your time and money, though? We’ll find out for you in this Samsung J8 review!
What’s New with the Samsung J8?
There’s a lot to like about the Samsung J8:
- The Samsung J8 sports the “Infinity” display found in high-end Samsung S phones with great color reproduction.
- The J8 has a dedicated micro SD slot (up to 256GB), so you won’t run out of storage anytime soon.
- The J8 has an exceptionally good 16MP + 5MP dual camera setup.
Design: Sleek and Semi-Premium
These days, it’s common for Rs. 15,000 – Rs. 20,000 smartphones to sport flagship-grade design aesthetics. The Samsung J8 does a good job of trying to look like a premium phone. The phone features an all-plastic polycarbonate body which looks modern and sturdy. At 6 inches, the phone is tall. At 0.32 inches, it’s also thin. The phone’s 191 grams of weight is evenly distributed. All in all, the phone looks good and feels good to hold too.
The phone’s body has rounded edges with bezels at the top and bottom. There’s a vertically-mounted dual camera set up at the back. The volume keys are on the left, and the power button is on the right. The speaker is placed on the right, above the power key. You can use the phone with one hand. You should also be able to carry it around without fear of it slipping from your hands – the polycarbonate body offers decent grip.
Display: Infinity Display
It’s no secret that Samsung’s S series of phones have the crispest, brightest displays in the world. The top-end models also have an excellent body-to-screen ratio with minimum bezels. Samsung dubs these displays as “Infinity AMOLED” and they’re supposed to provide an amazing viewing experience. The J8 happens to have the same “Infinity AMOLED” display you’d find on phones like the Galaxy S8.
Does the “Infinity” display work as advertised? Samsung J8’s 6-inch screen looks crisp and bright. The color accuracy is phenomenal and viewing videos, photos, and apps on the phone is a pleasing experience. The Samsung J8 has a 720 x 1480 pixels resolution and a 274 pixel per inch density count, which makes it an HD phone. Viewing photos and videos is an enjoyable experience.
Camera: Exceeds Expectations for a Budget Smartphone
Samsung’s phones all have good cameras and the Samsung J8 is no exception. The J8 packs a 16 MP front camera and a 16 MP + 5 MP dual cameras at the rear. There is a LED flash present not just on the back, but also on the front. The back 16MP camera has an f/1.7 aperture with autofocus, while the 5 MP has an f/1.9 aperture and doubles as a depth sensor.
Clicking photos on the Samsung J8 is a very satisfying experience. The Live Focus or bokeh mode lets you take portrait-like photos of the subject, making the subject stand out and blurring the background. Pictures taken during the day have excellent details, clarity, and contrast. Clarity of shots taken at night is also surprisingly good. The depth sensor works as advertised. The photo quality is, perhaps, segment-leading.
Performance: Solid
The Samsung J8 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor, with eight cores at 1.6GHz and an Adreno 506 GPU. Additionally, the phone has 3/4GB of RAM and 32/64GB of inbuilt storage. The Samsung J8 has no trouble with everyday tasks. You can use social media apps, watch videos, and browse the internet with no performance hiccups. Switching between apps is easy, and most apps boot up very quickly. The 4GB of RAM is enough to let you multitask and load several apps at once.
You should also be able to game on the phone. Games like Asphalt 8 and 9 will run on low-to-medium settings. You can also play newer games like PUBG and Fortnite on the Samsung J8. The J8 has a gaming mode that optimizes the phone’s performance when you’re playing a demanding game.
Software: Android 8.0 Oreo Out-Of-The-Box
The Samsung J8 runs Android 8.0, like most of its competitors. Android 8.0 is a good OS, and Samsung’s custom firmware “Experience UI” is one of the more polished ones out there. Browsing the UI on the J8 is a fun experience. The home, back, and menu buttons have all been shifted to the bottom of the screen. You can unlock the phone quickly thanks to the fingerprint sensor at the back. The phone also supports facial recognition, which is fast and secure. A notable feature is the “Chat over video” option, which allows you to use Whatsapp while you’re watching videos.
The J8 includes a lot of Google and Microsoft apps by default. These apps are useful and you can disable the apps you don’t like. Also, the 64GB of inbuilt storage and the up-to-256GB card support means you have plenty of space for apps. Samsung is expected to release Android 9.0 Pie for the Samsung J8 in 2019. Though the date hasn’t been confirmed officially, we expect it to be out in Q1 2019.
Battery Life: Solid All-Day Usage
The Samsung J8 comes with a non-removable 3500 mAh battery. The phone’s battery life is exceptional. You can watch HD videos for as many as 16 hours on a single charge. With a day’s moderate use, you will hardly use 40-50% of the phone’s battery. The smartphone runs App Power monitor, a system tool which puts to sleep any inactive app that’s draining the battery. The OS is well-optimized and, in idle mode, consumes very little of the battery.
Charging up the phone doesn’t take long either. You will need approximately 2 hours to get the phone to 100%. And, thanks to the phone’s great battery life, you won’t have to charge it very often. Many Samsung J8 users charge their phones once every two days.
The Bottom Line
What’s the verdict? Should you buy the phone or pass it up for a competitor? The Samsung J8 is a solid, reliable phone. It has an excellent camera and battery life. The display is good, as is the design. When it comes to performance, the phone is excellent for daily use. This is a good phone to buy. It’s also a good phone if you’re a die-hard Samsung fan!
Don’t know whether the Samsung J8 is for you? Why not try it out before you buy it?! At RentoMojo, you can rent the phone for at a very affordable monthly price, with a minimum rental period of 6 months. If you love the phone, you can buy it from us later. You also have the option of upgrading to a brand new smartphone after a year’s use. Click here to learn more or check out other phones in our inventory!
Hmm will definitely buy if it falls under the budget.