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Samsung Galaxy J2 Core: Everything you need to know

Here's a first look at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy J2 Core

Steven Winkelman
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After months of rumors, Samsung finally confirmed it is releasing an Android Go handset. The Samsung Galaxy J2 Core is the first from the South Korean company to take advantage of Android’s lightweight OS.

Here’s everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core.

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Design

The Samsung Galaxy J2 Core looks every bit the budget smartphone. It has a 5-inch display with chunky bezels all around.

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The back of the phone appears to be constructed of polycarbonate with a single lens camera module. There’s no fingerprint sensor, but that makes perfect sense since the phone will likely come in at under 7,000 rupees (~$100).

Specs

The J2 Core ships with a quad-core Exynos 7570 processor and 1GB of RAM — these meager specs putting the device well within the usual range for an Android Go smartphone. The handset also features a paltry 16GB of onboard storage, but the phone does have a MicroSD slot for external storage.

Display

You’ll find a 5-inch LCD display on the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core. The display resolution comes in at 540 x 960. While the resolution may not match what you’ll find on other budget phones, the J2 Core will likely come in with a very low price tag.

Battery and charging

There’s a 2,600mAh battery on the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core. That should be plenty for an normal day’s use on a phone with a 5-inch display. Samsung also says it has optimized applications to extend battery life on the phone.

Camera

So what will the camera be like on Samsung’s latest budget phone? Well the rear-racing camera comes in at 8 megapixels and has an f/2.2 aperture. The selfie cam comes in at 5 megapixels with an F/2.2 aperture as well.

Software

What makes the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core truly interesting is its software. Samsung decided to go with the Android Go version of Oreo for its latest budget phone.

Android Go is Google’s attempt to break into rapidly developing markets dominated by low-spec budget devices. As such, Android Go is a bare-bones version Android that makes much lower demands on system resources — to fit lower-end hardware — and special versions of Google’s G Suite apps, specially optimized to fit and run on entry-level devices.

Now that doesn’t mean that Samsung hasn’t made tweaks to Android. While we’ve yet to see the phone in action, leaked images show the phone running with a Samsung Experience skin. We also know that Samsung has added a beauty filter to the camera as well as an Ultra Data Saving feature,  that provides tips for more efficient data use.

Release and availability

The Samsung Galaxy is now available in Malaysia and India. Samsung says it will announce additional markets for the phone in the near future, but there’s no word if it will ever make it to the U.S.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but we expect to be priced around $100 since it is meant primarily for emerging markets.

Updated August 24: All copy updated with announcement of Samsung Galaxy J2 Core.

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Steven Winkelman
Steven Winkelman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven writes about technology, social practice, and books. At Digital Trends, he focuses primarily on mobile and wearables…
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