Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown Review

Is the Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown a worthy budget-friendly smartphone?

Samsung is, without a doubt, one of the most popular Android smartphone manufacturers on the market. With top-notch specs, the high-end smartphones retail for over a thousand dollars, but not everyone can afford such a smartphone. This is why we’re choosing the Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown to review and see if this device is still a good choice in 2020.

The J7 Crown is a bargain, you can buy it at prices starting under $150 and as cheap as $99 if you want to use a prepaid service or under $60 through different carriers if you get a good offer. But what features can you really get for that money? We’ll talk about it in our review, focusing on the overall design, build, cameras, specs, and features.

Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown – Pros and Cons

+ Pros: It comes with Android 8.0 Oreo, has a 13 MP front camera, has a good battery life

– Cons: It only offers 16 GB of internal storage, it only has 2 GB RAM, no fingerprint scanner

It’s more than obvious that the 2018 smartphone is not only a bit old, but it also launched as a budget phone, which means Samsung cut some corners to make this smartphone cheap. The low price is reflected by its small internal storage and those 2 GB of RAM.

What we do like in this phone is that it has a capable enough camera, both the one on the rear and the selfie camera have a 13 MP lens. While we don’t get to see a Snapdragon processor in the Galaxy J7 Crown, its Exynos processor is power-efficient, and that means a better battery life. Let’s check out the full specs.

Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown (S767VL) Technical Specifications

If you’re looking for some essential features from Samsung, you’ll get them – this model comes with a Super AMOLED screen, and a few more other impressive features for its price.

Body

• Size:03” x 3.00” x 0.34” in (6.4 oz)
• Screen:5″ HD screen (720×1280 resolution at 267 dpi)

In terms of design, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown looks sleek and comes at a popular size. It does come with some pretty chunky bezels at the bottom and the top, though.

With a 5.5 inches screen size, the J7 Crown comes with HD 720×1280 resolution and a 267 pixel density. Translated into viewer experience, you’ll see a fairly crisp display with deep colors and great outdoor view-ability.

One single drawback would be the lack of a light sensor that would automatically dim or brighten the screen. However, it was a feature we would expect not to see considering not many other phones come with it a light sensor for this price range.

Platform & Memory

• OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
• Processor: 1.56 GHz Octa-core processor (Exynos 7884)
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Storage: 16 GB, expandable via MicroSD Card (up to 400 GB)

Don’t even dream of a Snapdragon on this device. You’ll have to deal with Samsung’s Exynos processor.  Exynos 7884 is pretty capable and power-efficient, helping the device keep a long battery life.

One downside of the Galaxy J7 Crown is that it only has 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage, but you don’t usually get more for this price range. Even with only 2 GB of RAM, the phone is quite snappy. As for the internal storage, it can be expanded up to 400 GB via a microSD card.

The Galaxy J7 Crown comes with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box and it can be upgraded to Android 9 and Android 10.

Cameras

• Camera: 13 MP Rear Camera with LED Flash, Autofocus and 13 MP Front Camera with Flash

While the rear camera is 13 MP and could do better, it does come with autofocus, LED flash, and plenty of features for the app. It also captures HD videos at 1080p 30fps.

What’s really interesting is that the Galaxy J7 Crown offers a 13 MP front camera, which is a great feature considering we’re looking at a budget phone.

Other Features

• Battery: Li-Ion 3,300 mAh battery (non-removable)
• Network and communications: 4G LTE on CDMA Network (Verizon), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC
• Other features: Standard 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Hearing Aid Compatible, Google Play, Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, SMS/MMS, USB Charger

Last but not least, the battery life is great on the Galaxy J7 Crown since the Exynos on board is pretty efficient. You’ll get 24 hours of talk time and 27 days on standby.

However, if you’re trying to run a game (for instance PUBG mobile), you’ll see that the back of the phone will get hot after a few minutes of playtime. Benchmark testing shows neat results, so you can try to play some light games on it, with the only issue being overheating.

Should You Buy a Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown?

Verdict:

Compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy J7 Crown is an upgrade in terms of screen quality, better cameras, and a newer processor, as well as the updated OS.

However, when you’re looking at its price, you may be inclined to look at other smartphones, like the Moto E5 which is a bit bigger, has the same specs, and is cheaper. For around the same bucks, the Moto G6 is much better, dethroning the Galaxy J7 Crown in terms of specs and size.

One single feature Galaxy J7 Crown has up its sleeve is a better battery. Also, it comes with some signature Samsung features many buyers would prefer over other brands.

So is the Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown worth the money?

For what it offers, the answer is yes, but you should check other newer Galaxy smartphones and see if you could get more features for the same reasonable price.