There is an idiom commonly known to us- Best things come in small packages. Even though the sentence is contextually different from the sense implied here, but it holds true for Samsung Galaxy On5. Samsung has been consistently winning the low budget smartphone market since few years. The Samsung J series performed pretty well with good features available between Rs. 12000- Rs. 15000 ($ 179-225 USD approx.) range. Now the company has cut down the price slab without compromising the quality in On5 and On7. The low budget On5 comes with 5-inch HD display, Android 5.1 Lollipop, Exynos 3475 quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB ROM, microSD card slot, 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front camera, 2600 mAh battery, Dual-SIM, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11.b/g/n but at Rs. 8000-10000 INR ($120-150 USD approx.). Here’s our hands-on review on Galaxy On5.
Unboxing
Samsung Galaxy On5 is packed in a vibrant Orange box along with a charger, battery, a pair of headphones and a user manual.
Body and Dimension
The dimension of On5 measures 142.3 x 72.1 x 8.5 mm (5.60 x 2.84 x 0.33 in) and weighs about 149 g (5.26 oz). The back cover is made of plastic which makes it light weight. For users prefering metal covers, this will be a turn off but looking the price, it’s commendable. The back cover is matte finish that gives protection from finger prints and dirt. The 5.0 inches screen with ~70.0% screen-to-body ratio gives the phone a perfect grip to users. If you ask about the resolution, yes this is one shortcoming! The screen resolution is only 720 x 1280 pixels (~288 ppi pixel density) which is quite low. The screen supports multi touch support but one problem I found with the device is that the touch is sometimes unresponsive, and I had to exert a bit more pressure compared to what I am supposed to.
Another con that I noticed was the headphone jack located at the bottom beside the charging port. It was a bit inconvenient for me but may not apply to others!
Hardware and Processor
The device sports an Exynos 3475 Quad-core processor with processor speed 1.3 GHz. It supports Mali-T720 GPU. The device works fine with this configuration. Till now the device has not yet hung or stopped working. Memory specification includes 8 GB on-board storage, 1.5 GB RAM and external memory slot expandable upto 128 GB via Micro SD cards.
Software and Operating System
Galaxy On5 comes with Android Lollipop 5.1.1 with the latest TouchWiz User Interface, Ultra power save mode along with the normal Power Saving Mode, SIM card Manager, Airplane Mode, User Manual etc.
Battery
On5 comes with a Li-Ion 2600 mAh battery which provides standby power upto Up to 15 h (3G) and music play up to 49 h. This is what is offered and the phone battery is really great. It can serve you upto 12 hours with a single charge. This is how my device performed.
Important Features of Galaxy On5
1. It supports Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by) and also enables receiving calls from both the SIMs at the same time. This feature is not turned on by default but you have to manually turn it on by tweaking the SIM Manager Settings.
2. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
3. Location service with access to GPS and GLONASS satellites.
4. The Network technology supported by On5 are 2G, 3G, 4G with HSPA, LTE Cat4 150/50 Mbps speed.
5. All common sensors like acceleratometer, proximity etc.
Camera
SPECIFICATION OFFERED
1. 8 MP, f/2.2, autofocus primary camera along with LED flash
2. Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection
3. Video 1080p@30fps
4. 5 MP secondary or selfie camera, f/2.2
How the camera performs?
The camera quality is exceptionally good and the image clarity is also appreciable. The camera auto-focuses very quickly. To be honest, it focusing ability is much better than the Galaxy Note 2 that I had before. In low light condition, the image is a bit hazy and contains grains. The selfie camera of Galaxy On5, is 5 MP which is an added bonus as most of the low range smartphones have 2 MP selfie cameras. Check out the sample snaps taken with Galaxy On5.
This snap of the puppy has been taken in broad daylight.
This snap was taken in broad daylight with the 8 MP primary camera.
While the puppies and the cat were playing, the image was taken. You can check how the the camera captured moving objects.
This is another snap of moving objects.
Image taken indoor under sufficient lighting condition
Image taken indoor under low lighting condition
Image taken with the 5 Megapixel selfie camera
Color
Available in Gold, White and Black
Price
The phone is available in all online retail sites with the lowest price at Rs. 7990 ($120 approximately) (The best price) in FlipKart. It’s also available in Amazon, eBay, Snapdeal and others.
A 64-bit processor would be real good with this. However, it’s a pretty good deal for the price.