Samsung Galaxy Core Review

Introduction

The Galaxy Core is one more soldier in the horde of Samsung Android smartphones. As if made out of a single blueprint, all Samsung handsets look alike and this one is no exception. Dressed in that typical Samsung uniform however hides an interesting device: one that marches not in the forefront with top of the line specs, but indeed in the core of Samsung’s army - the mid-range.

The Samsung Galaxy Core comes in both single and dual SIM versions (named Galaxy Core Duos), and we have the dual SIM one for review. It comes equipped with a 4.3-inch display, a dual-core processor and a 5-megapixel camera in a well-rounded package selling at a very affordable price.

Overall, the Galaxy Core does not shine in any particular area, but it hits all the bases of a decent smartphone. Is that enough to survive in a fiercely competitive dog-eat-dog world of Android devices? Or does it need a little extra flare after all? Let’s see.

In the box:

• Headphones
• microUSB to USB cable
• Wall Charger
• User Manual

Design

By design, the Galaxy Core is a typical Samsung device, made out of the same general blueprint as a horde of other Android handsets by the Korean company. Is it plastic? Yes. Is it identical to so many other Samsung phones? Yes. But is it practical? Yes, as well.



The Galaxy Core comes in a white and blue versions, and we have the white one for test. The build quality is solid, with no screaking parts. The handset is thin rather than thick at 9mm (0.35”). It is very lightweight, tipping the scales at only 124 grams (4.38 oz). It is also relatively compact and easy to use single-handedly, plus it won’t stick out of your pockets like some larger phones. Under the easily removable back cover are a user-replaceable battery, a microSD card slot and the two micro SIM card slots.


The button layout is standard for Samsung. There is a single physical home key on the front, the lock key is on the right side and the volume rocker on the left. You can easily find the buttons in the dark as they protrude a bit. They also have nice travel and pressing them is effortless. The microUSB port is located on the bottom of the device, and up top is a 3.5mm headset jack.

Display

The 4.3-inch LCD display on the Galaxy Core features a middling resolution of 480 x 800 pixels (WVGA). The screen is not razor sharp and you’d notice slight pixelization. Technically, pixel density comes at 217ppi, slightly below average, but we would not count this as a fatal flaw given the price of the handset.

The first thing you notice when you fire up the display is that it is just not bright enough. At a peak brightness of merely 343 nits, everything on it looks dim to the point where it’s hard to use the device outdoors. Color accuracy of the display is high and generally we are pleased with the picture. Viewing angles are good and colors do not deteriorate even when viewed from an angle.

Samsung also saved on oleophobic coating and the screen quickly gets covered in greasy smudges, making it hard to read and forcing you to wipe it clean way too often. There is also no light sensor and that means no automatic brightness setting. Samsung had to cut it short somewhere to arrive at the affordable price, but lacking automatic brightness setting is just plain annoying. Luckily, Samsung includes a brightness slider right in the notification dropdown for easy and quick control.

Interface and Functionality

The Samsung Galaxy Core runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s TouchWiz (the same version as on the Galaxy S III, one step short of the most current) on top. TouchWiz is one of the most popular Android user interfaces known for its somewhat cartoony looks, but also for adding some unique functionality.

To start off with the extra functionality, you can add shortcuts to apps straight to the lock screen for quick access. Unlock the phone, and you enter a home screen supporting up to 7 panels that you can freely add and remove. The notification shade is enriched with side scrollable toggles for everything that comes to mind - Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, Screen Orientation, etc.


Samsung brings its own weather and media widgets pre-installed, along with a handful of apps like S Planner, a music and video player apps and a file manager (called My Files) that we find useful.

The phonebook is another Samsung TouchWiz creation adding swipe gestures to contacts: swipe right on the name of a contact to call, or swipe to the left to send a message. This is convenient. However, one persisting issue with the phone application is that it just opens slowly. It takes a couple of seconds to open no matter what you are doing, and that is annoying.

If you like texting a lot, good news is the Samsung keyboard is one of the best out there. Buttons are responsive, well spaced and large enough.

Dual SIM functionality

As we mentioned earlier, the phone comes in both a single and dual SIM versions, and the dual SIM one is named Samsung Galaxy Core Duos. It supports dual standby technology with a single radio module, so both cards cannot be active at the same time. It is important to understand this - when you use one of the SIM cards, the other one would appear as if it was not active. So if a person tries to call you on your second SIM card while you talk on the first one, they simply would not be able to reach you.

Samsung has coined the name “Smart Dual SIM” for its dual SIM management technology. Managing your SIM cards happen after you first select one that acts as primary, or the default one for calls and text. You can also pre-define which of the SIM cards will be used for cellular data.

Processor and Memory

The Samsung Galaxy Core runs very smoothly out of the box. That is not a rarity after Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but we still encounter devices that experience lag when simply scrolling around the main menu. Good news is the Galaxy Core is not one of them.

It runs on an entry-level Snapdragon S4 chip. This is the most basic variety of S4 called S4 Play (Qualcomm also makes the more advanced S4 Plus, S4 Pro and the top of the line S4 Prime). The particular model used here is the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8625, built on a 45nm manufacturing node. The chip includes a dual-core Cortex A5-based processor with each of the cores running at 1.2GHz. There is a solid 1GB of LPDDR2 RAM (slower than LPPDR3 now included in higher-end devices) and Adreno 203 graphics that runs basic games like Temple Run effortlessly.

To better understand its performance, here is how the Galaxy Core performs in synthetic benchmarks.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	GLBenchmark 2.5 (Egypt HD)	Vellamo (HTML5 / Metal)
Samsung Galaxy Core	3054	7470	1028 / 9.1 fps	1328 / 421
LG Optimus L7 II	2823	6674
HTC Desire 600	5034	11137	628 / 5.6 fps	1620 / 387
Acer Liquid E2	3963	13580	1774 / 16fps	1453  / 450

The handset features a decent amount of internal memory. There is 8GB of internal storage and around 5GB of them are available to the end user. You can also expand memory via microSD cards of up to 64GB.

Internet and Connectivity

There are two browsers on board - Google’s stock Android Browser and mobile Chrome. Both of them work very well. Scrolling around webpages happens without a stutter and zooming in and out is sufficiently smooth.


The Galaxy Core supports both Wi-Fi b/g/n and 3G connectivity. Downlink speeds on 3G reach 7.2Mbps, not the fastest around, but sufficient if you do not plan on streaming HD video.

Other connectivity options include GPS, Bluetooth and FM Radio.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Core sports a 5-megapixel rear auto-focus camera with a single LED flash, and a VGA front facing shooter.

Launching the camera takes us to a feature-rich camera interface allowing users to tweak all sorts of settings from scenes to effects, exposure value, focus modes, white balance and ISO. Among the special features the camera supports are burst shot mode capturing up to 20 images in rapid sequence (but the images are low-res) and panorama mode stitching multiple images together. There is no HDR mode in the stock camera app, in case you are curious.


Good news is that the 5-megapixel shooter captures very decent photographs. They do not stand out with anything in particular, but they hit all the bases - colors are not skewed, detail is sufficient and the exposure is accurate. Indoors, when light gets scarce, colors start to fade out in images. Firing up the flashlight lights up nearby objects nicely and deals effectively with noise. Also, the camera captures much more lively colors when the flash fires. One slight niggle is that the camera is a bit slow. It takes more than 4 seconds to start, focus and capture an image - more than the average of around 3.5 seconds.




Video recording maxes out at 480p (720 x 480 pixels) as the handset is not capable of recording 720p video. The actual quality of the recording is decent. Colors do not deviate dramatically, exposure compensation works relatively well and the footage is suitable for casual use. Sound recording in video is a bit tinny, lacking depth, but we would not count this as a huge flaw for such an affordable handset.



The 0.3MP (VGA) front-facing camera is there mostly for video calls, and you can of course use it for selfies, but the quality of the images it shoots is barely usable.

All in all, truth is known in comparison. In parallel with other devices in its class, the Galaxy Core stands slightly above the average.

Multimedia

The Galaxy Core’s 4.3 inch display provides plentiful space for enjoying videos on the go and the loud speakers add extra oomph. The only nuisance comes in the form of the dim display - it’s just not bright enough for some situations.

Samsung pre-loads its own video player application. It is a decent player that automatically fetches clips from your storage into its catalog, but you can also use the folder view if you prefer. It plays back MPEG, Xvid and MKV-encoded files at native resolution, but does not support H.264, MOV and DivX codecs. For the latter, you can find an alternative like MX Player on the Play Store.


For music playback, there are two applications to pick from: the Samsung Music Player or the stock Android Play Music. The Samsung Music Player stands out with some unique features like Music Square that categorizes your music by its feel - passionate, exciting, joyful or calm, and allows you to just pick the mood you’re in to automatically build an appropriate playlist. As all others, it breaks down your music in the standard albums, artists, and playlists tabs, and it also supports a folder view.

Call Quality

Overall, we are content with call quality on the handset. On our side of the line, in the earpiece, voices sound clean and in their natural tones, just a bit on the quiet side. Our callers on the other side of the line also recognize our voice easily, but notice that outside noise gets picked up and there might be issues in noisier environments. The handset only has a single microphone and no noise cancellation technology.

Battery life

With a user-replaceable 1800mAh battery hiding behind the plastic back cover, the Galaxy Core lasts as much as your average smartphone - in the vicinity of a day and a half of regular use. Official quoted talk time stands at the above average 14 hours on 2G and the average 9 hours on 3G.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Core is a well balanced handset with no single standout feature to amaze users, but nor does it have any huge downsides either. Its weakest point is probably the slightly dim screen, but even that is not a fatal flaw. We do like its mostly smooth out-of-the-box performance, its decent camera, its relatively compact size, its more or less modern version of Android and the fact that you can get a dual SIM version.

Its biggest advantage is obviously its price. Starting from $210 to $250 and reaching even $300 in some markets, the price of the Galaxy Core varies widely, but even at those higher price tiers, it offers good value for the money. To put this in perspective, let’s mention that you pay nearly twice as much for the HTC Desire 600, an alternative dual SIM phone with identical hardware. Looking from that angle, the Galaxy Core is definitely a lucrative proposition. Searching for a decent alternative, the Acer Liquid E2 comes to mind with its snappier quad-core MediaTek chip, good camera, display and dual SIM functionality. If dual SIM is of not such a huge importance, the Nokia Lumia 520 is an even cheaper option bringing an even better camera and the smoothness of Windows Phone 8.

In conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy Core has all it takes to capture the attention of the budget conscious buyer. With no fatal flaws, the Samsung brand name to back it up, a cliched but time-proven design, it is yet another Android soldier inviting you to join the horde. Come to think about it, why not?