Good day. Recently, too, became the happy owner of this device and I have something to write to future buyers, or have already bought the device. Design standard is for all smartphones "Samsung", nothing outstanding, but the device itself looks decent. If the image for you regains an important role, it is one more reason to take the phone from the South Korean manufacturer. Surely we all know that "Samsung" are betting on the design of their devices. unit thickness of 8.8 mm and weight of 130 grams. Feels Smart turned out quite thin and light. In the early days of purchase I was constantly checking the availability of the phone in your pocket. Because it seemed to me that there's nothing there. : D
Let's start with the face of a smartphone that has a fairly large screen, as for a budget device. The screen diagonal is 4.5 inches, and the resolution of the display is WVGA, that is, 480x800 pixels. The viewing angles are not bad, the screen brightness is acceptable. Regarding the brightness, many users complain that the screen is dim and does not cause pleasant impressions, but it is my device that does not suffer from this "ailment". Perhaps it depends on the user, because everyone will find something to complain about.
It is also worth mentioning the presence of two slots for micro-sim. The first is with the card memory and the need to remove the battery to extract the SIM card, and the second is on the side, which greatly simplifies the process of rapid transition from one sim card to another. Communication catches steadily, there is support for HSPA + or 3.75G. Everything else should add the ability to receive calls on both SIM cards during the conversation. For people who prefer to stay in touch and not miss an important call, it is certainly a plus.
In the settings you can also rename SIM cards, choose a SIM card for calls and the Internet. There are also no problems with the choice of access point and network operator, since you can select the necessary parameters for both SIM cards. Support for hot swapping is not provided, because to activate another SIM, you will need to turn off the phone, or else take it offline.
On earlier versions of the firmware, there is a bug with a SIM card dump. Therefore, after the purchase, update the device "over the air" to the latest software version, or self-flash the smartphone using the "Odin" program.
I completely forgot to mention the conversational dynamics, which plays a key role during a telephone conversation. Audibility is average, but by no means bad, because of the main drawbacks of this device, people say that the interlocutor is poorly audible. There is also no interference, the interlocutor hears me perfectly and fully perceives the speech I have said.
The duration of the battery life of the smartphone is higher than that of other budget devices. This is facilitated by the battery capacity of 2000 mAh battery. With an average load (calls, SMS, internet, music, reading, video games and a bit of) the phone will live a half days (1.5 days). Of course, if you are using wi-fi as a primary connection or playing long games, the Smart may not live till evening. However, it is a problem for all smartphones. Therefore, we conclude; it all depends on the load and the amount of time conducted by telephone using those or other applications.
For those who do not need to use all four cores and other "stuff" proprietary interface "the TouchWiz", there is a special function that is called the "maximum power saving mode". With this mode, you can disable all unnecessary applications, and this, in turn, permanently extend the time in standby mode. For convenience, the information is displayed on the screen about how much interest is left and how much time can be smart in this mode. I reached this mark more than 5 days, but the manufacturer immediately indicates that the time is closely dependent on what you do with your phone while in this mode.
Perhaps you can go to the shell and everything else. The smartphone runs on Android 5.1.1, which is called "Lollipop", which means lollipop. : D I do not know what you are thinking now, but everyone has associated this word with something of their own. However, fantasy plays an important role. What did I stop at? Oh yeah, on the presentation of the operating system. Despite the fact that the new Android has not yet managed to absorb most of the market, I can say with confidence that this is only the beginning.
The fifth Android perfectly copes with the tasks, responses and information displayed. Everything works smartly, without brakes and friezes, which bother so many users. From personal experience, I can say that 512 MB of RAM is enough only for the operation of standard applications. Of course, it is possible to work with this volume, but not comfortable.
In the first few hours it seemed to me a smart phone that much of a difference to its predecessor there, but everything changes when you activate the special effects and other new features, characteristic for this version of Android. Naturally, not everyone at the first acquaintance with the device realizes that before him the new version, because the proprietary interface "TouchWiz" simply hides all the innovations of the new axis. I do not need to describe all the changes that have been "candy", because sooner or later everyone on their own experience try the new version.
A useful feature that I wanted to mention is called "Find My Mobile", which allows you to track the location of the phone, as well as block it. Probably, everyone in life may experience a situation related to the loss or theft of a favorite animal. But earlier we could take advantage of this opportunity with the help of third-party applications, and now this opportunity is available to everyone and does not provide for downloading an anti-virus with the anti-theft function.
Speaking of the camera. SM-G361H has two chambers, a main and a front. The main camera has a resolution of 5 megapixel and 2-megapixel front-facing. The quality of pictures taken with the main camera, acceptable. The front camera is also very good picture and is suitable for video calls. Also available are the following shooting modes: Auto, retouching, panorama, continuous shooting. In addition, there are special modes that allow to make a decent shot at night or memorializing the frame with increased activity. Thanks to the autofocus and flash device can be used as a camera, but to fully replace it, alas, will not succeed. For those who like to shoot an important point, it is possible to display the lock chamber shortcut that will make the picture for a few seconds. Sometimes it is very important, because the fraction of a second can make the difference.
In Samsung G361H Galaxy Core Prime VE has 8 GB of internal memory, of which 5.3 Gb available to the user. Given the meager amount of memory in these devices, which rarely exceeds more than 4 GB, this smartphone have given us a little more space, for which they thank you very much! However, this volume, too, was not enough. The fact that the cache application is automatically downloaded to your device, and if you want to install a hard game, a cache which weighs more than 1GB, get ready to see the on-screen information that ends up on your phone memory.
Fortunately, this problem can be solved, but first we need to get root-rights. There are only two methods for obtaining superuser rights, firmware with built-in root or installation of the "SuperSU" archive using unofficial recovery, TWRP.
After we acquired the superuser rights, we will need a program called
Foldermountwith which you can transfer the cache to the memory card. The program is quite easy to use and automatically moves the cache to external memory by deceiving the system. There is a Premium version in the application theme. However, in order for developers to have the desire to update their utility, making it compatible with devices of a newer version of Android, you need to support the developer by purchasing the functionality of the premium version on Google Play.
Let us turn to the apparatus stuffing. At the heart of the device is installed a quad-core Spreadtrum SC7730SE chipset with a frequency of 1.3 GHz and a graphics accelerator Mali-400MP2. The smartphone has 1 GB of RAM, which means the ability to work with multiple applications simultaneously. Who is interested in gaming performance, I will give a few examples. One of the most popular games of the genre "fighting game",
Injustice: Gods Among UsIt goes great on this device. A piece from "Gameloft" about Thor, the god of thunder,
Thor: TDW - The Official GameIt comes without any complaints about performance. Not less popular game in the movie "Living Steel" called
Real Steel World Robot BoxingIt pleases the eye with high and stable fps. Gorgeous zombie shooter from the company "MADFINGER Games",
Dead trigger 2, causes only positive emotions from smoothness and lack of jumps fps.
All other games that are less demanding of the system, (
Angry Birds Go!,
BADLAND,
Subway surfers,
Cut the rope 2,
Despicable me,
Hungry Shark Evolution,
Sonic dash,
Plants vs. Zombies 2), go great, without jerks and friezes. For those who need a smart capable of playing all gaming applications and programs, the best option is not found. Of course, there are a couple of new budget models from the company "Samsung" (
Samsung Galaxy Star Advance G350E,
Samsung Galaxy Core 2 G355H,
Samsung Galaxy J1 J100H, Samsung Galaxy J1 J110H), but in terms of optimization, not everything is so rosy there. For this reason, it is better to pay extra and buy a smart one that can serve you for more than two years. Of course, everyone chooses a device based on their personal preferences. But, as practice shows, a person acquiring equipment for a specific purpose, sooner or later will want to check the capabilities of his device, and at this point comes frustration.
At the end of my review I would like to highlight the main advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the first. Stylish design, large screen, new version of Android 5.1.1, support for 2 SIM cards, quad-core processor, 1 GB RAM, camera, 3G, GPS (you can use the phone as a navigator) and finally the most important thing is the price. Despite the fact that I pointed out the presence of flaws, they are not. For such a democratic price, we get such a quality product. The market is crowded budget devices, but finding a really good phone is quite difficult, because the manufacturers to save on everything. As a result, frustrated users write in runet negative reviews on the part of phones running Android. Many do not even think that by paying a small fee you can buy a smartphone that really pay for itself, rather than rush to the tempting price and spitting placing video reviews about how they were not lucky. But we all know the price of cheapness. ;)
Thanks to everyone who read my review. I hope my impressions will be useful for those who are going to buy this device.