Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Core values

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime 360° spin

The Samsung Galaxy Core Prime stands 130.8mm tall, 67.9mm wide and 8.8mm thick. Those are roughly the same dimensions as the original Moto G, though it's nearly 3mm thinner. Not bad, considering both phones have the same screen size and battery capacity, though the Moto G is hardly a shining example of modest bezels.

Hardware overview

We're starting to suspect there is a Galaxy mold over in Samsung's R&D department and they just adjust that depending on the required screen size and intended price range. There's nothing wrong with picking a design and optimizing it - Apple is great at that - but the base Galaxy blueprint is already crying out for an update.

With no reference for scale, the Galaxy Core Prime is hard to tell apart from similarly-designed Galaxys

The Galaxy Core display is a regular 4.5" LCD with no added protection. It is also placed between moderately-sized bezels. What is above and below comes out of the standard Galaxy parts bin.

A notable exception is the ambient light sensor, which is necessary for automatic brightness. The proximity sensor is still here so the display will turn off while you are in calls.

Below is a hardware Home key with a metallic accent on its rim (to match the metallic earpiece on the other side) plus two capacitive keys - an App switcher key and a Back key.

No ambient light sensor above the display • standard keys below

The Galaxy Core Prime back panel also follows the Galaxy S III setup - a camera, flanked by its LED flash and a loudspeaker. The panel is made out of the same material used in the Grand Prime - it's shiny, but not glossy and glistens under the light. It hides fingerprints quite well, but our personal opinion is that its pearl-like finish looks rather feminine to boot, not to mention it's not that pleasant to the touch.

Galaxy S III design lives on

Under the hood there is a 2,000mAh battery (7.7Wh) and the microSIM/microSD combo slot. This puts the microSD card above the microSIM one, but since both are blocked by the battery, so there won't be any hot-swapping on this one. On the dual-SIM model (Galaxy Core Prime Duos) there will be a secondary slot to the left.

A 2,000mAh battery and a combo slot under the back cover

There are to wired connections of interest on board the Core Prime - the 3.5mm audio jack on top and the microUSB 2.0 port on the bottom. Near the USB port is the sole microphone on the Core Prime, which means there's no stereo recording or noise cancellation.

3.5mm audio jack on top • microUSB 2.0 port and sole microphone on the bottom

The volume rocker on the left and the Power key on the right are decently-sized and fairly comfortable to use.

The volume rocker and the Power button are adequately-sized

While we're not huge fans of the look and feel of the material, the overall build of the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime is good. The metallic rim around the side of the device is plastic, but very sturdy. The solid feel in the hand is helped by the weight of 130g, which strikes a good balance between being light and yet physically substantial.

The weight is evenly distributed too and the exterior plastic offers good grip, so we never particularly worried about dropping the phone.

Galaxy Core Prime is solidly built and sits well in the hand

That said there's no toughened glass over the screen so you'll need to be careful with it. There are third-party flip covers (not official ones though) that can help protect your Galaxy Core Prime.