Samsung Galaxy J7 review: Jeans & jacket

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy J7 is powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset or a new-generation mid-range Exynos chipset. Both have 1.5GB of RAM. The Exynos chipset is a 7-series chip built on Cortex-A53 cores but with Mali-T720 graphics instead of Adreno 405. We have the Exynos version inside our review unit.

On paper, the A53 processor is clocked higher inside the Exynos chipset compared to the Snapdragon. In the Exynos chipset all 8 cores run at 1.5GHz, while the S615 version has them in a 2x1.4GHz + 2x1.0GHz setup.

On the GPU front, the Mali GPU should be faster, but both the Mali and the Adreno support OpenGL ES 3.1 for the latest graphics effects.

Our first benchmark, the AnTuTu 5, gives the Galaxy A8 a slight edge in performance. The Helio X10-based Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 also places higher, though not as high as its 2GHz octa-core A53 processor implies.

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is based on the Snapdragon 615 chipset and has a 720p screen, but is slightly behind the Galaxy J7 in this test. Basemark OS II 2.0 has the J7 and M4 Aqua swapping places - the speed advantage depends on the workload, apparently.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  49554
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  46307
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  38263
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  34491
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  32217
• Meizu m2 note
  32054

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  31
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  23
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  14.9
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  12
• Meizu m2 note
  12

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  1089
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  1063
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  858
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  709
• Meizu m2 note
  673
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  296

In raw CPU performance, the Galaxy J7 proved quite impressive, getting close to the multi-core speed of the Galaxy A8. That one has Cortex-A15 cores though, so it easily snatched the single-core test away from the A53 cores, which are geared towards power efficiency.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  4589
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3619
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3375
• Meizu m2 note
  2649
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2375
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2336

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  4338
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  3434
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  3008
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2628
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  2436
• Meizu m2 note
  1709

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  21753
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  21516
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  19629
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  13521
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  13167
• Meizu m2 note
  8105

We had high hopes for the Mali-T720 MP2 graphics, but the scores were disappointing. It turns out that Qualcomm's entry-level 4th generation GPU is slightly faster - getting nearly 6fps more at the native 720p resolution than the Mali.

The advantage grows to nearly 50% when a newer engine is used (GFX 3.0). Basemark X concurs with these findings.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  30
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  25.8
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  23
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  20
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  14
• Meizu m2 note
  12

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  13
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8.5
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  5.84
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  4.1
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  14
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  12.2
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  8.3
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  7.9
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  6.2
• Meizu m2 note
  2.3

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  8838
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8518
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  5105
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  4875
• Meizu m2 note
  3946
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3922

For the web tests we used the Samsung-tuned Internet app. It narrowly beats out the Xperia M4 Aqua in Javascript performance, but comes nowhere near the Galaxy A8. The Galaxy J7 handedly beats some affordable 5.5-or-so-inch devices like the Meizu m2 note and Lumia 640 XL and matches the mid-range Redmi Note 2.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  5094
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  9504
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  11439
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  12038
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  13609
• Meizu m2 note
  14462
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM
  26368

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy A8
  1992
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  1508
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  1505
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  1396
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  1171
• Meizu m2 note
  656
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM
  502

After the Galaxy A8 tests we went into this review thinking that the Exynos chipset in the Galaxy J7 will outperform the Snapdragon 615. After all, the Exynos 5430 in the A8 made short work of it and this one is a 7-series Exynos but that's not the case. The Galaxy A8, apparently, has faster CPU cores and a beefier GPU.

So when it comes to the Galaxy J7, if you have a choice, get the Snapdragon 615 version - you're quite likely to see a difference in gaming performance, depending on the game it could be a significant one.