Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) review: Jump start

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) touts a 13MP camera sensor just like its predecessor. However, it's a completely new module with a fast f/1.9 aperture, compared to f/2.2 a year ago. In 4:3 aspect ratio, the camera shoots stills at 4128x3096 pixels.

The J7 (2016) offers Pro mode, but it's nothing like the one on the upper range models. It only gives you White balance, ISO and Exposure compensation. Essentially, the settings most phones have, but in a more accessible arrangement.

The camera UI is overly familiar

The phone also sports the option to quick launch the camera with a double Home button press.

More Modes options include Night mode, Sound & shot, Sports and HDR.

As for the samples themselves are solid for a mid-range smartphone. The photos are rich in detail, a moderate amount of noise, although shadows aren't particularly well developed. Colors are pretty accurate, erring a little on the cold side from time to time.

Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) camera samples

The HDR samples are excellent, with the J7 (2016) managing to retain extra information in both highlights and shadows without going overboard and producing an overly flat image.

HDR on • HDR off • HDR on • HDR off

And just like the Galaxy J5 (2016), the bigger brother places a special accent on the front-facing camera. It's a 5MP snapper with f/1.9 lens and LED flash for those special party selfies.

Color are excellent and detail is pretty good as well. Dynamic range is pretty limited though as you can see from the sample below.

Selfie camera is good

Finally, we've uploaded 13MP camera samples to our photo quality comparison tool for you to see how the Galaxy J7 (2016) fares against the competition.

Good 1080p videos

The Galaxy J7 (2016) records 1080p @ 30fps. Our video samples were recorded at a bitrate of 17Mbps and with 256Kbps, 48KHz audio.

In terms of quality, colors are nicely shot, while detail is plenty. Contrast is great, too, but the constant focus hunting is rather annoying.

Here is a short 1080p video (8s, 17.9MB) for download.

You can also see how the Galaxy J7 (2016) fares against the competition in our video comparison tool.