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Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Past its prime

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £99
inc VAT (Pre-pay, as of 20th May)

It's surprisingly quick for a budget phone, but its poor screen and mediocre camera can't keep up with the competition

Specifications

Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz Marvell PXA 1908, Screen Size: 4.5in, Screen resolution: 800×480, Rear camera: 5 megapixels, Storage (free): 8GB (4.95GB), Wireless data: 3G, 4G, Size: 131x64x8.8mm, Weight: 131g, Operating system: Android 5.1.1

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime now from Carphone Warehouse

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Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Battery Life

One thing you don’t have to worry about with the Core Prime is its overall stamina, as it lasted an impressive 12h 00m in our continuous video playback test with the screen brightness set to our usual measurement of 170cd/m2. This is a brilliant result for a phone that only has a rather small 2,000mAh battery, so you should definitely get a decent day’s use out of the Core Prime before you have to return it to the mains.

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Storage

It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that the Core Prime only has 8GB of storage, of which just 5GB is actually available to the user, so you’ll probably need to buy a microSD card if you like storing lots of files or apps locally.

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Camera

Another pleasant surprise is its 5-megapixel rear camera. While its resolution isn’t as high as other budget smartphones – the 3rd Gen Moto G has a 13-megapixel camera, for instance – it produced some remarkably decent shots when I took it outdoors, as colours were rich and vibrant with very little noise on show. Darker areas were a little lacking in detail, but this isn’t surprising at this price. Just bear in mind that there’s no HDR mode on the Core Prime, so you’ll be stuck using its Auto mode for the vast majority of your shots.

^ There’s not a wealth of fine detail on show, but the Core Prime’s camera proved surprisingly capable outdoors

However, it clearly struggled with our indoor tests, as colours here were much flatter and grainier than they were outside. A lot of our still life objects had very hazy outlines as well, and its colour temperature had a rather strange tinge of pink, making everything seem a bit off and unnatural overall.

^ Unlike our outdoor shots, there was a lot of noise in our low light shots, and colours didn’t look nearly as vibrant

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review:: Verdict

The main problem with the Core Prime, though, is its age. When it first came out in 2014, it had fewer handsets to compete with, but ever since Motorola completely rewrote the rulebook on what we should expect from cut-price smartphones with its Moto G and Moto E handsets, the Core Prime just can’t cut it against its modern rivals. It’s reasonably quick and has a decent battery life, but its display, gaming performance, lack of storage and, to some extent, its camera, all fall short of both the 3rd Gen Moto G and even the 2nd Gen Moto E.

It is reasonably cheap, as you’re not only getting a vastly superior phone with the Moto G, but you’re also getting one with the very latest version of Android. This gives you access to more features than the Core Prime’s Android 5.1 interface, and it’s also more likely that the Moto G will be updated to Android N 7.0 as well, which, given Samsung’s rather lethargic approach to new software updates thus far, is unlikely to ever come to the Core Prime. As a result, the Moto G continues its reign as our go-to budget smartphone of choice, leaving Samsung’s handset feeling decidedly past its prime.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime now from Carphone Warehouse

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Hardware
ProcessorQuad-core 1.2GHz Marvell PXA 1908
RAM1GB
Screen size4.5in
Screen resolution800×480
Screen typeLCD
Front camera2 megapixels
Rear camera5 megapixels
FlashLED
GPSYes
CompassNo
Storage (free)8GB (4.95GB)
Memory card slot (supplied)microSD
Wi-Fi802.11n
BluetoothBluetooth 4.0
NFCYes
Wireless data3G, 4G
Size131x64x8.8mm
Weight131g
Features
Operating systemAndroid 5.1.1
Battery size2,000mAh
Buying information
WarrantyOne year RTB
Part codeSM-G361F

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