The best alternatives for the Samsung Galaxy J5

Samsung improved the case of the Galaxy J5 compared to the previous generation and equips the current model with a metal frame. This is also the case for many rivals, only the Honor 5C and the ZTE Blade V7 feature full aluminum cases.

The Galaxy A3 has the smallest screen size in this comparison – the screen of the Galaxy J5 is 0.5 inches larger – so it is also the lightest model in this comparison group at just 131 grams (~4.6 oz). The Xperia XA is only slightly heavier at 137 grams (~4.8 oz), despite the large display.

Most smartphones have an integrated battery by now, and the Galaxy J5 definitely has an advantage here since it is the only device with an accessible battery. You can also get a Duos version of the smartphone with dual-SIM support as well as the storage extension via microSD. All rivals support microSD-cards, but only the Honor 5C actually has three card slots. The other models either use a hybrid solution or waive the dual-SIM functionality completely.

This means the Galaxy J5 comes out ahead in terms of maintainability.

Contrary to its rivals, the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) is equipped with a Super AMOLED screen. It features the HD resolution and produces more vibrant colors as well as rich blacks. The luminance is also very good at up to 550 nits. No other smartphone in this comparison can compete with this result. However, there is one significant drawback: It does not have an ambient light sensor, which can adjust the luminance of the panel automatically. This is basically a no-go when you consider the original price of the device. Even smartphones for around 120 Euros (~$128) are usually equipped with this feature. Another drawback is the PWM control of the panel luminance, which sets in at 50% of the brightness or less. This can quickly result in tired eyes or even headaches for sensitive users. All the rivals use IPS displays without PWM and both the Honor 5C and the Huawei P9 Lite feature the much higher Full HD resolution compared to the Galaxy J5. The other areas like color accuracy, brightness distribution and contrast ratio usually favor the Galaxy J5, only Samsung's Galaxy A3 is sometimes even better.

However, the Samsung Galaxy J5 leaves a rather weak impression in terms of performance. It is the slowest device here in the system benchmark AnTuTu and the Galaxy J5 cannot keep up with the rivals in terms of CPU or GPU performance, either. The Snapdragon 410 is just too outdated. Devices with the modern mainstream SoC Kirin 650 in particular manage good scores across the board. At least the microSD-card reader of the Galaxy J5 is very fast.

The remaining specifications of all comparison devices are quite similar: LTE, Wi-Fi-Direct and OTG are supported. The Xperia XA is the only smartphone that supports fast 5.0 GHz WLAN networks. You are limited to devices from Honor or Huawei if you want a fingerprint scanner. The main cameras of all models have a 13 MP sensor, only the front cameras differ. Sony, Honor, and Huawei use higher resolution sensors with 8 MP. All in all, the cameras are on a similar level, but the components from ZTE, Honor, and Huawei are slightly superior in our opinion.

All smartphones are currently shipped with the quite modern operating system Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Updates for the new version Android 7.0 Nougat are already announced for the Sony Xperia XA, Honor 5C and the Huawei P9 Lite. Samsung already confirmed an update to version 7 for the Galaxy A3 (2016), but this does not seem to be the case for the J-models with Qualcomm SoCs since the chip manufacturer apparently does not want to create new drivers.

Every smartphone should have a lot of stamina, and this is actually one area where the Samsung Galaxy J5 comes out ahead and is only beaten by other Samsung devices. However, the J5 also has the largest battery capacity in this comparison group. Similar batteries are used for smartphones like the P9 Lite and Honor 5C, but they have higher display resolutions and therefore slightly shorter battery runtimes.

The Xperia XA falls behind here due to its comparatively small battery, even though the Blade V7 shows that a small battery does not necessarily have to result in short runtimes.