Samsung Galaxy J3 (6) first look

Every two-wheeler rider knows that talking on the phone while riding is extremely dangerous but they still do it. Samsung’s new Galaxy J3 (6) smartphone comes with a unique feature to make the life of two-wheeler riders easier. The South Korean giant on Thursday launched the Galaxy J3 (6) with a new feature called S Bike and said that this is the mobile industry’s first feature designed for two-wheeler riders. We got a chance to spend some time with the Galaxy J3 (6) smartphone at the launch event. Here’s how the S Bike mode works in the phone.

The new S Bike Mode feature on the Galaxy J3 (6) is designed to ensure that two-wheeler riders do not face any disturbance from incoming phone calls. Once this feature is activated, Galaxy J3 (6) users will be able to detect incoming calls through a feature called ‘Smart Reply’. For user convenience, Samsung has made S Bike Mode the default in the Quick Settings panel.

Additionally, users can activate this mode by tapping the Galaxy J3 (6) with the NFC tag that comes bundled in the retail box. The company says that the NFC tag can be stuck on the bike’s petrol tank or helmet, allowing users to easily activate and deactivate this mode.

While riding, the caller will be informed by a pre-recorded message that the user is on the two-wheeler and is not able to receive calls. While this mode is active, the user will not be able to hear the incoming call and will not be disturbed as there will be no vibration or ring during the incoming call. However, the caller of the Galaxy J3 (6) user will be able to directly call the caller by pressing 1 in case of an emergency.

Samsung has also provided an additional feature called Motion Lock for the safety of the rider. This feature ensures that the rider stops his vehicle at a halt before responding to an emergency call. To disable S Bike mode, the user has to tap and hold the button on the screen.

The S bike mode is easy to use and also shows a list of calls that the user missed while riding. Smart Reply allows the Galaxy J3 (6) user to send a pre-written message to selected contacts informing them when their ride will end and when they will be able to talk again. Samsung has also introduced a rewards plan for Galaxy J3 (6) users through which active riders can earn Rs 1500 every month on FreeCharge.

According to Samsung, like the Ultra Data Saving Mode, the S Bike Mode on the J series has also been developed at Samsung’s Indian R&D centre.

Samsung India Senior Vice President Asim Warsi said that after some time this mode will be available for all 4G smartphones of Samsung Galaxy J series.

Talking about the Galaxy J3 (6), it looks similar to the company’s other Galaxy J-series handsets. This phone will be available in black, white and gold color variants.

When we first held the phone in our hands, it felt like it was made of plastic. With a 5-inch display, the Galaxy J3 (6) is comfortable to use with one hand. Its rounded edges and faux leather rear cover make it easy to hold. Overall, the Galaxy J3 (6) gives us a feel of Samsung’s Galaxy design.

The front of the phone has a 5-inch Super AMOLED display which offers good viewing angles. Below the display is Samsung’s signature physical home button and capacitive buttons. Above the display is the Samsung logo and a 5-megapixel front camera. The volume buttons are on the left and the power button is on the right.

Talking about the rear, there is an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash. Like other handsets of the J series, the rear panel of the Galaxy J3 (6) is removable. On opening the rear cover, two SIM card slots, a microSD card slot and a 2600 mAh battery can be seen. Weighing just 138 grams, the Galaxy J3 (6) feels much lighter than other smartphones of the same size available in the market.

The handset packs a quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and 1.5GB of RAM. The 8GB storage can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card. The phone supports 4G LTE. The Galaxy J3 (6) runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top. On the software front, Samsung claims that the Ultra Data Saving (UDS) mode on the phone will help customers save up to 50 per cent mobile data. The company says the feature will also save data on music streaming apps.

In our brief time with the Samsung Galaxy J3 (6), we did not notice any issues with touch and multitasking. The phone’s 8-megapixel camera took good photos in artificial light indoors, although we did not get a chance to take photos in sunlight. The front camera takes decent selfies indoors, but lacks detailing. However, we cannot give a final verdict on the phone’s performance and camera until we test the device in our review.

Samsung Galaxy J3 (6) aka Galaxy J3 (2016) smartphone has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs 8,990. With this price, the phone will compete with phones under Rs 10,000. The unique S Bike mode can prove to be a big selling point for the phone but we have to wait and see if people will really like this mode or not.