Sprint is going to release a second-generation version of the Samsung Galaxy J3 handset which will be available under its own network and both of its no-contract prepaid arms Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile.
The phone will launch in the United States come Jan. 6, 2017, under the name Galaxy J3 Emerge. It retains much of the specifications found on regular Galaxy J3 handsets, though several of its internals have been bumped up this time.
The report comes from Evan Blass, consummate leakster with a trusted caliber of accuracy. Blass culled the official Emerge moniker from a user manual that VentureBeat reviewed.
Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge Specs
The Galaxy J3 Emerge comes with a 5-inch 720p screen like its previous iteration, but under the hood is a different conversation altogether. Sprint has upgraded the Galaxy J3's internals, whereas the 2016 came with a quad-core proprietary Exynos chipset with 1.5 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage, the Galaxy J3 Emerge will shift to an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage.
On the back is a 5-megapixel camera and on the front is a 2-megapixel camera. Sure, the configuration lags behind today's standards, but the Galaxy J3 Emerge belongs in the budget category, which is just par for the course. The rear camera is able to record 720p video, at least.
Will It Be Upgradeable To Nougat?
The handset won't ship with running Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, unfortunately, but it will still run android 6.0 Marshmallow, which is a step up to previous Galaxy J3 handsets that came with Android 5.0 Lollipop. There's still no word from Samsung if the Galaxy J3 Emerge will be included in its Nougat roadmap. Budget phones are typically withdrawn from current-gen Android operating systems, so prospects of Nougat for the Galaxy J3 are a stretch for now.
Disappointingly, Sprint hasn't bumped up the Galaxy J3 Emerge battery from the previous iteration: the phone still comes with a 2,600 mAh battery capacity. But Marshmallow's battery optimization improvements and Doze feature may at least help with efficient power consumption.
Pricing
Pricing for the phone under Sprint, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile hasn't been revealed yet, though the device's specs definitely do not spell a bank-breaking price point. Chances are, the Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge would slide comfortably in the budget smartphones range. Additionally, release dates for other countries apart from the United States are yet to be confirmed.
What do you think of the Samsung Galaxy J3 Emerge? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
