If you are in the market for a new Samsung smartphone and you can’t find a way to get past the decision of whether to go with the Galaxy J5 or the Galaxy S5 Neo, you’ve come to the right place.
Of course, it is not an easy choice to come down to these two, especially when considering the massive number of mid-rangers Samsung boasts. If anything, the most common names are from the Galaxy S and Note series, but what of the rest?
Samsung introduced the Galaxy J series last year and followed it up with another premium mid-tier lineup known as Galaxy A series. While it is easy to see the Galaxy S and Note series handsets sticking around for a while, usually, the mid-tiers fade away quickly to give room for even newer mid-range devices. With this in mind, you can still pick a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S5 handset that adds a “Neo” tag to flagship’s name.
Released in 2014, Galaxy S5 packs 2-year old flagship specs and as for the Galaxy S5 Neo, it has been retooled to give even better performance than the standard model. But one will be asking whether there is any point of getting an older flagship or sticking with a new mid-range device.
Well, if Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) and Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo are in your mind, here is a closer look at how these two stack up.
Design and display
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) has very close resemblance to the Galaxy S5 Neo. Both have the same shape; be it the rounded plastic frames, the square rear cameras, and even their height – these two are almost identical. The Galaxy J5 (2015) is 142mm tall and so is the Galaxy S5 Neo, however, the latter is slightly thicker than the former with measurements of 8.1mm and 7.9mm respectively. As for the weight, the S5 Neo weighs 145g, which is a mere gram less than the J5.
As for the display quality, you might want to go with the Galaxy S5 Neo thanks to its flagship offering of 5.1 inches and 1080p resolution. On the contrary, the Galaxy J5 (2015) packs a 5-inch 720p display screen, but it still a Super AMOLED panel like the one on the S5 Neo. There is no doubt that the Neo is better placed in terms of display quality than the J5.
Storage and performance
While Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) comes in as a mid-range device, it is not surprising to see the device packing an onboard storage of just 8GB. Even though it can still be expanded via a microSD card of up to 128GB, you still get the same capabilities on the Galaxy S5 Neo in addition to 16GB of onboard storage.
Looking at the performance specs, Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo comes out on top thanks to the fact that the S5 lineup was once a premium phone. Of course, being a different variant of the S5, it doesn’t come with the same chipset. The phone features an octa-core Exynos 7580 SoC with a clock speed of 1.6GHz and is supported by a RAM of 2GB. As for Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015), you only get a quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC with a clock speed of 1.2GHz and is supported by a smaller RAM of 1.5GB.
With the flagship factor in mind, the Galaxy S5 Neo is without a doubt the top performer between these two, but it doesn’t make the J5 (2015) any slower and responsive in handling day to day tasks. The difference is that the experience on the Neo is slightly smoother than what the J5 has to offer.
Camera, battery, and price
Smartphones have become our cameras and as such, a camera is a very important aspect of any phone. On this end, Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) still trails the Galaxy S5 Neo as the two have 13MP and 16MP rear snappers, respectively. However, you still get outstanding shots from either phone, however, you will have better shots on the S5 Neo when inside as opposed to the J5.
On the front, Galaxy J5 (2015) has a 5MP snapper that features an LED flash, just like the main camera. This promises great selfies even when in poor lighting conditions. On the contrary, there is no LED flash on the 5MP selfie camera on the Galaxy S5 Neo.
Even though Samsung Galaxy J5 has a smaller battery capacity of 2600mAh, you will still get a decent battery life thanks to the fewer pixels (720p) that are to be powered throughout the day. On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo has a unit of 2800mAh but due to the 1080p resolution, don’t be surprised if your battery dies before the J5 does.
As for the pricing, Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo has a price tag of $399.99 on Amazon while the same platform sells Samsung Galaxy J5 (2015) at a just $171.98.