Samsung Galaxy Core Prime review: Core values

A poor display

The Samsung Galaxy Core Prime features a 4.5" screen with WVGA resolution, or 480 x 800px in concrete numbers. The Core line rarely deviates from those numbers and even then, it doesn't go further than a 4.7" 540 x 960 screen.

It's a regular TFT LCD unit, which initially looked quite good. Our test showed that while viewing angles are decent for a non-IPS display, its downfall is the poor contrast ratio.

The image looks way too washed out, which also negatively affects colors, they look dull and lack saturation. This display is not on the same level as the one on the Grand Prime, despite both phones sharing the Grand epithet.

Our measurements show a rather good 1:1000 contrast ratio, but that was achieved only in pitch darkness. The display is rather reflective so even a little ambient light can spoil the contrast. Also, we get the sense that the contrast curve of the display is not set right, which makes matters worse.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy Core LTE	0.27	221	828	0.68	561	827
Samsung Galaxy Core Prime	0.17	181	1115	0.41	462	1063
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime	0.25	194	785	0.56	426	756
HTC Desire 600 dual sim	0.18	200	1106	0.46	532	1161
Sony Xperia E3	-	-	-	0.69	608	887
Nokia Lumia 630	0.24	184	764	0.71	508	771
Motorola Moto E	0.27	278	1024	0.49	522	1062

The pixel density and sharpness are unimpressive too. You see, 207ppi isn't much to talk about. It's not bad, text is readable and photos look sharp enough, but they are not as nice looking as on better LCDs.

Here's what the LCD matrix looks like under magnification.

Samsung Galaxy Core Prime

We would like to say that contrast was sacrificed in the name of brightness, but that's not the case. The display isn't very bright either and we never went below 50% on the slider.

Again, there's no ambient light sensor so you can't rely on automatic brightness to adjust the screen as you move between locations with different lighting.

Not that even going full blast helps the display outside, where bright sunlight washes it out pretty easily. This is once again an issue of contrast and reflectivity- the difference between white and black is small under good lighting conditions, but when glare comes into play things get very difficult to see.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Nokia 808 PureView
4.698
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
4.033
Apple iPhone 5
3.997
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
3.997
Apple iPhone 6
3.838
Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
3.799
Oppo R5
3.678
Samsung Galaxy K zoom
3.675
Nokia Lumia 930
3.567
Apple iPhone 5s
3.565
Samsung Galaxy S5
3.549
Nokia Lumia 735
3.547
Alcatel Idol X+
3.527
Apple iPhone 5c
3.512
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
3.509
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
3.487
Motorola RAZR MAXX
3.42
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
3.419
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
3.406
Nokia Lumia 925
3.402
Gionee Elife S5.5
3.386
Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
3.352
Samsung Omnia W
3.301
Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
3.174
Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
3.155
Samsung Ativ S
3.129
Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini
3.127
Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
3.118
Nokia N9
3.069
Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023
Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97
Samsung Galaxy Premier
2.958
Sony Xperia Z1
2.95
HTC One S
2.901
Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express
2.861
BlackBerry Q10
2.856
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
2.832
HTC Desire Eye
2.815
Gionee Elife S5.1
2.812
Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
2.801
BlackBerry Z30
2.79
Sony Xperia ZR
2.672
Huawei Ascend P1
2.655
Sony Xperia Z3
2.618
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
2.616
Sony Xperia T3
2.609
BlackBerry Passport
2.595
Nokia Lumia 900
2.562
Motorola Moto G 4G
2.546
HTC One Max
2.537
Nokia Lumia 720
2.512
HTC One
2.504
Motorola Moto G
2.477
Sony Xperia Z
2.462
Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424
Samsung Galaxy S III mini
2.422
Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro
2.416
LG G Flex
2.407
HTC One (M8)
2.371
Motorola RAZR i
2.366
Meizu MX4
2.366
Sony Xperia ZL
2.352
Samsung Galaxy Note II
2.307
HTC One (M8) for Windows
2.291
Oppo Find 7a
2.279
Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272
Apple iPhone 4S
2.269
HTC Desire 600 dual sim
2.262
Nokia Asha 311
2.25
LG Nexus 5
2.228
Nokia Lumia 820
2.193
HTC One (E8)
2.185
Oppo N3
2.181
Nokia Lumia 920
2.17
HTC One X
2.158
Nokia N8
2.144
Nokia Lumia 620
2.142
Nokia 515
2.134
HTC Desire 500
2.129
Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119
Sony Xperia acro S
2.119
Nokia Lumia 1020
2.103
Oppo Find 5
2.088
Sony Xperia SL
2.078
Nokia Lumia 630
2.056
BlackBerry Z10
2.051
Huawei Ascend Mate7
2.024
Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active
2.022
Apple iPhone 4
2.016
HTC One mini
2.003
Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001
Huawei Ascend P7
1.992
LG G2
1.976
OnePlus One
1.961
Oppo R819
1.957
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
1.955
Lenovo Vibe X2
1.952
Sony Xperia Z2
1.944
Sony Xperia E3
1.943
Nokia Lumia 1320
1.941
HTC One mini 2
1.94
Samsung Galaxy Camera
1.938
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime
1.935
Sony Xperia J
1.932
Acer CloudMobile S500
1.931
LG Nexus 4
1.926
LG G Pro 2
1.922
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
1.913
Nokia Asha 308
1.911
HTC Butterfly 2
1.905
Sony Xperia T
1.894
Nokia Lumia 830
1.887
HTC Desire X
1.878
HTC Butterfly
1.873
HTC Windows Phone 8X
1.873
HTC Butterfly S
1.867
Huawei Ascend P6
1.865
Huawei Ascend Mate
1.845
LG G2 mini
1.838
LG G3
1.82
Nokia Lumia 1520
1.813
HTC Desire 616 dual sim
1.797
Sony Xperia V
1.792
HTC Desire 816
1.783
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772
HTC Desire 700 dual sim
1.769
Sony Xperia U
1.758
Meizu MX3
1.754
LG Optimus G
1.753
Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
1.74
Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
1.735
Sony Xperia SP
1.733
Oppo Find 7
1.691
LG Optimus 4X HD
1.691
HTC One V
1.685
BlackBerry Q5
1.682
LG Optimus Vu
1.68
Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
1.672
LG Optimus GJ
1.666
LG Optimus 3D Max
1.658
HTC Desire V
1.646
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
1.632
Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
1.622
Jolla Jolla
1.605
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
1.578
Sony Xperia go
1.577
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160
1.566
Samsung Galaxy Core
1.563
LG Optimus G Pro
1.552
Motorola Moto E
1.545
LG Optimus 3D
1.542
Nokia Asha 302
1.537
Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
1.507
BlackBerry Curve 9320
1.488
Sony Xperia M
1.473
Oppo N1
1.47
Meizu MX 4-core
1.462
Nokia Lumia 610
1.432
Samsung Galaxy S Duos
1.4
Sony Xperia M2
1.393
Microsoft Lumia 535
1.393
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
1.393
Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
1.38
Sony Xperia E1
1.372
Nokia Lumia 625
1.371
Gigabyte GSmart G1355
1.361
Sony Xperia L
1.351
Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
1.35
Xiaomi Redmi 1S
1.35
HTC Desire 510
1.34
Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
1.331
Sony Xperia miro
1.324
Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand
1.321
Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
1.315
HTC Desire C
1.3
Nokia X
1.291
Sony Xperia C
1.283
Nokia Asha 503
1.281
Nokia Asha 501
1.27
LG Optimus L7
1.269
Nokia Lumia 510
1.268
Samsung Galaxy Fame
1.245
LG Optimus L9
1.227
Meizu MX
1.221
Samsung Galaxy Young
1.22
Sony Xperia E
1.215
Nokia XL
1.204
Sony Xperia E dual
1.203
Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C
1.198
Samsung Galaxy Pocket
1.18
Nokia Asha 305
1.178
Nokia Asha 306
1.175
Sony Xperia neo L
1.169
Sony Xperia tipo
1.166
Nokia Lumia 520
1.161
Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos
1.148
Samsung Galaxy mini 2
1.114

Optional dual-SIM, optional LTE

The Samsung Galaxy Core Prime is surprisingly well-armed in its connectivity department. The base model is a single-SIM with 2G (quad-band) and 3G (quad or six band) support. There is a dual-SIM version too where the second card gets quad-band 2G connectivity.

For data there's HSPA with 42.2Mbps downlink and 5.76Mbps uplink on the primary SIM. Two versions - G360G and G360F - have LTE connectivity and thanks to the current Snapdragon 410 chipset, it's of the speedy Cat. 4 variety. It should offer up to 150Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink (same as the iPhone 6) where the carrier network allows it. Unfortunately, the LTE models are only available in China and Taiwan for the time being.

Local connections are handled by single-channel Wi-Fi b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct for file sharing but no DLNA for media sharing.

There's also Bluetooth 4.0 and even NFC, which is rare to see on phones in this market segment. The Galaxy Core Prime will do some good in bringing NFC to the masses as the short-range wireless tech has had a slow burn for years.

For positioning, the phone relies on the standard A-GPS, plus GLONASS and Beidou, the Russian and Chinese answers to GPS. Beidou does not have worldwide coverage, but China is an important market for Samsung and this phone in particular.

A microUSB 2.0 port handles charging and wired data transfer duties. It doesn't have extras like MHL or USB On-The-Go.

Battery life

Running on an average 2,000mAh battery the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime relies on the new Snapdragon 410 chipset for great battery life and it worked. It helps that the display isn't terribly bright, but the handset showed impressive results in all categories.

It starts off with a great talk time - a little short of 17 hours. We should note that the test was done on a single-SIM LTE version of the Galaxy Core Prime. Web browsing and video playback both drain the battery in about 10 hours.

These scores, combined with an efficient standby mean the phone will last you three days of use, two if you push it harder.

Next Page » 4. User interface

3. Display, connectivity, battery

Reviews Samsung Galaxy Core Prime reviewPage 3