Samsung Galaxy J2 (Dual Sim) Review
The current phone at hand is the fifth phone I’ve ever owned since my first flip phone in Elementary school years ago. The black, dual-SIM smartphone is a Samsung Galaxy J2 with the model number SM-J200H, and at five years of age since our first encounter in 2014, it is worse for the wear. Thankfully, being a Samsung, it is durable and remains usable throughout my day despite the chipped edges, scratched back cover, its outdated model in the line of Samsung Galaxy phones, and the cracked screen film (I had to foresight to buy one considering my butterfingers and the presence of a pair of growing twin siblings- now four this year). In a typical day, besides using the phone to surf the Internet, use my range of apps, text, call, and video chat, I also take photos, videos, and listen to music via my Bluetooth Sony headphones.
The Samsung Galaxy J2 has the total internal storage capacity of 8 Gigabytes along with RAM of 1-2 Gigabytes. Compared to the iPhones- or the recent Samsung Galaxy J4 Core from 2018, to say nothing to the other Samsung Series- this phone’s capacity is lacking. Nonetheless, with my external 8 Gigabyte SD Card, it is adequate. The phone came with all the default Android and Google apps and features any phone of both these providers would have. In addition to those, the apps most commonly used on my phone include Uber, Wattpad, Instagram, a WPS Package app- if not the Google Document app; WhatsApp, a webtoon or webcomic app, GuitarTuna which is connected to Yousician, games like Choices, and graphic design apps used intermittently for editing photos for Instagram, like 9Cut for Instagram, or Canva. Often times, when a large application is needed, like Uber, I would be forced to uninstall another application, like the GuitarTuna app, and it can be a bother. It is one of the main reasons I’m planning to buy another phone with larger internal memory.
I love using Wattpad because, as a writer, it provides an accessible platform I can use anytime anywhere. I have been using it for the last four years to publish my short stories and collections of poetry. It is easy to use, interactive, and allows for a lot of freedom- both in writing and design. My other favorite application is Instagram. Besides Facebook and Google, Instagram is my remaining main social media account and not only is it easier to peruse and more fun and interactive than Facebook and Google, but it appeals to myself as a lover of beautiful things and visually experiencing other places and the current occurrences in my loved one’s lives. It enables me to share what I love and witness at home, online, and whenever I travel, with friends abroad and in Kenya, my home country. The graphic applications are all used to either create posts for my Instagram Wall, or to design covers for my Wattpad books. I have also used the application a couple of times to make posters for various events in my home church’s youth ministry.
WhatsApp is an application that, according to hearsay, was meant for business usage but went viral and became popular with everyone. I can see why. Without having to use social media applications, I can chat, video call, and send pictures, music, or videos, to anyone whose number I have on my phone and has the WhatsApp application. Therefore, I use it daily and everyone saves on mobile airtime expenses.
When it comes to the entertainment applications, if I’m not amusing myself with the role playing games like Choices where plots unfurl for my characters based on the decisions I make for my character, or watching an Asian drama, or animation, on Youtube, then I’m reading various genres of webcomics or webtoons on apps such as Line Webtoon, WebComics, or MangaToon. I may also be reading webnovels on Google Chrome. The love for comics and manga derives from my love for Japanese animations since childhood, and webtoons are singular in that the pages are colored, unlike Japanese manga, so the reading experience is unique.
Also in the category of entertainment, the GuitarTuna application is used when I’m practicing my acoustic guitar in the evenings. The application is wholesome with a tuning program, chord library, and timed practice challenges, therefore allowing self-learning at my pace. The connected, larger, Yousician application requires one to open an account, and from there, encourages learners to challenge themselves to practice different songs, sequences, and rhythms in contest with other learners around the world.
Whether my phone made life easier is evident. I have an online platform and place to present myself, my ideas, and my work to the rest of the world. With no pressure to find a computer, or use my laptop, I can easily access the rest of the world with one tap of my smartphone and just as quickly receive inspiration and connection with people I would possibly never meet otherwise. Secondly, contacting others is instantaneous and unlimited to most places in the world. This technological advantage of our era and generation is a source of wonderment, pride, and convenience. However, just the same, it has just as many drawbacks.
Having a phone has led to reduced socialization time with my younger siblings, less time to finish the day’s allocated tasks, increased laziness, and lowered creativity at times in terms of what to do to pass time besides read and work on my musical, book, or latest poetry series. Technology does so much of the thinking for us- giving us amusement, thoughts, and entertainment- that, as good as it is, leads to dependency on this source of entertainment as if it was the only, or most fulfilling, one. This leads to an aversion to self-driven work that involves a lot of menial work, brainstorming, and time consumption.
Technological addiction has long since been proven and it takes time and personal commitment to decrease mobile screen time for any change to happen. Unfortunately, general technological use can only be cut out from a person’s life so far before it becomes more of an inconvenience than a therapeutic cure. All in all, I love my phone. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world- except the Bible, of course. It’s a good thing Google’s services are so perverse in the mobile and Internet industry. Even if I lose my phone to theft, loss, or an accidental slip into the abyss of a latrine, I can be assured that I just did my monthly back-up and nothing is for the worse. It would have been time to replace the old fellow anyhow.
Samsung Galaxy J2 (Dual Sim) Review © www.nigeriapricetoday.com.ng
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