After months of rumors, Samsung Galaxy C7 2017 was finally unveiled a few weeks ago. The phone is not yet available for purchase in quite a good number of markets, but it’s already selling in China.
Unlike other markets, those in China know the Galaxy C7 2017 as the Galaxy C8. The same phone is also known as Samsung Galaxy J7+ in markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Why Samsung would opt for three different names for the same phone still amazes me, but names aside, the C7 2017 is a great device when it comes to specs, features, and pricing.
Picking up from where the original Galaxy C7 left, the refreshed version has a metallic unibody that houses quite an impressive package. There’s a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display screen with a 1080p resolution and always on display, just like the flagships from the S and Note families. In terms of power, you get a MediaTek Helio P20 system-on-chip (SoC) clocked at 2.4GHz, another strange decision from Samsung considering how rich the company is in terms of in-house Exynos processors that are generally better than MediaTek processors. There are two RAM options of either 3GB or 4GB.
Similarly, the phone has two storage options of 32GB and 64GB with room to expand using a microSD card of up to 256GB. Like the Galaxy Note 8, the new Samsung Galaxy C7 2017 has a dual-lens camera on the back featuring a 13MP+5MP package. How the two work is still unclear, but it is possible one is a standard lens and the other a wide-angle lens. Where the former has an aperture of f/1.7, the latter has a smaller, but still great, aperture of f/1.9, same as what the front-facing 16MP lens has. Video recording remains at full HD (1080p) and both ends have a LED flash for better shots in low-light conditions, but only the rear camera supports autofocus.
One major downside of using the Helio P20 processor is that the Galaxy C7 2017 still gets older features, for instance, Bluetooth 4.2 instead of the latest v5.0, USB 2.0 instead of the newer v3.1, slower LTE speeds, just to name but a few.
Other specs of Samsung Galaxy C7 2017 include a 3000mAh non-removable battery unit that is charged via a microUSB port, a front-mounted fingerprint scanner, 3.5mm audio jack and Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. With Samsung’s reputation in software updates, it’s great to see the C7 2017 preinstalled with an OS that has recently started rolling out to other Sammy devices. The phone is available in Gold, Black, and Pink color variants.
Price and availability
As pointed out earlier, the Galaxy C7 2017 is selling in China as the Galaxy C8. Despite the name differences, we expect to see no significant changes in terms of pricing – apart from the usual associated with import taxes in different countries. In China, the 3GB/32GB variant is priced at CNY 1,999 (about Ksh 31,300) and the 4GB/64GB variant comes in at CNY 2399 (about Ksh 37,500).
Samsung is expected to start selling the Galaxy C7 2017 in different markets across the globe this month, but the wider release should happen beginning next month. Stick around and we’ll let you know when the phone starts selling in Kenya.
