Samsung Galaxy Core LTE review: Fast at the core

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Core LTE crosses no lines to deliver what the company thinks is the right balance between equipment and price. Focus is on a single feature, until recently exclusive to premium smartphones - LTE connectivity.

Samsung Galaxy Core LTE in black
It's a simple gameplan the Galaxy Core LTE is following, like a number of namesake predecessors, to offer strictly the essentials and little more. The original Galaxy Core was quite successful, and warranted a couple of upgrades. We guess most of the credit goes to the dual-SIM version. Less than a year later, the Core lineup is promoted to the LTE league.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; dual-band 3G with HSPA
• 4.5" 16M-color qHD capacitive touchscreen; 244ppi
• Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
• Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 2,100mAh Li-Ion battery
• 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus
• 0.3 MP front-facing camera, VGA video recording
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wireless Hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• 8GB of built-in storage
• microSD card slot
• microUSB v2.0
• Bluetooth v4.0
• Stereo FM radio
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Main disadvantages

• Mediocre performance
• Uninspiring screen
• Android version is not up to date

The fastest network data aside, Samsung managed a couple of improvements elsewhere too. The most obvious change is the increase in screen size. Better yet, the resolution caught up and we must say the jump from WVGA to qHD is actually bigger than the nominal difference in screen real estate.
LTE support called for a more robust processing, so a dual-core Cortex A9 CPU and 1GB of RAM promise a speed boost on the newcomer that's not limited to network data.

Samsung Galaxy Core LTE live images
The corner cutting has affected the software package, though, and while the Galaxy Core LTE comes with a newer 4.2 Jelly Bean, it's two generation behind what's currently available elsewhere. OK, that's nothing that can't be fixed with an update later on.
Now, let's begin to find out what the Samsung Galaxy Core LTE can do at this point.