Early last June, Samsung took the wraps off the budget-friendly Galaxy J3 Pro, which retailed in China for a reasonable 990 Yuan. With its 5.0-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 410 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 2,650 mAh battery, 990 Yuan really wasn’t a bad asking price at all. The phone also came with 16 GB of on-board storage, an 8 MP rear camera, a 5 MP front camera, and dual SIM support.
When the device launched in China, it was also running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop – a version of Android that was first made available way back in April 2015. This dated version of Android was certainly the sorest spot on the J3 Pro’s spec sheet at launch, though Samsung did indicate that it planned to update the device to Marshmallow at a later date.
Now Samsung has brought the Galaxy J3 Pro to India, almost a year after the device officially launched in China. And while some of the specifications have changed this time around, unfortunately the software version has stayed the same. The Galaxy J3 Pro is launching in India with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
What took Samsung so long to launch the J3 Pro in India? And why, oh why, is it running Lollipop? There are a lot of questions here, and unfortunately we don’t have many answers.
It’s worth noting that there are a few differences between the Indian and Chinese models. The India-bound J3 Pro is powered by a 1.5 GHz Spreadtrum processor, and also comes with a slightly less beefy 2,600 mAh battery.
At any rate, you can now buy the Galaxy J3 Pro from Samsung’s website for INR 7,990 (~$124) in black, white, and gold color options. We wouldn’t recommend it though – there are plenty of other great smartphones available in India, and a number of impressive budget-friendly phones out there as well.