NotebookCheck | Adreas Kilian

Samsung has created a sympathetic entry-level smartphone with the Galaxy J3 (2016) that offers many plus points despite its moderate price. The buyer will mainly have to accept noticeable cutbacks in terms of integrated storage and the primary camera's middling photo quality.

Alphr | Alan Martin, Jonathan Bray

The Samsung Galaxy J3 is a great budget smartphone. It's reasonably well made and has a great screen that leaves me wondering why more manufacturers don't specify AMOLED panels on their cheap handsets.

Trusted Reviews | Max Parker

The Samsung Galaxy J3 is a low-cost phone that makes a few too many compromises... The software is about the best you can get outside of vanilla Android. However, a slow CPU, annoying display and mediocre performance quite simply mean there are better options available – even at this price.

TechRadar | Andrew Williams

The Samsung Galaxy J3 is an 'almost-there' budget phone which looks and feels right, but makes a few sacrifices in the wrong places.

Expert Reviews | Jonathan Bray

The Samsung Galaxy J3 is certainly a respectable budget smartphone, but with very little difference compared to the Galaxy J5 in terms of price - I can't think of any reason why you'd pick this instead.

CNET UK | Jessica Dolcourt

Light users will do fine with Samsung's entry-level Galaxy J3, but you'll want a higher-powered phone if you plan to keep it around for two years or more.

Tom's Guide | Philip Michaels

The J3's strengths - its battery life and appealing exterior - can't obscure the device's glaring weaknesses. Even if you can overlook the phone's subpar performance, the blurry images taken by the J3's camera just aren't acceptable in an era when even low-priced phones feature cameras that can take sharper images.