Samsung launches biker-friendly Galaxy J3 in India at Rs 8,990

Mumbai: Samsung India Electronics on Thursday announced the launch of the Samsung Galaxy J3 featuring the S bike mode, an industry-first dedicated feature for two-wheeler riders that is designed to enable responsible and tension free riding.

Once activated at the beginning of a ride, any caller trying to reach the Samsung Galaxy J3 user will be notified through an automated answering machine that the user is riding and cannot take calls so that the ride remains uninterrupted.

All the user needs to do is to switch on the S bike mode of Galaxy J3 before setting off on the ride, and the smart phone will automatically inform the caller that the user is currently riding a bike and is unable to take the call.

The caller may choose to press 1 to express urgency to talk with the biker for which the biker will have to bring his bike to a halt in order to take the call.

The J Series was launched with the Ultra Data Saving (UDS) mode in September 2015, a feature that has helped consumers save up to 50 per cent of mobile data usage.

Samsung has further enhanced this feature to include data savings on popular music streaming apps and over Wi-Fi after witnessing an adoption rate of over 50 per cent among consumers.

In order to carry the local innovation forward, Samsung is keen to establish the S bike mode as a responsible riding ritual where Samsung Galaxy J3 users will activate the mode before commencing their ride.

Both UDS and the newly launched S bike mode have been developed in Samsung’s Indian R&D centres. S bike mode will be available across all 4G-enabled Galaxy J series devices over a period of time.

The S bike mode, which was developed and integrated into the Galaxy J3 following extensive market research aimed to create innovations that are really meaningful and useful to people. This is how it works:

Quick Activation: Galaxy J3 has in-built NFC hardware and the device ships with an S bike mode NFC Tag. This tag can be affixed at a convenient place (eg. helmet or a fuel tank) and the user can gently tap the device on this tag to activate/deactivate the S bike mode. The user also has the option to use the quick panel to activate/deactivate this feature.

Urgent Call Alert System: All callers hear a pre-recorded message that informs callers that the Galaxy J3 user is riding a two-wheeler and is unable to take the call. The S bike mode user does not get any notification that there was an incoming call (to avoid distraction). In case the call is urgent, the caller may choose to press 1, which allows urgent calls to go through.

Motion Lock: This feature ensures that if the S bike mode user decides to take the urgent incoming call, he will need to bring his bike to a halt to be able to answer the call. The phone will not allow the incoming call to get answered owing to motion lock. This safety feature is designed to encourage responsible riding.

The S bike mode also sports an intuitive user interface where users can see a log of call notifications while the mode is enabled.

It also has a Smart Reply feature where selected contacts will receive an auto-SMS with an estimate of when the user is likely to be available for a call basis a trip destination entered by the user.

There is also a dashboard of time and distance travelled using the S bike mode where users stand a chance to win up to Rs1,500 per month from Freecharge for being a responsible rider.

Coming back to the salient features, Samsung Galaxy J3 provides an immersive experience with a large 5 inch HD super AMOLED screen.

Whether you are browsing, watching videos or surfing the web at blazing fast 4G speeds; vibrant colours and the larger display brings life to the content and enhances the viewing pleasure.

Equipped with sophisticated imaging capabilities, the handset comes with a camera that captures high quality, crisp and detailed photographs with its 8MP rear camera with an f2.2 aperture. It also features a 5 mega-pixel front camera to provide great video calling and selfie experience. The new smart phone is a great shooter that takes detailed photos that look professional, in-focus, and well-lit.

Under the hood, the Galaxy J3 is equipped with a 1.5 GHz Quad Core processor and 1.5 GB RAM for easy multi-tasking and fast speed.

Moreover, Samsung Galaxy J3 users on the Vodafone network get twice the data on select data packs for a period of 6 months in 4G circles and for 2 months in others

The handset is priced at Rs 8,990 and will be available in three colour options of gold, black and white exclusively on Snapdeal from March 31.