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The budget-conscious Samsung Galaxy J3 is at Virgin Mobile now and coming to Boost Mobile

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While everyone is getting excited for the Galaxy S7, Samsung went ahead and released its first phone of 2016 in the U.S. The Galaxy J3 might be the perfect phone for those looking for something that won’t break the bank.

This phone is already available in China as the Galaxy J3(6). You can grab it now from Virgin Mobile for $180, and it’s coming to Boost Mobile retail stores and select independent wireless retailers nationwide on Monday, January 18 for the same price, followed by online availability on Tuesday, January 19.

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The Galaxy J3 has a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 720p or 1,280 x 720 pixels. It’s powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor that’s most likely the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410. It also has 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which is very generous for a sub $200 phone. Plus, you can add an additional 128GB of storage via the MicroSD slot.

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The rear camera comes in at 5 megapixels, while the front-facer sports 2 megapixels. The battery is 2,600mAh, which should provide fantastic battery life when you consider the display resolution and processor size.

Users will also enjoy enhanced LTE as well as 4G LTE, 3G, and HD Voice.

Lastly, Android 5.1 Lollipop is onboard, and while this isn’t the latest and greatest, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, it should be more than adequate for this phone.

If you’re unfamiliar with Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile, both carriers offer very affordable plans.

Boost Mobile’s claim to fame is its “growing data” plans, which means your data grows provided you simply pay your bill on time. You get an increase of 500MB for every three on-time payments all the way up to 3GB for 18 on-time payments. Right now you can sign up for the $30 per month plan that includes unlimited talk and texts. It also includes 2GB of data, but that can grow to 5GB after 18 on-time payments. If you’re more data-hungry, you can opt for the $45 per month plan, which includes 5GB and can grow that to 8GB.

Virgin Mobile offers something very similar to T-Mobile’s Music Freedom, which allows you to stream music from a variety of apps without it counting toward your data allotment. Plans start at $35 per month and include unlimited talk and texts, as well as 1GB of high-speed data. You also get unlimited throttled data after you pass the 1GB mark each month.

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Robert Nazarian
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