Samsung Galaxy Grand Review

                                                    GRAND experience of GALAXY

My Ratings: 4/5

Large things attract me and when Galaxy Note was launched I decided to go for it but anyhow I decided in favour of iPhone 4S at that time. When Galaxy Grand was launched, it keeps tempting me from the day-1 and when I experienced in a mobile store I decided to go for it. I am using it for two weeks and want to share my views on this Grand creation of Samsung.

Features

1.2GHz Dual Core Processor

Android v4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS

5-inch Capacitive Touchscreen

8 MP Primary Camera & 2 MP Secondary Camera

Full HD Recording

Expandable Storage Capacity of 64 GB

Multi Window

Dual Standby SIM (GSM + GSM)

Display: This is the most talked about negative of this phone as many people are cynical about it. The 5-inch display has a 480x800 pixel resolution & pixel density of 187 ppi.  I suggest that you don’t go by figures and better practically experience it.  No doubt, S3 or Note has better and crispier displays but considering the Grand’s price the screen is not bad. It has good quality LCD with very good viewing angles. Pixilation is almost non-existent unless viewed at a ridiculously close range and that too after pinch zooming. Obviously text-readability cannot be compared with AMOLED or Retina Displays but overall experience is acceptable. Also, the low resolution provides better battery backup.

Speed: It has 1.2GHz Dual Core Processor & 1GB RAM out of which 500MB is available to user which is sufficient for browsing, gaming and general use. Applications open at lightning speed. Even after loading a lot of apps, I did not find the performance drop at any level.

Dual SIM performance: It is to be noted that only one SIM is 3G enabled (SIM1) and you have the liberty to choose SIM while making calls, browsing or messaging. But there is big catch regarding “ALWAYS ON” feature advertised by Samsung. It is not a feature but simply calls forwarding & call waiting combination provided by network operators at your cost.

Camera: The phone has 8MP primary camera with LED and 2MP front camera. The primary camera is capable of full HD video recording at 30fps. The phone offers various features such as Panorama, Face detection, Flash, Exposure value, Scene mode, ISO, White balance and so on. The best thing I liked about the camera is its speed, it even surpasses my iPhone. Many times I have to reconfirm in gallery to check that whether pic has been clicked or not. It would have been better if a physical camera button was provided considering the large screen size.

Sound: The speaker sound & call quality is acceptable though I never get the personal satisfaction while on call, may be because of over-satisfaction from my iPhone. The loudspeaker output is loud, crisp and clear. The headphone provided offers really great sound output with noticeable beats.

Video: It is a real blast with really smooth experience. I think Samsung has put in all their experience with S2 and S3 and bridged it here.

Keypad: The keypad is very comfortable to type but still far behind the 3.5in iPhone keypad experience. The best part of it is QWERTY keypad layout with the numbers 0 to 9 above it for easy access. It also supports gesture recognition that performs quite accurately. It also have inbuilt SWYPE feature but that didn’t worked well with me when compared to the accuracy of my Nokia N8.

Sensors: This is the biggest plus point of this phone as I was not expecting so much sensor-rich features at this price range. I am still way back in getting used to these sensors. There is motion control almost for all the things like unlocking, camera, screenshot, music play/pause, calling etc.

Multi-Window feature: It is a much talked about and advertised feature. It lets you to work on two screens simultaneously but you cannot choose any application of your choice to work in twin mode. In normal usage it is a useless feature and in last two weeks I have never used it once. In this feature you have got a floating keyboard that can be placed anywhere on the screen and is quite impressive.

Software/ UI: This phone has many features similar to Note and S2/S3 such as Multi Window, Facebook Lock Ticker, Contextual Menu and Tag, Page Buddy and Sound Balance amongst others.  Contextual Menu lets you choose to view the most frequently used ones first. Contextual Tag lets you tag the weather, date and place immediately when you take a picture on the phone. With Page Buddy, your phone will smartly predict what you intend to do according to your actions. Facebook Lock Ticker allows quick access to your Facebook News Feeds on your lock screen. Sound Balance allows you to adjust the balance of volume on each side of the earphones. There are other inbuilt proprietary apps & features from Samsung like Smart Stay, S Planner, S Memo, S Voice, S Suggest, Chat On, Games Hub and myServices.  It has Android Jelly Bean out of the box which is the latest OS in the market.

Battery: The phone has 2100mAh that is capable of powering your device for extended periods of time. The battery usually lasts throughout the day with light to moderate usage of Wi-Fi, music, calling etc. In idle mode the battery lasts for more than 2days. Android is known for battery killer so its performance is sufficient for me.

What is new in Jelly Bean?

1.       Offline voice: In previous versions voice commands were interpreted using servers but now this feature is provided inbuilt resulting in faster voice search.

2.       Google Now: A feature rich app from Google to combine information about your work habits, appointments, location, and more. Though it is not much useful for a normal Indian like me.

3.       Richer notifications: Notifications can now be expanded or collapsed and can be pictures, lists, or whole paragraphs etc.  

4.       Home screen widgets: When you drag a widget to the home screen, other widgets will move out of the way, or the one you are dragging will resize itself to fit.

Pros

1.       1.2 GHz Dual core & 1 GB RAM

2.       Sensor-rich features

3.       Faster and newer Android Jelly Bean

4.       5" display with good clarity and colour rendition

5.       Video zooming while playing videos

6.       Multi window feature

7.       Good build quality

8.       Two back covers-one with the flip cover and one without

Cons

1.       Low capacity battery considering the size

2.       Flip Cover is looks fine but not a magnetic cover to switch off / on the display automatically when closed / open.

3.       Glossy finish that attracts fingerprints

Micromax Canvas HD A110 vs. Galaxy Grand

I have read lot of views comparing this phone to Micromax Canvas HD A110 so would like to clarify the doubts regarding that.

1.       Canvas has Mediatek's first ever Quad core processor. Mediatek is a company which makes cores for all cheap Chinese mobiles.

2.       Canvas has only 3 motion sensors when compared to 10 of Grand.

3.       Samsung provides regular software updates and has vast network of service centres.

4.       Grand has better and smart TouchWiz UI.

My views

1.       Best in its category: This is the best dual-SIM smartphone in the market available at reasonable price. Low resolution does not make a difference to someone who has moved on from a lower-end phone.

2.       Smooth performance: The phone has no lag in performance, scrolling or touch response. It is perfect for heavy usage.

3.       Sturdy build: It is in line with S2, S3 & note. Though it is glossy plastic but looks attractive.   However, it does not have a corning gorilla glass so be careful with the screen.

4.       The multi window facility is good. However, I haven't used too much. Not too exciting.

5.       I love the flexibility provided in choosing variety of fonts.

6.       The charging cable is the same as data cable which can be fixed to a supplied USB adapter. Hence, the cable is quite small for a charging.

7.       Nice headphones: The headphone is very comfortable with good bass and does not hurt the ears.

8.       If you do not require a dual-SIM phone, better go for other better options.