The past decade has seen mobile phones evolve into feature-packed, high-powered, multi-purpose smart devices. The past year, however, has seen some evolution of its own in terms of mobile phone technology, specifically for Samsung – it’s been the year of the ‘Phablet’.
The success of the Galaxy Note led to the Note II, and as Samsung already have the technology available, along with the relatively untapped market for feature-packed, dual-sim phones, the Galaxy Grand entered production.
Design
Much like the S3 in looks, but bigger! A chrome trim wraps around the edge of the 5-inch screen and houses the power button to the right, volume rocker on the left, micro-USB interface at the bottom and a 3.5 mm audio connecter on top. It is significantly bigger, thicker and heavier than the S3. Weighing in at 162 grams, the Galaxy Grand is no lightweight, but gets away with it because of its massive screen.
The back cover is thin and flimsy, but the fine pattern on it masks fingerprints well. There is a rounded square cut-out on it for the lens, and a similar but smaller cut-out to its left for the flash. To the right of the camera you see two slits for the speakers caged underneath. Once you lift the back cover off there is space for SIM 1 on the top left and SIM 2 on the bottom right of the battery. There is also space for a micro SD card allowing an extra 64GB of storage, apart from the internal 8GB.
Usability
Using a ‘Phablet’ such as this takes a little while to get used to it, but once you make your peace with using both hands, it’s actually not bad. The TouchWiz user interface enables much smoother navigation and seamless response. Using the keyboard, for example, was not as excruciatingly painful as it normally is on touch devices, and if you use the dictionary then typing messages becomes surprisingly quick!
Control over the dual-sim function via the in-house app is brilliant. For example, SIM 1 could be used for packet data, while being able to receive calls from SIM 2. Despite its average specs, the Grand Duos works seamlessly in the multi-window mode activated by a clever switch in the notification bar navigation. This enables you to run two apps on the screen at any given time. Furthermore, you can resize the space they occupy at will and use a floating keyboard to input comments and watch something at the same time.
Display
The 5-inch screen is a bit of a disappointment since we’re used to seeing everything in high definition – I personally think it defeats the purpose of having all that space on a screen if the resolution is 480x800 resulting in 187ppi and bigger icons which use too much space. Samsung chose to go with LCD instead of AMOLED on the Galaxy Grand, unlike the S3 or the Note II. Overall it has decent viewing angles and is bright enough for you to see in bright sunlight, making its low pixel density its only display concern.
Processor and Memory
The Galaxy Grand Duos is powered by a dual core 1.2GHz ARM cortex A9 processor with a VideoCore IV GPU. I ran a couple of free standard benchmark tests – AnTuTu and NenaMark2 – the Grand scored surprisingly well for GPU results on Nenamark 2. Supposedly this can be attributed to the fact that there are fewer pixels to power in comparison to other HD devices.
1GB of RAM comes factory fit with 8GB of storage, although you can expand that via a micro SD card. Numbers aside, I used the phone for roughly two weeks before writing this review and in that time I played games, surfed the internet, typed documents and streamed videos – sometimes all at once, just because I could!
Camera
The Duos is equipped with an 8MP camera along with LED flash and endless tweaking options – ISO, white balance, resolution, auto and macro focus, timer, exposure, flash control, shooting modes and a multitude of filters and effects. The camera works exceptionally well in natural light. Indoor or low-light images were not the best we’ve seen, but even so, I managed to capture better images with less noise than the iPhone 5.
Video recording is as easy as a flip of a soft switch, and the quality maxes out at 1080p, there are also a few post-production tricks you can use through various filters that come in handy. It is very quick, easy and addictive – taking pictures or videos and editing them, tagging faces or places and sharing them with people on any network. The front facing camera is nothing to brag about – pictures are 2MP and video 480p.
Battery
The 2100 mAh lithium-ion battery gives the Grand an average of 14-16 hours before requiring a recharge. This includes roughly 2-3 hours of gameplay, watching videos, two hours of calling time, and lots of messaging. I Ran the Antutu and Nova battery tests as well as the video drain test which went on for a little over 8 hours and 20 minutes. The battery depletes faster when you use the dual-SIM function.
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