SAMSUNG GALAXY GRAND 2

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is priced a little above the mid-range pricing and offers quite a lot for its price. Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 now comes with a bigger and better 5.25inch 720p HD display, quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1.5GB RAM and a bigger 2600mAh battery. It gives the other Indian manufacturers’ devices a run for their money as it combines performance with power.

So, is the new Galaxy Grand 2 worth buying? Lets check out.

Design, Build Quality and Handling

One of the first things that you will notice about the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is that how it looks more like the 2013 Samsung devices like Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 with thin bezels and longer body. The design language is trademark Samsung with an all plastic build with the same fake chrome metal plastic ring running across the length of the device.The most noticeable design change in the Galaxy Grand 2 is that Samsung have ditched the glossy shiny plastic back for a faux leather textured plastic back that debuted on the Galaxy Note 3. The faux leather back of the Galaxy Grand 2 looks like leather, but feels nothing like it. Each time you touch it, you realize that it is merely a textured plastic back.But that is not essentially a bad thing. The new textured plastic back is scratch/finger print proof and is way superior to the glossy shiny plastic back of the original Grand which is a scratch and finger print magnet. The Galaxy Grand 2 also incorporates more subtle changes like the textured surface on the front instead of a plain surface.The choice of material may have changed, but the location of buttons haven’t. On the front, above the display, we have the earpiece at the center below which there is a Samsung logo. To the right of the earpiece, we have the proximity and ambient light sensors and to the right of the sensor combination, we have the 1.9MP front facing camera. To the bottom right of the front camera, we have the “DUOS” branding indicating that the Galaxy Grand 2 is a dual SIM smartphone.

Below the display, we have the typical Samsung layout with the physical home button at the center and flanked by two capacitive keys on either side. The home button is surrounded by a chrome metal material and the capacitive buttons remain hidden unless needed.On the right side of the device, we have just the power lock button.On the bottom, we have the microUSB port and the primary microphone.On the left side, we have just the volume rocker.On the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack.

Now moving to the back of the device, we find a 8MP camera on the top center with the single LED flash to the left of it and the speaker grill to the right of it. There is a Samsung logo right below the camera. As on most Samsung devices, the back cover is removable.On removing the back cover, we have the removable 2600mAh battery. Above the battery slot, we have the two microSIM slots. There is a microSD card slot right above one of the microSIM card slots. Galaxy Grand 2 has a better than its class build quality and handles quite well.

Display

One of the biggest problems with the Samsung Galaxy Grand was its mediocre display. Samsung took that disadvantage of the Galaxy Grand and made it an advantage with the Galaxy Grand 2 with a 720p HD 5.25inch TFT display. Samsung had used the S-LCD display that you find on the Galaxy Mega 6.3. The new 5.25inch 720p HD display has a pixel density of 280ppi which is almost more than 100ppi greater than the Samsung Galaxy Grand.

In terms of display quality, the 720p display is sharp and performs well most of the times. The color reproduction isn’t as vivid as the Super AMOLED and the contrast ratio isn’t the greatest, but is definitely above average. In terms of viewing angles, the display performs averagely – when the display is viewed from a different angle, the contrast falls sharply and the images on the display aren’t the way they are supposed to be. The display is also highly reflective and that becomes kind of a problem. The sunlight legibility isn’t great either.Overall, the display on the Galaxy Grand 2 is a huge improvement over the Galaxy Grand, but still it has a long way to go. 

Hardware and Performance

 Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 SoC along with Adreno 305. There is also 1.5GB RAM to handle multi-tasking with ease.The internal storage 8GB out of which around 5.7GB is user-accessible. There is a microSD card slot for expanding your storage. Out of the 1.5GB RAM, around 1380MB is usable and when the device is idle, around 700MB is free.

In terms of performance, Galaxy Grand 2 is quite good. Being powered by a quad-core processor and sufficient RAM, the device handles most of the everyday tasks quite quickly. But smooth performance isn’t the case always – at times, the heavy and bloated TouchWiz UI drastically reduces the performance and you feel that you have wait for quite sometime for an app to open(but it happens only rarely).

Camera

The Galaxy Grand 2 comes with a 8MP camera on the back and a 1.9MP camera on the front. The Galaxy Grand 2 can record 1080p videos from the rear camera and 720p videos from the front camera.Though the camera specifications haven’t changed, the camera UI has changed a lot and that is because of the newer version of Android and TouchWiz.. The camera UI has very little on the viewfinder. On the bottom left, we have the shortcut to gallery. On the top left, we have the front/back camera toggle and a settings icon to the right of it. Selecting the settings icon, opens a panel of setting options on the top of the viewfinder. On the top of the viewfinder, we have a arrow pointing up. Selecting the arrow opens a panel of basic effects for the photo. On the right side, we have the mode indicator text on the top right corner, below which we have the video recorder key. Below it, we have the camera shutter key and below that we have the mode selection key.

The Galaxy Grand 2 comes with quite a few shooting modes that includes – Auto, Beauty Face, Best photo, Continuous shot, Best face, Sound and Shot, HDR mode, Panorama, Sports and Night mode. Each of the mode does the required job. The Panorama is quite good and the stitch is almost flawless.

Software & Battery
 Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 runs on Android 4.3 overlaid by latest TouchWiz UI. Among the many features and gimmicks of the Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, some of more notable ones are Multi-Window and Pop up video player.Since the device runs on Android 4.3 Jellybean, you can use multiple lock-screen widgets. Since the device is big and can be tough for one handed usage, Samsung has given the software feature where the screen scales itself for one handed usage.Samsung had improved the Multi-Window feature and introduced it in Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Grand 2 gets similar treatment. The Multi-Window mode can be either enabled via a toggle in the notification quick toggles panel or by long pressing the back button.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 comes with a 2600mAh removable Li-ion battery.The battery life of the phone is quite good and for normal usage, it will definitely last a day even if you are using two SIMs. Even for above average – just below heavy usage, it will almost last you a day. 

Pros

• Good display
• Quad-core Snapdragon 400 SoC ensures great performance
• Very good camera
• Excellent battery life
• Dual SIM connectivity

Cons

• Heavily bloated TouchWiz
• All plastic build
• Occasional lags
• Isn’t great for HD gaming
• A bit on the expensive side

Scoring