This is by no means intended as a moment of relief from the building tension, but our timing isn't without a sense of humor. Assuming that all eyes are set on Samsung to, again, deliver the godfather of Android smartphones, the one we're about to review is more like the...grandfather.
It may seem quite unfortunate for the Galaxy Grand that a week from now it'll be yesterday's news. But on a second thought, it has a better insurance policy against irrelevance than most of last season's Samsung phones that tried too hard to emulate the Galaxy S III.
Samsung Galaxy Grand official pictures
Dual-SIM support is obviously not a universally sought-after feature but demand for smartphones that can operate two SIM cards has been consistently strong in certain markets. This fact should at least begin to explain why the Galaxy Grand is currently the second most popular handset in this website's database.
So, Samsung has been busy lately releasing phones styled after the outgoing flagship, the Galaxy S III. Think a particular screen size and level of equipment, and the Koreans most likely have it. Now, a massive screen and dual-SIM support doesn't sound like the combination on many people's minds but what do we know. It may've made all the sense in the world for Samsung to unleash a big fat five-incher in a niche that other smartphone makers like Sony, HTC and LG are very much interested in too.
Key features
- Quad-band GSM (SIM 1 & SIM 2) and 3G (SIM 1 only) support
- Dual SIM stand-by
- 21.1 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support (SIM 1 only)
- 5.0" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
- Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Nature UX
- 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU, 1GB of RAM
- 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection, image stabilization
- 2MP secondary camera
- 1080p HD video recording at 30fps with stereo sound
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n support; DLNA and Wi-Fi hotspot
- GPS with A-GPS connectivity and GLONASS; digital compass
- 8GB of inbuilt storage, microSD slot
- Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- microUSB v2.0 port with MHL
- Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
- FM radio with RDS
Main disadvantages
- The five-inch diagonal stretches the WVGA resolution really thin
- Middling screen contrast and overall quality
- Poor low-light video recording
- No dedicated camera key
The dual-SIM Galaxy Grand is powered by the same dual-core chipset as the recently released Galaxy S II Plus. Switching from Exynos to Broadcom looks like a minor step down in terms of GPU, but as we saw on the S II Plus the superior power efficiency more than makes up for it. In fact, combined with the low (by today's standards) screen resolution this might turn the Galaxy Grand in one of the longest lasting smartphones on the market.
Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082 live pictures
Oh well, that's at least one redeeming quality of a screen that has the pixel density of an entry-level HVGA unit - the Galaxy Mini II should be a proper reference. The huge 5" diagonal obviously stretches the resolution (480 x 800 pixels) thin.
Other than that though, there isn't much else that's seriously wrong with a handset that clearly positions itself in the midrange. The Galaxy Grand has some of the advanced features courtesy of Android Jelly Bean and the latest TouchWiz. The build quality is above average and the battery backup sounds promising - and that's an important asset for a dual-SIM phone. Let's see. We start with the design and build, as usual.
Unboxing the Galaxy Grand
The Galaxy Grand has the very basic set of accessories in the box. You'll find Samsung's white pair of stereo headphones, a microUSB cable and an AC adapter.
Galaxy Grand's retail package
Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand 360-degree spin
The Samsung Galaxy Grand size is about halfway between the original Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S III. To silence potential alarm bells, we'd go ahead and say that the Grand feels decisively more comfortable in-hand than the first-gen Samsung phablet, and we're happy that Samsung managed to keep the thickness below 10mm.
The smartphone tips the scales at 162g, which is more than reasonable for a device this size: 143.5 x 76.9 x 9.6mm. The first generation of the Galaxy Note weighs 178g.
Design and build quality
The design is - unsurprisingly - influenced by the Galaxy S III, and the similarly sized screen means you will have a hard time telling the Grand apart from the smartphone flagship from a distance.
The Galaxy Grand next to the Galaxy Note
The Galaxy Grand features a similar paintjob to what you get with the other post-Galaxy S III Samsung devices, but the finish is slightly different. It doesn't look quite as nice as the Galaxy Note II plastic, so we assume Samsung were after some cost-cutting too. This applies to both the white version we had for the preview and the Black one that is here for the review.
Controls and handling
The controls on the Samsung Galaxy Grand follow the same general layout as most Samsung smartphones. Below the screen we find three keys - the capacitive Menu and Back keys on either side of a hardware Home button.
The three-button combo below the screen
The keys are well sized and spaced to allow comfortable use and the capacitive touch technology makes sure the transition between them and the screen is seamless.
Above the display you can see the earpiece, a couple of sensors and the 2 megapixel front facing camera, which can do video-calls. The duos logo is there to remind you that you can pop in two SIM cards at once, in case you ever forget, and is only present on the I9082 model.
The usual array of sensors and the front-facing camera surround the earpiece
The top of the phone features just the 3.5mm audio jack.
The top is where the audio jack is located
At the bottom are the microUSB port and the mouthpiece. The microUSB port supports MHL, enabling HD video out (up to 1080p) and multi-channel audio output.
The primary microphone keeps the MHL-enabled microUSB port company
On the left side of the Samsung Galaxy Grand we find the volume rocker, while the power/lock key is symmetrically placed across on the right. There's no dedicated camera shutter key.
The power key is on the right, while the volume rocker is on the left
The 8 megapixel camera lens, a single LED flash, and the loudspeaker grille are the things to note at the back of the device.
The 8 megapixel camera is the star backstage
The back panel is fairly easy remove, but still fits tightly in place, no wobble whatsoever.
Underneath the battery cover, you'll find the two SIM compartments, as well as the microSD card slot. The primary SIM and microSD slots are only accessible after you remove the 2100 mAh battery, which means hot-swap is out of the question. The secondary SIM (on the dual-SIM I9082 model) is in the bottom right corner and is hot-swappable.
Taking a peak under the hood
In terms of handling, the Galaxy Grand is about what you'd expect from a 5-incher. The bezel is a bit too wide and the slippery plastic would occasionally cause problems, but if you have bigger hands (or are willing to use both of them most of the time) you will be fine.
The Galaxy Grand plastic is more slippery than that of the Note II
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Grand uses a 5" capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixels resolution. One massive disadvantage of stretching that kind of resolution on this much screen real estate is the pretty low pixel density - 187 ppi to be exact.
The Galaxy Grand's image quality leaves something to be desired
The fact that there's no advanced display technology doesn't speak well for the image quality. However, it turned out to be pretty decent for the mid-range league where there are no 1080p monsters to be found. Contrast is good if unspectacular, while colors are pretty decent. Viewing angles are impressively wide, too.
Samsung Galaxy Grand display matrix
Still, the display could've been better, especially if being able to spot individual pixels is a deal-breaker.
| Display test | 50% brightness | 100% brightness | ||||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | |||
| Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand | 0.37 | 382 | 1040 | 0.62 | 586 | 948 |
| Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express | 0 | 201 | ∞ | 0 | 364 | ∞ |
| HTC Butterfly | 0.14 | 173 | 1200 | 0.45 | 501 | 1104 |
| Sony Xperia Z | - | - | - | 0.70 | 492 | 705 |
| Sony Xperia go | 0.30 | 282 | 928 | 0.63 | 541 | 859 |
| Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 | 0.22 | 212 | 981 | 0.49 | 439 | 898 |
| Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III | 0 | 174 | ∞ | 0 | 330 | ∞ |
| Nokia Lumia 920 | - | - | - | 0.48 | 513 | 1065 |
| Apple iPhone 5 | 0.13 | 200 | 1490 | 0.48 | 640 | 1320 |
| Nexus 4 | 0.22 | 314 | 1447 | 0.45 | 608 | 1341 |
| HTC One X | 0.15 | 200 | 1375 | 0.39 | 550 | 1410 |
Sunlight legibility turned out to be extremely disappointing, though, with the Galaxy Grand posting one of the worst scores in our dedicated test.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Nokia 808 PureView4.698
- Samsung Galaxy Xcover 21.632
- LG Optimus 3D1.542
- Nokia Asha 3021.537
- Nokia Lumia 6101.432
- Gigabyte GSmart G13551.361
- Samsung Galaxy Grand1.321
- HTC Desire C1.300
- LG Optimus L71.269
- LG Optimus L91.227
- Meizu MX1.221
- Sony Xperia E dual1.203
- Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114
The Galaxy Grand does quite well to offer the extra real estate in a bid to make up for the uninspiring image quality. Some users would find that an acceptable trade-off, while others might be willing to consider the Galaxy S II Plus.
Battery performance
We put the Galaxy Grand through our battery routine and it did great. We were sure to supply it with two SIM cards, of course. It scored 56 hours, which means you'll only need to charge the smartphone every 56 hours if you use it for an hour of talk-time, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video-watching per day.
Nature UX ready to impress
The Samsung Galaxy Grand runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, skinned with the latest TouchWiz launcher, dubbed Nature UX. The user interface is basically identical to that of the Galaxy S III mini and the S II Plus: they have the same Android version and screen resolution.
Beyond the obvious benefits to the user experience compared to stock Android, a clearly midrange handset takes advantage of the same premium combination that powers the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II.
We've shot a brief video showing off the user interface here.
The lockscreen is a standard "tap and drag in any direction to unlock" affair and there're ripples accompanied by water-drop sound as you drag your finger. There are a number unlock routines to choose from: motion, face and voice among others.
There're three customizable lockscreen shortcuts (down from five on the big S III and Note II), and you can drag one to activate the corresponding app.
The lockscreen
The dock at the bottom of the homescreen fits five custom shortcuts or folders. The rightmost one always opens the app drawer, but the other four can be set to any shortcut or even a folder.
As usual, you can pinch to zoom out and manage homescreen panes - add, delete or just reorder them. You can have 7 panes at most, which are enough to fit plenty of content even if you use widgets that cover an entire pane.
The Galaxy Grand homescreen
The notification area is quite feature-rich and offers quick toggles for Wi-Fi, GPS, Silent mode, Screen rotation, Bluetooth. You can swipe to the side to get even more: Mobile data, Blocking mode, Power saving and Sync.
Below the toggles is the brightness slider and the automatic brightness toggle. There are also a couple of other useful things like the Settings shortcut in the upper right corner, the time/date to its left and the carrier name at the bottom.
Notification area
In Jelly Bean, you get expandable notifications to get more info about them. They can be expanded and collapsed with a two-finger swipe and the top one is expanded by default (if the app that put up the notification supports it, of course).
The app drawer accommodates both app shortcuts and widgets. Unlike stock Android, you cannot move between tabs by swipes - you have to explicitly hit the widget tab. Some will find this more logical (scrolling past the available apps to find yourself in the widgets takes some getting used to).
Using pinch-to-zoom reveals an overview of the pages and lets you rearrange them, but you can't create new ones. Hitting the menu key reveals some more options, including hiding apps or enabling tap-to-uninstall mode.
The app drawer
The app drawer has three view modes: a Customizable grid (where you can freely rearrange icons), Alphabetical grid and Alphabetical list (this one makes shortcuts easy to hit, but isn't very space efficient). You can also view just the downloaded apps by hitting the Downloaded apps icon.
The widget list
Jelly Bean comes with a selection of widgets, with some custom additions by Samsung. Some widgets are resizable too - a feature we've seen in some custom UIs is available natively in Jelly Bean. Widgets automatically move out of the way when you're reorganizing the homescreen.
Once you get several apps running, you can use the task switcher to go back and forth between them. It's a Jelly Bean-style vertical list with a screenshot and a name for each app. A sideways swipe removes the app from the list.
There are three buttons at the bottom of the list - one to bring out Samsung's home-brewed task manager, one to launch Google Now and a 'Kill all apps' button.
App switcher • Task manager
Overall, the Nature UX on top of Android 4.1 looks great and the Galaxy Grand does pack most of the cool software tricks of the flagship.
And despite the lack of a quad-core chipset, the Galaxy Grand handles the heavy Samsung skin equally well. It wouldn't choke on heavy live wallpaper either.
by via GSMArena.com - Latest articles
Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082 review: GrandisSIMo
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Reviewed by Ossama Hashim
on
March 05, 2013
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