Is the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 worth buying?

The company hopes to make a splash in the mid-range smartphone market with its Galaxy Grand 2 model.

Samsung has introduced its second large-screen smartphone in the Galaxy Grand series, aimed at the mid-range smartphone market.

Here’s a look at the Galaxy Grand 2.

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Design and display

Grand 2 has made advances in terms of size, design and appearance. With a much bigger display than its predecessor, Galaxy Grand, it has a near-perfect finish in build.

The rear side has glossy faux leather with an artificial threading look, similar to Galaxy Note 3’s.

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This does not get scratched easily and provides a good grip. The dual-SIM device is slimmer and lighter. The home and power-lock buttons, micro-USB port, volume boosters, 3.5-mm audio jack and camera with LED flash are positioned like in any Samsung model.

The 720-pixel high-definition (HD) 5.25-inch TFT display is a notch higher than the Galaxy Grand’s. However, the viewing angles aren’t great and the screen doesn’t make it any easier to view in sunlight. 

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Performance

Grand 2 is powered by a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 SoC, with Adreno 305. The 1.5GB RAM makes multitasking easy. The handset has 8GB storage and up to 64GB with a microSD card.

The smartphone delivers well for regular use. The user interface enables multiple windows and a pop-up video player. Both run smoothly. One can run two apps side by side and also save these as a single icon. One can also browse two sites at the same time, unique to this device. 

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Connectivity

It has adequate options, including Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n), Bluetooth and GPS. 

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Battery

The battery is powerful and delivers even while working on both the SIMs and multiple applications. 

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Gaming

It’s good enough for gaming and the graphics can be stunning. However, it lags slightly in HD games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne or Fifa14. 

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Camera

The 8MP rear camera and the 1.9MP front one of the Grand 2 are not much different from its predecessor. But the user interface is the latest, similar to Galaxy S4’s and Galaxy

Note 3’s. It has various shooting modes - auto, beauty face, best photo, continuous shot, best face, sound and shot, HDR, panorama, sports and night. For an 8MP camera, the images are sharp. 

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Verdict

Overall, the Grand 2 is quite an improvement over its previous avatar. There are interesting features in appearance and software.

These may give it an edge over others in the mid-range smartphone market. For those who need an alternative to the Note or the S4, this could be a good pick at Rs 24,890.

SPECIFICATIONS

Display: 5.2 inches

Processor: 1.2GHz

Front camera: 1.9 megapixels

Rear camera: 8 megapixels

Resolution: 720x1,280 pixels

RAM: 1.5GB

OS: Android 4.3

Storage: 8GB

Battery: 2,600mAh