The Galaxy Grand has Samsung?s elegant styling and good build quality, but it?s that big screen that really steals the show
Big phones are the trend, and if it?s a nice visual experience you?re after, you?ll want to see the Samsung Galaxy Grand. The South Korean tech major?s widely popular device provides a visual treat for watching videos, movies, photos and browsing the internet and websites?all in brilliant colour and clarity on its 5-inch screen with WVGA TFT display. This phone has a sleek design too and is beautiful from each point of view. What is more, it easily fits the grip of your palm.
Before we dig into the finer details of this Samsung innovation, let us have a glimpse of key industry trends emerging from the Indian mobile phone market, smartphones in particular. According to IDC Asia Pacific quarterly mobile phone tracker data for CY 2012, the overall mobile phone market in India has reached approximately 218 million units, a 16% y-o-y growth from CY 2011. This is mostly driven by the burgeoning smartphone market in India which grew from close to 11 million units in CY 2011 to 16.3 million units in CY 2012, a considerable growth of about 48%. This market is expected to continue its growth into 2013, driven by the stupendous growth of close to 70% in the smartphone market.
For the 2012 fourth quarter alone, smartphones in India reached a total of 5.4 million unit shipments. Smartphones with upgraded specifications, such as a 4-inch+screen size and dual-core processors, were especially becoming popular. While Android continued its dominance in the smartphone market, Samsung remained the leader and pace-setter for the market, inspiring both international and domestic vendors to launch their own quad-core and
5-inch+ screen size models, said IDC.
Back to the Galaxy Grand. On first impressions, the most striking feature of this R21,500-a-piece communication device (GT1908EWAINU) is its incredibly slim body; it comes with an ergonomic design which makes it comfortable to hold. This dual-SIM phone is powered by Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system and runs on a 1.2 GHz dual core processor. The vivid display on its
5-inch screen provides an expansive viewing experience rendering messaging, multimedia and internet content in brilliant colour and clarity. The device also sports the multi-window feature that allows seamless multitasking and running of multiple applications simultaneously without having to switch screens.
The Galaxy Grand sports an 8 megapixel camera (with flash) and a 2 megapixel front camera which supports zero shutter-lag and ultra-quick camera start-up. It includes a backside illumination sensor to ensure clear shots even in dark conditions, as well as full high definition video recording.
The Galaxy Grand?s smart dual SIM feature provides
total communication flexibility, allowing users to manage two phone numbers from a single phone. It is possible to receive calls on one SIM number while taking a call from the other, ensuring efficient management of personal and work commitments without ever missing a call. Smart dual SIM also offers the flexibility of selecting different mobile billing plans for either SIM which allows switching between them to make the most of competitive call and data plans.
The Galaxy Grand comes with various intuitive features that enable the consumers to seamlessly engage with the device. The Smart Stay uses the front camera to prevent the device from going into standby mode while it detects a user in front of the device. Direct Call feature enables users to automatically dial a call by raising the device up to the ear. Smart Alert shows missed events such as missed calls and new messages just by picking up the phone. Popup Play enables the users to watch video in a pop-up window anywhere on the screen while running other tasks. The
S Voice feature helps the user to control the phone using their voice. The device also features a unique Face & Voice Unlock that enables the users to lock and unlock their device with face or voice recognition, providing greater security and convenience.
The Galaxy Grand comes pre-loaded with ChatOn, Samsung?s unique cross-platform communication service that enables the users to socialise with friends and to do more than just instant messaging. ChatOn allows users to freely share multimedia content, do group chatting with friends and create personalised animated messages. The device also comes pre-loaded with a host of other applications including Games Hub and My Services that includes a bouquet of services like myMovies, myMusic, myMobileTV, myStation, myReader and myEducation which allows them to enjoy and personalise their device.
While myMovies gives users access to thousands of Indian movies, trailers and film songs, myMusic allows them to download and listen to English and Bollywood numbers from a song collection that totals more than 250,000. myReader allows Galaxy Grand users to access Indian newspapers, magazines, over 30,000 books and for the first time, even audio books. MyMobileTV allows consumers to watch 100+ Live TV channels on the device while myStation gives them an opportunity to watch Live Concerts and performances on their device. The All Share Play enables easy sharing and playing of contents across Samsung digital devices, anywhere anytime.
The Galaxy Grand comes with a powerful 2,100mAh battery and an internal memory of 8 GB (user memory of 4 GB and expandable up to 64GB). In summary, this phone is big on quality and it?s that big screen with its vivid display that really steals the show.
SPeCS
* Dimensions: 143.5 x 76.8 x 9.6 mm
* Display: 12.72 cm TFT display
* Resolution: 480 x 800 (WVGA)
* Operating system: Android, 4.1.2
* Processor: Dual core, 1.2 GHz
* SIM: Dual SIM
* Connectivity: 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0
* Camera: 2 MP (front); 8 MP (rear)
Estimated street price: Rs21,500
