Gionee Dream D1 vs Samsung Galaxy Grand: Can the Chinese Newbie Conquer South Korean Phablet Fame?

Samsung is a well known name in the smartphone market across the globe. The South Korean tech firm has constantly banged the first position in terms of smartphone sales with the popularity of its Galaxy lineup of handsets.

In 4Q12, Samsung soared 76% of the market share with the Galaxy device outshining iPhone for the fourth time consecutively. However, the company has predicted that its earnings will decline in Q1 2013 has the demand for consumers electronics would be low in this quarter.

Moreover, Samsung seems to have understood the pulse of the users very well as it has launched the Galaxy Grand with dual SIM and mid-range specifications for the budget conscious consumers who may not be able to afford high-end phablets like Galaxy Note 2. Priced at Rs 21,500, the phablet is making scoring sales in the country as it is wallet friendly.

Ever since the announcement of Galaxy Grand in India came in many native manufacturers have started coming up with budget Jelly Bean phablets and large screen smartphones to outshine the glittering fame of Samsung. Now, I seems like Chinese manufacturer Gionee has also joined the list as it has come up with a Jelly Bean smartphone.

Click here for more Galaxy Grand images...

Click here for more Galaxy Grand images...

Gionee has launched Dream D1 with a 4.65 inch display, quad core processor and impressive specifications at Rs 17,999 in order to take over Galaxy Grand. Already, the market is flooded with such attractive budget smartphone and phablet offerings and hence, Gionee will also add up to the competition.

The big question now is, can Gionee outdo Samsung in terms of handset sales in the nation? Well, for that we need to wait and watch. Anyways, Gizbot has come up with its usual task - a spec comparison on Gionee Dream D1 and Samsung Galaxy Grand. Have a look at it below.

Form Factor: While the weight of Dream D1 is not known, the handset measures 130 x 67 x 8.6 mm, which is definitely thinner than Galaxy Grand carrying a dimension of 143.5 x 76.9 x 9.6 mm and weighing in at 161 grams.

When it comes to display, Dream D1 sports a 4.65 inch Super AMOLED Plus HD capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and 316 ppi pixel density approximately.

On the other hand, Galaxy Grand boasts a 5 inch multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and 187 ppi pixel density approximately.

Obviously, the Super AMOLED Plus displays are better as they offer 50% more sub-pixels and also result in thinner, brighter and more efficient panels. Further, Dream D1 comes with a HD display housing almost double the pixels in its screen as compared to Galaxy Grand.

Processor: In this segment, Galaxy Grand comes with a 1.2GHz dual core processor, whereas, Gionee Dream D1 is equipped with a better quad core 1.2GHz Cortex A7 processor accompanied with PowerVR Series5XT GPU. This chip will offer lightening speeds, efficient multi-tasking, improved performance in 3D games and ability to playback HD movies and videos.

Operating System: Both Gionee Dream D1 and Galaxy Grand are based on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS and hence they will be loaded with features including Project Butter, expandable and contractible notifications, resizable app widgets, live wallpaper preview, high resolution contact photos, improved Android Beam, better camera interface and Google Now.

Camera: Gionee Dream D1 has an 8MP rear camera with autofocus, HDR, auto panorama, LED flash and HD video recording and a VGA front camera for video calling.

In comparison, Galaxy Grand comes with an 8MP rear camera with autofocus and LED flash and full HD video recording and a 2MP front camera.

Storage: On the storage front, Galaxy Grand scores more with 8GB internal storage, 1GB RAM and a micro SD card slot supporting up to 64GB additional storage. On the other hand, Gionee Dream D1 has 4GB internal storage, 1GB RAM and a micro SD card slot supporting up to 32GB.

Connectivity: Both the devices come packed with fair enough connectivity features such as Bluetooth v4.0, micro USB 2..0 and average download speeds. However, Galaxy Grand has dual band Wi-Fi, which is better than the single band version in Gionee Dream D1.

Battery: Both Galaxy Grand and Gionee Dream D1 are powered by a 2,100 mAh battery.

Price: When it comes to pricing, Gionee Dream D1 and Galaxy Grand are priced at Rs 17,999 and Rs 21,500 respectively.

Software Features: Galaxy Grand comes loaded with applications including ChatOn, Games Hub, My Services that will offer myMovies, myMusic, myMobileTV, myStation, myReader and myEducation. Also, the phablet comes with exclusive software features such as Smart Stay, Direct Call, Smart Alert, Popup Play, S Voice, Face & Voice Unlock and Multi-Window.

At the same time, Gionee Dream D1 has built-in Digital Theatre System (DTS) Sound for enhanced audio output, thereby, it could impress music enthusiasts. The handset also comes with a 16GB micro SD card slot bundled along with it.

Specwise, Gionee Dream D1 is a definite winner with its HD display and quad core processor. However, being Chinese handset vendor, it is a big question if the handset can swipe away the success from Samsung in the budget handset segment.