Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Review: A Price Tag That Doesn't Quite Match the Bill

| Updated: Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 13:07 [IST]

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2: OS, Apps and Performance

As expected, the Galaxy Grand 2 runs on the previously released Google-based Android Jelly Bean v4.3 offering that's not really that big a deal considering most of the others in the same category have already started offering the new KitKat platform.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Review: A Price Tag That Doesn't Quite Match

But that's not even half of the problem that the Grand 2 faces. Apparently, as per our notes, there are a number of major bugs that you will definitely come across once you purchase the device and start getting used to it - with most of the bugs leading to sudden slowing down of the device. The device has the habit of suddenly locking itself down and you may think that the problem can be bypassed by hitting the home or the power button. But that's not the way its works out for the Grand 2.

While we are not sure as to why this is happening, but the best reason we can show for it at this point is due to some issues with the in-device RAM. Maybe Samsung will push out a firmware update for the same in the future that will look to effectively remove all these problems from the device.

However, the device, as we mentioned before, comes with Android Jelly Bean out of the box. And so users can look to make the most out of the features that are offered by Google via the Jelly Bean platform.

These features include the likes of Bluetooth Smart support - which minimizes power use while measuring and transmitting data for fitness sensors, location detection through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 support - for displaying song names on a car stereo, OpenGL ES 3.0 - latest version of the industry standard for high performance graphics, and more.

Also, the phone comes with the usual TouchWiz apps that have been slapped on to the Android 4.3 offering. There's also the presence of the new Multi-window feature which has a dedicated support for more third party apps that you may have in the phone. Apart from that, there's also the usual offerings of S Voice, Group Play, S Translator, Story Album, and more.

The phone itself is powered via a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC and there's also the presence of 1.5GB of RAM alongside it. As it seems, the SoC in this case feels a lot faster compared to the normal dual-core Broadcom chips that we are so used in a number of previous Samsung models.

And although we are yet to get a benchmark result for the same, we are guessing that the output will be a refreshing one compared to other such devices from Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2: Camera

The Galaxy Grand 2 comes with the same 8MP primary camera that was previously offered alongside the Grand Duos. The Grand 2 camera's greatness can be determined via its ability to take superb macro shots that will offer an impressive detailed final product. However, for more hardcore photographers who are determined when pursuing photography, the loss of a potent image stabilization option will surely hurt.

The Grand 2 comes with a big Mode button that's placed right next to the video capture buttons. On pressing, the user is presented with a boatload of options such as Continuous Shot, Beauty Face, Best Face, Rich Tone (HDR), Panorama, Sports and Night.

Users will also note that Beauty Face will be automatically activated when switching to the front camera, although it may not be a topic of that big a difference since the Beauty Face mode is majorly negligible.

Apart from that, swiping to the top from the bottom brings up a listof filters that lets you add more effects to photos. There are other options on top of the camera app that lets the user control the camera flash, storage location, voice commands, timing and more.

The Grand 2 also captures videos at 720p, and may be quite impressive to users who are looking to create great video footages via the device. However, the same may not be true with the device's still and video offerings in low light conditions. But as per our tests, the camera will keep you somewhat happy.