Samsung Galaxy Grand description. Smartphone Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos GT-I9082: characteristics, description and reviews. Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device

Good sales (at least in our country) of older branded dual-SIM smartphones of the summer 2012 model, HTC Desire V and Samsung Galaxy S Duos, throughout the second half of last year clearly demonstrated the high public interest in this class of devices. Therefore, it is not surprising that, having barely appeared on sale in our country, HTC Desire SV made it straight into the top 10 best-selling smartphones on the Mobilochka network for December (the smartphone received a dual-core processor, a larger screen diagonal and an improved camera compared to its predecessor, and more You can read about its capabilities in this review). And it is quite obvious that the new Samsung Galaxy Grand, announced already at the 2013 Christmas tree, which will be discussed in this review, will also successfully settle in a significant number of pockets in the country. At least because it is literally the largest (of branded smartphones, I don’t take the Chinese into account, because it’s a completely different story) and productive dualsim on the Ukrainian market. The Galaxy Grand has a 5-inch display, (finally) a dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and Android 4.1.2 out of the box. By right of birth, he also received a design in the spirit of the Galaxy Note II, the TouchWiz interface with all the goodies of the version for older models and the tutelage of the marketing power of Samsung. At the same time, it inherited the screen resolution (480x800 pixels) from its predecessor Galaxy S Duos. However, don’t go to a fortune teller; even with one, your smartphone has a great chance of excellent sales. As big as he is.

Specifications

Samsung Galaxy Grand received a processor manufactured by Broadcom. Processors from this manufacturer could previously be found in Samsung smartphones, but not the older ones, but, on the contrary, the youngest models (in particular, in the Galaxy Pocket Duos). The dual-core Broadcom BCM2763 with a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz and VideoCore IV HW graphics (you can read more about it on the manufacturer’s website) showed quite high results both in performance tests and in real life, coping well with both large video files and toys, and quite active use of a smartphone.

The five-inch screen of the smartphone is made using TFT technology, and not Super AMOLED, as one might expect, and has a resolution of 480x800 pixels, which probably immediately upset those who had already set their sights on a purchase, and delighted fans of pragmatic Chinese smartphones, who were ready to immediately list several devices with a price three times lower and at the same time an IPS screen with the same resolution. Of course, the pixel density is less than 200 ppi (for this model it is 187 ppi) – to put it mildly, it’s not sugar. And in a device with a price tag of more than 3,500 UAH at the beginning of 2013, it is even more frustrating. But at the same time, TFT is in no way inferior to Chinese IPS, which we will return to a little later, and looks softer than the branded Super AMOLED.

Appearance

The Samsung Galaxy Grand is similar to the Galaxy Note II in the same way that bone marrow donors are similar to its recipients - that is, they are almost the same, adjusted for age, size and a couple of moles. The location of the camera, indicators, control buttons, and the design of the front panel and body are generally the same in both models. On the back, you'll notice differences in the position of the speaker and flash, as well as the fact that the Grand doesn't have a hole for a stylus. Photos of the Galaxy Grand can be seen below, and the Galaxy Note II in his review.

At the top of the front panel of the smartphone is the logo of the manufacturer and its dual SIM line, a speaker, a two-megapixel camera peephole, light and proximity sensors. At the bottom there are three device control keys: the hardware “Home” in the middle and two touch keys that light up immediately at the moment of contact with them. The plastic is glossy, in our case white.

The back surface is also covered with glossy plastic. To be honest, I liked the plastic in smartphones with similar characteristics – Fly IQ450 Horizon and Sharp SH530U more. But this is a matter of taste.

Traditionally, the ends of the smartphone are covered with a silver edging. The arrangement of the elements cannot be more typical. On the right is the screen power button, on the left is the volume control button, on the bottom is the microUSB connector, on the top is the audio output. The buttons work smoothly and smoothly.

I’m sure that the assembly will be excellent in commercial samples, but the sample that we got into our hands bears traces of sophisticated torture. So, on the left side there is a dent, apparently formed as a result of contact with something hot or caustic, the lid does not close the body perfectly, and there is a gaping scratch on the top of the screen. Apparently, the screen is scratched, but with great difficulty, because during the operation of the device it did not receive any new damage.

SIM cards of the usual format are located on opposite sides of the battery, under the cap. The location is completely unusual, but the main thing here is that there is no need to remove the battery to install cards. This is good. But to install a memory card, if the built-in 8 GB does not seem enough, you will have to remove the battery.

To the traditional question - is it convenient to use such a hefty smartphone, I can confidently answer - yes, personally, it’s very convenient for me. The device fits perfectly in the palm of your hand. I like that it's very comfortable for two-handed typing, but still makes calls, view incoming messages, and do other tasks that don't require two hands just fine on other phones.

And compared to a six-inch book, the Galaxy Grand looks very tiny

Screen

Our most attentive readers will probably remember that the Galaxy S Duos also uses a TFT display. The photos in the gallery below show the screen of the Galaxy Grand and LG Optimus L7 II Dual. The latter uses an IPS matrix, which is quite good, although not the best on the market. It's not very clear in the pictures, but the screen of the Samsung smartphone actually has a warmer tint, and the colors look less saturated, but only a little, this is only noticeable when the devices are lying next to each other. But let’s return to the IPS matrices that are used in Chinese smartphones, in particular under the Fly brand or in some Huawei devices (specifically, I noticed this with the Ascend G600 Pro model). All of them are characterized by a slight yellowness. Thus, it cannot be said that the Grand screen is inferior to them.

The screen has a large reserve of maximum brightness and a low minimum value, which means that there should not be any problems with readability on very sunny days. Conversely, the smartphone screen will not eat into your eyes if you decide to check your email in a dark room, for example, before going to bed. However, I didn’t really like the way the auto-backlight worked. In my opinion, it made the screen darker than it should be for comfortable work in low light (although this may be a matter of habit). Another oddity was that the multi-touch test showed recognition of up to 7 simultaneous touches. I haven’t seen this before - usually there are 10 or 5.

The last thing I would like to mention in the context of impressions from the smartphone screen is resolution. And no, I won’t complain about pixels now, because I imagined approximately the image quality after encountering Fly and Sharp models with a similar diagonal and display resolution. We will talk about what the proprietary TouchWiz interface looks like on a large screen with a low resolution. Unusual. Huge icons and incredibly large fonts give you the feeling that screen space is being wasted. There was no such impression from 480x800 pixels on bare Android. Therefore, the first thing I did was change the font in the phone settings from normal to small. True, even with it the image seemed quite large to me. But some colleagues told me that people with vision problems would probably appreciate it. Actually, the difference in font size can be seen in one of the pictures in the gallery above, and below are examples of TouchWiz, which is unusually “large” for me.

Performance and autonomy

The Broadcom BCM2763 processor paired with VideoCore IV HW graphics turned out to be a complete wonder for me. Apparently, this is the latest and most powerful development from Broadcom. The processor is made using 40nm technology. process. In the AnTuTu Benchmark test, the Galaxy Grand scored 6424 points, in Vellamo - a whopping 1518. The results of these tests are comparable to the Acer CloudMobile and Samsung Galaxy S III mini. Nenamark2's results are comparable to last year's top Samsung smartphones - Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III and Galaxy Premier. In Epic Citadel, the smartphone showed 52.6 fps. And besides, there are amazing image artifacts. Like these ones.

At the same time, I have never seen anything like this either in high-resolution video files or in a number of toys.

With a 2100mAh battery, the Galaxy Grand scored 502 in the AnTuTu battery test. This is an average but acceptable figure. At the same time, at maximum load during the test, it discharged from 100% to 19% in 2 hours 50 minutes. I actively used the smartphone for several days, primarily for Skype, Internet surfing, email, about an hour and a half of music a day, from half an hour to a couple of hours of games, but with a minimum of calls. I charged it with such success once a day.

Interface and work with two SIM cards

If you are a fan of Samsung smartphones and are looking for a dual-sim device from this manufacturer with maximum capabilities, then the Galaxy Grand will be a good choice for you. If, on the contrary, you are looking for a dual-SIM smartphone with excellent functionality, but preferably bare Android, this is clearly not the place for you. The smartphone has a number of pre-installed Samsung branded services - such as S Voice (voice search, duplicating Google search), S Memo (notes, quite nice), convenient and pleasant to use calendar S Planner, Chat On, Game Hub, Samsung Apps, manager “My Files” files, pre-installed Dropbox with its own Cloud service, which simplifies synchronization with Dropbox (although much easier), GroupPlay for sharing files and multimedia via Wi-Fi. In addition, the smartphone supports most of the gestures and movements that we told you about in 10 lessons with the Samsung Galaxy Note II, except for those that require a stylus. The smartphone also supports the dual-window function. We have already told you about all these features in our reviews of top Samsung devices of 2012.

Working with two SIM cards is also implemented quite conveniently. In the calls and messages menu, the user has two SIM card icons available. Thus, regardless of the priority SIM card, he can choose at the moment of performing the action which SIM card is preferable to do it with. The SIM card manager has a favorite feature of the company's marketers - conveniently setting up the forwarding of incoming calls from one card to another when one of them is busy. This feature has been supplemented by the ability to receive incoming calls using another SIM card, if data is being transferred from one of them. That is, everyone will be able to reach you when you use GPRS Internet access. Or they won't be able to. It all depends on the checkbox next to this item.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Grand smartphone is equipped with an eight-megapixel camera, with flash, autofocus, and the ability to record video in FullHD. For a dual-sim smartphone (if it is not a purebred Chinese) this is still a record. The camera is probably installed more simply than in flagship models, however, the photos are decent in almost any conditions.

You can also view photographs in original resolution in the gallery on Torba.

An example of a video shot with a Samsung Galaxy Grand camera

Competitors

Ideologically, the closest competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Grand is the HTC Desire SV. Both are top in their segment from their respective manufacturers. Smartphones boast high speed, decent design and body, and brand origin. But HTC has a slightly weaker camera; in particular, it can only shoot video in a resolution of 480x800 pixels. In addition, the Taiwanese has a screen diagonal of only 4.3 inches, which is simply tiny compared to its competitor. Moreover, both have the same resolution of 480x800 pixels, which, of course, looks better on the Desire SV screen. However, whatever the differences between the competitors, Samsung fans will probably prefer the smartphone of their favorite, and HTC fans will do the same. Both brands have enough charisma to keep fans loyal across smartphone after smartphone. Unfortunately, there is no one else to list as competitors from other branded devices.

At the same time, on the eve of the New Year, we visited two more devices with a dual-core processor that provides good performance, a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 480x800 pixels and support for two SIM cards. This is the Sharp SH530U, officially available in Russia, but not in Ukraine. And Fly IQ450 Horizon, which has already been mentioned many times in this review. Smartphones cost about a third less than the Galaxy Grand, which is easy to guess. But Sharp's screen is so weak (it uses a TN matrix) that I wouldn't recommend considering it as a serious candidate for purchase. Despite the fact that it has a nice body and design. Fly, especially in Ukraine, is developing rapidly and gaining great popularity. And if you are inclined to choose inexpensive devices with maximum capabilities, then you can certainly pay attention to it. I admit that this is the first and only device under this brand, the appearance and ergonomics of which I liked. Despite the low resolution, it has a decent screen. Also very responsive. However, the naked Android on the Fly smartphone turns frankly slower than the “file-processed” one on the Samsung. Really, heaven and earth. True, Samsung also has 1 GB of RAM on its side. In general, in this case, the choice lies between a well-known brand with high quality control and a significantly less expensive, but functional device, with traditional “Chinese” quality control. By the way, Fly is about to release several more interesting models, so if you are leaning towards this brand, then perhaps you should wait a little longer for their appearance.

Bottom line

So, before us is Samsung’s senior dual-SIM smartphone, which, although it does not have the coveted letter S in its name, is much more consistent with the level of a flagship device with support for two SIM cards than its predecessor. The strength of the device is, first of all, its performance - it corresponds, although not to top-end gadgets, but to devices above the middle class - that’s for sure. And it is the best today among branded smartphones with support for two SIM cards (of those officially available in Ukraine). In addition, some users will definitely like the large screen diagonal and the excessive similarity in appearance to the Galaxy Note II, as well as the features of the proprietary interface. If you are a fan of the brand and a client of two mobile operators, you can pay close attention to this device. Of course, if the price doesn't deter you. At the start of sales it is about 4000 UAH. The HTC Desire SV cost the same three months ago. Now the price has dropped to 3000 UAH. By the way, it is an excellent alternative if a large diagonal is not as important as saving 1000 UAH. If, in the name of budget, you are willing to sacrifice a little performance and branding, you can also consider the Fly IQ450 Horizon as a candidate for purchase.

3 reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy Grand:

• you need the largest and most powerful dual-SIM smartphone;
• you like Samsung TouchWiz;
• excellent camera by the standards of the category;

2 reasons not to buy Samsung Galaxy Grand:

• low screen resolution;
• high price.

We would like to dedicate this article to a review of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone, labeled i9082. Galaxy Grand Duos went on sale relatively recently, and has already aroused widespread interest among buyers. In view of this interest, we want to analyze the smartphone for its potential buyers.

Description of Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos i9082

So let's get started with the review. Samsung Galaxy Grand has a fairly compact packaging box, white. Having opened the box, we can immediately see a smartphone that fits neatly into the dimensions of the box. As for the first impression, looking at this device, I didn’t notice any special changes; today Samsung adheres to conservatism in its smartphones. You may well discuss me, but I still can’t help but say that the box and the packaging of the smartphone in it, to put it mildly, are borrowed from the iPhone, and this depresses me as a user of Samsung devices, since Galaxy smartphones are losing their self-identity . The contents of the box were also not surprising.

Delivery set in box

Taking the smartphone out of the box and removing the separating cover, at the bottom there are: instructions, charger, USB-microUSB cable, headphones and headphone tips - this completes the package. It's probably worth saying a few words about the package included. All the components that come with the Galaxy Grand are no different from those in the Galaxy S3. Speaking about the contents of the kit, it includes everything necessary for the phone to work - no more, no less.

Design and ergonomics

For review, we were given the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos i9082 Elegant White, as the name suggests, a white smartphone. If we compare the Grand Duos with the Galaxy S3, then the latter is clearly inferior in size, this is not surprising, since the Grand Duos has a 5-inch screen, compared to the Galaxy S3 - these are the obvious differences. If we compare the design, the front of both smartphones is identical.

At the top of the front of the phone are the speaker, proximity and light sensors, and the front camera. At the bottom, as in all Samsung smartphones, there is a “Home” key, on both sides of this button there are “Menu” and “Back” keys. At the top, closer to the left edge, there is a headphone jack, and at the bottom center there is a cable connector. On the left side panel there is a volume control key, on the right there is a button to turn on the gadget. On the back panel of the smartphone, on the same horizontal plane, there are a flash, a camera and a speaker. The back cover is removable; to remove it, you need to pry it off from the side; there is a special recess there.

Opening the back cover of the phone, we see the battery and two SIM card slots. I would like to note right away that the device supports the usual type of SIM cards. The first SIM slot is locked by the battery, meaning to insert or remove SIM1 you will need to remove the battery first. The entrance to the second slot is not blocked by anything. Below the battery is a slot for a memory card.

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos

The smartphone includes a 5-inch display with a touch control system. Screen resolution: 480x800, supporting 16 million colors. Processor: Cortex A9 Dual (1.2 GHz), dual-core. RAM: 1 GB. The gadget has 8 GB of internal memory and supports microSD memory cards up to 64 GB. Android 4.1.2 is installed as the operating system. The TouchWiz UX graphical shell is installed on top of Android - a proprietary development of Samsung.

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras: main (rear) and front (front). Main camera (with autofocus): 8 MP, takes photos with a resolution of 3264×2448, supports FullHD video recording. Front camera: 2 MP. The smartphone supports the following communication standards: GSM (2G), EDGE (2.9G), UMTS (3G), HSPA (3.5G), HSPA+ (3.75G). Navigation systems: GPS (A-GPS) and Glonass. Availability of wireless technologies: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. It is worth mentioning the presence of FM radio with RDS support. Work with messages: SMS, MMS, Email. Built-in full-featured organizer, audio and video players. Availability of LED backlight. Device dimensions: 143.5/76.9/9.6 mm. Weight: 162 g. Battery capacity 2100 mAh. Warranty: 12 months.

General impression of the smartphone

Having turned on the smartphone, we are immediately greeted by the TouchWiz graphical shell, which in this smartphone is somewhat improved in contrast to previous Galaxy models. It is worth noting the smooth scrolling and animation of this shell.

What I didn’t like was the “graininess” of the screen, which immediately catches your eye. By increasing the screen diagonal, this negatively affected the quality of the picture and, in my opinion, this is a very big omission of the model. A screen resolution of 480x800 pixels is a very modest figure today. But if you don’t forget about the presence of two SIMs, you can turn a blind eye to the visible pixels. Having purchased this gadget, you may not have any complaints about the picture quality, and besides, the brightness of the display and color reproduction are at the same level.

I was pleasantly surprised by the battery, because, despite the larger display, the smartphone did not “lose” operating time. With an average load, the Galaxy Grand Duos worked in autonomous mode for almost two days and this is a pretty good indicator.

Of course, we note the most important feature of the device – support for dual SIM cards. Nowadays, when a smartphone is needed both for voice calls and for working with the Internet, support for two SIM cards by a mobile device is very profitable and convenient, since on one SIM card you will choose a favorable Internet tariff, and on the second is a tariff with a low cost of voice calls.

The sound characteristics of the device: voice calls and listening to music, both through the built-in speaker and through headphones, are at a fairly high quality level, and I want to note this separately. When watching videos, the smartphone works quickly, without any lag. In general, it is necessary to pay tribute to the speed of the device, especially when playing adapted games.

Photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos have natural color reproduction and fairly good sharpness, which is quite sufficient for amateur photography. A large number of settings will help you maximize the quality of the frame. The front camera also pleased with its quality.

I would like to point out that using the device with one hand is somewhat inconvenient, since personally I had to constantly pull my finger to reach the opposite edge of the screen. After working with the gadget for some time, I noticed that I involuntarily took it in my left hand and controlled it with my right, so the issue of compactness can be a negative factor for many.

To summarize the review, it is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos is the best smartphone to date with support for two SIM cards. The device is well worth its cost. If you want a fast smartphone with 2 SIM cards, then Samsung i9082 is the best solution for you. Overall, the smartphone left a pleasant impression on me and I would recommend you buy it if you need to use two SIM cards.

Video review of Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos i9082 Elegant White

Galaxy Grand, which supports dual SIM cards. The device is a good device with a 5-inch screen and a relatively low price. Of course, don't expect performance like the Galaxy S III, but it's probably one of the best dual-SIM smartphones out there.

As expected, the Samsung Galaxy Grand is not the most compact device that can be found on store shelves. Its dimensions are 143.5 x 76.9 x 9.6 mm, which means it is not the thinnest smartphone with a 5-inch screen, but it is comfortable to hold in your hands, since Samsung was able to keep the thickness less than 10 mm. The weight of the device is 162 grams, which is relatively good for its size.

The smartphone has a color similar to the models that appeared after the Galaxy S III. The main design features are borrowed from it, but a slightly different plastic is used, which is more slippery to the touch. It doesn't look as good as the Galaxy Note II's plastic, so we can assume that the cost was reduced this way. Note that the slippery plastic can cause some problems, but if you have large enough hands (or if you work with both hands at the same time), then it will be comfortable to operate the device.

On the front surface of the device there is a screen, under which there is a home control key, and above it there is a speaker, sensors, a front camera and the company logo with the inscription “DUOS”. On the right side you can see the power/lock button, and on the left - the volume control key. At the top end there is a 3.5 mm headphone output, and at the bottom there is a microUSB output and a microphone. On the back side there is the main camera with LED flash, slots for an external speaker and the company logo.

That's all about the appearance of the device.

Now let's see what's under the battery cover. There you will find two slots for SIM cards and one for a card. To access one SIM slot, you need to remove the battery; to access the second, you just need to remove the back cover.

Performance and Software

Samsung Galaxy Grand runs on a 2-core Broadcom Cortex-A9 processor with a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz, a Broadcom VideoCore IV graphics accelerator and 1 GB of RAM. The smartphone is controlled by the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system.

Although the specifications are similar to the Galaxy S II Plus, the architecture is slightly different, so different test results are possible.

The Benchmark Pi single-threaded process test showed rather poor results. But this was predictable, since it lost mainly to smartphones with higher processor clock speeds.

In the Quadrant test, the gadget again beat the Galaxy S II Plus and lost only to 4-core devices. It also beats the original Galaxy S II quite a bit.

In the GLBenchmark test, our test subject couldn't beat the Mali-400MP GPU found in the original Galaxy S II, but it was still pretty close.

Finally, the SunSpider and Browsermark tests showed very good results. Our smartphone comes right after the Galaxy S III.

The pictures come out quite good. But if we compare, for example, with the Galaxy S III, the shadows are better developed, and in terms of color rendition and detail, the gadgets are almost identical.

Examples of photos:

The Grand also features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling.

Battery

The device has a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2100 mAh. One battery charge, according to the manufacturer, should be enough for 10 hours 10 minutes of battery life in talk mode and 440 hours of standby time.

Price

The price of Samsung Galaxy Grand on the Russian market is 17,990 rubles. Note that this smartphone is suitable for those who need a second SIM card slot, a fairly large display and a solid software package. If Dual-SIM does not play a special role, then it is better to take a closer look at the Galaxy S II, which will be an excellent alternative to a new smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Grand video review:

General characteristics

Screen

Multimedia capabilities

Connection

Memory and processor

Nutrition

Other features

Samsung has long taken a leading position in all price segments among Android smartphones. Now the next step is to repeat the success among dual-SIM Android smartphones. So far, Samsung has succeeded. And now the manufacturer is announcing a huge DualSIM - Galaxy Grand Duos - a smartphone with a 5-inch TFT display with a resolution of 800x480 pixels. You could expect something similar from little-known manufacturers who are trying with all their might to grab a piece of the pie from a huge market, but from the leader you expect something more impressive, with a screen with a resolution of 960x540 pixels, or better yet, 1280x720 pixels. When the smartphone came to us for testing, we could not even imagine how it would all turn out. It turned out that Samsung once again managed to create a device that other manufacturers will look up to.

The design of the new product has become closer to, while the younger model is more like. Dimensions of the smartphone are 143.5 x 76.9 x 9.6 mm, weight 162 g. For comparison, dimensions of the Galaxy S III are 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, weight 133 g, Galaxy Note II – 151.1 x 80 ,5x9.4 mm, weight 180 g. Since the screen diagonal in the Grand Duos is 5 inches, it would be most correct to compare it with the Galaxy S III with a 4.8-inch screen, but the numbers suggest that we are looking at a slightly smaller copy Note II than the grown-up Galaxy S III. The smartphone does not look compact - it is a large device with a large screen and a glossy body, however, Grand Duos fits comfortably in the hand.

On the front side of the case there is a set of sensors, a speaker, a camera and keys. Only the event indicator is missing. The hardware Home key rises above the glass, and its edges are cut to give the user the impression that it is made of metal. It looks unusual and attractive.

The silver plastic around the perimeter of the case is designed to resemble metal as much as possible. It contains the power button, volume button, headphone jack, charger and a small microphone hole.

On the back side, in one line, there is a recess for removing the cover, a flash LED, a camera eye and two speaker slots. Under the cover are hidden slots for SIM 1 and SIM 2, as well as memory cards. Access to the SIM 1 and memory card slot is blocked by the battery, while the SIM from the second slot is hot-swappable. For a smartphone, it doesn’t matter where each SIM is; in the menu you can set the 3G mode for any of them

The removable cover is not as flexible as in older models, but unlike them, it has a pattern in the form of triangles, so it cannot be called completely featureless, although we would prefer rough plastic, as in the Galaxy S Duos.

Operating system and shell

The smartphone runs on the Android 4.1.2 operating system. The proprietary TouchWiz – Nature UX shell is installed on top of the standard interface. With the exception of the S-Pen settings, the Grand Duos interface is no different from the Galaxy Note II. You can read about the possibilities of the latter in the material.

Among the new things that we are encountering for the first time, we note the presence of a new switch in the notification panel responsible for activating multi-window mode (if the function is inactive, calling multi-window mode by holding the “Back” key does not work). The active SIM card switch is also located here.

A new item has been added to the SIM card manager that allows you to receive calls on the second SIM, if the first one is currently being used to access the Internet, but the data transfer will be interrupted. Otherwise, the second SIM will not be available. To be able to receive calls on two SIMs simultaneously, you need to set up call forwarding in the “Active Mode” menu. In it you can specify where calls will be redirected if any of the SIMs is “busy”. If you set up forwarding between cards installed in your smartphone, then when there is an incoming call, if you are already talking, a corresponding signal and a pop-up window will appear, where you will be asked to make a choice, hold the current call and accept the incoming one, or end the current call and answer the incoming one.

You cannot assign a default SIM for making calls and sending messages, only for data transfer. When dialing a number and in messages, there are always two icons - SIM 1, SIM 2. That is, in order to make a call from the SIM card installed in the first slot, you need to click on the SIM 1 icon.

Among other notable features of the Grand Duos interface, we note the presence of many types of vibration operation with the ability to create your own and a wide range of background screensavers for messages.

Hardware platform

The smartphone uses a system-on-chip Broadcom BCM28155. The chipset is made using 40nm technology and includes two Cortex-A9 processor cores capable of operating at a maximum clock frequency of 1.2 GHz, supporting NEON, a graphics core VideoCore IV And 1 GB LPDDR2 RAM(400 MHz).

According to benchmark results, system performance is at the level of Nvidia Tegra2, MTK6577T.

The Epic Citadel app displayed artifacts, although there were no image issues in the games we tested.

The smartphone allows you to play video up to Full HD resolution, and you don’t need to install third-party applications to watch it; the built-in player copes with this task well, and it is also one of the most advanced among the “standard” ones. Test videos AVI, MP4, MKV started and played without problems.
The conversational and multimedia speakers showed themselves to be good, both during conversations and calls. The sound in the headphones did not disappoint either; it is loud and will appeal to the vast majority of users.

The operating time of a smartphone is one of its strengths. The use of such a large display did not negatively affect battery life. The Antutu Tester application showed 4 hours or more than 700 points, which is equivalent to two days of work under average load or 6-7 hours with constant use of GPS. In reading mode, the smartphone will last 13 hours and 22 minutes, in player mode – 33 hours and 22 minutes.

Display

The smartphone display is clearly not the leader in terms of dots per inch, so those looking for a device with a Retina display will be disappointed. For me, a lover of high-quality screens, including high resolution and sharp images, the Grand Duos display did not cause any rejection. This does not mean that the pixels are invisible, on the contrary, they are visible even at a relatively large distance from the eyes, provided that you have good vision, but these same pixels do not spoil the impression of the device.

When looking at the screen diagonally from the lower right corner to the upper left, the colors lose some of their saturation, but there is no trace of the inversion typical of inexpensive TN matrices. The minimum brightness is 11.7 cd/m², the maximum is 347 cd/m², 50% on the scale corresponds to 202 cd/m², and with automatic adjustment in office lighting conditions the display shows 190 cd/m².

Camera

The quality of the main camera is traditionally good for Samsung; photos are sharp, with natural color reproduction. A ton of settings, including image stabilization, macro mode and many others, will allow you to choose the optimal settings to get the best shot. The most serious drawback of the camera is the lack of an HDR mode, but this fact is unlikely to deter you from buying a smartphone. The video quality is also excellent; while recording, you can specify the focus point by touching the screen.

Examples of 8 MP photos taken with a Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone

An example of Full HD video recording using a Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone

The front 2 MP camera copes with the tasks assigned to it, but I was surprised that the maximum video resolution is limited to 720x480 pixels.

Results

The Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos smartphone is far from the first device with support for two SIM cards and a 5-inch screen; it also cannot be called affordable. Why was he able to impress us so much? Firstly, one of the most functional shells. Working with it, you understand that the manufacturer cares not only about how to sell the device, but also about how to make it as convenient as possible in everyday work. Secondly, multimedia capabilities - the capabilities of music and video players. Thirdly, cameras, both main and front. Fourthly, work time. For a smartphone with such a large display and two SIM cards, this is especially true. All this together makes the Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos the best dual-SIM smartphone with a 5-inch screen.