I met with the Galaxy Grand in Cape Town prior to the Samsung Africa Forum at a welcoming party at Shimmy Beach Club, a restaurant by the port beach. It was a short lived moment as the device was going to be announced for the South African Market the next day, meaning the rest of Africa will have it in the shops in the next few days. Some like Nigeria already have it in the shops. Samsung Galaxy Grand is clearly a device targeted at the emerging markets for users who wish to get premium features but are restricted by cost. It has that large 5 inch screen, an 8 MP camera with 2 MP front, Dual-SIM Dual standby, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a 2100 mAh battery.
Performance-wise it doesn’t disappoint according to users who have already played with it. The only compromise this device seems to have is low screen resolution and a different screen technology from what we have come to get used to for mid to high end Samsung Android smartphones. LCD technology unlike with others that don Super AMOLED. It’s worth is, as the price is considerably low for the specs it has. Plus it manages battery life quite well.
The one I got to touch and look at has the flip cover from Samsung, I am not sure they come bundled from the box though. The device looks a bit thick and the flip cover doesn’t help on that front either. The dual SIM dual standby goes a step further to be reflected on the dial and text message composer where you have an option to tap the SIM card you upto to send or dial with.
It does have premium features found on the Galaxy S III like Multi-screen, blocking mode, Page buddy for roaming, earphones and docking. As usual with droids, you are able to select which SIM gets to foot the data bill. We will have a look at it later on when it gets available in the Kenya market. But while that happens, all I can say is it’s quite the proposal for a user who wishes to get a dual-SIM phone while at the same time having large screen real estate and a manageable price.
