Samsung Galaxy Grand I9082 review: GrandisSIMo

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Grand uses a 5" capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixels resolution. One massive disadvantage of stretching that kind of resolution on this much screen real estate is the pretty low pixel density - 187 ppi to be exact.

The Galaxy Grand's image quality leaves something to be desired

The fact that there's no advanced display technology doesn't speak well for the image quality. However, it turned out to be pretty decent for the mid-range league where there are no 1080p monsters to be found. Contrast is good if unspectacular, while colors are pretty decent. Viewing angles are impressively wide, too.

Samsung Galaxy Grand display matrix

Still, the display could've been better, especially if being able to spot individual pixels is a deal-breaker.

Sunlight legibility turned out to be extremely disappointing, though, with the Galaxy Grand posting one of the worst scores in our dedicated test.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S
  3.155
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.970
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  2.861
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  2.832
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.680
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Samsung Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• HTC Desire C
  1.300
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.180
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114

The Galaxy Grand does quite well to offer the extra real estate in a bid to make up for the uninspiring image quality. Some users would find that an acceptable trade-off, while others might be willing to consider the Galaxy S II Plus.

Battery performance

We put the Galaxy Grand through our battery routine and it did great. We were sure to supply it with two SIM cards, of course. It scored 56 hours, which means you'll only need to charge the smartphone every 56 hours if you use it for an hour of talk-time, an hour of web browsing and an hour of video-watching per day.