Samsung's Galaxy Grand line-up heralded the phablet revolution, everyone wanted a smartphone with a large display. As our pockets grew larger, so did the smartphone screen-size. The Galaxy Grand line-up was always meant to showcase some flagship features on a mid-range smartphone, on some models Samsung succeeded and the Grand Max is one of them. The clear defining feature of the Galaxy Grand Max is its camera. The rear camera with Sony sensor performs brilliantly in good lighting and works well in low-light as well. If it weren't for the Lumia 640 XL, this would be the best smartphone camera in the sub Rs. 15000 segment. Samsung did well on performance with the Snapdragon 410 chipset and 1.5GB RAM, all the while keeping the TouchWiz bloat to a minimum on the Grand Max.
But they skimped on an essential unit, the speakerphone. Its one of the tinniest sounding, and low-volume speaker I have heard in a long while. In a device that has excellent cameras, good display, solid build, good battery-life, good performance & dare-I-say thoughtful design, the speaker is just mediocre. No USB OTG support might miff some users, as well as the absence of a notification LED, but these are minor annoyances. I would still recommend going for the Grand Max purely just because of its cameras if nothing else. You can watch our full review with camera samples above, for more coverage including gaming and camera reviews and comparisons of the Grand Max with other smartphones, head over to our YouTube channel.
8.1
PROS
- Excellent Cameras
- Sharp, Vibrant Display
- Good Performance, Gaming
- Good Build Quality, Design
- Good Battery Backup
CONS
- Low Speakerphone Volume
- Display Could've Been Brighter
- No Notification LED, USB OTG Support
Score Breakdown
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Build and Design8.4
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Display7.8
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Network Reception & Call Quality8.2
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Camera(s)9.1
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Music & Video Playback8.2
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Gaming8.5
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Performance8.2
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Battery-life8.2
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Software7.1
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Total Score