Sequel reboot

Shameless self-promotion

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 is a huge update of the previous Grand which frankly wasn't all that grand. First thing that strikes you as you lift the phone out of the box is the size. It's teetering on the edge of being a phablet. The screen is now a 5.25 inch area compared to the previously 5-inch real estate. As you can see in the pics, it swallows up a more recognizable iPhone. The matchbox and the Matchbox cars are for reference. Small feminine hands can easily grasp it though. I had to go talk to many females with small hands to try this out. Things I do for work and science.
The phone 'feels' better in the hand now as Samsung has finally ditched the previously cheaply-shiny hyper glazed plastic in favor of …faux leather-finish plastic. Unlike the pricier Note3, this doesn't have the soft feel to it. It's got leather texture and embossed stitch effect but it is hard matt plastic. Still better and provides a more premium feel to it. The white surface is surprisingly resistant to dirt with a black version also available. A chrome surround adds a bit of elegance for those that like the shiny stuff. But I can't help thinking it would serve better with a colored metal/plastic approach.

Matchbox, Matchbox, Grand 2 and some fruit

Firing it up
You get a lot of bang for money this time. The screen is a pleasing 720p with 280ppi density compared to the previous WVGA 187ppi. Sharpness versus visible blockiness. That's a huge improvement. The new phone boasts a quad-core 1.2ghz Cortex A7 CPU versus the older dual core setup. It's a slightly older unit but it is one of the best performing ones. The RAM has been pushed up to 1.5GB from the previous 1GB. Those are the numbers that matter initially.

Flappy bird or flappy paddle gearshift?

What is it good for?
Primarily a phone like this means you'll spend a lot of time entertaining yourself and communicating via social media. The screen now does a brilliant job displaying the fine print on websites and Facebook statuses. A two-fingered swipe down will give you access to all the necessary shortcuts. One of which is allowing you to have a multi-window display. Facebook AND Instagram together to serve your popularity needs?

Ultimate Sandwich

Does it entertain?
Smartphones are slowly turning us into zombies. But if real zombies actually happen you could use a smartphone like this to keep them busy while you escape. You want music? Samsung has added a few good audio enhancement tweaks to the music app including one called Adapt that adjusts the equalizer to the performance of your headphones. I didn't get to test more than two headphones but the difference is subtle. Don't forget the radio.
You want videos? Well, that big screen is there to show you just about any movie you want. Gaming is also brilliant on the screen. But does it actually move? I tried out a couple of games but you can tell this review is done by a car crazy person. Hence, I picked Real Racing 3 for the majority of the testing. Also I had to beat a friend's score. It's a racing sim. with possibly one of the best graphics on a mobile device. I ran it for hours actually and the game never stuttered. It's a power hog though and half an hours racing brings down the battery by 20 percent from a full charge. Which actually isn't bad at all. Also, you can just press the home button, go away to Facebook to see if your friends are saying anything about you, find out they're not, and come back to play the game instantly. It stays in the background without hogging much power. Cool.

Bringing back inception

When you're out and about
There is an 8MP shooter at the back that produces sharply contrasted and brightly colored images typical to Samsung. You get lively shots each although getting it from standby to snap takes a few seconds. There's a host of different features and editing options but for most people, setting it to auto will suffice. And then there's the 1080p video.
There's a nifty little feature called the S-Translator. It translates between two languages using either text or speech. But, and it's a big but here, speech isn't recognized very well. It'll take quite a few trues to get it to translate a Japanese phrase to English. But at a pinch it will probably help you ask for directions to a toilet when you're hopeless in a foreign land.
Final words
Samsung took the lackluster Grand and completely overhauled it for the sequel. At Taka 28,500it's not a bad deal considering what you get. Good looks coupled with decent specs that will keep you going for a while and a battery that holds up to regular use. Couple of things that bug me are the chrome strip around the bezel. Not sure how long it will last. The loud speaker could have been a little louder. I'm hoping that's just an issue only with the test unit we were provided. In heavy Dhaka chaos, you have to hold it to face level to hear properly.
The performance figures aren't what geeks will have dreams about. In most cases the numbers fall into average territory but real world applications tell otherwise. The processor is powerful enough to provide lag-free experience and the Adreno 305 GPU manages to handle just about every game out there.

They've added a 2600mAh battery without adding much weight to it. Initially I used the phone only for calling and it went two days easily just handling regular voice calls. With Wi-Fi on all the time, a bit of browsing and the occasionally gaming, the phone needed the usual single charge a day. Which is pretty impressive considering what it has on offer. Turn on 3G, add another SIM and it starts to take its toll. Yes, this has dual-SIM so traveling to a foreign land means no more fiddling with two phones.
So, a light phone, well built, sharp screen, good for gaming, above average camera. It's a great travel companion. Now if only they can make it waterproof.