Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo Review

Posted: 20 Feb 2014, 04:33, by Daniel P.

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Introduction

Samsung outed the Galaxy Grand Neo without much fanfare, or even a proper announcement, and if you look at the specs it might be easier to understand why. The phone has weaker points not only compared to the newer Grand 2, but even to last year's Galaxy Grand.

The handset sports a 5” screen with very low pixel density, but the rest of the specs are decent, as the Grand Neo offers you 21 Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, and a quad-core processor. However, the original Galaxy Grand still sells worldwide, and actually offers higher resolution camera and video recording, which raises some eyebrows, so let's see what Samsung is hoping for with the Grand Neo...

Design

A chubby budget 5-incher with traditional design and matte plastic back

The handset spreads in 5.66 x 3.04 x 0.38” (143.7 x 77.1 x 9.6 mm) dimensions, and weighs the serious 5.75 oz (163g), so it's neither compact nor light in comparison with other 5-inchers out there. The rounded corners and physical home key scream “Samsung”, but the back is made of matte white plastic, instead of the company's usual glossy finish. The matte surface is actually nicer to the touch, less slippery, and doesn't attract fingerprints.

Grand Neo sports an easily removable back cover, which grants you access to the mini SIM and memory card slots, as well as to the swappable 2100 mAh battery. The side keys blend well with the chrome rim imitation around the phone, and are easy to feel and press without looking, providing good tactile feedback. The same goes for Samsung's traditional physical home key underneath the display,

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Front view | Side view

5.66 x 3.04 x 0.38 inches
143.7 x 77.1 x 9.6 mm
5.75 oz (163 g)

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo

5.78 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches
146.8 x 75.3 x 8.9 mm
5.75 oz (163 g)

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2

5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches
136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm
4.59 oz (130 g)

Samsung Galaxy S4

5.57 x 2.92 x 0.35 inches
141.5 x 74.15 x 8.88 mm
5.40 oz (153 g)

Sony Xperia C

To see the phones in real size or compare them with other models, visit our Visual Phone Size Comparison page.

Display

Too low pixel density of the screen is the phone's biggest drawback

Grand Neo comes equipped with a 5” panel, but that's where the fun stops. This basic LCD screen has 480x800 pixels of resolution, resulting in a 186 pixels per inch count, worthy of an eye roll. As a consequence, most everything appears jagged and pixelated, which can be rather annoying not only if you are a screen purist, but simply if you have toyed with today's midrangers, most of which come with at least 220ppi.

Still, for watching videos and occasionally for browsing, a big screen often trumps pixel density. If these are your main purposes, the Neo might be a fine budget choice, as there are no glaring issues with the display's color representation or viewing angles. Its peak brightness and surface reflectance are also decent enough for usage outdoors, unless you are standing in direct sunlight.

Display measurements and quality

	Maximum brightness (nits)Higher is better	Minimum brightness (nits)Lower is better	Contrast Higher is better	Color temperature (Kelvins)	Gamma	Delta E rgbcmy Lower is better	Delta E grayscale Lower is better
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo	388 (Average)	14 (Poor)	1:856 (Average)	8930 (Poor)	2.44	10.09 (Poor)	6.77 (Average)
Samsung Galaxy S4	289 (Poor)	9 (Average)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	7316 (Good)	2.16	5.52 (Average)	7.31 (Average)
Sony Xperia C	480 (Good)	44 (Poor)	1:934 (Average)	7538 (Average)	2.17	5.12 (Average)	4.97 (Average)

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The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property, observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.

	Maximum brightness Lower is better	Minimum brightness Lower is better	Contrast Lower is better	Color temperature Lower is better	Gamma Lower is better	Delta E rgbcmy Lower is better	Delta E grayscale Lower is better
Samsung Galaxy S4	58.5%	55.6%	unmeasurable	19.9%	0.9%	63.8%	74.4%
Sony Xperia C	76.7%	77.3%	81.2%	7.4%	9.7%	26.2%	9.9%
Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo	86.6%	92.9%	82.1%	8.3%	15.2%	5.1%	31.9%

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The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set (area) of colors that a display can reproduce, with the sRGB colorspace (the highlighted triangle) serving as reference. The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x: CIE31' and 'y: CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.

These measurements are made using SpectraCal's CalMAN calibration software.

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Interface and Functionality

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PhoneArena rating:

5 Average

User rating:

8.3 Very good

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo Compare

Specifications News^[3]

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12 Comments

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posted on 20 Feb 2014, 05:39

1. PorkyBurger (Posts: 585; Member since: 18 May 2013)

LOL, I would give it 4/10 if I could. This device is just so dissapointing like most of the Samsung lower-end products are. OG Grand was an OK device, but why they made it even worse, like I doubt the pricing of this device could go lower than first-gen Grand. (o.x)

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 06:38 3

5. nokia12 (Posts: 580; Member since: 19 Nov 2013)

i would give this device
"Not Fit for rating"

lol...

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 05:40 4

2. X.E.R.O. (unregistered)

Score should be lower, I don't even know why Samsung bothered to make this.

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 06:10 1

3. hafini_27 (Posts: 898; Member since: 31 Oct 2013)

Sámung seriously need to stop flooding the market.

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 06:20 3

4. Martin_Cooper (Posts: 1599; Member since: 30 Jul 2013)

No cause that strategy gave them the 80% market share of android. Flooding the market with so many models that in most cases a user will most probably buy a samsung since there is one for every price. They might be s**t but still when you go to a store half of the models will be samsung, that gives them high probability of being sold than other brand. Samsung is all about quantity over quality.

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 09:17

6. newbey123 (Posts: 631; Member since: 19 Mar 2012)

Samsung products I find to be the lowest quality, but people blindly buy them just becaus they are everywhere, kind of like Toyotas.

posted on 21 Feb 2014, 02:06

11. cripton805 (Posts: 1484; Member since: 18 Mar 2012)

My toyota has been extremely reliable and their reliability ratings have been the best... Before you try to use an analogy. Please do a little research.

What's high quality to you? BMW, Ford, Kia? Which one of your cars have failed and what failed? People tend to over react over a busted radiator or worn out brake pads.

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 11:56

7. rajasasuke (Posts: 17; Member since: 19 Feb 2014)

samsung only cares about high end flagship

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 19:12

8. Bioload25 (Posts: 213; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)

And what about the "brand new" Galaxy Xyz.5 Grand Big Neo Lime White SD 100000 10G edition?

posted on 20 Feb 2014, 21:34 1

9. najib1312 (Posts: 154; Member since: 08 May 2013)

5/10 for this pointless device and 2/10 for Jolla which atleast offers a truly unique experience to users??

Seriously, give me one good reason why people should buy this phone?

posted on 21 Feb 2014, 01:59

10. cripton805 (Posts: 1484; Member since: 18 Mar 2012)

Looking at the specs, how did the Lumia 525 get a 7.8???
I mean seriously, even THIS is better than a 525, yet this got a far lower score... The price doesnt justify losing by a 2.8 points...

They compared the lumia to a moto g, but compared this to an s4... logic...

posted on 25 Feb 2014, 01:26

12. screenprotector (Posts: 4; Member since: 25 Feb 2014)

The best screen protector Glass reinforced technology: using imported glass material, specially on the original glass hardness resistance to scratching by strengthening processing, at an astonishing 9 h hardness, can effectively prevent the paster scratched for a long time, and has high light transmittance.

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Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo

OS: Android 4.2
view full specs

Display	5.0 inches, 480 x 800 pixels (186 ppi) TFT
Camera	5 megapixels
Hardware	Broadcom BCM23550, Quad-core, 1200 MHz, Cortex-A7 processor 1 GB RAM
Size	5.66 x 3.04 x 0.38 inches (143.7 x 77.1 x 9.6 mm) 5.75 oz (163 g)

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Introduction

Design

A chubby budget 5-incher with traditional design and matte plastic back

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Too low pixel density of the screen is the phone's biggest drawback

Display measurements and quality

The numbers below represent the amount of deviation in the respective property, observed when a display is viewed from a 45-degree angle as opposed to direct viewing.

Related phones

12 Comments Options Close Follow › Following Show comments: default show moderated comments Display mode: Threaded Chronological Newest first Always view all comments Save

1. PorkyBurger (Posts: 585; Member since: 18 May 2013)

5. nokia12 (Posts: 580; Member since: 19 Nov 2013)

2. X.E.R.O. (unregistered)

3. hafini_27 (Posts: 898; Member since: 31 Oct 2013)

4. Martin_Cooper (Posts: 1599; Member since: 30 Jul 2013)

6. newbey123 (Posts: 631; Member since: 19 Mar 2012)

11. cripton805 (Posts: 1484; Member since: 18 Mar 2012)

7. rajasasuke (Posts: 17; Member since: 19 Feb 2014)

8. Bioload25 (Posts: 213; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)

9. najib1312 (Posts: 154; Member since: 08 May 2013)

10. cripton805 (Posts: 1484; Member since: 18 Mar 2012)

12. screenprotector (Posts: 4; Member since: 25 Feb 2014)

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