Well, it appears that HTC (News - Alert) is on to something. Back in mid-November when the company announced its gem of a giant smartphone, the DNA, HTC made a big deal about calling the beast a smartphone. That is what it is - period. We're glad they did, because in fact that is what it is.
Apparently Samsung (News - Alert) - in its quest to always have an answer to whatever everyone else out there has in the field, has now followed suit. It has introduced its own "giant smartphone" and its calling it the Galaxy Grand. It kind of reminds us of Pillsbury's giant versions of its various biscuits - which it also refers to as Grands. A very apt comparison.
Is Samsung onto something here? It's certainly worth considering, especially since Samsung has now officially taken over for Nokia as the world's number one producer of cell phones. TMC CEO and Editor in Chief Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) has a very interesting Samsung perspective on this that he just posted in his blog (it also provides an interesting strategy for Apple (News - Alert) to slow Samsung down) - well worth reading.
Here's our two cents - Samsung is neither on to something here, nor has it found a way to deliver a smartphone that can really hold a candle to HTC's DNA. Definitely less lite and less filling. One of the key things the DNA delivers is a fabulous screen resolution along with super high quality HD video. The new Samsung Grand sports a rather unappealing 800 x 480 display resolution. It offers an 8 megapixel camera, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 8 GB of memory, which can be expanded to 64 GB by using a microSD card.
It looks pretty much like a Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II, and it will run on Android (News - Alert) 4.1.2. It will also support what Samsung is calling its "Multi Window" mode of operation, through which users can run two apps on the screen at the same time. We suppose that is as good a reason for a 5-inch screen size as any. We also suppose that what makes it a smartphone instead of a "phablet" like it's Galaxy Note II is the smaller screen size - the Note II sports a 5.5-inch screen, an entire .5 inch of additional visual real estate.
There isn't much more to say at this point in time. Samsung referred to the Grand as a mid-level phone, so while the screen resolution isn't great it was probably the best Samsung could do to keep the price reasonable. There are no details as yet on price or actual availability, but we suspect that it will land in the $150 retail price range with a new contract. The Note II currently runs in the $300 range, so half the price might make sense. We also don't expect it will feel much different than the current crop of Samsung phones - not like a finely wrought machine, but sort of like a Kia might feel if it were a phone.