What kind of camera does the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime have? Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime has an excellent front camera and other bells and whistles. Additional cameras are usually mounted above the device screen and are used mainly for video conversations, gesture recognition, etc.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime SM-G531H Gray smartphone has a thin body (8.6 mm), a large screen (5 inches) and high functionality.HIGH PERFORMANCE.
The use of a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor allows you to simultaneously work in several applications, while the response speed to each action is almost instantaneous.
WIDE ANGLE SELFIE.
The smartphone has a 5 MP front camera with a wide-angle lens. The field of view is 85 degrees.
LARGE BATTERY CAPACITY.
The 2,600 mAh battery provides longer battery life, so situations where the smartphone turns off due to low battery and there is no way to make an important call are practically excluded.
OPERATING SYSTEM Android Kitkat.
The Galaxy Grand Prime SM-G531H smartphone uses Android KitKat 4.4 operating system which provides good functionality for simple everyday use.
CLEAR IMAGE.
The five-inch qHD display provides high-quality images and comfort for the eyes in any way you use your smartphone - for watching videos, web pages or reading e-books. The picture is clear, the colors are saturated, but natural, so it is easy to perceive and does not cause fatigue.
From the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime SM-G530h smartphone, it is immediately clear that this is a phone from Samsung, even if it did not have the corresponding logo. It has a typical Samsung design: a silver side frame, a standard shape with rounded edges, medium-thick side frames, a classic speaker above the logo and buttons (an oval physical Home button and two non-backlit touch buttons). On the back of the Galaxy Grand Prime is a traditional-shaped, slightly protruding lens, to the left of it is a backlight, and to the right is a speaker, divided in half by a strip of plastic. In our test sample, the back panel was painted to look like metal. The power and volume keys are located on the left and right ends, respectively, the micro-USB connector is on the bottom, and the headphone jack is on the top. Overall, the smartphone looks attractive.
The dimensions of the smartphone are 144.8 × 72.1 mm, thickness up to 8.8 mm, approximately the same as the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, and thinner than the company's mini-flagship Samsung Galaxy S5 mini with its 9.5 mm. Together with a 5-inch diagonal, such a case seems thin, but too tall. As for ease of use, the smartphone fits comfortably in one hand, but you have to control it with two.
The main material of the Galaxy Grand Prime case is plastic. The device, in our opinion, is assembled with high quality, which is typical for the company’s smartphones - nothing plays, creaks or bends. The case is dismountable, the cover can be easily removed, and you can also remove the battery if necessary.
You can buy the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime SM-G530h in White and Gray colors.
Screen - 3.5
The display is not the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime's strong point. Apparently they decided to save money on it. The display resolution is 960x540 pixels, like the old mini-flagship with a smaller screen, the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. The pixel density per inch is 220, which is not much. In addition, there is no light sensor, and therefore no adjustable brightness. I'm glad that they did without a TN matrix; an IPS type matrix is used here. The display on the Galaxy Grand Prime may not be the sharpest, but the viewing angles are good. Among the advantages, we note the high brightness (up to 399 cd/m2). The minimum is about 10 cd/m2, which is a comfortable brightness for working with the screen in the dark. In the sun, the information on the display remains readable. However, there is no oleophobic coating or protective glass on the screen, so the display can “collect” scratches and fingerprints.
Camera
The smartphone is positioned as a device for good selfies; it has a main 8 MP camera with LED flash and a 5 MP front camera. The camera has quite a lot of functions, capabilities and modes, like in expensive smartphones, but there is no stabilization system. The maximum photo resolution is 3264×2448 pixels. According to our experts, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime takes quite good quality photos. The resolution of the video being shot is 1920x1080 pixels, the recording speed is 30 fps, and the front camera also shoots with the same parameters. The sound in both cases is recorded in stereo mode. There is also tracking autofocus and focus by pressing the display.
The 5 MP front camera of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is designed not only for calls, but also for wide-angle selfies. Plus, it can also shoot animated GIFs using continuous shooting. We would also like to note the group selfie mode, a kind of mini-panorama, almost your entire friendly group can be included in the frame. In addition, as often happens, the front camera pleasantly colors and “corrects” the skin tone in the photo. True, the photographs are not very clear. Of course, the front camera takes worse pictures than the main one, and it does not have autofocus by pressing the screen - the camera immediately takes a picture.
Photo from camera Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime - 3.5
Working with text - 3.0
The Samsung proprietary keyboard on the Galaxy Grand Prime smartphone is, in our opinion, convenient. For example, it is possible to select a keyboard of the “old” format - 3x4 icons. The keyboard supports continuous text input using strokes (Swype). To type numbers, you do not have to switch to the additional symbols window - there is a marking with numbers on the top row. In order for Swype to start working, you need to enable T9 mode. Among the minuses, we note the absence of a button for a comma, and I would like to see additional markings. characters on all keys - there's plenty of room for it all on the 5-inch display. The pre-installed keyboard does not have a key to switch between languages; to do this, you will have to hold down the spacebar and swipe it slightly to the side.
Internet - 3.0
The browsers in the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, in our opinion, are convenient for browsing the Internet: the standard Android Browser and Chrome are preinstalled on the smartphone. It is possible to scale pages to fit a pre-selected text size; there is no separate reading mode. But in Chrome you can sync tabs with the desktop version of the browser, and the standard browser has “Labs”, which has a quick control function. If you turn it on, then when you drag your finger along the left or right edge, icons for one-handed control will appear around your finger in a semicircle - entering settings, bookmarks, “forward”, “back” and many others. This will be convenient for those who have a busy second hand.
Interfaces
The smartphone supports the most common wireless interfaces: dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP support, A-GPS, as well as work with GLONASS and the Chinese BeiDou navigation system. By the way, versions with LTE support are sold in China, there are also versions with an NFC chip, but, unfortunately, in Russia a “simple” version is sold without NFC and only with 3G. Galaxy Grand Prime Duos has two slots for Micro-SIM cards, however, it only has one radio module. A Micro-USB connector is provided for charging and data exchange, but without support for MHL or connecting peripherals to a smartphone.
Multimedia - 1.4
Samsung, as a rule, pays a lot of attention to the multimedia capabilities of smartphones. However, in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, everything turned out to be a little different. Thus, in our tests, the device played most video formats without preliminary conversion, but could not cope, for example, with MKV and MOV video formats. With audio playback everything is standard: MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, etc., but FLAC had to be launched through the file manager. On the other hand, you can always install any player you need from the Play Market. In addition, the built-in video player can play and display external subtitle texts on the display.
Battery - 3.2
The smartphone has a removable lithium-ion battery with a good, for a low price, capacity of 2600 mAh. The battery passed our two standard battery life tests: the device was able to play HD video at maximum brightness for 6 hours and 45 minutes (almost the same as the iPhone 6), and listening to music drained it in 78 hours (almost the same amount of time it took us). The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is good for its price range and better than most of its direct competitors. If your smartphone is about to run out of charge and you need to stay connected, turn on the extreme energy saving mode. A 1A charge fully charged the smartphone in a little less than two and a half hours.
Performance - 1.9
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime SM-G530h smartphone uses a new mid-range Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 processor (64-bit, by the way) with four cores operating at a frequency of up to 1.2 GHz and with an Adreno 306 graphics subsystem. The amount of RAM is - 1 GB. We have never encountered such a “filling” before, so it was more interesting to see it in action. We tested the chipset's performance in synthetic tests, games, and everyday use. Thanks to good optimization and “lightening” of the TouchWiz shell, the Galaxy Grand Prime works quickly. As for use as a gaming platform, not everything is so simple here. It will be enough for most games, but the “filling” will not allow you to enjoy the game at high graphics settings. For example, Asphalt 8 ran smoothly at medium settings in our tests, but began to slow down at high settings. You can play on it, but sometimes you will have to be limited in the choice of games or graphics settings. During active browsing, the device hardly slows down, only sometimes it gets stuck when scrolling through large pages, which is not critical, considering the price of the device.
In benchmarks, the smartphone received average results, comparable to mini versions of the flagships of Samsung, HTC, LG, etc.: 4533 points in the Ice Storm Unlimited test from 3DMark and 20933 points in the AnTuTu benchmark.
Memory - 3.0
The volume of internal memory in the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is 8 GB, of which about 4.5 GB is available to the user. The smartphone is equipped with a memory card slot that supports cards up to 64 GB. Hot swapping of memory cards is not supported - the slot is blocked by the battery.
Peculiarities
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime runs on Android 4.4.4 OS with the proprietary TouchWiz interface (if TouchWiz was really slow before, it has recently begun to improve). The smartphone supports two SIM cards, special features for people with hearing problems - flash notification, mute sounds, mono sound, etc. There is an extreme power saving mode, like on the latest Samsung flagships, and a number of pre-installed applications. Note that the pre-installed software on Samsung smartphones becomes smaller over time, and the interface itself becomes faster.
Nowadays, there are many smartphones that stand out either in appearance or in characteristics. The hero of our review, although he does not stand out as either the first or the second, but combines well a strict appearance and normal characteristics. Meet the affordable Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime was introduced in 2014 with Android 4.4 KitKat on board. Recently it became known that Samsung is testing Android 5 Lollipop for the Galaxy Grand Prime, and now users from Russia are reporting the availability of an update with build number G530HXCU1BOH3. Unfortunately, this is not Android 5.1, which may never make it to the Galaxy Grand Prime, but only 5.0.2. The update contains a huge number of innovations and fixes, for example, battery life has been improved, and the interface has been transformed to Material Design.
Samsung G530H Galaxy Grand Prime line Smartphones and mobile phones on Models in the line: 3 Price range: 3,440 − 7,177 UAH
Appearance and ease of use
The dimensions of the device may not be the most compact, but they are not record-breakingly huge either. You can either thank or blame for this, depending on how you feel about five-inch screens. The length is 144.8 mm, width 72.1 mm, and thickness 8.6 mm. The weight of the device is 156 grams.
It's nice that, despite the low cost, the manufacturer managed to make the phone very attractive. In appearance, there are notes borrowed from the manufacturer’s more expensive models. And the materials are quite good.
The front side is covered with protective glass, the sides are covered with glossy plastic disguised as metal, and the back cover is covered with matte plastic. Overall, for an affordable device, everything looks decent. To protect against scratches and falls, the front panel with the screen is slightly recessed inward.
Almost at the very top end there is a speaker, a scattering of sensors, among which there is no automatic brightness adjustment and a front camera. At the bottom there is a traditional composition of two touch keys and a mechanical key.
The location of the mechanical volume and power keys is familiar. The same can be said about the audio jack and microUSB port, which are located on the top and bottom ends, respectively. On the back side we will not see a second microphone, which is useful for noise reduction.
But a single LED flash, an 8 MP camera lens and a multimedia speaker are located right here. Under a thin cover with many latches there are connectors for two SIM cards in microSIM format and a microSD memory card, but you can only get to them after removing the 2600 mAh battery.
If we talk about ease of use, it is worth noting that operating the phone with one hand is not difficult. All controls are designed so that even users with small hands will not feel discomfort. Yes, and pressing the buttons has a predictable small stroke with a characteristic click.
Software, interface
The desktop interface uses TouchWiz paired with Android version 4.4.4. We have already seen this tandem in the Samsung Galaxy E5 and its older brother Samsung Galaxy A5, which we tested not so long ago. Despite the somewhat modest characteristics, the hero of the review did not lag behind its more expensive counterparts in smooth operation. Everything works smoothly and quickly.
Hardware platform
As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime has a lot in common with the Samsung Galaxy E5 in technical specifications, but it is still somewhat simplified. Yes, the processor is the same - a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) with a maximum frequency of 1.2 GHz, the modest Adreno 306 acts as a video accelerator. But the amount of RAM is only 1 GB, of which about 350 MB is available after switching on. The built-in storage is also not very capacious - 16 GB, however, it can be increased by using a microSD memory card.
Among the wireless interfaces, everything is standard - Bluetooth version 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz, as well as a whole set of navigation systems, which includes GPS, GLONASS and Beidou. As you would expect, they all work stably and well. Work with two SIM cards is organized as standard. The volume of the main speaker is good, but not very high. The vibration is also good. The earpiece and microphone are average. Not bad, but not the best either.
If we return to performance, then it is worth noting that the smartphone as a whole works smoothly and quickly, but when using several resource-intensive applications it constantly closes them, which is natural, since there is not much RAM. Even so, if you use your smartphone more as a phone and a means of communication, and less for games, then it is very difficult to notice performance problems. But with demanding games everything is not so simple. Yes, most of them work, but at low graphics settings.
For example, Dead Trigger 2 runs on low settings without any graphics lag, but on medium settings you can already notice jerks in some moments. All this suggests that the Galaxy Grand Prime is not designed for gaming.
To test the omnivorousness of the video player, we used the AnTuTu Video Tester application, which mostly tests using high-resolution files, which is not entirely correct in our case, because the screen resolution is much lower than what the benchmark makes it play. Despite this, some files were still able to be opened, although it is worth noting that it is better to install a third-party player - then you will definitely be able to watch almost any videos.
Autonomy
The smartphone is equipped with a removable battery with a capacity of 2600 mAh. In medium load mode, the device easily works for two days, if you don’t get too involved in games. At the same time, the screen worked for almost 5 hours, the phone conversation time was 1 hour 15 minutes, and the total playing time in DeadTrigger 2 was 40 minutes. Overall, these are very good results. In our tests, we set the brightness to 63%, which corresponds to a value of 200 cd/m².
Mode\Device | Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime | Huawei Honor 3C (H30-U10) | Asus Zenfone 5 |
Music | 28:34 | 100:00 | - |
Reading | 10:00 | 16:40 | 7:24 |
Navigation | 6:53 | 5:53 | 3:02 |
Watch HD video | 8:20 | 9:31 | 5:53 |
Watching HD videos from Youtube | 8:41 | 4:33 | 5:33 |
AntutuTester (points) | 6178 | 7024 | 2856 |
GFXBench (minutes) | 430,4 | 237 | 163 |
GFXBench (scores) | 720.4 Frame | 368 (6.6 fps) | 673 (12.0 fps) |
Screen
Our Galaxy Grand Prime is equipped with a TFT display with a resolution of 960x540 pixels, while the pixel density is 240 ppi. The screen has a small air gap and an oleophobic coating.
There is no automatic brightness adjustment sensor. The brightness itself varies from 17.9 cd/m² to 315 cd/m². In this case, the contrast is 1:439. Of course, the screen fades in the sun, but the information remains legible.
We also checked the factory screen calibration. The graphs show that the screen is a little warmer than necessary. The color gamut is narrower than sRGB and shifted towards warm shades. I wouldn't dare call the screen bad. But it can be good, because you need to understand that the device is inexpensive. On the other hand, it would be nice to have automatic brightness adjustment, but for some reason it is not here.
Cameras
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is equipped with two cameras – a 5 MP front camera and an 8 MP main camera. The front one has standard characteristics, but among them there are interesting settings that will help retouch the face, enlarge the eyes and change the oval of the face. The main camera can take photos in HDR mode and video in FullHD resolution. The basic settings are well known from other Samsung models.
If we talk about the quality of pictures from the main camera, they turn out to be quite average. There is nothing masterpiece, but the camera cannot be called frankly weak either. The pictures are especially good in sunny, clear weather, but with poor visibility and especially in the evening/night time, the quality of the photos is quite average. The front camera is only suitable for Skype. She is capable of taking good shots, but only in good lighting conditions.
Examples of photos taken with the main camera in automatic mode:
An example of shooting Full HD video:
Example of photos taken with the front camera:
Results
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime is an inexpensive but very high-quality smartphone from a renowned manufacturer. Yes, its main competitors have better characteristics and screen resolution, but most of them are produced by more modest brands. The small screen resolution in 2015 looks a little strange, but at the same time, to see individual pixels you need to have very good eyesight. A small amount of RAM, of course, is also not an advantage, but you need to take into account that the smartphone works smoothly and quickly, even with a large number of installed applications. Don't forget about the appearance - the smartphone looks more expensive than what they ask for. And this is a significant advantage for an affordable device. At the time of writing the review, the cost of the smartphone was 4199 UAH. It can be safely recommended for ordinary people who use their smartphone primarily for communication, and not for playing games at maximum settings.
Liked:
Autonomy
Appearance
Dual SIM cards
Availability of oleophobic coating
Didn't like:
– lack of automatic brightness adjustment
– low screen resolution
Type | Smartphone |
SIM card type | Micro-SIM |
Standard | GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 |
High speed data transfer | GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA |
Number of SIM cards | 2 |
operating system | Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) |
RAM, GB | 1 |
Built-in memory, GB | 8 |
Expansion slot | microSD/SDHC (up to 64 GB) |
Dimensions, mm | 144.8×72.1×8.6 |
Weight, g | 156 |
Protection from dust and moisture | - |
Battery | 2600 mAh |
Operating time (manufacturer's data) | Talk time: up to 17 hours (3G), video playback time: up to 10 hours, audio playback time: up to 75 hours |
Diagonal, inches | 5 |
Permission | 540×960 |
Matrix type | TFT |
PPI | 220 |
Dimming sensor | - |
Touch screen (type) | touch (capacitive) |
Other | 16 million colors |
CPU | Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 + GPU Adreno 306 |
Kernel type | Cortex-A53 |
Number of cores | 4 |
Frequency, GHz | 1,2 |
Main camera, MP | 8 |
Autofocus | + |
Video shooting | 1920x1080 pixels, 30 fps |
Flash | LED |
Front camera, MP | 5 |
Other | digital zoom |
WiFi | 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot |
Bluetooth | 4.0 |
GPS | + (GLONASS) |
IrDA | - |
NFC | - |
Interface connector | USB 2.0 (micro-USB) |
Audio jack | 3.5 mm |
MP3 player | + |
FM radio | + |
Housing type | monoblock |
Housing material | plastic |
Keyboard type | screen input |
More | proximity sensor, accelerometer, E-compass, A-GPS receiver, vibration alert |
It's amazing how appearances can sometimes be deceiving. Here in front of you is a device with a good appearance; when you start it, you see a good screen and performance. And then you find out that this is a budget device. Disappointed? Don't think. Most buyers will only be delighted with this turn - to buy an excellent smartphone for little money.
Design
The device is well recognizable - it’s immediately clear that this is a device from Samsung. The classic chrome bezel and mechanical island button give it away in the act, even without looking at the logo above the screen. But what is not immediately clear is the price category of the smartphone. It seemed to me that this was some kind of top device. In fact, this is a budget option with a touch of luxury in appearance.
The back side of the white color has a light pearl tint and a barely noticeable texture. However, it gets scratched pretty quickly.
The camera is complemented by a flash, and there is also a speaker located very well.
To be frank, the smartphone does not look like its five inches - it reaches the size of the 90-gram “Crown”. Despite its bulky dimensions, the device is thin and light. And even comfortable - in my female hand it does not seem out of place or outlandish, it looks quite decent (I think due to its thinness), and it is quite comfortable to use.
Display
The first thing that catches your eye is that the pixels are not the size of a grain of wheat, as you might think. No, this display impresses with its good color reproduction and decent viewing angles. Matrix - 5-inch TFT with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and a density of 220 ppi. The pixels are visible, but they are not grain size! In general, the display is quite good even with a rather modest resolution.
One cannot but rejoice at the presence of an oleophobic coating. The screen will look decent, with only a slight hint of grease even after several days of use.
I will note the quality of the black color rendering - it is really black, and the contour differs from the frame surrounding the screen by only a couple of tones.
But one of the disadvantages is the lack of automatic brightness adjustment.
Sound
Even top-end devices can envy the volume of this device. It's really vocal with good quality, but some signs of plasticity and rattling.
Performance
The developers chose the quad-core Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410 with a clock frequency of 1.2 GHz. Not the top-end processor for a very affordable device - the quality matches the status. Adreno 306 is responsible for graphics. The amount of RAM and internal memory can be called standard - 1 GB and 8 GB, respectively. You can expand the storage using microSD up to 64 GB.
In terms of performance, the smartphone is good, it works smoothly, wakes up quickly enough, and launches applications easily. It copes with some resource-intensive games, heating up noticeably, but without burning your hands. But Asphalt 8 did not start at all.
Interface and software
Oddly enough, the device runs on Android 4.4, supplemented with proprietary developer features called TouchWiz.
Camera
I admit, from a phablet with such a big name, I expected a resolution of more than 8 megapixels. But in reality the camera performs very, very well. Of course, not as good as the camera phone we recently tested, but the pictures are clear and more or less balanced in color rendition.
It was nice to find a 5 megapixel front camera.
Videos can be shot in Full HD resolution.
Communications
Wireless capabilities are represented by Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth version 4.0 modules, as well as GPS with support for A-GPS, GLONASS and Beidou.
There is support for 4G networks and Dual-SIM. Cards must be in microSIM format.
Opening hours
The 2600 mAh battery drains quite quickly. If you turn on the wireless modules and use the device relatively rarely, it will last a full working day. Active work, web surfing and taking pictures will take away the “life” of the battery in 5-6 hours. Watching a video will reduce this time to 4 hours, and gaming - to 2.5 hours.
Impressions
Despite the loud name, the device is not that “big”. Yes, it has its advantages in the form of a good screen, excellent sound and performance, but the lack of automatic volume control and an uncomfortable keyboard add a fly in the ointment. In general, impressions after long-term use remain positive.
PECULIARITIES
Good sound.
High quality display.
Decent performance.
Inconvenient keyboard.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Model Samsung Grand Prime
- Standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA (3G) 850/900/2100, LTE 850/1800/2100/2600
- Dimensions 14.48 x 7.21 x 0.86 cm
- Weight 156 g
- CPU Qualcomm MSM8916 Snapdragon 410, 4-core, Cortex-A53, 1.2 GHz
- GPU Adreno 306
- Display 5", TFT
- Permission 960 x 540 pixels, 220 ppi
- RAM 1 GB
- Memory 8 GB + memory card up to 64 GB
- Nutrition Li-Ion, 2600 mAh
- Camera 8 MP + 5 MP front
- Communications GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, 4G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS (A-GPS, GLONASS), Beidou
- Connectors microUSB 2.0, 3.5 mm output
- OS Google Android 4.4 + proprietary TouchWiz shell