Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 vs. Nokia Lumia 1320 – Specs and Price Review

If you are looking for affordable, mid-range smartphones with close to high-end performance you might be interested in the Nokia Lumia 1320 and the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2. These two have been out for a while now and offer good specs for a good price. Which one should you choose? You can decide after you read our review.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2

The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 was announced in November 2013 and got released in January 2014. In terms of design it comes with a faux leather back cover with stitching imitation on its edge. Like the Samsung Galaxy Grand it also features two SIM slots. The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 comes with a 5.25-inch display, making it a bit bigger than the first model with dimensions of 5.78 x 2.96 x 0.35 inches. The TFT HD display is capable of 720 x 1280 px resolution with 320ppi pixel density offering a good multimedia experience.

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 packs a ARM Cortex-A7 chip with a 1.2 Ghz quad-core processor and an Adreno 305 GPU.  Memory wise the Grand 2 is equipped with 1.5 GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. It also comes with microSD support of up to 64 GB. The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and uses the TouchWiz Nature UX interface.

Connectivity on the Grand 2 includes 3G and 4G support along with Wi-Fi, A-GPS and GLONASS. The device is powered by a 2600 mAh Li-Ion battery promising to last up to 17 hours. Its 8 MP main camera features 1080p HD video recording capabilities, auto-focus, geo-tagging, self-timer, stop motion, panorama and smile shot to name just a few. It also sport a 1.9 MP front facing camera.

Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 Specs:

• 5.25-inch TFT LCD 720p capacitive display, 280ppi
• Dual-SIM
• Android OS v4.3 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz Nature UX
• Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400
• Quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU
•  Adreno 305 GPU
• 1.5GB of RAM
• 8GB storage
• microSD support up to 64GB
• 8MP main camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording @ 30fps
• 1.9MP front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wireless Hotspot, Dual-band, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, microUSB v2.0
• 2,600mAh replaceable battery

Nokia Lumia 1320

The mid-range sibling of the Nokia Lumia 1520 is designed in the same spirit as the other Lumia models. It can be picked up in yellow, red, black and white. Boosting a huge 6-inch screen, it comes closer to a tablet than a smartphone. With dimentions of 6.46 x 3.38 x 0.39 inches and weighing 220g the device is not easy to handle, especially with one hand.

The Nokia Lumia 1320 comes with a 6-inch display but with 1280 x 720 resolution and only 245ppi the screen looks a bit pixelated and can’t offer a perfect multimedia experience. The Nokia Lumia 1320 runs on Windows Phone 8 Black and uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip with a 1.7 Ghz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. The internal 8 GB storage space can be expanded up to 64 GB via microSD card. The Nokia Lumia 1320 offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GLONASS, NFC and micro-USB 2.0 connectivity.

The 5 MP camera on the Nokia Lumia 1320 offers decent quality, considering it’s a mid tier phone, and it’s enough for some casual shooting. It offers some of the usual features: 1080p video recording, touch focus, face detection, geo-tagging and digital zoom. The Nokia Lumia 1320 also comes with a 3.0 front-facing camera. Power wise, the Nokia Lumia 1320 is equipped with a huge  Li-Ion 3400 mAh battery, offering up to 25 hours of talk time and  up to 672 hours in standby.

Nokia Lumia 1320 Specs:

• 6-inch HD LCD IPS ClearBlack , 245ppi
• Windows Phone 8 Black
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
• 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU
•  Adreno 305 GPU
• 1 GB of RAM
• 8GB storage
• microSD support up to 64GB
• 5MP main camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording @ 30fps
• 0.3MP front-facing camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi positioning system, Wireless Hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, microUSB v2.0
• 3,400mAh non-replaceable battery

In terms of specs, the two are close to each other but not close enough. The Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 offers slightly better hardware, solid built quality and also Dual SIM capabilities. The Nokia Lumia 1320’s big screen size  might be a good selling point but it’s small resolution and pixel density is a bit disappointing. On the other hand, the Nokia Lumia 1320 offers a very good battery which for some might be a huge plus. In the end it all comes down to personal choice. Both are well made mid-range devices and you can’t go wrong with either of them. Both are priced at around $350 carrier free.