Xolo is trying to target the mid-range smartphone market and their latest attempt is the gaming powerhouse – Xolo Play T1000 packing a NVidia Tegra 3 SoC. Samsung launched the Galaxy Grand (GT-I9082) way back in January and it has been a huge hit for the company.
The Xolo Play is a quad-core device with a relatively smaller footprint than the dual-core Galaxy Grand. Let’s check out how the devices compete against each other.
Design and Build Quality
The Xolo Play follows a simple design approach and looks like the Google Nexus 4 while the Galaxy Grand follows Samsung’s plastic all body build with the same old design.
The Xolo Play is shorter and wider but thicker and heavier than the Galaxy Grand. On the front, above the display, we have the 2MP camera and the ambient and proximity sensors on both the phones. The earpiece is located along the edge in the Xolo Play while it is located between the display and the top edge on the Galaxy Grand.
Below the display, we have the capacitive touch keys in the Xolo Play while the Galaxy Grand has a physical home button and capacitive back and menu buttons.
On the right side, we have the power button and the volume rocker on the Xolo Play while the Galaxy Grand has only the power lock key.
On the bottom, we have just the microphone hole on the Xolo Play, while we have the mic along with the microUSB port on the Galaxy Grand.
The left side of Xolo Play is completely barren, but we have the volume rocker on the Galaxy Grand.
At the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack and the microUSB port on the Xolo Play, while there is only the 3.5mm Audio jack on the Galaxy Grand.
On the back, we have the 8MP camera with LED flash at the top center on both the devices and we find secondary mic in Xolo Play. Removing the back cover, we find different internals as Play supports only a single mini SIM card while Galaxy Grand has two mini SIM card slots. Both the devices have microSD card slot, but both of them are not hot-swappable.
On the whole, Xolo Play feels more solid and is easier to hold because of the matte back, but is slightly heavier and thicker. The Galaxy Grand is thinner, but feels quite bulky and has a glossy back prone to fingerprints.
Display
Xolo Play has a 4.7inch IPS HD display with a pixel density of 312ppi while the Galaxy Grand has a 5inch display with WVGA resolution with a pixel density of 187ppi.
Among the two displays, Xolo Play has a better display with better pixel density, better contrast, colors and better viewing angles.
Hardware and Performance
The Xolo Play is powered by the 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM and graphics is taken care by the ULP GeForce GPU. The Galaxy Grand on the other hand is powered by a 1.2GHz Broadcom processor, has 1GB RAM and graphics is handled by Broadcom’s Videocore IV GPU.
Xolo Play has just 4GB internal storage while Galaxy Grand has 8GB of internal storage. The user accessible memory in Xolo Play is just 1.7GB while in the Galaxy Grand it is 3.94GB. However, you can install apps or games directly on the SD card in Xolo Play which is not possible in the Galaxy Grand.
Out of the 1GB RAM in both the phones, the available RAM in Xolo Play is 976MB while the Galaxy Grand has just 800MB available. When the phones are idle, you get 500MB of free RAM.
In the benchmarks, the Xolo Play easily beats the Grand since it has a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
Camera
Xolo Play and Galaxy Grand have an 8MP camera at the back that can record 1080p videos at 30fps and a 2MP front facing camera.
The camera UI is quite different on both the devices. The Xolo Play has a camera UI that is very much like stock camera app in the Android 4.1 Jellybean and has very few options and shooting modes when compared to the Galaxy Grand. Galaxy Grand has quite a lot of options when compared to the Xolo Play and wide range of shooting modes like Smile Shot, Beauty and Share shot.
In terms of quality, the images and videos in the Galaxy Grand were better with better colors and more details. Also, the 1080p videos of Galaxy Grand were better with true colors and more details.
Here is the camera comparison video that offers more details about the camera
Software Features
The Xolo Play and Galaxy Grand run on Android 4.1. But Xolo Play has very little customization over the stock UI while Galaxy Grand has Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Xolo Play comes with a few extra apps like TegraZone, Xolo Care, Xolo Power and Xolo Secure while the Galaxy Grand has features like pop-up videos and multi-window in addition to Samsung apps like S-Memo, S-Voice, S-Planner and S-Suggest.
Gaming Performance
Gaming is one of most important aspects of the Xolo Play and it lives up to it thanks to the NVidia Tegra 3 chipset. Games ran smoothly on the Xolo Play although there were some occasional lags. The Galaxy Grand is quite behind in terms of gaming. The games lacked details, but the gameplay was smooth. One problem we had with the Xolo Play was it started heating up when playing games.
Battery and Connectivity
Both the devices are powered by user-replaceable batteries – 2000mAh Li-ion in Xolo Play and 2100mAh on Galaxy Grand. Battery life seemed better on the Galaxy Grand despite its dual SIM connectivity.
In terms of connectivity, both the smartphones have WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and microUSB ports, but only the Galaxy Grand has WiFi Direct and DLNA.
The Galaxy Grand is better in terms of battery and connectivity.
Conclusion
Overall, the Xolo Play has a solid grip when held in hand, better performance, better gaming experience, better display, lower price point while the Galaxy Grand has better connectivity, better pair of cameras, an aluminum flip cover, better battery life, no heating issues, more internal storage and more software features.
Advantages of Xolo Play over Galaxy Grand
- Relatively cheaper
- Better performance
- Better gaming performance
- Far better display
- Better build quality and gripping
- Apps can be installed on SD card
Advantages of Galaxy Grand over Xolo Play
- Better pair of cameras
- Better software features
- Better battery life
- Aluminum cover
- More internal storage
- No heating issues
- Better connectivity options
