Samsung Mega - Phones Just Got Ginormous...Again!

Samsung announced the Galaxy Mega last week in a press release. I've been waiting for videos of the product in actual consumer hands but they have been hard to come by. But here's a video that was apparently leaked, with commentary from the poster:



I haven't seen units yet in any local stores either. What is known for certain are the specs, as published in the press release. In a nutshell, the specs I find important are as follows:

• Display: 6.3-inch HD TFT  
• Processor: 1.7GHz Dual Core ARM Processor 
• OS: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Camera: 8 MP rear-facing camera, 1.9 MP front-facing camera
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, WiFi Direct, BT 4.0, USB 2.0
• Memory: 8/16GB Internal Memory (microSD up to 64GB) ＋ 1.5GB RAM
• Battery: 3,200 mAh Li-ion Standard Battery

This thing is huge compared to the Galaxy Note II's 5.3 inches. It is just ever so slightly smaller that a 7-inch tablet. Aside from the pudgy-fat-fingers use-case and the i-can't-type-properly-on-a-small-screen issue with users like me, this is not a phone for everyone. However, personal opinions aside, right now it's Samsung that is forging ahead of the competition in terms of creating new niches in the market. Creating products like the Samsung Mega explores the possibilities. If you check stores, both online and brick-and-mortar, other lesser known brands like Starmobile, Cherry Mobile, Cloudfone, MyPhone, etc. already have their own 5-inch or slightly smaller screened phones. That niche was non-existent if we were talking about screen sizes before the original Galaxy Note was launched.

With the positive response from the way the Galaxy Note II got sold out when it was launched, only time will tell if the consumer market will embrace an ever bigger phablet. This is a gamble that I think Samsung will win though. But ultimately it's going to be the consumer who decides whether this niche deserves it's own line of products.