Samsung Galaxy Mega

A big screen caters to our flawed human senses -
often our eyes value size over resolution and so
do our thumbs. So, while the pixel density of the
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 screen is no match for
the bleeding edge screens on current flagships,
many will find it more comfortable to read off the
big screen - a nearly 60% more screen real estate
is nothing to sneeze at.
The Galaxy Grand is another device that favored
display size over specs, but that's in the lower
end of the Android spectrum. The Samsung
Galaxy Mega 6.3 on the other hand has
respectable specs, not too far off what passed as
"flagship" last year.

Key features:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE; quad-band 3G with
HSPA; LTE
6.3" 16M-color 720p TFT LCD capacitive
touchscreen; 233ppi
Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
Dual-core 1.7GHz Krait CPU, Adreno 305 GPU;
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset
1.5GB of RAM
8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 1080p
video recording @ 30fps, continuous autofocus
and stereo sound
1.9 MP front-facing camera, 1080p video
recording
Drama shot, Shot and sound
Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct and
DLNA
GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
8/16GB of built-in storage
microSD card slot
microUSB port with USB host and MHL
Bluetooth v4.0
NFC
IR port for remote control functionality
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Ample 3,200mAh battery with great endurance;
user replaceable
8mm thickness; 199g of weight
Main disadvantages
Big, even for a phablet
Resolution on the low side for the screen size
Midrange performance
Design is a bit played out by now
No FM radio
Shared camera interface makes framing tricky
So, it's not just last year's flagships, the
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 borrows from this
year's model too - the latest Android version with
latest TouchWiz enhancements, IR blaster, Air
View, Multi-window and a bunch of other
exclusive software goodies.
And while there's no denying it's a big device, it's
only slightly bigger than its 6.3" screen. The other
measurements - 8mm thickness and 199g of
weight are actually pretty slender. It's barely
thicker than the Galaxy S4 and weighs only 16g
more than the Note II (which is 9.4mm thick).

The 720p resolution is perhaps lower than some
people would have liked, but the 233ppi pixel
density is better than that of the Galaxy S II
though not quite as good as the one on the Note
II (no surprise given the different market
segments). And the Snapdragon 400 chipset
should be able to hold its own against the top
quad-core chipsets of the previous generation like
the popular Tegra 3 or Samsung's Exynos 4.
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is a half-step
between phones and a 7" tablet. Some say it's
too big to use as a phone and too small to be a
tablet. Others respond with "you can't slip a
tablet in your pants pocket, but the Mega 6.3 just
fits." There's certainly evidence in favor of both
claims - jump over to the next page to find out
which argument prevails as far as hardware is
concerned.