Huawei Confirms, Showcases 6.1-inch Ascend Mate Phablet
Smartphone/tablet hybrid is tipped to be world's most powerful handset.

Huawei has confirmed the existence of its 6.1-inch Ascend Mate phablet before its official unveiling at CES.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer all but confirmed the 6.1-inch, full HD 1080 Ascend Mate earlier this month, with senior vice president Yu Chengdong stressing the firm's plans to provide a worthy competitor to Samsung's 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II (or eventually the Galaxy Note III).
Richard Yu, Hauwei's chairman of devices, showed the Ascend Mate within a company store in Guangzhou, China.
The Ascend Mate's rumored technical specifications would, if true, make it the world's most powerful smartphone. It's said to feature a full 1080p HD screen, 1.8GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 4,000 mAh battery. It's also expected to measure up at 9.9mm thin, with a price tag said to be $480.
Huawei, who will reveal the Ascend D2 and W1 smartphones during CES, recently stated that it would release a device in 2013 that will best both Apple and Samsung's handsets.
I think I'd rather just have a smaller mobile smartphone and a tablet at home, but I could see this only as a casual home tablet alternative.
I'm sure this will have a market (just like the Note 2 has a market) but it will be fairly small. A phone like the Galaxy S III is really the largest I'd recommend for people who want to use their phone with one hand. Once you get into 5"+ screen sizes, the phone just becomes too wide to be held and used with one hand.
With all that said, iPhones and other phones with >4.5" screens look and feel like toys once you've gotten used to a larger device.
The problem of holding it wasn't even what concerns me. It's lugging it around. It is way to big for a pocket, and even bulky to try and attach to your hip with a clip. Perhaps it would fit in a purse, but that already drops it's market in half.
I was thinking it's only value is at a set location, like in the house or in the office.
That almost sounds like a steal considering the Note 2's price unlocked!
1. If you mention Tiananmen Square or Dali Lama name, phone line drops suddenly. (no need to press "End Call")
2. It'll last as long as battery does and then break or defects starts to kick in.
3. If you speak softly about American technology or military secret, all of a sudden and a stranger tells you to speak a little louder.
4. Map app appears to show all Asia as China, Chinese territories.
6. Comes with free Fortune Cookie app.
7. If your phone tag says "Inspected by Wu 12," that's not employee tag # but age #)
big phones are admittedly not for everyone, but for business work every .1 of an inch you can get is worth gold.
Personally I use a lumia 920 which has a 4.5" display, and while it is relatively 'big' for a phone, it does not feel or look big to me, and I would love to have a slightly larger phone. Something in the 5-5.5" range would be just about perfect for someone like me, but I didn't jump on the note 2 because while the screen is large, it does not offer much in the way of resolution... which kinda defeats the point. At least this new Phablet is sporting a resolution to match its size.
hopefully WP will support higher resolutions for bigger phones in 2 years when my contract is up!