Phablets Are Here to Stay, Says Samsung
Smartphone/tablet hybrid has become increasingly popular, as showcased during CES.
Samsung has stressed that phablets, which is a hybrid between smartphones and tablets, are here to stay.
"We know, and we've proven very effectively, that consumers like big-screen phones," said Nick DiCarlo, Samsung's vice president of product planning. "Ours has the S Pen ecosystem: the pen, the digitizer, the SDK and the apps. We have more work to do to make that ecosystem as good as it can be."
So when does a product exceed the boundaries in terms of a phablet? "We'll find out when we find out!" DiCarlo laughed. "With the 7in Galaxy Tab, the number one complaint we had in the US market was that we didn't launch it with voice calling. That took me by surprise."
"The funny emotion for me now is how small the (4.8in) Galaxy S3 feels," he added. "One of the things I think will be happening through 2013 and 2014 is that hand-feel won't be the overarching conversation. It'll be the experiences you have on the device. [People are] going to watch so much more video on [their devices] that their behaviour of what they do with TV is going to change."
During CES 2013, Chinese handset manufacturer Huawei revealed the smartphone with the world's largest screen found on a phone in the form of the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate (our impressions on the device can be found here).
Samsung, meanwhile, has already tasted success in the phablet market with its 5.5-inch Galaxy Note 2, which sold over 5 million units during its first two months of availability. The device's successor, the Galaxy Note 3, is rumored to sport a 6.3-inch screen.
As evidently showcased during CES, 5-inch smartphones are expected to be more common in 2013.
Personally, I think tablets and phones have their place. If you can't afford both, then maybe its nice to have the extra screen real estate when your using your phone for things like video which would be better suited to a tablet but I can afford both so I don't want to have to try and fit / cart around an oversized phone in my pocket!
The extra cores make no performacne difference whatsoever, but you seem to think otherwise.
Unless these phones are able to fold anytime soon, shut up about the cores.
Further, who knows what capabilities the next version of Android might have or whether or not it'll be a better multi-tasker or make better use of parallel processing. This thing Samsung is calling an "Octacore" that they've just brewed up is pretty power-efficient so why not?
You should try the Nexus 10. It blows any iPad, and pretty much any other tablet available as to date, out of the water.
Streak wasn't really bad per se. Probably mis-specced a bit here and there at lacking longevity but crucially the bigger prob at the time was that not even Dell were really sure how to game their Android strategy. FW/SW side sucked royally for Streak to have had any chance of gaining proper long term indie support.
IMO if Dell are up for it this time around (w/ necessary precautions of course) AND take just a bit more time (not too long though) to relearn product design flaws off the Streak on top of available tech today, I reckon that they can redo it very very well. the way Sony did w/ Xperia Z.
I'll have to get my hands on a Note III when they come out and see for myself, I guess. As long as the bezels are thin on the sides and it's not too thick from screen to back it can still be a sleek device, even despite the size.
To each their own I guess. It comes down to how often do you use your smartphone for... Phone calls, or computing? Not to mention larger size sometimes means they consume more power.