The IT Nerd

This week I have the Samsug Galaxy Mega provided by Telus. It’s a “phablet” meaning that it’s a phone and tablet in one. It’s absolutely massive. To give you an idea of how massive, here’s a picture of it next to my iPhone 5:

It absolutely makes the iPhone 5 look tiny. An advantage of a “phablet” with a screen this size is the fact that it makes text very sharp and clear, and frankly it was easier to surf the net on a screen that’s this size. Video and pictures are sharp, vivid and bright as well. The downside to a “phablet” with a screen this size is that unless you are wearing loose fitting pants or you have a jacket pocket, this “phablet” will not fit in your pocket. My advice? if you’re a guy, acquire a man purse. If you’re a woman, you may want to see if you need a bigger purse to fit it. But holding it is no problem. Unless you have tiny hands, it feels very comfortable to hold. It also feels lighter than the size would suggest. When it comes to the case it does not attract fingerprints. The screen however does and fingerprints on the screen make it hard to read at times. Keep a microfiber cloth handy. Other than that, the screen is readable in all lighting conditions. The look of the “phablet” is similar to the Galaxy S4 and it feels very solid.

Let me hit the specs for you:

• 6.3″ SC-LCD panel that does 720p
• 1.7GHz Dual-Core Processor
• 8MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera
• 1.5GB of RAM
• NFC
• IR port
• microSD slot
• WiFi and LTE
• 16GB of internal storage
• Android 4.2.2

In terms of speed, it felt fast and nothing I ran on it could slow it down. In terms of speeds on LTE, I managed to score 27 MBPs downstream and 11 MBPs upstream. Not too shabby, but not the fastest phone I’ve tested. Having said that, I seriously doubt that you will complain. I know that I didn’t when I uploaded 1080p video to YouTube. Battery life was pretty good as I was able to get two days on a charge when I used it as my main smartphone (or “phablet” in this case). Not too shabby.

In terms of the software that comes with it, It’s basically the same as what comes with the Galaxy S4 in terms of things like Air View and the ability to scroll through web pages using the movement of your eyes. From that perspective, I fount that it worked as well as my experience in part 1 of my Galaxy S4 review. That is that Air View worked fine with a little practice, and the eye tracking features didn’t work for me because I wear glasses, but it worked fine for those who aren’t optically challenged. It doesn’t come with apps like S Health and WatchOn like I noted that the Galaxy S4 did in part two of that review. But that’s okay in my mind as I am guessing that the Galaxy Mega isn’t being marketed as a bigger Galaxy S4. In short, if you’ve used another Samsung phone, you’ll feel right at home as everything is familiar.

Now when it comes to the camera, the 8MP shooter is quite good. Here’s a couple of shots from just outside of Toronto Pearson Airport. Click each picture to see it at full size:

As for video, it does 1080p video. Take a look at the results. Be sure to set it to full screen and HQ mode along with 1080p:

There was a minimal amount of auto-focus and the sound quality is quite good. The wind noise did not overwhelm the microphones. As a result you could still hear the crickets chirping as well as the jet engines.

So, would I recommend the Samsung Galaxy Mega? If you want a phone, or “phablet” in this case with a big screen that is clear and easy to read, but you still want a feature packed “phablet”, then yes. It is not going to be something that you casually put in your pocket, but it is a great “phablet” from the company that pretty much invented this category. “Phablets” appeal to a much broader amount of people and I am sure that the Galaxy Mega will find a market easily. It’s $99 on a two year term or $550 outright from Telus. That’s in line with or better than competition that has much smaller screens. If you want something more than your standard smartphone, look no further than the Samsung Galaxy Mega.

This entry was posted on September 9, 2013 at 9:45 am and is filed under Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.