phablet
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Engadget giveaway: win a ZMAX smartphone courtesy of ZTE!
Vast swathes of display real estate are hitting the market at lower prices than ever -- unlike those glass towers springing up in Brooklyn -- and one of the latest in the "phablet" set is ZTE's ZMAX. This 5.7-inch smartphone boasts an expansive 720p screen, a quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip and a 3,400mAh battery. If you're in the market, this solid slab of smartphone arrived at T-Mobile on Wednesday and can be had for just $252 outright (or $10.50 per month over two years). But for two Engadget readers this week, the ZTE ZMAX will cost a whole lot of nothing. Yep, ZTE has handed over a pair of these handsets for a couple of lucky winners, and they're ready to run at up to 4G LTE speeds on the Uncarrier's network. All you need to do is head down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning one of these big-screen devices. Winner: congratulations to Don S. of La Grange, KY and Julian H. of Culver City, CA.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 will land in the US on October 17
It seems like one giant smartphone has been getting all the attention lately, but one of its biggest rivals (literally) is finally set to touch down stateside. Samsung confirmed today that the Galaxy Note 4 will hit the US on October 17, and you can lay claim to yours starting tomorrow from all the usual carrier suspects. We've enjoyed our brief time getting to know the Note 4 and all the little improvements it brings to the table (hello, Quad HD screen!), but here's the thing -- the jury's still out on whether Samsung has done enough with its newest S-Pen experiment to make it worth an immediate upgrade. As always, pricing will vary a bit depending on who you get your service though: a Note 4 with a bog-standard two year AT&T or Verizon contract will set you back $299, while T-Mobile wants nothing upfront and monthly payments of $31.24 for the next 24 months. Alas, our friends across the pond will get a bit of a headstart on us - Notes will drop onto their store shelves a full week earlier.
ZTE's new supersized phone packs a two-day battery and a low price
If you like the prospect of a giant smartphone but find even LG's G Vista too rich for your blood, ZTE might have something that's more up your alley. It just unveiled the ZMAX, a 5.7-inch device that hopefully won't crush your bank account. The 720p screen, quad-core Snapdragon 400 chip, 16GB of expandable storage and 8-megapixel rear camera are nothing special, but you're getting a lot of battery for the money; the 3,400mAh power pack is estimated to last for two days, or more than enough for a busy weekend. You might also like the not-quite-stock (read: potentially very speedy) Android 4.4 interface. ZTE's low-cost behemoth will only be available through T-Mobile when it ships on September 24th. However, you'll only have to pay $10.50 per month over two years to own the ZMAX, or $252 total -- not too shabby considering that other phones this big frequently cost two or three times as much.
With larger iPhones, Apple accepts that smartphones have evolved
So it finally happened -- after seemingly ages of rumors and speculation, Apple has unveiled larger iPhones (the 6 and 6 Plus) that are really, truly bigger than the 3.5-inch original. It's no doubt a welcome move if you're a fan who has been craving a big display, and it might even reel in people who have held off on an iPhone until now. However, this isn't just an instance of a company tweaking its product line to accommodate changing tastes. That happens all the time. For Apple, it's an acknowledgment that the very definition of a smartphone has changed over the years.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 looks and feels like a premium device (hands-on)
When Samsung launched the very first Galaxy Note at IFA 2011, the device -- a 5.3-inch behemoth that came with a stylus - seemed absurdly large. But the idea was crazy enough to work: It was the beginning of a brand-new phone genre adopted by nearly every handset maker around the world and beloved by millions. Three years later, we're being introduced to the fourth smartphone in the series, known as the Galaxy Note 4. As you might expect, the device comes with new and improved specs in both hardware and software, but the design of the 5.7-inch phone itself has made a huge step in the right direction: It comes with an aluminum frame, and based on my first impression, it's the best looking of the bunch. It's time to explore Samsung's latest large-screened device.
Google's next Nexus device is reportedly a super-sized phablet
Don't get too excited, but rumors are starting to break regarding Google's sixth Nexus phone: an oversized handset codenamed "Shamu." According to Android Police, the device is rumored to be a 5.9-inch handset made by Motorola -- leveraging Google's tradition of naming Nexus devices after sea creatures as a clever way to hint at the phone's size. Supposedly, this device will surface in November with a fingerprint scanner. Sadly, there isn't a lot of evidence floating around for this one: just a Google error report and a bit of good faith.
Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy W blurs the line between phones and tablets
If you thought that big devices like the Galaxy Mega 6.3 were already blurring the distinctions between phones and tablets, hold on to your hat -- Samsung has just erased those distinctions altogether. Its new Galaxy W (not to be confused with the 2011-era W) blends the 7-inch screen of a small tablet with a relatively compact design that lets you hold it one-handed for phone calls. This isn't the first crossover we've seen by any means, but it promises to be more comfortable than truly finger-straining rivals like ASUS' Fonepad 7 or HP's 7-inch VoiceTab.
It's way too easy to fake a photo of a "new" iPhone
There have been a whole lot of supposedly leaked photos of the mythical 4.7-inch iPhone 6 lately -- or at least bits and pieces of it. A production mold pops up here and a front panel shows up there, and the Internet eats it up because, hey, it's photographic evidence, right? The already grainy photos get filtered through Twitter and other social networks that downgrade the image quality even further, and before long we're left with a low-res picture that is hard to pick apart. To be clear, I'm not doubting the theory that Apple is indeed working on a 4.7-inch smartphone. Apple clearly wants to make something bigger than the iPhone 5 and 4.7 inches is a happy medium between the current 4-inch display and the maybe-too-big land of the 5-inch crew. But relying on uncredited photos to back up a rumor is something the tech world loves to do, and the trend is even more pronounced when it comes to stories about Apple. Want a "photo" of the still-rumored 5.5-inch iPhone "phablet"? Coming right up! The photo above was created in photoshop in about 25 minutes. It didn't take much to whip it up, and I'm definitely no Photoshop wizard. A couple of crappy photos, some Photoshop tweaking, and a noise filter or two and you have yourself a genuine "iPhablet" that has a good chance of catching on with the social media crowd who crave anything that looks even remotely like an Apple product. You could tear apart the photo and analyze it enough to prove its true identity, but 9 out of 10 people who see the story won't bother. As far as they're concerned, it's as believable as anything else, which is why these types of rumors run rampant. So whether you're a skeptic by nature or you buy every rumor being sold, this is a friendly reminder to take everything with a grain of salt. Wait, no, a bucket.
Delta to equip flight attendants with Nokia Lumia 1520s
The Lumia 820 just reached EOL at Delta. The airline's 20,000 flight attendants will be stepping up to the significantly larger Nokia Lumia 1520 "phablet" come this fall, matching the larger form factor that AA currently has in the sky. The 1520s will include flight manuals and can support on-board sales, letting employees process credit card payments on the fly. The move will also enable flight attendants to ditch the 500-page, five-pound manuals they're used to bringing on board, saving Delta more than $1 million each year in fuel and printing costs. Meanwhile, pilots are still on track to receive Microsoft's Surface 2 -- that process should be complete by the end of 2015. The 1520 will make its way on board much sooner, though. Delta is expecting to issue the Windows Phone 8.1 handsets beginning in October, with all FAs expected to have one in hand by the end of the year.
Archos' 6.4-inch smartphone puts the buttons on the back
When we talk about smartphones with buttons on the back of the case, most people's thoughts turn toward the LG G2. But now the French electronics outfit Archos has decided to follow in LG's footsteps with the 64 Xenon, a 6.4-inch phablet that puts both the volume and power buttons on the rear side. Packing a 1,280 x 720 IPS LCD display, dual-SIM slots and HSPA+ radios, it's clear that this is designed to square up against the likes of the Galaxy Mega, but with a much lower price tag of 200 euros (around $275).
LG G Pro 2 review: new year, new Note contender
The large-screen smartphone market is now one of the most fiercely competitive in the wireless industry. But even though nearly every phone maker has produced a competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Note, only a handful of products have actually been worth considering. LG's Optimus G Pro, a 5.5-inch flagship introduced last year, was one such exception. A year later, its 5.9-inch successor picks up where the first Pro left off, adding enough extra firepower to take on the Galaxy Note 3 spec for spec. The LG G Pro 2 may very well have what it takes to stand up against its big-screen rival, but it'll have to overcome a few minor obstacles in order to succeed.
Huawei's flagship phablet is only $300 in China, and its CMO explains why
Huawei's recently announced MediaPad X1 has caused quite a stir -- it's the lightest and smallest-ever 7-inch tablet (let alone a phablet), while also packing decent features like a 1,920 x 1,200 display, 5,000mAh battery and 150 Mbps LTE. The retail price quoted at the launch event was €399 or about $550 for the LTE model, but back in China, it appears that Huawei's slapped an insane discount on the same quad-core tablet, albeit under a slightly different name. Dubbed the Honor X1, the 3G model will retail for just CN¥1,799 or about $290, and the 4G version will go for just CN¥1,999 or $330. That's a $220 drop for the LTE model! So when we caught up with Huawei Device's CMO Shao Yang at MWC, we had to ask him: What was he thinking? Well, it's all about the way consumers perceive this device in different regions.
The Grand Memo II LTE is ZTE's phablet sequel (hands-on)
ZTE's back with yet another take on the sans stylus phablet it introduced at Mobile World Congress last year, except this time, the device isn't touting a world's first with its Qualcomm CPU. The Grand Memo II LTE marks the company's second attempt at the smartphone category created by the Galaxy Note and G Pros of the world with a 6-inch 720p display, 13-megapixel rear camera and 7.2mm thickness. To ZTE's credit, it's whipped up quite a sleek and attractive plastic design, marked by a grooved, reflective backplate. Not only is the handset ultra slim, but also its curved edges and thin bezels somehow conspire to make the device appear slighter than its massive size.
Hands-on with HP's peculiar pair of oversized VoiceTab smartphones
HP turned a few heads when it revealed it would re-enter the high-stakes smartphone market with a pair of voice tablets. The company confirmed the VoiceTabs' existence just after the curtain fell on CES, but HP trotted them out here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and we've just had a chance to hold them in our tapas-smeared fingers. Read on for our first impressions on HP's next big mobile gambit.
Huawei MediaPad X1 is the lightest and narrowest 7-inch tablet, plus it's a phone (video)
Does the world need bigger smartphones? Huawei answers this question at MWC with the launch of its MediaPad X1, a 7-inch Android tablet that lets you make phone calls. As ridiculous as it sounds, this device is designed in a way that makes it more usable than other colossal phones. At just 239g heavy and 103.9mm wide, the X1 is the lightest and narrowest tablet in its class, beating the likes of the ASUS Fonepad 7, Kindle Fire HDX 7 and the latest Nexus 7. Don't be deceived by the lightness, though; Huawei has managed to stuff a generous 5,000mAh battery -- again beating the other 7-inch tablets -- and a high-res 1,920 x 1,200 LTPS display inside this 7.18mm-thick aluminum body. Let's get the remaining specs out of the way. First and foremost, you get a pair of cameras: 13-megapixel f/2.4 on the back, and 5-megapixel f/2.2 on the front. There's 16GB of internal storage, and you can add up to 32GB of external space via microSD. The SoC here is Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin 910 (as seen on the Ascend P6S), which features a 1.6GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 CPU, along with 2GB of RAM and a Mali-450 MP4 GPU. There's support for both TD-LTE and FD-LTE, meaning you can enjoy 4G speeds in both China and a large part of the world. Likewise, the same phone also works on both WCDMA and China Mobile's TD-SCDMA 3G networks. Sadly, the WiFi radio only goes up to 802.11n instead of the more powerful 802.11ac, but the 150Mbps LTE Cat 4 radio should somewhat make up for this -- if your carrier supports it, that is. Read on for our hands-on video and thoughts. Update: Huawei is pricing the X1 at a pretty competitive 399 euros.
WSJ: Apple considering two iPhones with larger screen sizes and metal casings
Maybe you've heard the rumor: Apple's considering larger screens for its next iPhones. Because, yeah, the mobile market's been trending that direction for a while now, so it'd make sense. That doesn't mean it's necessarily true, but with the Wall Street Journal weighing in on it today, the notion is gaining a bit more credibility. This is all, of course, attributed to "people familiar with the situation" that peg Apple's next two phones as having target screen sizes larger than 4.5-inches and 5-inches, respectively. What makes this rumor even juicier is the possibility that Apple might abandon the polycarbonate casing of the iPhone 5c in favor of the tried-and-true metallic approach of its latest generation. All of this could change, however, as the alleged strategy is still being bandied about internally at Apple, with only the smaller-sized iPhone model being considered for mass production. That means your dreams of a phablet-y iPhone will have to remain just that for now. September is still far, far away and we won't know for sure what Cupertino's cooking up until then. But you can bet there'll be more rumors, more leaks and more fakes from the internet's iFandom to keep us all guessing as to Apple's next (relatively) giant leap.
Nokia Lumia 1320 review: an oversized phone that struggles to stand out
It's not too often we can legitimately say a device is in a league of its own, yet that's the only way we can describe Nokia's new low-end smartphone, the Lumia 1320. With a 6-inch screen, it arrives at the same time as more expensive Lumia 1520, which shares the same screen size and battery, but is exponentially better in every other category. There's nothing else quite like the 1320 on the market at the moment; we've seen plenty of large-screened Android phones already, but few of them have price tags as low as the $340 that the 1320 commands. Not only that, this is also the very first low-end Windows Phone with copious amounts of screen space. The fact that this is the first of its kind doesn't make the 1320 an instant hit, though. While the cost is lower than most phones its size, it's still a high asking price for many people in emerging markets. A 6-inch size worked for the Lumia 1520, but does it make sense to come out with a stripped-down version for half the price?
Sony could launch its Xperia Z Ultra phone as a WiFi-only 'tablet'
We've seen many a tablet turn into a road warrior -- or even a huge phone -- with the addition of a SIM card. A phone becoming a tablet is a much scarcer transformation, but if any device can make that switch, it's Sony's nearly iPad mini-sized 6.44-inch, 1080p Xperia Z Ultra handset. A variation of that model (the SGP412) has appeared at the FCC packing a Snapdragon 800 MSM8074 SoC processor sans mobile baseband radio, normally used in WiFi-only tablet variants. New application photos of a half-submerged test model show it to be just as dunkable as before, while still packing 2GB of RAM, 32GB of memory, a microSD slot, 3,000mAh battery and an 8-megapixel camera. There's no official word about the device, let alone pricing and a launch date, but when it does come, it'll likely need to beat the mini's $399 sticker -- nearly half the Xperia Z Ultra's off-contract price.
HP's smartphone revival begins with two enormous Android handsets
Remember when HP wanted to get into the smartphone business, but changed CEOs and scrapped Palm, the company it bought for $1.2 billion? Well, a few years and another CEO later and the company has decided that it wants to get into the... smartphone business. Speaking with re/code, HP's Ron Coughlin has revealed that the company will launch 6-and-7-inch tablets with voice calling, called the Slate 6 and Slate 7 VoiceTab, respectively. If you're already reaching for your wallet, however, you'll be disappointed to hear that the company is launching the hardware in India first, as Meg Whitman and chums feel that the subcontinent has a demand for oversized phones that only HP can satisfy. Spec-wise, both handsets are said to run Jelly Bean on an unspecified quad-core processor, with 16GB storage and a microSD card slot that'll add up to a further 32GB. There's a 1,280 x 720 display on the 6-incher and a 1,280 x 800 on the 7-inch version, but both will come with front-facing stereo speakers, a 2-megapixel webcam and a 5-megapixel primary lens. The company has yet to say how much either device will cost, or if we're likely to see them over in the west, but we'll be keeping our eyes on this in the hope that history doesn't repeat itself.
ZTE Iconic Phablet: a ridiculous name for large-screen fans on a budget (hands-on)
Regardless of what feelings you may have towards the term "phablet," as soon as it officially becomes part of the name of a device, you know that word isn't going away any time soon. It's just double the trouble when the phone in question is actually called the Iconic Phablet. As the name implies, the Phablet is a large smartphone with a 5.7-inch 720p display, but it doesn't seem that much different from the Grand S II, which is just two tenths of an inch bigger. It actually feels pretty comfortable to hold, despite the fact that it's slightly larger, taller and thicker, but the lackluster display is a bit of a disappointment unless it's marketed at a low price point. The feature we found most interesting on the phone was ZTE's version of Multi-Window, which the company threw into its half-stock, half-skinned version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. We've seen this feature in the Galaxy Note series for a long time now, but ZTE's option doesn't require a developer kit, which means any third-party or native app will work just fine no matter what. The Phablet has a three-segmented back, with a standard grey plastic matte build on top and bottom and solid sheet of plastic sandwiched in between. You'll get an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 1MP camera on the front, as well as a 3,200mAh battery, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth 4.0+LE and a groan-worthy 8GB internal storage. Finally, the back features a trio of wireless charging pins that will work as long as you get the supported case that clips onto the phone (sold separately, of course). Curiously, ZTE tells us that the Iconic Phablet will offer a radio with LTE, CDMA and EVDO support, while GSM/EDGE and HSPA+ are nowhere to be found. We're told that there's a very good chance that this device will eventually be sold in the US, which means that it'll land on a CDMA carrier -- that is, unless ZTE comes out with a special version that makes it compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile. As with the company's other CES products, availability and pricing aren't known just set. We got a few minutes with the device and have uploaded it into our image gallery, and we hope to have a video of the device up soon.
