Samsung Announces The Galaxy Mega

You've seen the Galaxy Note, right? The 5 and a half inch smartphone (or Phablet) is pretty much the biggest phone you can get right? They can't get much bigger, can they?

Well, Samsung have just announced the Galaxy Mega. Featuring a screen measuring in at a whopping 6.3 inches, it's the biggest smartphone built to date.

That's right, 6.3 inches across. For scale, the first Galaxy Tab had a 7 inch screen and the iPad mini is 7.9 inches across.

That's big. That's really big.

There is also a 5.8 version if that extra half an inch is too much for you, but that's still utterly enormous.

It's been announced for Spring and AT&T in the states at present but don't expect that long a wait before it hits Europe. 

The Mail Online has put a rather helpful comparison chart if you want to see exactly how it stacks up against the competition:

The full press release is below:

Samsung Brings the Galaxy Mega to U.S. Consumers

Continuing its commitment to provide choice to consumers, Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (Samsung Mobile) today announces the Samsung Galaxy Mega™ for the U.S. market. The 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega is the ideal hybrid mobile device for those who want to experience smartphone portability with the immersive experience of a tablet.

"We continue to bring innovation with our Galaxy family of devices, with the Galaxy Mega representing a manifestation of consumer's enthusiasm for our thin, large screen designs," said Nick DiCarlo, vice president of product planning and marketing at Samsung Mobile. "The Galaxy Mega combines exceptional features from the Samsung Galaxy smartphone family with a 6.3-inch screen, making it an optimal device for movies, books, music and games."

Superior Galaxy® Features
The Galaxy Mega allows users to enjoy many of the benefits of Samsung's latest flagship device, the Galaxy S® 4, on an even larger screen. The Galaxy Mega's big-screen experience enhances everything you do on a smartphone – whether it's watching a video, browsing web pages or composing an email.
· Air View™: Explore information and content on your Galaxy Mega without ever touching the screen. Simply hover your finger an inch above the screen to preview emails and photos, initiate speed-dial and even magnify text.

· Multi Window: Multi Window split screen multitasking allows users to seamlessly run multiple apps on one screen simultaneously, and is now better than ever on the 6.3-inch HD screen of the Galaxy Mega. Watch a movie on Samsung Hub™ and check email at the same time, all by dragging and dropping apps on the same screen.

· WatchON™: Control your television using the Galaxy Mega as a remote control. Discover a rich TV viewing experience with the Integrated Infrared (IR) controller that makes Smart Remote functional with any IR capable TV or Set Top Box. Users can share content from the Galaxy Mega to a TV effortlessly, as well as channel surf in a smart, new way that lets you browse by genre, search by title or receive recommendations based on your interests.

· Easy Mode: Helps smooth the transition for first-time smartphone owners by simplifying the home screen layout, camera, calendar, messaging and the internet browser to make the settings menu easy to navigate. Once a user is more comfortable with their Galaxy Mega, they can easily switch back to the standard home screen interface.

Captivating Camera
At 8-megapixels, the Galaxy Mega rear-facing camera has zero shutter lag to capture life's memorable moments without delay. The Galaxy Mega is equipped with the easy-to-navigate Galaxy Camera™ user interface which supports numerous shooting modes such as Beauty Face, Best Photo, Sound & Shot, Panorama and more to enhance photos taken by even the most novice photographer. Galaxy Mega users can also create photo albums on the fly with Story Album™ - a unique way to group content by event or date. With the spacious display and a variety of filters and editing tools, smartphone photos have never looked better.

Powerful Performance
The Galaxy Mega has 6.3 inches of screen real estate with a HD Super Clear LCD (720x1280) display that beautifully showcases photos, e-books and magazines, or PowerPoint presentations. Wide viewing angles mean that users can maximize productivity and never sacrifice their experience.

The Galaxy Mega runs Android™ 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), powered by a 1.7 GHz dual core CPU and 1.5 GB of internal RAM. Users can store large libraries of photos, music and videos with expandable storage of up to 64 GB of memory with an external microSD™ card.

The Galaxy Mega is also SAFE™ (Samsung for Enterprise), allowing users to work and play with confidence that their photos, emails and contacts are protected. Built with enough power to get you through the longest work days, the Galaxy Mega is powered by a removable 3,200 mAh battery for extended use on a single charge.

Protect the Galaxy Mega with an assortment of cover options, such as the S-View Flip Cover, a specially designed flip cover with a clear window to answer or reject a call and view battery status. The traditional Flip Cover provides similar functionality without a viewing window, and the Protective Cover + fits snugly around the Galaxy Mega to protect against bumps and falls. Sold separately, the S-View Flip Cover, Flip Cover and Protective Cover + come in a variety of vibrant colors to add personality and style, all while protecting the Galaxy Mega.

The Galaxy Mega comes in Nova Black and Polaris White color options and will be available beginning this month. AT&T, Sprint and US Cellular will carry the device - each carrier will announce their specific availability, colors and timing.

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Buyer's Guide: iPad or iPad Mini?

If you've ever been into an Apple Store (and I'm guessing most of you have) you can overhear a frequent conversation:

Customer: So which is better? The iPad or the iPad mini?
Apple Pip: They're both good it's down to your personal preference sir/madam

It can be infuriating to listen to because in my mind both of them are great devices that fill a specific use. So lets break things down here in a pros and cons list of each product so that you, the lovely reader out there can decide what you would prefer:

iPad:

THE tablet computer, the device that effectively created the category of tablet to fill the hole between a smartphone and a netbook. Steve Jobs himself hated the concept of a netbook as you were effectively paying over the odds for a cutdown laptop that didn't do as much as a full sized laptop and what it could do, it couldn't do very well. His idea was less about shrinking a laptop down (though that had already been achieved by the MacBook Air), but more about boosting what a smartphone could do. It was never advertised as a replacement to a laptop, that's not what it's there for, however, it makes mobile web browsing a much better prospect than the small screen of the iPhone. It has also landed on it's feet for gaming, with much richer, more complex games being developed for it, then shrunk down to accommodate the iPhone and iPod touch. So what are the pros and cons of it:

Pros:

The retina display is gorgeous: Yes, all 9.7' and obscene amount of pixels combine to make one of the best displays you could read anything on. Especially when it comes to apps like iBooks, the text just jumps out at you. 
It is powerful: Running on the A6x chip, the full sized iPad packs a performance punch. Games load and run smoother, apps transition quicker and photos render faster than you can blink
It's sturdy: The gorilla glass and aluminium construction mean that while it weighs quite a bit compared to cheaper tablets, it's a sturdy beast that it's going to break if you do happen to drop it by accident.
Cons:

It's expensive: the 16gb wifi only model of the iPad costs £399. Now, considering it's refined use and closed OS in iOS, it's a lot to ask for people to spend £399 on an iPad when you can get a reasonable laptop for about £50 less.
The size: With a 9.7inch screen, it's bigger than any book you probably own and it's slightly cumbersome, especially for bedtime reading. When I use mine is most commonly on the sofa and I tend to have it resting on the arm of the chair, or on my legs… much like a laptop. 

iPad Mini:

So, in 2012, Apple released the iPad Mini. Ever since he first iPad came out, the internet was awash with thoughts that eventually Apple would shrink down the iPad to compete with the lower end of the tablet market, those like Samsung who were aiming their Galaxy Tab devices at a cheaper audience and making use of 7 inch screens. Steve Jobs had publicly stated that he didn't like the idea of 7 inch tablets and that the concept was dead in the water, people wanted 10 inch tablets. After his passing, new Apple CEO Tim Cook reversed the logic and delivered to us the iPad mini. A cut size, cut price model aimed at those who lust after an iPad but can't afford to drop nearly £400 on the base model. But what does the Mini have going for it?

Pros:

The price: it's significantly cheaper than the full sized iPad, the 16gb wifi model starting at £269. A much more comfortable price point, if you ask meß
It's still powerful: While it uses the dual core A5 chipset, rather than the quad core A6x, it's still a powerful beast. With having a much smaller screen to work with, it doesn't need to be powerful. It can still play demanding games like Infinity Blade without breaking a sweat.
The size: With a 7.9 inch display, the iPad Mini is small enough to be comfortably held in one hand. At 308g, it's not even heavy enough to tire your arms out if you're holding it up while reading. Clearly it's been aimed to disrupt the Kindle Fire market.
Cons:

The size: In some respects, the smaller form factor can make certain apps harder to read. It has exactly the same screen resolution as the iPad 2, so apps that look perfectly fine on the iPad 2 looks really tiny on the iPad mini. The best I can think of is the Facebook app, which just looks teeny and squashed together.
The construction: This is more aimed at the black model, but just like the black iPhone 5, the unit is painted aluminium, which of course means that if you don't buy a case for it that you are going to attract unsightly silver marks where the paint is chipping off. This isn't so much of an issue with the white model, but if (like me) you prefer the black iPads, then you're going to have to buy a case.
So which is best to get. Well, in my mind, the Mini would be the better of the two unless you absolutely need the larger screen. Seeing as the Mini can do pretty much everything the full sized model can do, for £120 less, my money would go to the mini. That's not to say the full sized one isn't worth the money, but the mini just seems far better value to me.

Or you could save your money for an 11inch MacBook Air, but that's a whole other discussion.

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