If your new five-inch — or even six-inch phone — barely fits in your hand and pocket, is it still a phone, or a mini tablet? Or should we call these hefty handsets something else? (Anything but phablet, please!)
Whatever you might call these devices, they’ve already become hot commodities among those with bigger hands — so it’s no “huge” surprise that several more such giant phones made big splashes at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. Here’s a rundown on five of them:
Huawei Ascend Mate: biggest smartphone ever?
Huawei Ascend Mate
Huawei’s Ascend Mate features a huge 6.1-inch HD IPS+ LCD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, and runs Huawei’s Emotion UI on top of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). The Ascend Mate features a 4050 mAh battery and Huawei’s Hi-Silicon 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. With Huawei’s power-saving technology, the phone promises up to two days of ordinary useage on a single charge.
Other features include: an 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR and 1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera, noise reduction technology, Dolby sound, and stereo recording. The phone supports five frequency bands, and despite its size, measures 6.5mm thin at its narrowest part.
The Ascend Mate will launch in China in Feburary 2013, in your choice of black or white. The Verge posted some nice hands-on images of the Ascend Mate here.
Huawei Ascend D2
Huawei’s Ascend D2 is a bit smaller, with a 5-inch FHD IPS+ 443 PPI Super Retina LCD display with a resolution of up to 1920 x 1080 for full HD 1080 video playback. It runs Android 4.1, powered by Huawei’s K3V2 1.5 GHz quad-core processor and 3000mAh battery.
The Ascend D2 has an aluminum body with a 13MP BSI rear-facing camera. Its screen is protected by the anti-scratch Corning Gorilla glass, and the handset is dust and water resistant IPX 5/4.
The handset is available in white or “crystal blue” and will go on sale first in China in January 2013, followed by Japan and possibly other countries. Huawei also plans to make a 4.7-inch screen version. Engadget has posted a hands-on video here:
Lenovo IdeaPhone K900
Lenovo’s K900 sports a 5.5-inch Gorilla Glass 2 screen, with 1080p IPS full HD resolution at 400+ pixels-per-inch, and Android 4.1 running on Intel’s new Atom processor. At 6.9mm, the K900 is quite thin, and weighs in at a mere 162g (5.7 ounces). The handset is made from a composite of stainless steel alloy and polycarbonate in a Unibody mold.
The K900’s camera is designed as a true camera replacement, with 13MP, Sony Exmor BSI sensor, and F1.8 focal length lens, making it the first smartphone to offer such a wide aperture on its camera. Lenovo points out that the rear camera is snag-proof: it doesn’t protrude from the case, leaving a clean, smooth rear face that doesn’t snag on clothing. The design team also tweaked the PCB and battery layout to reduce the space used by internal components.
Unfortunately, Lenovo has no plans to bring the K900 to North America. You can pick one up in China, India, Russia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam in the coming months for an undisclosed price. Android Central posted a good hands-on video of the K900 here:
Sony Xperia Z
The Xperia Z is Sony’s new flagship smartphone, offering five-inch 1080 x 1920p full HD display, Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2 graphics engine, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, and 2GB of RAM. Despite its 7.9mm thin frame, the Xperia Z can take some abuse: it comes with tempered glass and anti-shatter film on the front and back, and the handset is dust- and water-resistant to IP55 and IP57 standards.
The Xperia Z has a 13MP fast capture camera with Exmor RS, and a battery with “Stamina” mode that improves standby time by at least 4 times. The handset supports 4G LTE networks.
Sony plans to release the Xperia Z in “selected markets” this Spring, as well as the design variant Xperia ZL. Engadget has posted a video and some nice camera image samples here.
ZTE Grand S
ZTE’s 4G LTE handset is the Grand S — the company’s flagship handset in its high-end Grand Series line of products. The ZTE Grand S features a 5 inch FHD screen and Android Jelly Bean, running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro with 1.7GHz quad-core CPU. The handset comes with 2GB RAM, and can be supplemented with up to 16GB of external storage.
For photography buffs, the ZTE Grand S offers a 13M AF camera with Flash and 2M FF 1080p video, panoramic camera mode, anti-shake technology, and face recognition. The handset also features Dolby Digital surround sound.
The introduction of the ZTE Grand S completes the new Grand Series, which also includes the Grand Era and Grand X. Phandroid posted a great hands-on video of the ZTE Grand S:
