First impressions: Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

New Delhi, June 22: Samsung's recently launched oversized phablet - the Galaxy Mega 6.3 - is now up for pre-order on the e-commerce site Flipkart.com for Rs 30,990. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is a perfect example of the company's eagerness in launching devices with bigger screen size and the same design language across the entire portfolio. While the screen is fairly large, the specs lean toward the middle of the spectrum. With Mega 6.3, it is clear that Samsung doesn't want to market this phone as a high-end flagship, as it doesn't want to cannibalize its existing Galaxy Note II or Galaxy S 4. At 6.6 inches tall and nearly 3.5 inches wide, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 isn't quite tablet sized, but it is still too big for one hand either. It can be done; just not easily. It's about as thick as a Note 2. And despite all that extra material, it weighs 199g, only 16g more than the Note II.Diagonally the smartphone measures 6.3 inches and offers a resolution of 1,280 by 720 pixels and a pixel density of 233ppi. That's a bit disappointing given that much more dense displays are available in the market – 4.7-inch 1080p panels, for example.The Mega 6.3 does not equip a Super AMOLED display, which means that colors are not super-saturated, and contrast is lower than you might expect. Instead of OLED, this display is a TFT LCD panel. It offers wide viewing angles, and it's extremely bright. Colours are not too good and the low density is quite noticeable to eyes.The hardware of Galaxy Mega 6.3 is something you'd expect from a Samsung device in 2013. It features a 1.7GHz dual-core Krait processor and Adreno 305 GPU to make up the Snapdragon 400 chipset, which offers plenty of horsepower. It also has 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB or 16GB of fixed storage paired with a microSD card slot for up to an additional 64GB. The device has an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 3,200mAh removable battery. Connectivity options include: LTE and/or HSPA+, NFC, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and infrared.Samsung says the Galaxy Mega is for customers who want the "most out of one device" that brings both quality and value. They also sport new capabilities: S Travel provides trip information as well as local guides and resources, and Story Album lets users create albums of events, store moments in a timeline and quickly publish print copies of albums.Right out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Even better (if you happen to like TouchWiz, anyway) it runs the newest version of Samsung's TouchWiz, which means that you get a user experience the same as the Galaxy S4. The interface will look familiar to anyone and everyone who has used a Samsung TouchWiz smartphone in the last two years. The icons, widgets, and the appearance of the notification shade, or the Gallery applications, are all the same.Because it runs the latest version of Android, it also has support for lock screen widgets, screen mirroring, and Daydream mode.The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is not the full-blown version of TouchWiz that comes with the Galaxy S 4. However, it still offers new TouchWiz features, such as the new, tabbed Settings app, S Translator, and Story Album. Likewise, Air View works in Gallery, S Planner, the browser, etc. Watch On is included again,The front shooter of the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is, unfortunately, a disappointment. The photo lacks the sharpness even in bright sunlight. The 1080p video capture, on the other hand, looks nice and sharp. Colors tend to be a little washed out, but the motion is nice and smooth. The Camera app offers quite a few features, including HDR, Best Photo, Drama Shot and Sound and Shot. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 packs in a massive 3,200 mAh battery, which isn't much bigger than the Note 2′s battery, but is enough to keep you going for a long period.In terms of benchmark performance, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is no slouch. Although it scored mediocre in most tests, it tied the Galaxy Note II in many benchmarks. However, for daily use, the Mega seems to work fine for activities like: switching between apps, opening applications, playing games, and returning home. At the same time, the call quality of the Galaxy Mega 6.3 shines seems quite good. The rear speaker for speakerphone and the earpiece speaker are both quite loud, offering crisp and clear audio. Overall, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 offers a little bit of tablet and phone. But it would be still called a huge smartphone. The smartphone is great at watching videos or surfing the internet and it would definitely appeal to those who travel a lot. Basically it is a good smartphne for the right group of people.Pros+ Giant display for great mobile entertainment and productivity+ Expandable storage and removable battery+ It's running the latest version of Android and TouchWiz+ Great call quality and moderate data speeds+ Average battery lifeCons- It's a two-handed smartphone- It yearns to have its own S Pen- Tiny instances of lag throughout use- Sub-par display quality- Missing many of the Galaxy S 4′s features- The camera has issues with auto-focus and auto-exposure.