Samsung Galaxy Mega with LTE - A Phone Fit for Giants

Overview

The unveiling of the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega with LTE (and the 5.8-inch Galaxy Mega) in April helped Samsung reclaim its title of having the biggest display on a phone from Huawei, which briefly stole the limelight with its 6.1-inch Ascend Mate.

In our review of the Huawei Ascend Mate, we assert that phones with screen displays above 6-inch are not practical for the average consumer. Then again, we said the same when Samsung introduced the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note in 2011, and the rest is history.

With more than two years of experience making such devices, will Samsung prove us wrong again with the Galaxy Mega with LTE? Is it better than the Huawei Ascend Mate? Read on to find out more. Before that, here's a quick look at the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Mega with LTE:

Key highlights of theSamsung Galaxy Mega with LTE Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean 6.3-inch Super Clear LCD / 1280 x 720 pixels Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.7GHz 1.5GB RAM 16GB internal storage (microSD support up to 64GB) 8-megapixel rear camera 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera 4G LTE NFC micro-SIM 3,200mAh battery (removable) Dimensions: 167.6 x 88 x 8.0mm Weight: 199g Price and Availability: S$798 from 6 June (black), 22 June (white)

Design

The Galaxy Mega looks like an enlarged variant of the Galaxy S4. You can see similar traits such as the design of the home button and the rounded corners. Like most Samsung devices, the Galaxy Mega is predominantly made up of plastics and for once, the decision to use plastic is reasonable as it keeps the weight of the device to a minimum. 

A phone of colossal dimensions, it will be interesting to see how the Galaxy Mega measure up against the other Samsung devices and of course, the Huawei Ascend Mate. We let the numbers and pictures speak for themselves: 

It's quite impressive how Samsung managed to streamline the Galaxy Mega to a mere 8.0mm, which is 1.4mm and close to 2mm thinner than the Galaxy Note II and the Huawei Ascend Mate respectively. To emphasize this point further, it is just a hairline thicker than the 7.9mm Samsung Galaxy S4.

The most important question on everyone's mind will be whether the Galaxy Mega can be operated in one hand. Like the Ascend Mate, it is near to impossible for anyone to operate the phone with one hand. You can hold the phone in one hand, but when it comes to performing your everyday tasks such as messaging and web browsing, it becomes very apparent that devices of this class are best suited for two-hand usage.

For example, you either have to shift your hand higher or use both hands to reach for the pull-down notification bar on the device. Reaching for the opposite corner of the 6.3-inch display proves to be too much of a stretch for our hands too.

We could still slip the Galaxy Mega into the pocket of our jeans but it is hard to ignore the bulge it caused. As we advised in the review of the Ascend Mate, it is highly recommended that you do not keep the phone in the pocket when sitting down as it really does get uncomfortable. 

Between the two gigantic phones, we felt that the Ascend Mate provides a better handling as it has a matte back which provides a better grip compared to the slippery plastic back of the Galaxy Mega. Although the Ascend Mate has a slightly shorter and narrower chassis, we consider both phones to still be out of reach (literally) for most consumers.

In terms of looks, the Galaxy Mega has a more polished look and a more unique patterned design. When it comes to accessibility of the buttons and controls, both phones are equally matched. Samsung has thoughtfully shifted the Power button slightly down towards the middle of the right side of the Galaxy Mega so that you do not need to stretch your thumb too much to access it. However, this may be a concern for right-handed users as their finger (usually the thumb) may inevitably press onto the Power button during phone calls and accidentally shut down the phone. And yes, we did experience that personally and it wasn't pleasant. Samsung should either have placed the power button in a spot that requires a slight stretch or the power button should be redesigned so that it doesn't get engages accidentally (cue the Sony Xperia Z). 

Features

Like many of the recently announced Samsung mobile devices, the Galaxy Mega runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with some of the bells and whistles of the latest TouchWiz.

It has some Samsung's exclusive features such as Sound & Shot (a camera feature that captures 9 seconds of sound and voice together as the picture is taken), Air View, Multi-Window and Pop Up Play (you can read more about these in our Samsung Galaxy S4 review). Being an Android 4.2.2 device, you also can expect lock screen widgets and quick settings, although Samsung modified the latter to include a total of 18 toggles. 

Compared to Huawei's Emotion User Interface (UI), Samsung's TouchWiz seems less of a challenge to the average consumer. First, unlocking the screen on the Galaxy Mega is similar to most Android phones; swipe from left to right, or in any direction. For the Ascend Mate, you are restricted to just swiping down. For iOS users and other Android users switching to the Ascend Mate, it may take some time for them to train their finger to swipe in the correct direction.

Second, Huawei removed the app drawer on the Emotion UI which may be a bugbear for seasoned Android users. Samsung TouchWiz, in general, sticks to the layout implemented by Nexus devices or most other Android devices.

Both customized UIs have strengths of their own. For example, both come with preloaded with one-handed operations feature which optimizes certain functions such as dialing pad for one-hand usage. It's strange that Samsung did not enable the one-handed feature for its keyboard, which it did for the other large screen devices such as the Galaxy Note II.

Huawei gives you the option to hide the navigation bar on the display to maximize the use of the 6.1-inch display, which we felt is a really handy feature. Samsung, on the other hand, has Smart Stay to keep the display lit when you are reading long emails or browsing the Internet.

Overall, both customized UIs are unique in their own ways but we felt Samsung has a slight edge in this aspect due to the familiarity of its UI. Hence, consumers switching over to the Galaxy Mega wouldn't encounter as steep a learning curve as compared to switching to the Ascend Mate.

Performance 

The Galaxy Mega is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core 1.7GHz processor and 1.5GB RAM.  As a quick refresh, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon 400 processors in February to target the mid-tier smartphones. It comes in two CPU options: 

• dual Krait CPUs running up to 1.7GHz per core 
• quad ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs running up to 1.4GHz per core

Since this is the first time a Snapdragon 400-powered device with an unorthodox 1.5GB RAM arrived in our labs, we are eager to see how the Galaxy Mega fares against the competition in the Quadrant benchmark. The test evaluates CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics of Android devices. In this comparison, we pit the Galaxy Mega against the Huawei Ascend Mate and Galaxy Note II. The Galaxy S4 and PadFone Infinity are included on the sideline as they are the latest 5-inch phones to enter the market. 

Despite being a dual-core processor, the Snapdragon 400 outperformed the Huawei Hi-Silicon K3V2 quad-core processor in the Ascend Mate by a significant margin in the Quadrant benchmark. As highlighted in the review of the Ascend Mate, we found the K3V2 processor to be a generation behind current quad-core processors such as the Snapdragon 600 and even the dated Exynos 4412 Quad. 

Synthetic benchmarks aside, we found navigation on the Galaxy Mega to be much better than that of the Ascend Mate. The extra 0.5GB RAM may be a plausible reason for better performance, but it could also be that Samsung does a better job at optimizing the hardware and software on the Galaxy Mega. Having said that, the Galaxy Mega is not without its flaws. While the interface transitions were generally smooth, it cannot be compared to the likes of the LG Nexus 4 or even the HTC One. 

Multimedia Performance 

Let's get the most important feature out of the way first - the 6.3-inch Super Clear LCD display. Just like the Ascend Mate, the display of the Galaxy Mega sports a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. This works out to a pixel density of 233ppi, which is decent compared to the 1080p displays we've seen from the 5-inch phones. Color reproduction is good but the LCD display is certainly not as vibrant as its AMOLED counterpart.

For those who are deciding between the displays of the Galaxy Mega and Ascend Mate, you will not go wrong with either one as the displays are comparable. As iterated in the review of the Ascend Mate, devices with 6-inch and above displays make excellent multimedia devices for gaming, watching movies or web browsing. The only concerns of using a device with such screen sizes are the loss of personal privacy and inviting weird stares from people around you.

Compared to the Ascend Mate which has only 8GB internal storage space, the Galaxy Mega comes with 16GB internal storage. Samsung also one-ups Huawei by providing microSD support up to 64GB (versus 32GB on the Ascend Mate). With a total combined storage capacity of up to 80GB, users can't complain of insufficient space to store their video and music files.

Imaging Performance 

The Galaxy Mega is equipped with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. This puts it somewhat on-par with what Huawei offered on the Ascend Mate. We put its rear camera through our standard imaging test and found that image quality is not bad for an 8-megapixel camera.

Battery Mileage

Our standard battery test for mobile phones includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 800 x 480-pixel video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
  
   
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
  
   
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

The Galaxy Mega managed a battery uptime of 7 hours and 38 minutes, which is an impressive feat for a device with a 6.3-inch display. Although it lasted an hour lesser than the Ascend Mate, it is important to note that the Ascend Mate has a slightly smaller display at 6.1-inch and is backed by a huge 4,050mAh battery. In comparison, the Galaxy Mega has a 3,200mAh battery. 

Having the biggest display ever on a phone has its drawbacks too. The Galaxy Mega has one of the highest power consumption at 1.59W but it managed to keep a step or two behind the Ascend Mate. The Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S4 drew the least power among the phones compared due to their AMOLED displays, which are power-efficient by nature. 

It is not a surprise that the Galaxy Mega ranked among the last in the Portability Index, where each device is assessed on its ability to balance battery mileage with its size and portability. Despite its better-than-average battery performance, the massive dimensions and weight simply dragged the phone down in this comparison. This just establishes the fact that phones of this size are simply not as portable as the smaller counterparts.

While our battery test is quite strenuous and is used to help us establish a base line for comparing between various smartphone offerings, in an actual usage scenario, we were able to get close to slightly more than a day of usage. This included our regular weekday schedule of calls, email, web-surfing and social media usage. We reckon that the Galaxy Mega is able to last more than a day and a half if the Power Saving mode is enabled. 

Conclusion

Will the Galaxy Mega take off as well as the Galaxy Note series did in the past two years? There's a possibility since consumers today seem to show an insatiable appetite for bigger displays. However, there must be a line drawn between form and functionality. 

In all honesty, the Galaxy Mega functions more like a tablet than a phone. First, you can't perform much tasks on the Galaxy Mega in one hand, which fits the typical usage pattern of a tablet. Second, the main objectives of having a phone is to stay connected. Can you reply or send text messages comfortably in one hand? Can you swipe to answer incoming calls in one hand without fear of the Galaxy Mega slipping out of your hands? Can you reach to the top of the screen to pull down the notification menu with just one hand? Third, can the Galaxy Mega slip in your pocket and be whipped out with ease? 

If your answers to most of the above questions are mainly "yes", you probably belong to a very niche market segment where consumers have big hands or do not mind the inconvenience of carrying a mega-sized phone around to take advantage of its large screen and perhaps not even needing to purchase or carry around a dedicated tablet. Like a tablet, the Galaxy Mega seems to be more of a multimedia device where a large display is desired. 

Having established who are applicable for these ultra large smartphones, choosing between the Huawei Ascend Mate and Samsung Galaxy Mega with LTE is not as difficult as it seems. If you want the latest connectivity options and good overall performance, the Galaxy Mega is a better choice. It has 4G LTE connectivity, an easier to adapt UI and better software support. Don't get us wrong, Huawei is emerging as a very strong powerhouse in the mobile scene and is embarking on a three-phase plan to conquer the smartphone market in the next four years. The Ascend Mate is just the tip of the ice berg and it only provides a glimpse of what the Chinese company is capable of.

The Galaxy Mega may command a more premium price (S$798), but the smoother performance and bigger display are worth the extra $160 that you are forking out for. However, if you are on a budget and do not mind a slightly sluggish interface (which may be resolved via future software updates), the Huawei Ascend Mate can be considered value for money.

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