19 January,2014 12:52 PM IST | | Nimish Dubey
They have spectacular specs, and sizes to match. Nimish Dubey takes a look at six smartphones that are designed to stretch not just phone performance but your hands as well
When it comes to phones, bigger seems to be better these days. Almost every major brand out there has a device you can barely get your hand around, but otherwise can do pretty much everything that you would want from a tablet and a phone. Here's our take on six of the biggies in the Indian phone market
HTC One Max: One love to the Max
Rs 52,000
The HTC One Max was more expensive than the iPhone 5s. But, while other phones tried to disguise bulk by getting anorexic, the One Max wore its girth with pride. It has a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor which ensures that apps ran smoothly, battery life was excellent, sound brilliant, thanks to its pair of front-facing speakers, and well, the Ultrapixel camera delivered great shots. Yes, the fingerprint scanner on the back was erratic, but rarely had a big screen phone sounded better. Or taken better pictures.
Get it if: You are a multimedia freak and want your videos on a big screen with loud sound
to match
Asus FonePad 7: The call of the tablet
Rs 16,700
Asus has opted to make a 7.0-inch tablet with very good calling built it into it. It is still bulky to hold but the placement of the speakers and the microphone ensures that you get a very good calling experience. And well, it is no slouch in the tablet department either, running Android 4.2 and being powered by a dual core Intel Atom processor. Some will complain that its display is not full HD or that its camera is not in the category of more expensive devices.
Get it if: You basically want a tablet, but are not really averse to making calls from it too. And are on a
tight budget
Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Scribble pad
Rs 46,000
The Galaxy Note 3 has the smallest display of the six worthies listed here. Yet, it remains one of the most innovative devices around in terms of usage, thanks to Samsung's excellent S-Pen stylus that lets you scribble on that magnificent 5.7-inch, full HD AMOLED display. The hardware is great - octa core processors (two quad core processors), 3 GB RAM and a very good 13.0-megapixel camera. And yes, the fact that it remains relatively small makes it one of the easiest phablets to handle as well.
Get it if: You want a big screen device that you can scribble on and call from
Sony Xperia: Ultra Ultra large
Rs 38,000
When launched, there was no doubt that the Xperia Z Ultra was massive, sporting a 6.4-inch display, and at 212 grams, was hardly featherweight. But into that frame, Sony packed a lot of hardware dynamite - the display was a full HD TRILUMINOS one, the 8.0-megapixel camera on the back came with an Exmor RS for mobile sensor and making sure everything ran smoothly was a 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. People scratched their heads and wondered whether it was a tablet or a phone, but no one really complained of any lags or poor performance while using it - mind you, most of them ended up using it
two-handed.
Get it if: You want a slice of Android on a gloriously
large display
Nokia Lumia 1320: The 1520 lite?
Rs 23,599
It has modest specs (dual core processor, 720p display, 5.0-megapixel camera), but what makes the Lumia 1320 special is its price tag. It offers a device with a number of high-end features at a relatively low price. At its current price, the Lumia 1320 is one of the best value-for-money large screen phones in the market. And it has inherited the 1520's massive battery and good looks as well.
Get it if: You lust for the Lumia 1520, but want the Windows Phone 8 experience on a large screen, while you save up for it.
Nokia Lumia 1520: The Nokia phablet
Rs 45,990
The massive Lumia 1520 packs some very powerful hardware - the 6.0-inch display is a full HD affair, and powering the phone is a 2.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, backed up with a hefty 2GB RAM. Storage stands at 32GB, and is expandable. Nokia has also added a hefty 20-megapixel camera to the device. Round that off with an updated version of Windows Phone, free MS Office, Maps and a year of free music downloads and this becomes one of the most powerful convergence devices we have seen.
Get it if: You want one device that does it all: photography, document editing, music, apps,
the works
