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The rise of the phablet

Go back to 2010 and youd be hard pushed to find a handset which sported a screen bigger than 4 inches.

Back then the big phones of the year were the 3.5-inch iPhone 4, 3.7-inch HTC Desire and the 4-inch Samsung Galaxy S.


Today were seeing handsets rocking screens in excess of 6-inches, while the bustling budget tablet market is churning out top quality devices in the 7-inch arena.

The line between phones and tablets is more blurred than its ever been and the considerable amount of crossover has resulted in the coining of the rather inelegant phrase "phablet" - love it or hate it, the phrase and the devices its attached to are here to stay.

In the beginning

Our first real taste of a phablet was back in 2011 when the Samsung Galaxy Note was launched to a muted response. People scoffed at its ridiculously large 5.3-inch display and 90s S-Pen stylus, but little did we know Samsung was onto something.

Alan Thomas from Carphone Warehouse explains: "The phablet was a slow burner. When the original Samsung Galaxy Note hit the shelves it wasnt instantly popular. The industry as a whole didnt know what to make of it.

"But, as Samsung marketed it and showed what it could do, why you use it, people found it offered something they wanted."

Samsungs Note series remains the most recognised of the phablet generation with the Korean firm adding the Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 3 in the following years, but it has now been joined by the likes of Sony, Nokia and HTC in the race for the best supersized smartphone.

Its still not clear what defines a phablet, and Thomas told us "its getting a bit debatable, but typically a phablet has a screen size larger than 5.3 inches and smaller than 7 inches. Tablets normally have screens of 7 inches and over and smartphone screens tend to be 5.2 inches or under.

"There is a little bit of overlap and its largely due to how the manufacturer chooses to market their devices."

Why oh why?

There wasnt much of a calling for our smartphones to dramatically increase in size before the Galaxy Note popped its head up, so what advantages do phablets actually provide?

Thomas notes: "people have really begun to use their smartphones a lot more for the internet, and the larger screens make it more practical.

"Smartphones are always in your pocket, turned on and its very easy to just look something up. With a tablet or a computer, odds are you need to get it out of a bag, and turn it on."

For those of you who like to be on the cutting edge of technology Thomas also highlights the phablet range as leading the current mobile revolution.

"New phablets have the best technology offered by the manufacturer. The best screen tech, resolution, processor. If customers want the latest and greatest, it has to be a phablet.

"We find that a lot of different types of people buy phablets. There are those that commute often and need something to entertain them on tubes and trains. There are those that work a lot and want an organiser or PDA like device. The extra features and screen size are well suited to this.

"Ive seen a lot of female users who appear to use the Note as a diary – my friends mum has a Note and is constantly scribbling things into the notepad and calendar."

Carphone Warehouse currently offers four of the best phablets around, and if youre still unsure which one to plump for weve broken down each one for you to compare.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The original phablet is now in its third iteration and the Galaxy Note 3 is definitely Samsungs best yet, boasting an excellent 5.7-inch full HD display, punchy 2.3GHz quad-core processor and 3GB of RAM.

Its an all-round powerhouse of a phone and will gobble up anything you throw at it, kitchen sink included.
"All the Note phones have had the S Pen and the Galaxy Note 3 is the newest. The S Pen is a new, more comfortable shape and allows for all manner of handwriting features on the Note 3," Thomas says.

"You can handwrite notes – like phone numbers or reminders – and the Note 3 can save them into the app perfectly. The Note 3 can also search your handwritten notes, so you dont have to type everything up in perfect Times New Roman."

Nokia Lumia 1520

If youre looking for a phone with a big screen and a top notch snapper then youll want to be checking out the most powerful, and largest, Nokia and Windows Phone handset to date.

The Nokia Lumia 1520 comes equipped with a great full HD 6-inch display, 2.2GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and of course a Carl Zeiss optics rear camera clocked at 20MP.

Thomas notes that "at 20MP its one of the most powerful cameras on any smartphone. The Lumia 1520 also uses the Nokia Camera app – the same one as on the best camera phone, the Nokia Lumia 1020 – which gives you control over advanced features like shutter speed.

"This lets you take shots that just arent possible on other phones. It also comes with Microsoft Office built in, making it the most practical phablet around for getting some work done."

HTC One Max

With an incredibly sharp 5.9-inch full HD display and dual front-facing BoomSound speakers the HTC One Max is the phablet for any movie buffs and TV addicts out there.

As well as a quad-core processor, decent chunk of RAM and fancy Ultrapixel camera the One Max also has a party trick in the form of a fingerprint scanner on its rear - similar to Touch ID on the iPhone 5S.

"The fingerprint scanner makes all the things saved on your One Max safe and secure. Its also pretty practical as it can remember up to three fingerprints, and you can program the One Max to start up different apps depending on the finger you used on the scanner," Thomas explains.

"The BoomSound speakers are unbelievably loud. We thought the HTC One was a noisy little box, but this is arguably the loudest phone going. Boom Sound indeed!"

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

Want to be the talk of the town with the biggest smartphone around? Then step this way and say hello to the 6.4-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

With such a large full HD display the Xperia Z Ultra can genuinely function as both your smartphone and your tablet, allowing you to purchase just one device instead of having to splash the cash on two.

Thomas is a fan of Sonys phablet too: "the Xperia Z Ultra is probably the most impressive phablet to look at as its so thin and Sony still managed to make it waterproof, so if you happen to submerge it for half an hour in 1.5m of water itll keep going like nothings happened.

"We also discovered that the Z Ultra has the sharpest screen of all the phablets, even though its the largest. This is because of the X-Reality feature. It up scales low-res content and sharpens HD quality visuals. It really works and is easy to notice the difference, making it the best for movie watching."

The phablet future

While phablets might be ploughing a supersized furrow through the mobile market at the moment can these larger than life handsets remain popular or are they just a passing fad?

"Phablets are here because we all want to use our phones for more visual content. This is unlikely to change.

Well want bigger and bigger screens, just like we want more screen space on the monitors for our computers and larger TVs for out front rooms," Thomas predicts.

"Phablets will still be here next year for sure, but specs might drop in comparison to the flagship devices to bring phablet prices down a bit."

It might not all be about the static size of the screen on future phablets, with flexible technology waiting in wings, as Thomas explains: "were expecting screen technology to take over and curved screen phones are already here with the LG G Flex.

"This has a 6-inch screen which curves round and while the display is extra large for videos etc, the curve keeps the phone size down and makes it better for making calls as it curves round your head.

"Once we move onto bendable and even foldable screens in two to three years well have phones with screens that can be expanded to the size of a tablet, but shrunk down when you dont need a screen that big.

"It might even completely spell the end of the tablet as these super phablets become ever more practical with screens that can change from 5 inches to 10 inches or more."