Samsung launches another phablet to rival Huawei’s

Samsung has pulled a fast one among rivals with the launch of another smartphone. 

The 5.8-inch Galaxy Mega Duos becomes the second largest gadget in a series of phablets hitting the Kenyan market with an eye on the lower end of the market. The company reckons that the country is experiencing an increasing need for large gadgets but at prices that are pocket-friendly for a majority of Kenyans.

Huawei released the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate a month ago which was every inch imposing.

Market executives at Samsung think the local market is shifting its desires to more bulky phones and introduction of a mammoth handset would satisfy the niche at a relatively lower cost compared to its premium products like S3 and S4 which are beyond the reach of many users.

Galaxy Mega is big measuring 162.6 x 82.4 x 9 mm and packing 182g it outdoes Galaxy Note 2 both in size and weight (150.2 x 76.1 x 9.4 mm and 160g respectively).

The Mega is the larger version of S4 in terms of appearance and beauty sans its speed and strength, which is understandable because they have to hack in low pricing to attract the lower market.
The physical structure is identical; you will find volume key on the left, the power button on its right, on the bottom is the power port (micro-USB) and the 3.5mm head phone jack at the top.
The same rear features on S4 are embedded on Mega Duos; there is the camera on the top and speaker grille on bottom-left corner.

Still, the Mega is twin micro-SIMmed and enjoys a superior battery life. The power button is placed closer to the middle understandably to allow easier access by one-hand users.

One, though, should shop for a memory card because of the phones lower internal storage capacity which is 8GB. There is only 5.4GB available for the user.

Mega Duos is a mid-range device which is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor and runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) operating system.

Going through the TFT capacitive touch-screen there is less lagging despite its 1.5GB RAM and 960×540 display resolution. Samsung’s recent products have 1080 pixels. This is because the lower pixel count does not labour the processor so the phone’s operations are faster than expected.

With a Li-Ion 2600 mAh battery, the Duos can with-hold power for eight hours. This is a clear redemption by the Korean manufacturer whose products are known to be charge-thirsty.

It seems obvious that Samsung did not have high-end user in mind when coming up with the Mega because there are some features found on S3 or S4 missing.
The giant gadget has been denied smart features like Air Gesture (predominant in S4), rotation, pause and scroll.

You can always argue that Galaxy S4 users rarely use their Air Gestures and other tonne-load fancy features so Duos can be excused for skipping them.

There are the flagship features like Smart Stay, Driving Mode, Safety Assistance and Air View embedded in the gadget which are synonymous with Samsung products.

With the tablet-sized phone on your lap, the absence of a Wacom digitiser is a setback. The feature allows you to use S Pen instead of using your fingers.

For its target market, the 8-mega-pixelled rear camera is acceptable. The resultant images are clear but a superior camera would have been welcome.

Galaxy Mega Duos is for those who love gaming, e-reading and obsessed with social media like Facebook and Twitter and can afford its Sh38,000 retail price.

Otherwise placing the gadget on your ears while receiving a call is cumbersome and tiring. Still, users can buy bluetooth (earpiece) gadget as an additional accessory to avoid the weird scene of putting the huge thing on your ear.