7 Inch Phones Are Here (1 Viewer)

[cstu]

People thought I was crazy when I said it would eventually happen, but Lenovo announced they are releasing a 7" phone.

Think the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus and 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 5 are huge phablets? They're tiny compared to Lenovo's two new giant phones.

Lenovo announced on Wednesday two of the biggest smartphones we've ever seen, bigger than Samsung's Galaxy Mega: the 6.8-inch Phab Plus and 6.98-inch Phab. The company also unveiled new Yoga Tab 3 tablets in 8-inch and 10-inch sizes.

See also: Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a pretty face and that's pretty much it

The $299 metallic Phab Plus is the smaller phone of the two and has a 1,920 x 1,080 (full HD) IPS display with a 326 ppi. It's a decent panel when viewed indoors and it's size is great for watching videos and movies, but I've seen better screens that are both higher resolution and brighter.

Specs are pretty midrange: The Phab Plus has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and a 3,500 milliamp-hour (mAh) battery. You would think a phone with such epic proportions would have a bigger battery, but no. And yes, it's a 4G LTE phone with dual nano-SIM cards.

The Phab Plus has a 13-megapixel camera on the back with dual-LED flash and a 5-megapixel camera on the front for selfies.

So how exactly does it feel to handle such a big phone? It feels so silly. It's virtually impossible to use with one hand and it definitely won't fit into your pants unless you're bringing JNCO jeans back.

 

[Bucky86]

I'll show you 7 inches

 

[mquinnjr]

You know what would comfortably hold a phone of this size? A purse. Get one if you get this phone.

 

[[icon]]

You know what would comfortably hold a phone of this size? A purse. Get one if you get this phone.

goodposting

 

[BoltBacker]

Actually, they have had these things out for more than year....

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/23/huawei-mediapad-x1-phablet/

... Amazon was selling them at some point.

I think they will become more popular as people start owning more wearables, especially when those things stop being tethered to a phone. These things might get traction even faster if they can figure out a way to almost completely lose the bezel and get tablet type battery life out of them.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Is that one of those new phones or are you just happy to see me?

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

Is that one of those new phones or are you just happy to see me?

I'm happy to see you.

 

[tommyboy]

i thought it was 7 inch ponies when i read the title

 

[Dentist]

i think Zach Morris had the original 7 inch phone.

Why?

I intentionally buy the "mini" versions of the phones they release because I want something small that fits in my pocket nicely.

I have a tablet for the stuff that requires it.

 

[BoltBacker]

You know what would comfortably hold a phone of this size? A purse. Get one if you get this phone.

goodposting

I remember people saying the exact same thing about the Dell Streak came out. "A 5" PHONE! Who wants to walk down the street with a tablet held up to their face?!".

 

[Snoopy]

Actually, they have had these things out for more than year....

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/23/huawei-mediapad-x1-phablet/

... Amazon was selling them at some point.

I think they will become more popular as people start owning more wearables, especially when those things stop being tethered to a phone. These things might get traction even faster if they can figure out a way to almost completely lose the bezel and get tablet type battery life out of them.

Weren't old rotary phones about 7" wide?

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Actually, they have had these things out for more than year....

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/23/huawei-mediapad-x1-phablet/

... Amazon was selling them at some point.

I think they will become more popular as people start owning more wearables, especially when those things stop being tethered to a phone. These things might get traction even faster if they can figure out a way to almost completely lose the bezel and get tablet type battery life out of them.

Weren't old rotary phones about 7" wide?

Those things were rough on your index finger.

 

[shadyridr]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

 

[Johnny Rock]

Hopefully Lenovo will keep the bugs out of it.

 

[John Bender]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

And what's the deal with Ovaltine?

 

[Joe Summer]

3 more inches and Aerosmith can write a song about it.

 

[comfortably numb]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/ALMObBv

 

[Guest]

Why would I need 7 phones?

 

[Hang 10]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

They also used to only make phone calls. That's probably least used function these days.

 

[Wooderson]

Why would I need 7 phones?

Gots to have the burners.

 

[skol asylum]

Note 4 is the perfect size. Can't believe people still carry around tiny iphones.

 

[cstu]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

At this point making phone calls is a just another feature. These are actually computers that are capable of making phone calls. I don't see a 7" phone catching on with people who make a lot of calls but for someone like me who make a few a day, why not?

 

[ShamrockPride]

7 inches...at that point, just go buy a tablet. Seriously.

 

[cstu]

7 inches...at that point, just go buy a tablet. Seriously.

Why have two devices - a phone and tablet - when one can do it all? Do you have small hands?

 

[SWC]

its like the eighties are back again sooon we will have boombox iphones and i will finally get to use my break pad again and do the worm like god intended take that to the bank braxheadroomigos

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

7 inches...at that point, just go buy a tablet. Seriously.

Why have two devices - a phone and tablet - when one can do it all? Do you have small hands?

Circus folk...small hands...smell like cabbage...

 

[ShamrockPride]

7 inches...at that point, just go buy a tablet. Seriously.

Why have two devices - a phone and tablet - when one can do it all? Do you have small hands?

Circus folk...small hands...smell like cabbage...

Lmao. Let me be the first to say. Nailed it.

But back on topic, I would argue practicality. You gonna be holding that 7 inch phone by the first digits on your fingers while taking a call? You'll look like a goon.

 

[cstu]

7 inches...at that point, just go buy a tablet. Seriously.

Why have two devices - a phone and tablet - when one can do it all? Do you have small hands?

Circus folk...small hands...smell like cabbage...

Lmao. Let me be the first to say. Nailed it.

But back on topic, I would argue practicality. You gonna be holding that 7 inch phone by the first digits on your fingers while taking a call? You'll look like a goon.

I have a 6" Nexus 6 (3.3 inches wide) that fits in my 9.5" hand comfortably. This would be less than a 1/2 inch wider.

 

[offdee]

How are guys gonna carry these things around? Fanny pack?

 

[BoltBacker]

Isn't it funny that the first cell phones were enormous and they kept on trying to make them smaller and smaller and now they are trying to make them bigger and bigger again

At this point making phone calls is a just another feature. These are actually computers that are capable of making phone calls. I don't see a 7" phone catching on with people who make a lot of calls but for someone like me who make a few a day, why not?

Exactly.

I am like you btw and making calls is a very, very small percentage of the time I spend using a my smart phone. Having a usable keyboard to type out texts emails is much, much more important to me than small size.

One quibble though, the people I know that do talk on their phone the most all use Bluetooth headsets because they drive while making phone calls or want their hands free to do things while they talk on the phone. For those people the larger battery in a bigger phone is probably a bigger feature than having a small phone because their phone is being used so heavily through the day.

I guess that leaves the casual tech folks as the target consumer of small phones. But the people I know like that don't usually own a tablet, and if anything they are moving toward using their phone as their one and only computer because their tech needs/wants are so limited. The only thing keeping them away from having a phablet is cost. Yesterdays phablet is todays midsize phone... as mentioned earlier the Dell Streak that was mocked on its release. Based on those reviews you realize the phone has already turned into a tablet and when low-cost untethered wearables are available the smallish cell phones will be officially dead.