Tablets are getting bigger for 2016 and two of the largest have met in the flesh. Take a look at the iPad Pro and the new Chuwi Hi12 tablet.
When tablets became a consumer product the idea behind them was to be simply used for media consumption. The iPad and various Android tablets quickly became more popular, but now hardware has gotten smaller and more powerful we can ask our touch screen slates to do a little more.
Here we see the iPad Pro with China’s Chuwi Hi12 tablet side by side. Seeing the two tablets next to each other it really is incredible how thin Intel powered tablets have become.
Gizchina News of the week
Like the iPad Pro, the Chuwi Hi12 has a 12-inch display, and a thin gold all alloy body, but runs Windows 10 on it’s IntelΒ X5Β SeriesΒ CherryΒ
Chuwi Hi12 Specification Highlights
- 12.0Β InchΒ 2160 x 1440Β
ScreenΒ Resolution - IntelΒ X5Β SeriesΒ CherryΒ
TrailΒ Z8300Β CPU - WindowsΒ 10Β +Β AndroidΒ 5.
1Β DualΒ OS - 4GBΒ RAMΒ +Β 64GBΒ ROMΒ (micro SD support)
- 2MPΒ
FrontΒ Camera,Β Β 5MPΒ BackΒ Camera - 11000mAhΒ Battery
The Chuwi Hi12 is on pre-sale at the moment for $249.99 and we have been told to expect a sample for review so keep your eyes peeled.
Bought a cheapie Vi7 as presents, chuwi seems to have decent optimisation. Might have to treat myself to one of these, probably to replace an ageing laptop!
I also order my chuwi items from gearbeast. Or save up for an X16 Power π For sure, Win 10 somehow pulled off the impossible with tablets.
I wouldn’t bother with the x16 power of I were you, I’m in the process of trying to send it back. It’s very heavy and the screen is average at best. At its price point it should be better.
So near perfect. Option for 8500 or 8700 would make it so.
The Cube i9, if the speculation is correct, looks like it could be a decently powerful (usable!) device. I am not going to consider Windows tablets until some more impressive units are actually on sale.
I will only buy with a wacom pen though.
Bought a cheapie Vi7 as presents, chuwi seems to have decent optimisation. Might have to treat myself to one of these, probably to replace an ageing laptop!
I also order my chuwi items from gearbeast. Or save up for an X16 Power π For sure, Win 10 somehow pulled off the impossible with tablets.
I wouldn’t bother with the x16 power of I were you, I’m in the process of trying to send it back. It’s very heavy and the screen is average at best. At its price point it should be better.
So near perfect. Option for 8500 or 8700 would make it so.
The Cube i9, if the speculation is correct, looks like it could be a decently powerful (usable!) device. I am not going to consider Windows tablets until some more impressive units are actually on sale.
I will only buy with a wacom pen though.
Too heavy for a tablet, too weak for a laptop. The surface pro series, while a great idea when done well, opened a can of worms. Most companies abandoned the notion of a tablet (the most effective e-reader kind of device) in favour of a weak laptop-like experience.
I may buy it as a low weight laptop, but I mourn already the loss of the tablet segment from consumer electronics. They went the way of the smarphones (which are now replaced by phablets), another great product segment, the loss of which I also mourn.
It really depends on the end user, for some people this is more than powerful enough to be a laptop. For some people a Chromebook is more than powerful enough to be a daily laptop. Those are the people who only do the basics with their laptops.
And a Phablet is a smartphone….
A phablet is between a tablet and a smartphone (it’s right there in the name). Yes it can make calls, so does my 10 inch tablet.
Cell phones as involved in the 90s are one handed devices. Phablets are only that to a point, so less of a phone, more of a personal assistant that makes calls, a phone-tablet, or phablet…
12 inchers are weak for desktop computer use because of lack of space among others. Computer software is built for 15+ screens, the lower you get the harder it gets to work efficiently, 12 is the low end (you can -kinda work- not very efficiently). Weak laptops, heavy tablets. IMO they’re the modern equivalents of netbooks (not for serious work).
The term phablet is so loosely used these days it can mean anything from a 5-6+ inch smartphone. It really is a term that doesn’t have any relevant meaning anymore. It means something different to every user.
I can comfortable use my 5.5 inch phone one handed. Every smartphone today is a personal assistant that makes calls, takes pictures. Very few people use their smartphone just to make calls and text.
It all depends what you work is. I work very efficiently on a 12 inch Surface Pro 3 and an 11.6 inch HP.
It has the same meaning as always, a device not primarily used one-handed. The term is not used because practically everybody owns a phablet these days (which is why I told you that smartphones are mostly dead and has been replaced by personal assistants/phablets/”pdas of old”).
“It all depends what you work is.”
Most creative work needs (directly benefit from) bigger than 13 inch screens (I’m thinking photo and video editing, as well as web development and general coding). Writing can be done in smaller screens, but that’s also true for my 10 inch tablet equipped with Microsoft Word.
Actually that isn’t the meaning at all. Phablet is in the dictionary and this is the definition:
“a mobile device that combines the features of a smartphone and atablet computer and is larger than a typical smartphone but not aslarge as a typical small tablet.”
There is no mention of one handed use or PDA. I have been using smartphones as PDA’s since smartphones came out. That is the whole point of a smartphone, a computer/camera/mp3 player etc that can fit in your palm.
Now if we look at the definition of a smartphone we get the following:
“a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.”
By the above definitions (from dictionary.com) smartphones aren’t dead they have just evolved with larger screens. Just like smartphones have evolved, so too have Phablet sizes. What was a Phablet is now a smartphone. When the first phablets came out they ranged in size from 4.5-5 inches, today that is a typical smartphone size.
It’s implicit. The difference between a tablet and a phone is screen size the greatest benchmark of which is one-handed use (note that all cell phones from late 90s on were specifically buit with “one-handedness” in mind).
The first phablet (Dell Streak) was a 5 incher. It was always 5+ devices as they are exactly the type of devices combining phone capabilities and tablet (two handed) use. All popular devices are mini tablets (mostly need two hands to operate) therefore the notion is phased out or slowly gets replaced by the term “phone”.
The traditional cellphone/smartphone is dead so we call phablets as “smartphones” instead.
The Nokia N810 was considered a phablet, it was 4.13 inches. The Acer Iconia Smart was a 4.8 inch phablet. The sizes change as newer technology comes out. Just like in the 1980/90s a 32 inch TV was considered a “big screen” TV. Today that is small.
The traditional cell phone is dead because of the smartphones. They are two completely different products. Cell phones were made for nothing more than calling and texting. Smartphones were made to be mini computers in your pocket. I have no issues using a 5 inch smartphone one handed. My 5.5 inch phone I can do about 90% of it one handed.
That was a correct assessment, given their dimensions they were not easy to be used one handed , by comparison a modern 5 incher (mi4) is quite smaller in absolute numbers than those phones.
A 32inch TV at 480p/i is huge to this day, you can practically see the pixels (while watching TV) there.
The actual meaning of the words do change, but over many decades, sometimes centuries, you overestimate the pace of language’s evolution. BTW it’s quite clear that what we call a smartphone now is almost exactly the phablet of yore, point by point they share all characteristics one could use to describe them.
It’s the same concept spelt differently. Still very few phones around these days. BTW I don’t mind it, it’s obvious why people would gravitate to (mini) tablets (I still use my tablet more). Why I do mind is the virtual destruction of the smartphone niche that happened along the way (apart from Z5 compact, there are only low ends there, a proper graveyard).
It’s pretty clear what we call a smartphone today is a natural evolution of what we called a smartphone in the past. Technology has evolved and part of that evolution is higher definition displays. Point to point they share all the characteristics one could use to describe them.
There are thousands of phones available today. I use a mini tablet every day, it’s a 7 inch Nexus 7. I also use a smartphone everyday, a 5 inch Nokia Lumia 640 (work phone) and a 5.5 inch Meizu MX5.
No they lack the primary characteristic that made cell-phones popular in the first place, thumb control. They’re the natural continuation of phablets which are the natural continuation of PDAs.
They’re only connected to cell phones by the fact that they can make calls. Just because a think replaces another doesn’t also imply being a continuation of it. Letting go of thumb control was an end of an era, it happened subtly so most didn’t care, still it goes like this
PDAs -> Phablets -> post 2013 smartphones
cellphones -> feature phones -> pre 2013 smartphones -> dead.
I have no problem controlling my phone with my thumbs…..
Thumb control is secondary if not tertiary form of control, Modern phones are built to be used as PDAs of yore (one hand supporting, another using) , they’re all a species of pocketable tablets (modern phones, PDAs and phablets).
The argument that I’m trying to explain is what the ancient Greeks called the ship of Theseus: At which point does a thing stops being called “that thing” once all its parts got slowly replaced?
The answer is *never* but as it turns out that’s a linguistic trick , the new thing is not the old thing apart from the fact that people are calling it that (the new smartphones are a separate category than the old smartphones despite the same name).
A simple thought experiment to prove you that, is as follows: Suppose that many if not most flagships were still around the 4.5 inch mark. Some were 3.5 inch and others were 5.5 inches. People would automatically separate the 5.5 inch phones (calling them “phablets”) while grouping the other category (3.5 and 4.5 phones, calling them smartphones).
The *concepts persist* in the minds of people for decades (like I wrote language changes more slowly than that) to the point that if makers return to (one handed) thumb control (smartphones return) we’d call our present era (in phones) the phablets’ era, cause that’s exactly what we own.
Basically this entire thing boils down to one thing: You dont like bigger phones. Everything else is completely opinion based that we will never agree on.
No, I actually like big phones (moto X comes to mind), I find them a good compromise between a phablet and a smartphone. Of course those are mostly dead too.
What it boils down to is linguistics and the slow change of concepts, it’s not hard to understand that smartphones are dead, just look around you, most drop what they may be holding so that to interact with their pocketable tablet.
Don’t be confused by labels (that they still call them phones) we’re in a midst of a complete transformation of consumer electronics and the ever more central part that PDAs/pocketable tablets (once a niche of a niche) that they are taking it is a testament to that.
We’re more attached to our devices than ever, no wonder that we’ve let go of ergonomics (unlike how Steve Jobs famously predicted it, most people *feel* the need of ever bigger screens).
BTW I predict the screens getting even bigger, either in the form of foldable computers and/or VR, people are attracted to sources of information, *not* to “phones”.
Linguistics obviously confuse you. There is no size definition of a smartphone, a phablet itself is a smartphone which means smartphones are not dead.
A phablet is a phone-tablet. A tablet with phone capabilities.
It’s used like a tablet (one hand to hold it, another to interact with it), it *is* a tablet that also makes calls, that’s also pocketable. So it is the kind of tablet that has some of the features of a smartphone, it’s obviously not a pure cell-phone though as it lacks its ergonomics.
It’s a compromise… (unlike say iphone 5 which is a pure cell-phone that also has smart capabilities … a smart-phone)
“a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.” – Smartphone.
There is no requirements for a smartphone to be of a certain size. If we are going just by the linguistics, a phablet is a smartphone. A tablet could be considered a smartphone too if it has cellular capabilities. It doesn’t matter how it is used or held, any mobile device with cellular capabilities by definition is a smartphone. Everything else is your opinion, nothing more.
A cell phone is something completely different:
a telephone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network.
Perhaps pictures are easier for you to understand:
on the left we have a cell phone, the right is a smartphone. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a818ee44f1d4faf1a5600dd6175efb5d0d52acacf6c360beb5028052a27958d7.jpg
Note that both in your example pictures are primarily usable with one hand.
The noted difference between a tablet and and any other electronic device is the way that it is being used. Touch enabled device that is held with one hand used with the other.
Exactly what a phablet is . A tablet first, a smartphone second.
A smartphone is the kind of touch enabled device that is not a tablet but also has cellular capabilities.
To conclude I think that you think of the topic in the opposite way around: you should not think whether your phone is a smartphone, anything can be one as you aptly put it, you should think whether it is a tablet… and lo and behold it is!
Since it is a tablet you can’t call it a phone because it’s already a tablet … with some phone capabilities. You can’t say the same about a real smartphone, because it’s *not* a tablet, so you have to call it a phone.
Phablets have more in common with PDAs than real phones.
I use my phablet with one hand everyday. My phablet is a smartphone first, a tablet second. Again this is all your opinion, because you can’t use a phablet one handed you think all of the above. Others have no issues with it.
Smartphones of all sizes have more in common with PDA’s than real phones. Real phones were meant for calling and texting nothing more. Smartphones are used for a wide variety of things.
You may occasionally use it one-handed but the vast majority of the world over the last 2 years went from cell-phone use (thumb based) to pda/tablet use (two hands).
Just *look* around you, in the tube, inside the train, when people relax, when they walk the street. It became completely apparent with iphone 6, now everywhere I see people carrying less things (seriously) just so that both hands can be free.
The death of phones had a *tangible* effect on the way cityscapes look on a given day, it’s not mere definition we’re talking here, it’s an actual worldwide trend. Phones are finally (and almost completely) dead…
You have a detailed study showing this vast majority or is this more of your opinion? I see people everyday in my travels around the world using phablets one handed. Just vist any major metro system in Asia or the US.
Phones as in devices that were just made for calling are dead. Smartphones are alive and well.
Obviously I do not have the funds to conduct the study, but the change was/is as big as the early days of the mass adoption of smartphones were (late 00s).
We called them “smartphones” because that mass adoption triggered a visible change to how people interact with their handhelds (as opposed to feature phones). It happened again (and happens as we speak), people continue calling them “phones” but by now it’s a euphemism, phones are dead, and phablets gave them their last push (one-handed use is dead).
You see people using their behemoths one-handed. Of course it happens, but compare it with how more frequently they use them two-handed. This is not a minor point, it suggests a new form of interaction with our machines.
It’s as big of a difference as when we moved from feature phones to smartphones (we are now moving to mini tablets, probably soon we’d move to full tablets -foldable “phones”). When we’d fully move to tablets (foldable “phones”) you’d see how apparent this move already was circa 2016, you’d agree with me. Obviously the behemoth you’re holding is not a phone in any important sense.
I see more people using them one handed than two handed, for most people I talk to they aren’t “behemoths” they are just phones. Again this all boils down to one thing: your personal opinions. Nothing of what you have mentioned is fact, it is 100% opinion.
The device I am holding can make calls and texts, therefore it is a phone. It connects to cellular data therefore it is a phone. Regardless of size it is a phone. The very first cellular phones were behemoths that didn’t fit in your pocket. They were still phones.
I was talking about phones, it’s a behemoth compared to them. Do you remember the cellphone bricks of old? Well Phablets’ profile is bigger than them.
The reach of people’s thumbs is not an opinion. For better or worse people can’t use 5+ one handed (most of the screen is out of reach) so they don’t. You may be in a company of giants that can use them one-handed, where I live (and I suppose most of the world) that’s not the case.
The device you’re holding is a tablet, you’re calling it a phone because phones are dead and languages hate a void so they re-appropriate words (but the concepts remain).
I repeat the thought experiment that I’ve told you before: If flagships were still produced in all sizes (3.5 – 5.5 inches) then your device would have been called a phablet, those from 4.5 and down would have had been called “phones”.
It has been done before. You can use meta-analytical tools -even- to see when the change happened. Around late 2013, early 2014 people started calling phablets as “phones”. Post 2014 “phones” *are* mostly phablets, you own a phablet that you call a phone. Those are not hard to understand concepts…
I have small thumbs and I can reach about 90% of my 5.5inch screen with my thumbs. The other 10% requires a quick nudge of the phone to reach, all done with one hand and takes under 3 seconds.
I posted the definitions for you to read in black and white. Any mobile device that can connect to a cellular network and runs an OS IS a smartphone. You can argue about thumbs, screen sizes and the way you hold it till your blue in the face but it’s not going to change one simple fact: By the definition of the words. a Phablet is a Smartphone. None of what you say will change that simple fact. Everything is just conjecture based on your views and opinions.
1) No if it was we’d use the same word (we do now *only* after true smartphones dies interestingly enough): It’s a tablet with phone capabilities.
2)It’s a tablet *because* the majority of its screen is not thumb reachable: http://scotthurff.com/images/posts/thumb-zone-2/thumb-zones-lineup.png
BTW why do you hate that “tablet” moniker so much? Tablets (of all sizes IMO) are awesome
Why do you hate the English language so much? Is it because you clearly don’t understand it?
Smartphone:
a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.
Phablet:
a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer
Tablet:
a computer that accepts input directly onto an LCD screen rather than via a keyboard or mouse.
To sum up, a smartphone is a cellphone that acts as a PDA. A phablet is a smartphone with a larger screen but smaller than a tablet. A tablet is a handheld computer.
Those definitions are incomplete though. My 10 inch tablet is also a tablet according to the smartphone definition.
“Phablet”: that’s a correct a definition it implies a difference between a tablet and a smartphone (unlike the all-inclusive definition that you’re using). That difference can be summed up as “size”. The *only* cut off point to mark a difference (any difference) in the 4-8 inch range is one-handedness. so to sum up
1) “A phablet is an intermediate” so by definition can’t *also* be what we would call a smartphone.
2) The only characteristic that is affected by size is mode of use (one-handedness vs two-handed use).
3) Without using that cut-off size as point of inference then all tablets with cellular capabilities can be called smartphones and all smartphones can be called tablets. That’s a complete disaster, because everything would mean anything.
4) If we accept that words serve any purpose at all and taking (1), (2) and (3) in account, it’s *very* implicit that your device is *not* a smartphone in any important sense.
There… Linguistics and Analytical philosophy all in one post :p
Those definitions are not incomplete. They are the definitions. You may not agree with them but those are the accepted definitions. There are no size or one handndess requirements to define those products, no matter what YOU personally seem to think.
They’re incomplete because they contradict each other (do you even read my posts? By now your argument that *concepts* evolve, as well as open-ended definitions being of any important meaning are both destroyed).
It’s quite simple really (what’s going on): What we used to call phablets we now call phones, what we called phones we now call “minis”.
Why’s it hard for you to understand? Why do you even protest? What difference does it make if you own a phablet instead of a phone?
It’s quite simple really: Those definitions don’t fit in with your view points. You have a very hard time separating your opinion from facts.
Why is it so hard for you to understand? Why do you even protest? What is the different if my phablet is a phone. I can make phone calls on it, i can connect to a cellular network, I can text on it and I can even write this comment on it. Therefore it is a smartphone.
I just explained you both.
Those definitions are incomplete for the simple reason that they can define anything. My 10 inch tablet can do everything your monster phablet can do as well, should I call it my smartphone? Does that mean that I now have two phones? Should I sell my other phone? Those are the questions that keep me up at night.
As to why I care, I’m educated you on how concepts form (actually they don’t, we merely give them names. So if you use the same name for a different concept doesn’t change the initial concept). For example you (like most people) started spelling phablets differently from 2013 on, I’m merely making you aware of it.
This is boring me now. A phablet is smartphone end of story.
Heh, typical, proven wrong without any doubt from (one million diff sides) so you cry foul :p
Nope just tired of stupudity from someone who doesn’t understand simple concepts
But I understand them very well, I’ve even explained them to you.
I’m a research scientist, so in fact those concepts are a child’s play for me. For some reason you do not want to understand my explanations even though they’re quite clear and tried them from many different angles.
You still haven’t answered why I should not be calling my sim-equipped 10″ tablet as a phone, for example.
Don’t you see? You have giant wholes in your arguments, if you where to try to publish a paper with such logical wholes it would have had been immediately rejected.
I’m honestly trying to correct you, I’m not trying to be a smarta$$ (sorry if I seemed that way, it was not my intention).
And I have worked in marketing and advertising for smartphones, tablets and computers for years. I go by the industry recognized terms not the ones you seem to think exist. The only holes are the points you don’t agree with.
I tend to disagree with things that make no sense, it’s particularly easy to do so when some arguments are self-defeating.
BTW I said nothing other than that what we call a phone *now* is different than what we used to call a phone. I’m not saying that you should not call your device a phone, *I* call 5+ devices as phones because it’s easier to communicate that way.
What I said is that we call “phones” nowadays are actually phablets, that’s not a controversial point, I don’t see why you feel so defensive.
Another example, if I convince people to call frogs by the names of “crocodiles” doesn’t *actually* change frogs to crocodiles, merely their name.
Similar to phablets, we call them phones, they’re still phablets. In science this widespread understanding that “belief” doesn’t *actually* change the world, merely how we see it (that’s why we have experiments) is what let it make any progress at all.
So -yeah- you own a phablet that you call a phone, I don’t see why you find that a problematic concept to believe.
I don;t know why you find it so problematic that you can’t read and comprehend simple definitions. So yeah you think phones are dead, which clearly they aren’t seeing as a Phablet fits the exact definition of a smartphone. I don’t see why you find that a problematic concept to believe.
I told you why I find the open-ended definition of smartphone problematic. It’s basically all-inclusive (for example it includes all touch-based devices regardless of size, for example the Note pro which is a 12.2 inch tablet).
All all-inclusive definitions are also all-exclusive (if they mean potentially everything, they actually mean nothing). So either the word “smartphone” means sth (and your device ain’t it) or it means potentially everything (it’s an all inclusive definition) in which case -again- your device ain’t it (because nothing actually is).
It’s logically inconsistent for your device to *actually* be a phone. But it’s very consistent to be “called a phone”. I merely explained to you the difference of the two (“I call a frog to be a crocodile but it’s still a frog”).
Again to *actually* think that you own a phone is bonkers. Of course you can call it a phone, you can call it Suzie for all I care :p
Yup I’m bored now. Goodluck with your 6 inch smartphones this year.
Well I’m not trying to entertain you, merely to explain a couple of things to you.
BTW my smartphone is 10.1 inches (Galaxy Note 10.1 – 4G). Great phone, I can make calls, write texts, use it as a laptop, serve coffee on it…
very well said my friend very well π
Welcome to the world of convergence. So instead of carrying an mp3 player, cellphone, point and shoot camera, tablet, and laptop, today you can get the utility of all of those devices in a phablet (As balcobomber25 as stated earlier is a relative term, originally designated to smartphones 5″ and up) and 2 in 1 laptop. The general public has always chosen convenience over performance when it comes to consumer electronics. BTW, sales of the Macbook air over the years shows that consumers will glady get by on a sub 15″ laptop.
Yeah that’s true if one has middling expectations of what he hopes to achieve with a machine.
My coding speed is almost halved when moving from a 15incher to a Surface pro, that’s an unacceptable loss of efficiency for a professional, but I *dig* the added portability. For the time being I’m using a 13.3 incher, it’s an acceptable copromise between portability and efficiency. 12 is way too small though and I can’t imagine it not to be so on most tasks that are “screen real estate” sensitive.
I preferred to have a smartphone as a smart phone, a tablet as an e-reader/digital assistant , a laptop as a road warrior and a PC for everything else.
Sure you can have one device to do all of the above, as much as you can have a screwdriver double as a mini hammer (if you reverse it), I just don’t see the point. Those are tools, not fashion statements, the more accurate in doing stuff the better.
And BTW I don’t mind convergance, I mind the loss of niches (which oft times are the most productive parts of society).
Too heavy for a tablet, too weak for a laptop. The surface pro series, while a great idea when done well, opened a can of worms. Most companies abandoned the notion of a tablet (the most effective e-reader kind of device) in favour of a weak laptop-like experience.
I may buy it as a low weight laptop, but I mourn already the loss of the tablet segment from consumer electronics. They went the way of the smarphones (which are now replaced by phablets), another great product segment, the loss of which I also mourn.
It really depends on the end user, for some people this is more than powerful enough to be a laptop. For some people a Chromebook is more than powerful enough to be a daily laptop. Those are the people who only do the basics with their laptops.
And a Phablet is a smartphone….
A phablet is between a tablet and a smartphone (it’s right there in the name). Yes it can make calls, so does my 10 inch tablet.
Cell phones as involved in the 90s are one handed devices. Phablets are only that to a point, so less of a phone, more of a personal assistant that makes calls, a phone-tablet, or phablet…
12 inchers are weak for desktop computer use because of lack of space among others. Computer software is built for 15+ screens, the lower you get the harder it gets to work efficiently, 12 is the low end (you can -kinda work- not very efficiently). Weak laptops, heavy tablets. IMO they’re the modern equivalents of netbooks (not for serious work).
The term phablet is so loosely used these days it can mean anything from a 5-6+ inch smartphone. It really is a term that doesn’t have any relevant meaning anymore. It means something different to every user.
I can comfortable use my 5.5 inch phone one handed. Every smartphone today is a personal assistant that makes calls, takes pictures. Very few people use their smartphone just to make calls and text.
It all depends what you work is. I work very efficiently on a 12 inch Surface Pro 3 and an 11.6 inch HP.
It has the same meaning as always, a device not primarily used one-handed. The term is not used because practically everybody owns a phablet these days (which is why I told you that smartphones are mostly dead and has been replaced by personal assistants/phablets/”pdas of old”).
“It all depends what you work is.”
Most creative work needs (directly benefit from) bigger than 13 inch screens (I’m thinking photo and video editing, as well as web development and general coding). Writing can be done in smaller screens, but that’s also true for my 10 inch tablet equipped with Microsoft Word.
Welcome to the world of convergence. So instead of carrying an mp3 player, cellphone, point and shoot camera, tablet, and laptop, today you can get the utility of all of those devices in a phablet (As balcobomber25 as stated earlier is a relative term, originally designated to smartphones 5″ and up) and 2 in 1 laptop. The general public has always chosen convenience over performance when it comes to consumer electronics. BTW, sales of the Macbook air over the years shows that consumers will glady get by on a sub 15″ laptop.
Actually that isn’t the meaning at all. Phablet is in the dictionary and this is the definition:
“a mobile device that combines the features of a smartphone and atablet computer and is larger than a typical smartphone but not aslarge as a typical small tablet.”
There is no mention of one handed use or PDA. I have been using smartphones as PDA’s since smartphones came out. That is the whole point of a smartphone, a computer/camera/mp3 player etc that can fit in your palm.
Now if we look at the definition of a smartphone we get the following:
“a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.”
By the above definitions (from
smartphones aren’t dead they have just evolved with larger screens. Just like smartphones have evolved, so too have Phablet sizes. What was a Phablet is now a smartphone. When the first phablets came out they ranged in size from 4.5-5 inches, today that is a typical smartphone size.
Yeah that’s true if one has middling expectations of what he hopes to achieve with a machine.
My coding speed is almost halved when moving from a 15incher to a Surface pro, that’s an unacceptable loss of efficiency for a professional, but I *dig* the added portability. For the time being I’m using a 13.3 incher, it’s an acceptable copromise between portability and efficiency. 12 is way too small though and I can’t imagine it not to be so on most tasks that are “screen real estate” sensitive.
I preferred to have a smartphone as a smart phone, a tablet as an e-reader/digital assistant , a laptop as a road warrior and a PC for everything else.
Sure you can have one device to do all of the above, as much as you can have a screwdriver double as a mini hammer (if you reverse it), I just don’t see the point. Those are tools, not fashion statements, the more accurate in doing stuff the better.
And BTW I don’t mind convergance, I mind the loss of niches (which oft times are the most productive parts of society).
It’s implicit. The difference between a tablet and a phone is screen size the greatest benchmark of which is one-handed use (note that all cell phones from late 90s on were specifically buit with “one-handedness” in mind).
The first phablet (Dell Streak) was a 5 incher. It was always 5+ devices as they are exactly the type of devices combining phone capabilities and tablet (two handed) use. All popular devices are mini tablets (mostly need two hands to operate) therefore the notion is phased out or slowly gets replaced by the term “phone”.
The traditional cellphone/smartphone is dead so we call phablets as “smartphones” instead.
The Nokia N810 was considered a phablet, it was 4.13 inches. The Acer Iconia Smart was a 4.8 inch phablet. The sizes change as newer technology comes out. Just like in the 1980/90s a 32 inch TV was considered a “big screen” TV. Today that is small.
The traditional cell phone is dead because of the smartphones. They are two completely different products. Cell phones were made for nothing more than calling and texting. Smartphones were made to be mini computers in your pocket. I have no issues using a 5 inch smartphone one handed. My 5.5 inch phone I can do about 90% of it one handed.
That was a correct assessment, given their dimensions they were not easy to be used one handed , by comparison a modern 5 incher (mi4) is quite smaller in absolute numbers than those phones.
A 32inch TV at 480p/i is huge to this day, you can practically see the pixels (while watching TV) there.
The actual meaning of the words do change, but over many decades, sometimes centuries, you overestimate the pace of language’s evolution. BTW it’s quite clear that what we call a smartphone now is almost exactly the phablet of yore, point by point they share all characteristics one could use to describe them.
It’s the same concept spelt differently. Still very few phones around these days. BTW I don’t mind it, it’s obvious why people would gravitate to (mini) tablets (I still use my tablet more). Why I do mind is the virtual destruction of the smartphone niche that happened along the way (apart from Z5 compact, there are only low ends there, a proper graveyard).
It’s pretty clear what we call a smartphone today is a natural evolution of what we called a smartphone in the past. Technology has evolved and part of that evolution is higher definition displays. Point to point they share all the characteristics one could use to describe them.
There are thousands of phones available today. I use a mini tablet every day, it’s a 7 inch Nexus 7. I also use a smartphone everyday, a 5 inch Nokia Lumia 640 (work phone) and a 5.5 inch Meizu MX5.
No they lack the primary characteristic that made cell-phones popular in the first place, thumb control. They’re the natural continuation of phablets which are the natural continuation of PDAs.
They’re only connected to cell phones by the fact that they can make calls. Just because a think replaces another doesn’t also imply being a continuation of it. Letting go of thumb control was an end of an era, it happened subtly so most didn’t care, still it goes like this
PDAs -> Phablets -> post 2013 smartphones
cellphones -> feature phones -> pre 2013 smartphones -> dead.
I have no problem controlling my phone with my thumbs…..
Thumb control is secondary if not tertiary form of control, Modern phones are built to be used as PDAs of yore (one hand supporting, another using) , they’re all a species of pocketable tablets (modern phones, PDAs and phablets).
The argument that I’m trying to explain is what the ancient Greeks called the ship of Theseus: At which point does a thing stops being called “that thing” once all its parts got slowly replaced?
The answer is *never* but as it turns out that’s a linguistic trick , the new thing is not the old thing apart from the fact that people are calling it that (the new smartphones are a separate category than the old smartphones despite the same name).
A simple thought experiment to prove you that, is as follows: Suppose that many if not most flagships were still around the 4.5 inch mark. Some were 3.5 inch and others were 5.5 inches. People would automatically separate the 5.5 inch phones (calling them “phablets”) while grouping the other category (3.5 and 4.5 phones, calling them smartphones).
The *concepts persist* in the minds of people for decades (like I wrote language changes more slowly than that) to the point that if makers return to (one handed) thumb control (smartphones return) we’d call our present era (in phones) the phablets’ era, cause that’s exactly what we own.
Basically this entire thing boils down to one thing: You dont like bigger phones. Everything else is completely opinion based that we will never agree on.
No, I actually like big phones (moto X comes to mind), I find them a good compromise between a phablet and a smartphone. Of course those are mostly dead too.
What it boils down to is linguistics and the slow change of concepts, it’s not hard to understand that smartphones are dead, just look around you, most drop what they may be holding so that to interact with their pocketable tablet.
Don’t be confused by labels (that they still call them phones) we’re in a midst of a complete transformation of consumer electronics and the ever more central part that PDAs/pocketable tablets (once a niche of a niche) that they are taking it is a testament to that.
We’re more attached to our devices than ever, no wonder that we’ve let go of ergonomics (unlike how Steve Jobs famously predicted it, most people *feel* the need of ever bigger screens).
BTW I predict the screens getting even bigger, either in the form of foldable computers and/or VR, people are attracted to sources of information, *not* to “phones”.
Linguistics obviously confuse you. There is no size definition of a smartphone, a phablet itself is a smartphone which means smartphones are not dead.
A phablet is a phone-tablet. A tablet with phone capabilities.
It’s used like a tablet (one hand to hold it, another to interact with it), it *is* a tablet that also makes calls, that’s also pocketable. So it is the kind of tablet that has some of the features of a smartphone, it’s obviously not a pure cell-phone though as it lacks its ergonomics.
It’s a compromise… (unlike say iphone 5 which is a pure cell-phone that also has smart capabilities … a smart-phone)
“a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.” – Smartphone.
There is no requirements for a smartphone to be of a certain size. If we are going just by the linguistics, a phablet is a smartphone. A tablet could be considered a smartphone too if it has cellular capabilities. It doesn’t matter how it is used or held, any mobile device with cellular capabilities by definition is a smartphone. Everything else is your opinion, nothing more.
A cell phone is something completely different:
a telephone with access to a cellular radio system so it can be used over a wide area, without a physical connection to a network.
Perhaps pictures are easier for you to understand:
on the left we have a cell phone, the right is a smartphone.
Note that both in your example pictures are primarily usable with one hand.
The noted difference between a tablet and and any other electronic device is the way that it is being used. Touch enabled device that is held with one hand used with the other.
Exactly what a phablet is . A tablet first, a smartphone second.
A smartphone is the kind of touch enabled device that is not a tablet but also has cellular capabilities.
To conclude I think that you think of the topic in the opposite way around: you should not think whether your phone is a smartphone, anything can be one as you aptly put it, you should think whether it is a tablet… and lo and behold it is!
Since it is a tablet you can’t call it a phone because it’s already a tablet … with some phone capabilities. You can’t say the same about a real smartphone, because it’s *not* a tablet, so you have to call it a phone.
Phablets have more in common with PDAs than real phones.
I use my phablet with one hand everyday. My phablet is a smartphone first, a tablet second. Again this is all your opinion, because you can’t use a phablet one handed you think all of the above. Others have no issues with it.
Smartphones of all sizes have more in common with PDA’s than real phones. Real phones were meant for calling and texting nothing more. Smartphones are used for a wide variety of things.
You may occasionally use it one-handed but the vast majority of the world over the last 2 years went from cell-phone use (thumb based) to pda/tablet use (two hands).
Just *look* around you, in the tube, inside the train, when people relax, when they walk the street. It became completely apparent with iphone 6, now everywhere I see people carrying less things (seriously) just so that both hands can be free.
The death of phones had a *tangible* effect on the way cityscapes look on a given day, it’s not mere definition we’re talking here, it’s an actual worldwide trend. Phones are finally (and almost completely) dead…
You have a detailed study showing this vast majority or is this more of your opinion? I see people everyday in my travels around the world using phablets one handed. Just vist any major metro system in Asia or the US.
Phones as in devices that were just made for calling are dead. Smartphones are alive and well.
Obviously I do not have the funds to conduct the study, but the change was/is as big as the early days of the mass adoption of smartphones were (late 00s).
We called them “smartphones” because that mass adoption triggered a visible change to how people interact with their handhelds (as opposed to feature phones). It happened again (and happens as we speak), people continue calling them “phones” but by now it’s a euphemism, phones are dead, and phablets gave them their last push (one-handed use is dead).
You see people using their behemoths one-handed. Of course it happens, but compare it with how more frequently they use them two-handed. This is not a minor point, it suggests a new form of interaction with our machines.
It’s as big of a difference as when we moved from feature phones to smartphones (we are now moving to mini tablets, probably soon we’d move to full tablets -foldable “phones”). When we’d fully move to tablets (foldable “phones”) you’d see how apparent this move already was circa 2016, you’d agree with me. Obviously the behemoth you’re holding is not a phone in any important sense.
I see more people using them one handed than two handed, for most people I talk to they aren’t “behemoths” they are just phones. Again this all boils down to one thing: your personal opinions. Nothing of what you have mentioned is fact, it is 100% opinion.
The device I am holding can make calls and texts, therefore it is a phone. It connects to cellular data therefore it is a phone. Regardless of size it is a phone. The very first cellular phones were behemoths that didn’t fit in your pocket. They were still phones.
I was talking about phones, it’s a behemoth compared to them. Do you remember the cellphone bricks of old? Well Phablets’ profile is bigger than them.
The reach of people’s thumbs is not an opinion. For better or worse people can’t use 5+ one handed (most of the screen is out of reach) so they don’t. You may be in a company of giants that can use them one-handed, where I live (and I suppose most of the world) that’s not the case.
The device you’re holding is a tablet, you’re calling it a phone because phones are dead and languages hate a void so they re-appropriate words (but the concepts remain).
I repeat the thought experiment that I’ve told you before: If flagships were still produced in all sizes (3.5 – 5.5 inches) then your device would have been called a phablet, those from 4.5 and down would have had been called “phones”.
It has been done before. You can use meta-analytical tools -even- to see when the change happened. Around late 2013, early 2014 people started calling phablets as “phones”. Post 2014 “phones” *are* mostly phablets, you own a phablet that you call a phone. Those are not hard to understand concepts…
I have small thumbs and I can reach about 90% of my 5.5inch screen with my thumbs. The other 10% requires a quick nudge of the phone to reach, all done with one hand and takes under 3 seconds.
I posted the definitions for you to read in black and white. Any mobile device that can connect to a cellular network and runs an OS IS a smartphone. You can argue about thumbs, screen sizes and the way you hold it till your blue in the face but it’s not going to change one simple fact: By the definition of the words. a Phablet is a Smartphone. None of what you say will change that simple fact. Everything is just conjecture based on your views and opinions.
1) No if it was we’d use the same word (we do now *only* after true smartphones dies interestingly enough): It’s a tablet with phone capabilities.
2)It’s a tablet *because* the majority of its screen is not thumb reachable:
BTW why do you hate that “tablet” moniker so much? Tablets (of all sizes IMO) are awesome
Why do you hate the English language so much? Is it because you clearly don’t understand it?
Smartphone:
a cellular phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded applications.
Phablet:
a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer
Tablet:
a computer that accepts input directly onto an LCD screen rather than via a keyboard or mouse.
To sum up, a smartphone is a cellphone that acts as a PDA. A phablet is a smartphone with a larger screen but smaller than a tablet. A tablet is a handheld computer.
Those definitions are incomplete though. My 10 inch tablet is also a smartphone according to the smartphone definition.
“Phablet”: that’s a correct a definition it implies a difference between a tablet and a smartphone (unlike the all-inclusive definition that you’re using). That difference can be summed up as “size”. The *only* cut off point to mark a difference (any difference) in the 4-8 inch range is one-handedness. so to sum up
1) “A phablet is an intermediate” so by definition can’t *also* be what we would call a smartphone.
2) The only characteristic that is affected by size is mode of use (one-handedness vs two-handed use).
3) Without using that cut-off size as point of reference then all tablets with cellular capabilities can be called smartphones and all smartphones can be called tablets. That’s a complete disaster, because everything would mean anything.
4) If we accept that words serve any purpose at all and taking (1), (2) and (3) in account, it’s *very* implicit that your device is *not* a smartphone in any important sense.
There… Linguistics and Analytical philosophy all in one post :p
Those definitions are not incomplete. They are the definitions. You may not agree with them but those are the accepted definitions. There are no size or one handndess requirements to define those products, no matter what YOU personally seem to think.
They’re incomplete because they contradict each other (do you even read my posts? By now your argument that *concepts* evolve, as well as open-ended definitions being of any important meaning are both destroyed).
It’s quite simple really (what’s going on): What we used to call phablets we now call phones, what we called phones we now call “minis”.
Why’s it hard for you to understand? Why do you even protest? What difference does it make if you own a phablet instead of a phone?
It’s quite simple really: Those definitions don’t fit in with your view points. You have a very hard time separating your opinion from facts.
Why is it so hard for you to understand? Why do you even protest? What is the different if my phablet is a phone. I can make phone calls on it, i can connect to a cellular network, I can text on it and I can even write this comment on it. Therefore it is a smartphone.
I just explained you both.
Those definitions are incomplete for the simple reason that they can define anything. My 10 inch tablet can do everything your monster phablet can do as well, should I call it my smartphone? Does that mean that I now have two phones? Should I sell my other phone? Those are the questions that keep me up at night.
As to why I care, I’m educated you on how concepts form (actually they don’t, we merely give them names. So if you use the same name for a different concept doesn’t change the initial concept). For example you (like most people) started spelling phablets differently from 2013 on, I’m merely making you aware of it.
This is boring me now. A phablet is smartphone end of story.
Heh, typical, proven wrong without any doubt from (one million diff sides) so you cry foul :p
Nope just tired of stupudity from someone who doesn’t understand simple concepts
But I understand them very well, I’ve even explained them to you.
I’m a research scientist, so in fact those concepts are a child’s play for me. For some reason you do not want to understand my explanations even though they’re quite clear and tried them from many different angles.
You still haven’t answered why I should not be calling my sim-equipped 10″ tablet as a phone, for example.
Don’t you see? You have giant wholes in your arguments, if you where to try to publish a paper with such logical wholes it would have had been immediately rejected.
I’m honestly trying to correct you, I’m not trying to be a smarta$$ (sorry if I seemed that way, it was not my intention).
And I have worked in marketing and advertising for smartphones, tablets and computers for years. I go by the industry recognized terms not the ones you seem to think exist. The only holes are the points you don’t agree with.
I tend to disagree with things that make no sense, it’s particularly easy to do so when some arguments are self-defeating.
BTW I said nothing other than that what we call a phone *now* is different than what we used to call a phone. I’m not saying that you should not call your device a phone, *I* call 5+ devices as phones because it’s easier to communicate that way.
What I said is that we call “phones” nowadays are actually phablets, that’s not a controversial point, I don’t see why you feel so defensive.
Another example, if I convince people to call frogs by the names of “crocodiles” doesn’t *actually* change frogs to crocodiles, merely their name.
Similar to phablets, we call them phones, they’re still phablets. In science this widespread understanding that “belief” doesn’t *actually* change the world, merely how we see it (that’s why we have experiments) is what let it make any progress at all.
So -yeah- you own a phablet that you call a phone, I don’t see why you find that a problematic concept to believe.
I don;t know why you find it so problematic that you can’t read and comprehend simple definitions. So yeah you think phones are dead, which clearly they aren’t seeing as a Phablet fits the exact definition of a smartphone. I don’t see why you find that a problematic concept to believe.
I told you why I find the open-ended definition of smartphone problematic. It’s basically all-inclusive (for example it includes all touch-based devices regardless of size, for example the Note pro which is a 12.2 inch tablet).
All all-inclusive definitions are also all-exclusive (if they mean potentially everything, they actually mean nothing). So either the word “smartphone” means sth (and your device ain’t it) or it means potentially everything (it’s an all inclusive definition) in which case -again- your device ain’t it (because nothing actually is).
It’s logically inconsistent for your device to *actually* be a phone. But it’s very consistent to be “called a phone”. I merely explained to you the difference of the two (“I call a frog to be a crocodile but it’s still a frog”).
Again to *actually* think that you own a phone is bonkers. Of course you can call it a phone, you can call it Suzie for all I care :p
Yup I’m bored now. Goodluck with your 6 inch smartphones this year.
Well I’m not trying to entertain you, merely to explain a couple of things to you.
BTW my smartphone is 10.1 inches (Galaxy Note 10.1 – 4G). Great phone, I can make calls, write texts, use it as a laptop, serve coffee on it…
very well said my friend very well π
why can’t we make calls from such high-end and well-priced tablets like Chuwi HI12 ?!
its a DAMN STONE COLD SHAME , that they don’t double as gigantic smartphones with GSM capabilities … otherwise they’d be quite a catch !
why can’t we make calls from such high-end and well-priced tablets like Chuwi HI12 ?!
its a DAMN STONE COLD SHAME , that they don’t double as gigantic smartphones with GSM capabilities … otherwise they’d be quite a catch !
on Gearbest they have two versions classic and stylus, what’s the diffrence bettween ? Only stylus version have sense for me, do you have a release date ?
Regards
Marc
Marc, the stylus version contains a stylus and the classic version is one without stylus π However i suggest you to go through the specification deeply and speak to official Gearbest official on facebook π
on Gearbest they have two versions classic and stylus, what’s the diffrence bettween ? Only stylus version have sense for me, do you have a release date ?
Regards
Marc
Marc, the stylus version contains a stylus and the classic version is one without stylus π However i suggest you to go through the specification deeply and speak to official Gearbest official on facebook π
Why are tablet specification so spew worthy compared to phones. 2MP camera wouldn’t even scan a barcode, and a 5MP isn’t much better.
Why are tablet specification so spew worthy compared to phones. 2MP camera wouldn’t even scan a barcode, and a 5MP isn’t much better.