As I had reported in my post Samsung Galaxy Mega – a New Range of Phablets, Samsung was ready to release a new range of phablets by the name of “Galaxy Mega”. The first Mega was released in May by the name of Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8. Samsung released a second Mega in June, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. Today I will take a look at the former model.
The most notable thing about the Galaxy Mega 5.8 is the big screen and as the name suggests, this model comes with a 5.8 inch screen. Anyone who thinks that the Samsung Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia Z is too big for comfort will definitely never consider buying the Galaxy Mega 5.8. Having dimensions of 162.6 x 82.4 x 9 mm (6.40 x 3.24 x 0.35 inches) and weighing 182 g (6.42 oz), this is definitely not a small phone. Obviously many are of the opinion that a phone with a 5.8 inch screen is too big for a phone, but having said this, there are many people who are ready to go around with such a device in their pocket.
The display supports a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels with a pixel density of about 90 pixels per inch. This is definitely a bit low when compared to today’s top of the range smartphones and phablets. Having said this, it does not mean that the screen is a disappointing one. When Samsung released the Galaxy Mega 5.8, it had in mind to create a mid-range phablet with no intention of competing with today’s top of the range phablets.
The Mega 5.8 comes with a Broadcom Dual-core 1.4 GHz processor, a VideoCore IV GPU and 1.5 GB of RAM. Thus the hardware only provides average performance that is no match to today’s quad core smartphones and phablets. Internally one can find 8 GB of storage space that can be expanded by a further 64 GB by installing a microSD card. The operating system installed out if the box is Android version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. This is the latest version of Android at the time of writing.
The primary camera on this phablet phone supports 8 megapixel photos and resolutions of up to 3264 x 2448 pixels. Camera features include LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, face and smile detection and geo-tagging. Video recording is carried out at 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. The front facing camera can take photos at up to 1.9 megapixels.
An important feature of the Galaxy Mega 5.8 is dual SIM support. This Android phablet also includes a compass, gyro as well as proximity and accelerometer sensors. Power is provided by means of a Lithium-Ion 2600 mAh user replaceable battery
The Galaxy Mega 5.8 is being sold at $457 at eBay.com or £300 at eBay.co.uk. In my opinion, this is still a bit on the high side given the average specifications. Having said this, if having a big screen and dual SIM capabilities is much more important to you than raw performance, then the Galaxy Mega 5.8 is definitely worth considering.
