Samsung Galaxy Mega 3. Mobile network is a radio system that allows many mobile devices to exchange data with each other
During the launch of the Galaxy Note, the South Korean company was openly giggling and making fun of the public - who needs such a big and inconvenient phone? “But it won’t fit in any pocket!” - probably your friends also uttered this phrase. After a relatively short period of time, the global vendor reported that 20 million devices had been sold worldwide. The second version of the “large and uncomfortable” smartphone found its home in the pockets of five million owners just two months after the announcement. And then even the most inveterate skeptics stopped joking, and some companies began to try their hand at creating “plafonds.” True, no one except Samsung really succeeded.
During the agonizing wait for the launch of the third version of the extremely successful smartphone, which is expected to take place in September of this year (tradition!), the world was shown... Mega-smartphones that boldly crossed all boundaries of what is permitted. The screen diagonal of the younger model is 5.8 inches, the older one is 6.3 inches. Both devices are positioned precisely as smartphones, and not as tablets with the function of making and receiving calls. It would be real blasphemy on our part not to get acquainted with such an unusual gadget in detail. Of course, we took the older model for testing - why waste time on trifles?
⇡ Appearance and ergonomics
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is the highlight of the program
The first and obvious thing I want to start with about the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is that it’s not just a big smartphone. It's really Very big smartphone. It would be hard to call its dimensions a compromise, in contrast to the dimensions of the Galaxy Note II (although in the case of the latter, this adjective would be somewhat far-fetched, but still more appropriate than not). The second “Note” skillfully balances on the brink of adequacy, and the older “Mega” is far beyond its limits.
Samsung Galaxy Note II on Galaxy Mega 6.3 - the difference in size is obvious
A completely new product does not fit into all the pockets of men’s clothing, and it’s even better for the fair half of humanity to consider the Galaxy Mega 6.3 “a small tablet that can make calls.”
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 in women's pockets
The design of both Mega devices is already a hackneyed record, covered in all sorts of DJ scratches. Even without knowing about the existence of these specific models (we are talking not only about 6.3, but also about the younger 5.8), you can confidently determine that you are holding something from the Samsung Galaxy line in your hands - the appearance of the devices seems to hint. It's no secret that the design of all new devices in the series is the same - only the sizes change. The South Korean company saves on materials and, possibly, designers, while “people” eats everything that is inexpensive and glitters with the nameplate of a famous brand. Everything is relatively fair.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 in men's pockets
Nevertheless, Samsung engineers have something to praise for. The thickness of the smartphone does not even reach eight millimeters, and the weight is two hundred grams. For a 6.3-inch device, these are more than manageable dimensions.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 - front panel
The entire front panel of the device is occupied by a huge display. The frame around it has become very thin - about 3.5 mm on the sides. The arrangement of the elements is standard - at the top of the panel there is a slot for the earpiece, a front camera peephole and sensor sensors. At the bottom there is a physical button to exit to the main desktop, which is more elongated compared to the Galaxy Note II, and two touch keys - “menu” and “back”, which, like in other models, are not illuminated unless pressed.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 - front view
The back cover of the new product is traditionally thin, it is made of polycarbonate. Despite the “dotted” texture of the smartphone’s surface, the “back” of the device is smooth, which is why the gadget can slip in your hands. The surface of the back panel is almost mirror-like, which makes the Galaxy Mega look very nice for the first two minutes after taking the Galaxy Mega out of the box. Unfortunately, the cover of a smartphone very readily collects fingerprints and other dirt, which is not easy to get rid of even with a special microfiber cloth. This significantly deteriorates the appearance. On the back panel there is a main 8-megapixel camera lens, an LED flash and a slot for the main speaker.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 - back panel and sides
The device's power/lock button is located on its right side, and the volume keys are on the left. The location is good - you don’t have to reach for them with your fingers. A universal 3.5 mm jack for connecting a wired headset and an infrared port are located on the top edge of the case. A microUSB interface is placed on the bottom end, which is used to charge the device and exchange data with a computer. In general, the ergonomics of one of the largest phones of our time are all right. Along all side edges there is a traditional, stylized metal edging.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 without back cover
Slots for microSIM and microSD cards are located under the back cover, they are located one above the other. The main area under the “back” is occupied by a capacious 3200 mAh battery. The device is assembled well - during testing we did not find any critical gaps. The plastic, of course, creaks when squeezed, but we are already accustomed to this. It seems that even the paint on the sides, unlike the Note II, is not going to peel off.
⇡ Technical specifications
Samsung GT-I9200 Galaxy Mega 6.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400: two Krait computing cores; frequency: 1.7 GHz; process technology: 28nm |
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Graphics controller | Adreno 305 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Screen | 6.3 inches, 1280x720 Capacitive, multi-touch, PLS technology |
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RAM | 1.5 GB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built-in disk | 8/16 GB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flash card connector | MicroSD (up to 64 GB) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ports | 1 x SIM 1 x MicroUSB 1 x combined audio output mini-jack 3.5 mm |
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mobile connection | GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; HSDPA: 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz; LTE - optional on GT-I9205 model |
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IR port | Eat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bluetooth | 4.0 + AD2P | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WiFi | IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n + Wi-Fi Direct | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NFC | Eat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sensors | Illumination, proximity, gyroscope, compass, gaze | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Camera | Main: 8 MP (autofocus, LED flash); Front: 2 MP (without autofocus) |
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Nutrition | Lithium polymer battery: 12.16 Wh (3200 mAh, 3.8 V) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Size | 167x88x7.9 mm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 195 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
operating system | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official manufacturer's warranty | 12 months | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Samsung Galaxy Mega exists in two versions: with a 5.8-inch screen, and like ours, equipped with a 6.3-inch display. This device, although very curious in itself, is still very familiar in appearance. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy Mega smartphone is an exact copy of the Galaxy S4, only expanded in all directions and increased in size. Apart from the dimensions, in detail, even in the smallest detail, these two models are absolutely identical. The same plastic back cover, the same metallic bezel around the perimeter, exactly the same front panel with a mechanical hardware middle button, and even the shape and location of the speaker grilles, buttons, and camera windows - everything matches perfectly.
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And again, the developers from Samsung did not split hairs, once again simply releasing to the market a clone of their own previous product, only changing its dimensions and inserting another board inside. We can, of course, once again pretend that we understand and accept the concept of the developers, based on the fact that it is necessary to exploit the successful developments once found, but still this uniformity of all the products of the Korean company, from small to large, is already quite tired. I would like to see at least some “fresh stream” from Samsung. But until this happens, let's start describing the next clone from the Galaxy family.
Samsung Galaxy Mega | Huawei Ascend Mate | Samsung Galaxy Note 2 | Lenovo K900 | LG Optimus G Pro | Samsung Galaxy S4 | |
Screen | 6.3″, PLS | 6.1″, IPS+ | 5.55″, SuperAMOLED HD | 5.5″, AH-IPS | 5.5″, IPS | 4.99″, SuperAMOLED |
Permission | 1280×720, 233 ppi | 1280×720, 241 ppi | 1280×720, 265 ppi | 1920×1080, 400 ppi | 1920×1080, 400 ppi | 1920×1080, 441 ppi |
SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 @1.7 GHz (2 cores, Krait 300) | HiSilicon K3V2 @1.5 GHz (4 cores, ARM Cortex-A9) | Samsung Exynos 4412 @1.6 GHz (4 cores, ARM Cortex-A9) | Intel Atom Z2580 @2 GHz (2 cores/4 threads, x86) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 @1.7 GHz (4 cores, Krait 300) | Exynos 5410 @1.8 GHz (8 cores, 4+4) |
RAM | 1.5 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB |
Flash memory | 8 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 16/32/64 GB |
Memory card support | microSD | microSD | microSD | No | microSD | microSD |
operating system | Google Android 4.2 | Google Android 4.1 | Google Android 4.1 | Google Android 4.2 | Google Android 4.1 | Google Android 4.2 |
SIM format* | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM | Micro-SIM |
Battery | removable, 3200 mAh | non-removable, 4050 mAh | removable, 3100 mAh | non-removable, 2500 mAh | removable 3140 mAh | removable, 2600 mAh |
Cameras | rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1 MP) | rear (8 MP; video - 1080p), front (1.9 MP) | rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (2.1 MP) | rear (13 MP; video - 1080p), front (2 MP) | ||
Dimensions | 168×88×8 mm, 199 g | 164×86×9.9 mm, 198 g | 151×81×9.4 mm, 180 g | 157×78×6.9 mm, 162 g | 150×76×9.4 mm, 172 g | 137×70×7.9 mm, 130 g |
*The most common SIM card formats are described in a separate material.
Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy Mega (GT-I9200)
- SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 1.7 GHz, 2 Krait 300 cores
- GPU Adreno 305
- Operating system Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
- Touch display TFT PLS, 6.3″, 1280×720, 233 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 1.5 GB, internal memory 8 GB
- MicroSD card support (up to 64 GB)
- Communication GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
- Communication 3G UMTS HSDPA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
- HSDPA data transfer up to 21/5.7 Mbit/s (download and upload)
- Bluetooth 4.0LE
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 + 5 GHz), Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
- DLNA, NFC, MHL, OTG
- GPS/Glonass
- Camera 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash
- Camera 1.9 MP (front)
- Battery 3200 mAh
- Dimensions 167.6x88x8 mm
- Weight 199 g
Appearance and ease of use
Samsung Galaxy Mega is now the largest smartphone officially supplied to our market. Even the hero of the previous review, Huawei Ascend Mate, was put to shame, as, indeed, was the “patriarch” of spade-shaped smartphones - the Samsung Galaxy Note, from which all this once began. But the new champion beat everyone out only in length, width and weight - but the thickness of the device turned out to be smaller than the others, which is commendable.
- Samsung Galaxy Mega - 167.6x88x8 mm, 199 g
- Huawei Ascend Mate – 163.5×85.7×9.9 mm, 198 g
- Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - 151x81x9.4 mm, 180 g
- LG Optimus G Pro - 150x76x9.4 mm, 172 g
- Lenovo K900 - 157x78x6.9 mm, 162 g
There is no need to talk about any comfort in holding the Samsung Galaxy Mega in your hand. The device hardly fits into a man's palm, and the fingers, of course, do not reach all sectors of the screen - you have to use your second hand. When oriented horizontally, the smartphone turns into a small tablet. It is impossible to place such a large device in a trouser or shirt pocket, since it will then be impossible to squat and move. Such a mobile device belongs in a bag or, in extreme cases, a jacket/jacket pocket, but not in trousers or a shirt. In a woman's hand, the Samsung Galaxy Mega looks even more monstrous.
As for materials, the body of the Samsung Galaxy Mega is entirely made of plastic; there are no metal parts here, just as the Galaxy S4 does not have them. Even the shiny bezel that encircles the body along the side perimeter here is also made only with a “skew” to resemble metal, but in fact it is plastic.
The back cover is smooth, glossy, shiny and extremely easily soiled - stains of grease from your fingers instantly cover the entire back wall so that you always have to wipe it on your knee. Because of this glossy finish, the Samsung Galaxy Mega's body is, of course, very slippery, so you can't be sure that it won't slip out of your hand in a dangerous moment. This is also facilitated by its enormous mass for an ordinary smartphone - the giant weighs almost 200 grams. A network of small scratches quickly forms on a smooth surface, and a little later abrasions appear - all this is already present on our test sample. So if you are a lover of pristine beauty, then you will have to think about purchasing a case from the very first minutes, fortunately, for the sake of Samsung products, the Chinese industry works tirelessly, very quickly flooding the markets with accessories of this kind.
The Samsung Galaxy Mega is equipped in the same way as the Galaxy S4: a candy-bar body, a removable back cover secured with several plastic latches, under which the slots for a SIM card and memory card are usually hidden. True, the location and structure of the slots here is completely different. Both connectors are fixed one above the other and do not have spring-loaded gripping mechanisms, so removing cards, especially the SIM card, is not very convenient. In addition, it is supported from below by the battery, so hot swapping is out of the question. But the memory card can be replaced without removing the battery, which is convenient. The SIM card used here is Micro-SIM format, a microSD memory card is supported up to 32 GB. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 modification has support for two SIM cards, but in our case, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 model can only work with one card.
The remaining elements and connectors are scattered as usual along the edges of the device. Both connectors - 3.5 mm audio output for headset and Micro-USB - are universal, and are located on the body in a familiar way: the headphone jack is on top, the cable connector is on the bottom. The connectors are not covered with any plugs, because the smartphone is not provided with dust/moisture protection.
Also, on the top edge there is a small circle of an IR port embedded - it serves, first of all, for working with equipment as a remote control. The smartphone software has an excellent program called WatchON - it recognizes almost any, even quite old, equipment, and is easily controlled, for example, with the domestic Beeline TV set-top box.
The Micro-USB connector here, by the way, supports USB-host (OTG) mode, so a device with such a huge screen can be used to watch videos. True, in this case, some of the videos will be played without sound, since the standard player was not equipped with all the necessary sound decoders. When you use a third-party MX player, the situation will improve, although you will have to dig a little into the settings for the sound to appear. However, a standard video player has one advantage: it can display a picture in a separate window on top of any other open program, and the window can be resized. This is what it looks like in the screenshot. A convenient feature, but, again, in this player some films will be played without sound.
The Samsung Galaxy Mega has three mechanical keys: two on the sides, and one traditionally located in the middle under the screen. Next to it there are two touch buttons, one of which, the return to previous menu key, behaves strangely. Perhaps this is just a problem with our test sample, but this button does not always clearly perform its function. Sometimes you have to poke it several times in a row to get at least some response. And since the key is touch sensitive, with a series of quick presses, when the key wakes up, it takes several successive steps back, which, of course, was not planned, and which is very annoying. It is difficult to say what is causing this inhibition in the response of the “Back” key, because this happens spontaneously, and it is not possible to find a relationship.
The device comes to the market in two colors: black and white. In our black version, the back cover had a mesh pattern under a layer of varnish, which slightly embellished the modest design. Glossiness, as already mentioned, plays a disservice in terms of durability, so the case quickly becomes covered with scratches and abrasions. We didn't have a chance to test the white version of the Samsung Galaxy Mega, but finger grease on a white background will be clearly less noticeable.
Screen
Samsung Galaxy Mega has a PLS screen with HD resolution, but it is not Full HD. In numbers, the physical parameters of the smartphone screen are as follows: screen dimensions - 78x139 mm, diagonal - 160 mm (6.3 inches), resolution - 720p (1280x720 pixels).
The display brightness has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to simultaneously process up to ten touches, which is confirmed by tests. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.
The smartphone screen is covered with a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface and, judging by the reflection of objects in it, has a very effective anti-glare filter. There is no visible ghosting of reflected objects. There is a special and quite effective oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating on the outer surface of the screen, so fingerprints do not appear as quickly as with regular glass, but are removed more easily.
With manual brightness control, its maximum value was about 314 cd/m², and the minimum was 7 cd/m². The maximum value is not very high (however, see the text below), so in bright daylight the image on the screen is unlikely to be clearly visible. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. Automatic brightness adjustment works based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the adjustment slider from −5 to +5 units.
Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for −5, 0 and +5. In complete darkness, in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 7, 8 and 14 cd/m², respectively; in an artificially lit office, the brightness is set to 83, 130 and 235 cd/m², in a brightly lit environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight) - increases to 270, 420 and 420 cd/m². The result of this function is as expected, while the maximum brightness is higher than with manual backlight control, so in a bright environment it makes sense to turn on the automatic mode - readability will noticeably improve. At lower brightness levels up to 100 kHz there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no backlight flickering.
This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:
The screen has good viewing angles without inverting shades and without significant color shifts, even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen. When deviated diagonally, the black field is greatly brightened, but remains close to neutral gray. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average, since there are areas with increased black brightness in the corners of the screen. The contrast is high - about 1060:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 18 ms (12 ms on + 6 ms off). The transition between halftones 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 26.5 ms.
In the screen properties settings, you can select one of three profiles: Dynamic, Standard And Movie.
As you can see from the data below, these profiles have slightly different color rendering or gamma curves. The gamma curves constructed using 32 points did not reveal a significant rollover in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is from 2.12 to 2.18 depending on the selected profile, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2.
In case of profiles Standard And Movie the real gamma curve practically does not deviate from the power-law dependence, whereas in the case of the Dynamic profile the gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which, in general, corresponds to the name of the profile. Color gamut is sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:
As a result, the colors have a natural saturation. The color temperature balance is good: shades of gray have a color temperature close to the standard 6500 K for the profile Movie, and above this value - for profiles Dynamic And Standard. However, for all three profiles, the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (delta E) is very small, as is the variation in color temperature and delta E, which has a positive effect on the visual perception of color balance. (Dark areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the measurement error at low brightness is high.)
In almost all respects, the screen deserves a high rating, except that the stability of black when the gaze is deviated diagonally is low.
Sound
The sound of both Samsung Galaxy Mega speakers is worthy of the most flattering epithets. Obviously, such a large body made it possible to accommodate fairly high-quality speakers, because they sound extremely bassy, and the auditory one too. The sound is clear, loud, smooth across the entire frequency range. The timbre and intonation in the voice of a familiar interlocutor are perfectly recognizable. In general, in terms of telephone conversations, the Samsung Galaxy Mega would be one of the best solutions if it were not so inconvenient to hold near the ear due to its huge dimensions. Sometimes you even have to move your smartphone a little along your ear to get it exactly on the speaker, however, you quickly get used to it. All sound effects when playing melodies with a standard player are combined with a technology called SoundAlive, although some of them, such as the expansion of the virtual stereo base, are only available with connected headphones.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy Mega is equipped, like most modern smartphones, with two digital camera modules. The front camera here is equipped with a 1.9-megapixel module and shoots with a maximum resolution of 1392×1392, however, by default, it is, as usual, set to shoot with a wide aspect ratio. Then the pictures are 1280×720 in size, which is equivalent to 0.9 megapixels. The quality of the resulting photos can be judged by the test image below.
The main rear camera is equipped with an 8 megapixel sensor. By default, the camera shoots in widescreen mode, and the maximum resolution that can be set is 6 megapixels with an aspect ratio of 16:9, then the photos are 3264x1836 in size. Users of the Samsung Galaxy Mega will receive such pictures with the settings out of the box. To achieve the maximum size of the resulting photos, you must manually switch to a resolution of 8 megapixels, then the photos will be obtained with a resolution of 3264 × 2448. Below are several test images taken in different conditions with different resolutions in automatic mode.
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The sharpness is not bad. The exposure was chosen as a compromise. |
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Good sharpness on small objects. The camera renders foliage quite well. |
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Very nice and beautiful macro. Even the bokeh turned out well. |
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Too much darkness in the photo is a problem with exposure selection. The sharpness is not bad - the license plate of the nearest car is visible. |
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Exposure error again - this time severe overexposure. |
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The text is well processed and without any major damage. |
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Sharpness is decent, but falls towards the left edge. There is an error in auto white balance. |
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The exposition was well chosen. The sharpness in distant shots is good. |
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Sharpness is good, noise is very moderate. |
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Noise in the shadows is also very moderate. |
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An example of good exposure. |
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Sharpness is quite good even in long shots. |
It seems that Samsung Galaxy Mega was equipped with a very good camera. True, even here it was not finalized a little. If auto white balance errors are common to many smartphones, then the problem of choosing exposure would seem to be a passed stage. However, Samsung still manages to take wrong steps that cannot be called intended. This is all, of course, unpleasant, but fixable.
The camera has many more advantages. The sharpness is very pleasant throughout the entire field of the image, with the exception of the left edge, software processing artifacts are almost invisible. Excellent macro work. The camera handles noise very well. And the exposure program works very intelligently: in all the photographs shown, the photosensitivity is 80 ISO, and the shutter speed is no longer than 1/100 of a second, which indicates good work on the software of this model, unlike some other smartphones. However, somewhere the developers made a mistake with the exposure metering.
Overall the camera is pretty decent. She handles both artistic and documentary photography quite well. Perhaps the issue with exposure metering will be resolved over time, but this is not such a significant problem to be sure that the developers will take up fixing it of their own free will.
The camera can shoot video, and does so in only one resolution - maximum (1080p). Below are a couple of test videos filmed stationary and in motion. The videos are saved in an MP4 container (video - AVC ( [email protected]), sound - AAC LC, 128 Kbps, 48 kHz, 2 channels).
- Video #1 (58.1 MB, 1920×1080)
- Video No. 2 (44.8 MB, 1920×1080)
There are quite a lot of settings for controlling the camera, all of them are divided into three columns: for photography, for video shooting, and general. The icons are drawn clearly and large, and are quite visible in the bright sun. In the general settings, you can control the volume button during shooting: it can operate zooming, releasing the camera shutter, or controlling video shooting.
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On the positive side, you can also note the ability to take photos while recording video.
Software
Samsung Galaxy Mega runs on Google Android software platform version 4.2.2. On top of the standard OS interface, the company installed its own user interface, called TouchWiz 5.0 (Nature UX). The shell significantly changes the interface and adds many additional applications. Unlike previous versions, TouchWiz 5.0 has the main settings menu now divided into four horizontal tabs; the same innovation was first discovered on the Galaxy S4. Now, instead of just scrolling through a vertical menu, the user will have to remember which of those horizontal tabs contains what.
There are not so many additional applications pre-installed initially. The most useful of them seems to be the file manager. In addition to it, there is an optical scanner for recognizing text information and QR codes and four games. The convenient WatchON program mentioned above has also now become standard on all Galaxy smartphones equipped with an infrared port.
Telephone and communications
The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks; the device does not support fourth generation networks (LTE), but it does support NFC technology and the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band. The radio part of the tested smartphone is stable; no spontaneous signal losses or dropouts from the telecom operator’s network were noticed. Since the smartphone screen is too large for comfortable typing with the fingers of one hand, it was possible to move the virtual keyboard for typing numbers and letters closer to one of the edges of the screen. This feature is not unique; we have seen similar functionality in large smartphones from other manufacturers.
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There were no freezes or spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing. When you bring it to your ear, the screen is blocked by the proximity sensor. The light sensor controls the screen brightness level automatically. You can restart your smartphone yourself by long-pressing the power key and selecting the appropriate item in the pop-up menu. There is also an event indicator light that notifies you of what is happening in different colors. It is made in the usual way: a round LED shines in different colors next to the auditory speaker grille.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Mega hardware platform is based on a single-chip system (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. The central processor here has two Krait cores operating at a frequency of 1.7 GHz. It is assisted in processing graphics by the Adreno 305 video processor, which is not the weakest at the moment, so the results in graphics tests for the new product turned out to be very acceptable. The device has 1.5 GB of RAM, and the storage available to the user for uploading their own files is initially approximately 2.5 GB of the nominally designated 8 GB of internal memory. True, there is also the possibility of expanding memory using microSD cards and a USB host, so there is no need to fear a lack of memory with such a device.
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To get an idea of the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Mega platform, let's move on to the tests. To begin with, we present comparative results obtained using the AnTuTu database itself. Here we compare the hero of today's review with the progenitor of all tablet phones, the second version of the Samsung Galaxy Note, and it will also be interesting to compare with the main, top-end smartphone - the flagship of the Galaxy S4 line.
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The results of the comparison turned out to be quite expected: compared to the most powerful top-end platform of the flagship S4, the lag is exactly two times, and the quad-core Galaxy Note 2, although it is a year-old model, is also ahead of the dual-core Samsung Galaxy Mega in all respects. Thus, according to the results of testing in AnTuTu, the Samsung Galaxy Mega model turned out to be a sort of average in terms of performance, and cannot even come close to any of the modern top-end new products (about 13 thousand - the result in the AnTuTu benchmark versus 20-25 thousand for the top modern solutions) .
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But this only concerns the AnTuTu results; in other tests everything turned out to be much better. For convenience, we have compiled all the figures we obtained when testing the Samsung Galaxy Mega smartphone in popular benchmarks into tables. Details below.
Samsung Galaxy Mega (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400) |
Huawei Ascend Mate (HiSilicon K3V2) |
LG Optimus G Pro (Qualcomm Snapdragon 600) |
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Exynos 5410 Octa) |
Sony Xperia Z (Qualcomm APQ8064) |
||
Quadrant Standard (more is better) |
7307 | 4346 | 8673 | 9906 | 6407 | 7785 |
AnTuTu Benchmark (more is better) |
13483 | 15729 | 19261 | 26502 | 28069 | 19434 |
GeekBench (more is better) |
1884 | 2361 | 3665 | 1407 | 2006 | 1035 |
As for testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test, the test subject also showed quite a decent result - 5381 points.
In the Epic Citadel gaming test, the results of the Samsung Galaxy Mega graphics subsystem are also excellent - apparently the low screen resolution has an effect (after all, it’s not Full HD). However, even with exactly the same screen, the results of the Huawei Ascend Mate are almost twice as bad, so the merit here is most likely due to the Adreno video core.
Samsung Galaxy Mega (Qualcomm Snapdragon 400) |
Huawei Ascend Mate (HiSilicon K3V2) |
LG Optimus G Pro (Qualcomm Snapdragon 600) |
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Exynos 5410 Octa) |
Oppo Find 5 (Qualcomm APQ8064) |
Sony Xperia Z (Qualcomm APQ8064) |
Lenovo K900 (Intel Atom Z2580) | |
Epic Citadel, High Performance (more is better) |
58.1 fps | 34.5 fps | 57.4 fps | 59.9 fps | 55.5 fps | 57.2 fps | 58.2 fps |
Epic Citadel, High Quality | 56.9 fps | 33.5 fps | 53.0 fps | 59.3 fps | 54.3 fps | 54.7 fps | 54.6 fps |
Epic Citadel, Ultra High Quality | 33.3 fps | 46.5 fps | 34.2 fps |
Playing video
To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.
According to the testing results, the Samsung Galaxy Mega, unlike its top-end compatriots the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 Active, was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, in this case audio decoders, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player, MX Player, for example. True, even in it you will have to first change the settings, switching from hardware to software decoding. All results are summarized in a single table.
Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Standard video player |
DVDRip | AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
Web-DL SD | AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
Web-DL HD | MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3 | ||
BDRip 720p | MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3 | The video plays normally, the sound is only software¹ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
BDRip 1080p | MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3 | The video plays normally, the sound is only software¹ | The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹ |
¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after switching to software decoding; The standard player does not have this setting
Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used an LG IPS237L monitor that supports direct MHL connection using a passive adapter cable from Micro-USB to HDMI. Let us recall that Samsung has implemented its own version of this interface at the physical level. As a result, to connect an external device via MHL, you need to use special adapters or connect standard MHL adapters through simple passive adapters.
When using the LG IPS237L monitor, MHL output was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at a frequency of 30 frames/s. When the smartphone is landscape-oriented, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in landscape orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the boundaries of the screen. When the smartphone is in portrait orientation, the image is displayed on the monitor screen in portrait orientation, while the image on the monitor is inscribed within the height of the screen, and wide black fields are displayed on the right and left.
Sound is output via MHL (in this case, the sounds were heard through headphones connected to the monitor, since there are no speakers in the monitor itself) and is of good quality. In this case, multimedia sounds are not output through the loudspeaker of the smartphone itself, and the volume is adjusted using buttons on the smartphone body. In principle, in the smartphone settings you can select the sound output mode: stereo or surround. However, in our case, the monitor only received stereo sound, so there was no choice.
Video output using the standard player deserves a special description. To begin with, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the smartphone itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). The results of this (block entitled " Screen") and subsequent tests are summarized in the table:
File | Uniformity | Passes |
Screen | ||
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4 | not playable | |
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4 | Fine | a lot of |
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4 | Fine | No |
MHL (monitor) | ||
watch-1920x1080-60p.mp4 | not playable | |
watch-1920x1080-50p.mp4 | Fine | a lot of |
watch-1920x1080-30p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1920x1080-25p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1920x1080-24p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4 | Fine | a lot of |
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4 | Fine | a lot of |
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4 | Great | No |
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4 | Great | No |
MHL (adapter) | ||
watch-1280x720-60p.mp4 | Fine | few |
watch-1280x720-50p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-30p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-25p.mp4 | Fine | No |
watch-1280x720-24p.mp4 | Great | No |
Note: If both the Uniformity and Dropout columns are rated green, this means that when watching movies, there will most likely be no or no amount of artifacts caused by frame spacing or dropouts visible. will not affect viewing comfort. “Red” marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.
According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is high, since with the exception of 1080p files with 50 and 60 fps, frames (or groups of frames) are output at evenly alternating intervals, and there are no frame drops. However, in any case, uniform alternation of frames is a relatively unstable state, since some external and internal background processes lead to periodic failure of the correct alternation of intervals between frames.
When playing video files with a resolution of 1280 by 720 (720p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly across the width of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen almost corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.
With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing a video with a standard player, the image of the video file is displayed only in landscape orientation, while only the image of the video file is displayed on the monitor, and only information elements and virtual controls are displayed on the smartphone screen. When playing video files with Full HD resolution (1920 by 1080 pixels) on the monitor screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen while maintaining true proportions and the resolution corresponds to Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the monitor is equal to the standard range of 16-235, that is, all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights. The results of monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the block MHL (monitor). The output quality is good, but, of course, in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some frames are skipped, since the output is in 1080p mode at 30 fps.
Additionally, video output (with a standard player) via MHL using an MHL adapter was tested. When using this adapter, output to the monitor was carried out in 720p mode at 60 fps, which determined the maximum actual image resolution. With the exception of resolution and frame rate, everything else - the nature of the interface output, audio output and gray scale - did not differ from a direct connection via MHL. The test results are shown in the table above in the block MHL (adapter).
When using an adapter, the intervals between frames alternate more or less evenly, and only in the case of 60 fps are several frames (usually 2-3 per second) skipped.
The conclusion is typical: an MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages and other activities that benefit from multiplying the screen size. True, you will have to purchase an adapter specifically for Samsung or find an appropriate adapter.
Battery life
The capacity of the battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy Mega is a considerable 3200 mAh. Therefore, it is quite expected that the smartphone demonstrated satisfactory battery life in standard modes of use, despite its giant screen.
Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) for 2 hours consumed 15% of the full battery charge, and for two hours watching a video from YouTube in high quality (HQ ) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device used up 18% of its battery capacity. In game mode, the smartphone lasted an impressive 5 hours and 15 minutes.
Bottom line
Currently, the official price for Samsung Galaxy Mega in our stores is set at 19 thousand rubles. The certified Huawei Ascend Mate now costs exactly the same. Uncertified, “gray” devices (both) can now be purchased at prices starting from 16 thousand rubles. And if the 20 thousand mark for this type of device is, of course, too high and is only a reflection of our distorted market reality, then when the 15 thousand mark is reached, both new products become quite worthy of attention. If we compare these two devices head-on, it turns out that on paper the Chinese device looks even a little better, but taking into account the results of a real study, you come to the conclusion that the Korean smartphone is still slightly preferable. It doesn’t look as rough, and the materials are of better quality (at least in appearance and touch). And in terms of performance, the Korean device showed better results, especially in graphics. But it is the graphics subsystem that is responsible for both drawing the interface (2D) and rendering images in games (3D). And yet, by and large, these two smartphones are quite close to each other, so the final choice, in this case, will depend more on the user’s “taste” preferences. Here the brand name will play a role, as well as a subjective attitude to such parameters as color, materials, coating, button location and other little things.
When Samsung launched the Note smartphone, which was gigantic at the time and claimed to be a hybrid device designed to fill a niche between phones and tablets, the general public raised a skeptical eyebrow: who, they say, needs a gadget that requires a separate bag to carry. However, reality made its own adjustments - in the first five months, global sales of Samsung Note exceeded 5 million, and the second version, which received an even larger screen compared to the first version, was generally recognized as “Best Smartphone of the Year” according to the GSMA Association, which is the organizer Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona.
Review of the huge Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” smartphone: size matters
In general, despite all the misanthropic sentiments, the huge Samsung tablets, which some simply call “plafonds,” seem to have found their niche. Moreover, they found it so much that the company continues to increase momentum and increase diagonals - one of the latest new products, Samsung Galaxy Mega, which will be discussed in our review today, has almost caught up with the popular seven-inch tablets in screen size.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3"
Apparently, Samsung is trying to find the formula for the ideal universal gadget: on the one hand, the company’s portfolio includes smartphone models with a 10x optical zoom and a 16 megapixel camera, aimed at fairly serious photography; on the other hand, the developers are striving to completely erase the already thin line between large smartphones and small tablets, and they, one might say, have already succeeded. The Samsung Galaxy Mega, which has surpassed both Notes in screen size, has two diagonal options: the “baby” was equipped with a 5.8-inch display, the older model, which we will talk about today, had a 6.3-inch display. At the time of writing the review, the price with a 6.3-inch screen diagonal starts at 15,000 rubles.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” has become taller, but thinner
Son of his parents
In terms of size, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” is, of course, closer to tablets than to conventional smartphones - its dimensions are 167.6 x 88 x 8 mm, weight - 199 g. The large screen occupies almost the entire front panel, surrounded by a frame - very thin at the edges, slightly wider at the top and bottom. At the top there is a speaker, a front camera with a resolution of 1.9 megapixels and proximity and light sensors, at the bottom there is a hardware Home key and two touch buttons: return and menu. At rest, they are not illuminated in any way and are completely invisible on the body.
The distribution of hardware elements on the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” case is standard
On the left side there is a volume rocker, on the bottom there is a microUSB connector for charging and connecting the smartphone to a PC and a microphone, on the top there is a headphone jack, a microphone for speakerphone and an infrared port with which the phone can be used as a remote control various home appliances. The on/off key is on the right side, which is somewhat unusual. The rear panel traditionally houses the speaker and the main camera with a resolution of 8 megapixels and an LED flash.
The appearance of the device is completely typical for Samsung - it is a classic “shovel” without any design elements. If it were not for the difference in size, this model could easily be confused with other representatives of the smartphone-tablet family. On the one hand, the modest design for some will be a definite disadvantage of the device, on the other hand, this model can hardly be classified as a fashion item: it is not the appearance of the Galaxy Mega 6.3” that is going to win the sympathy of buyers.
Technical characteristics of Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3”
The back panel is made of glossy plastic with a texture, and on the sides there is a metal-look plastic insert. It is worth noting that the gloss is quite easily soiled; fingerprints easily remain on it, which, however, are quite easily erased even with a shirt sleeve. The all-in-one cover is traditionally secured with several plastic latches; under it are located the battery and slots for microSIM and memory cards (up to 64 GB). The slots for the SIM card and memory card are located somewhat unusually - one above the other, and microSD can be removed from the slot without removing the battery, which is undoubtedly very convenient for those who, for some reason, often use the same card into different gadgets. In general, the design of the smartphone is absolutely traditional and without surprises. The only thing worth noting is the infrared port on the top edge.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” is equipped with an 8 MP camera
Of course, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” is more of a tablet than a smartphone in terms of its size and, accordingly, the way it interacts. It is completely impossible to operate it with one hand - in a vertical orientation, the fingers cover barely half the screen - so there is only one way out: use both hands. With a device the size of a woman's palm, it is more comfortable to work in a horizontal position - like with a tablet - with this orientation, all the icons are at hand, and communicating with a smartphone becomes quite convenient. Although the device weighs more than the average smartphone, the heaviness in the hand is not felt at all: still, 199 g is not so much. Another plus is the thin 8mm thickness, which makes the Mega look large, but not bulky, and fits comfortably in the hand.
Due to the large size of the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3”, the naked Korean woman did not fit into the frame completely
In general, the dimensions of the device have its pros and cons. Because of the large screen, it won’t fit in your pocket, and even if it does, it will stick out, fall out, or get in the way. Accordingly, the kit will require some kind of carrying case or a small bag where you can put other small items that are usually found in your pockets. At the same time, the large 6.3” display will allow you to do without an additional tablet: a screen of this size is quite enough for comfortable viewing of movies, Internet surfing, navigation and games. In addition to the smartphone itself, the package includes a charger, a USB cable, headphones with volume control on the cable and replaceable ear pads.
Rich inner world
It is built on the basis of a single-chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 system, which uses a dual-core processor with a frequency of 1.7 GHz, made using 28 nm technology, and an Adreno 305 graphics accelerator. The device is equipped with 1.5 GB of RAM. Mega's performance is at a high level - it can easily run several resource-intensive applications at the same time, including videos and heavy, graphics- and speed-demanding games. No slowdowns or freezes were detected during testing.
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There are no complaints about the operating time either. It would seem that with such a diagonal, the smartphone should be discharged in a matter of hours, but test results and usage experience show the opposite.
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In active load mode (resource-intensive games, Wi-Fi turned on, high screen brightness), the Mega lasted about six hours; with an average load, the gadget lasts for one and a half to two days without any problems, which can be considered a very good indicator for this screen size. All this is made possible thanks to a removable 3200 mAh battery. The results obtained using AnTuTu Tester exceed 700 points, which can be considered a very impressive indicator.
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The volume of built-in memory intended for storing user data is formally 8 GB, but in fact this figure is 3 GB, and even less with pre-installed applications - about 2.5 GB. However, the microSD memory slot, which supports cards up to 64 GB, helps to deal with this problem easily and effortlessly. In addition, you can connect an external drive to your smartphone - it supports USB host (OTG) mode. True, it works extremely unstable in this mode; moreover, the kit does not include a cable that provides such a connection, but if you put in a little effort, everything will work out.
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” works in GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, with support for wireless networks everything is fine too: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4+5 GHz plus support for Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and infrared. They decided to wait with LTE - however, the absence of this module is unlikely to be a critical disadvantage for potential buyers.
There are two cameras installed “on board”. The front one, for video calls, has a resolution of 1.9 megapixels, the main one - 8 megapixels. In addition to photos, it supports video recording in Full HD format (1920 x 1080). The maximum size of a photo with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is 3264 x 2448 pixels, but by default the settings are set to 16:9 format with a resolution of 3264 x 1836 pixels. Below are photos with out-of-the-box settings, taken in automatic mode in various conditions with different lighting.
In principle, the quality of the photos does not cause any particular complaints, only, perhaps, the night ones are not encouraging. Sharpness is even throughout the entire image, good macro, virtually no noise, wide angle. The camera can shoot in several modes, including HDR, panorama, retouching (automatic enhancement of facial features when shooting portraits), continuous shooting at a speed of 3 fps. The volume button can be assigned one of three functions: zooming, taking photos, or starting video recording. But the video camera can only shoot in one resolution – 1920 x 1080 pixels. If you want, the process can be controlled using your voice: the camera shutter is triggered by the command “Shoot!”
Smartphone camera test photos
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The Megaphone display is what attracts the attention of everyone who sees this monster for the first time. A huge 6.3-inch screen occupies almost the entire front panel of the smartphone. Despite its gigantic size, it cannot boast of Full HD resolution, but you are guaranteed an honest 1280 x 720 pixels, with an image density of 233 ppi.
The display, made using PLS technology, which is a variation on the IPS theme from Samsung, is pleasantly pleasing: the colors are bright and saturated, and the color profile can be configured in as many as three options: “Dynamic”, “Standard” and “Film”, including the latter - the most neutral and calm, and the first, on the contrary, is the most bright, with somewhat acidic shades. Regardless of the mode, the display produces a smooth, pleasant, clear and dense picture with high image detail. The viewing angles are excellent from all sides, the picture does not float, does not fade, does not darken, the image is perfectly visible from any angle. High contrast, low reflectivity and anti-reflective coating significantly help out in bright light - even under such conditions the screen remains quite readable. In general, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” display deserves the highest praise - even if you work with it continuously for several hours in a row, your eyes will not get tired at all. It responds quickly and correctly to touches, and also supports up to 10 simultaneous touches.
The eye sees
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” runs on the latest version of Android 4.2.2, on which the Koreans have installed their own TouchWiz Nature UX interface. Most of its functions are placed in the extended submenu of the notification center, there are 18 icons with which, in addition to standard operations, you can activate intelligent standby (the screen is on while you look at it), multi-window mode, Screen mirroring, NFC, driving mode, etc. in which incoming messages are automatically translated into speech, and much more. The settings menu contains four tabs, and the ability to select the main screen mode - standard or simple - has been added.
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You can find unexpected but useful things in the settings. For example, the “Safety Assistant”, which should help the owner to the best of its ability in emergency situations, or the “Accessibility” menu, which is designed to increase the accessibility of the device for people with visual, hearing or coordination impairments. This includes, for example, flash notification and enabling features that are convenient for people who cannot use one hand.
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One of the undoubted advantages is that, unlike most smartphones, Galaxy Mega supports desktop orientation not only vertically, but also horizontally, which makes working with the device much easier.
There was also room for a number of proprietary applications. The WatchON program uses the infrared port located on the top edge of the smartphone to control home appliances - it knows more than a hundred manufacturers of various types of devices, from set-top boxes to projectors.
Setting up the program is done in just a couple of clicks and does not take much time. Unfortunately, for Russia, working with a TV program is not supported, so the functionality of the device is limited to the role of a remote control.
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S Voice input helps when your hands are full. With it, you can search the Internet, add an appointment to your calendar, check the weather forecast, call a friend, and much more. This is especially useful when driving a car, when the driver needs his hands for completely different purposes. S Voice supports the Russian language, but if everything is in order with voice recognition, then it speaks, frankly, like an illiterate loser from a godforsaken Moldavian village.
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The built-in translator S Translator also recognizes voice and, of course, text, which translates into several languages, among which, for some reason, Russian is missing - at least this is what happened with the sample that came to us for testing. Otherwise, the application is very useful: it not only translates printed or spoken phrases, it also contains a small thematic phrasebook for several languages, which can be used as a mini-tutorial or a hint in a situation where it is necessary.
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With the Group Play app, you can share music, videos, pictures, documents, games - basically any content - with your friends. NFC technology is used for data exchange. All you need to do is launch applications on all gadgets participating in Group Play and touch one smartphone to another. Each smartphone can act as a controller and control the volume on other devices if music is playing, or make changes to the image on each device if graphic content is being viewed simultaneously.
Conclusion
It definitely makes a good impression and makes you think that the large size for such a phone is not a minus at all. A large, high-quality screen, a powerful battery, a wide selection of communication modules and a variety of software turn a smartphone into a universal device that can replace two gadgets at once. Of course, this model will remain a niche device, but it will certainly find many adherents among those who prefer all-in-one devices. The quality of the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3” is definitely high. During testing, the device performed well. The only controversial point is the size, but surely such dimensions will seem quite justified to some for the convenience that the device provides.
The device was provided by the federal retail chain White Wind.
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