<div>When will this madness end?” tweets a tech enthusiast on my network. He’s talking about the impossibly large phones being launched on a weekly basis. He’s from the camp that believes “Phablets” are an outlandish concept that neither allow you to use the device with one hand nor fit in pockets. I tell him it isn’t ending soon.<br /> </div><div>Joshua Flood, Senior Analyst with ABI Research, the technology market intelligence firm, thinks the starting point for phablets was really Samsung’s Galaxy S III, not the Note. The super seller’s 4.8-inch screen changed peoples’ perception about the optimum size of phones as the larger screen enhanced the experience for users who love carrying “everything” with them and are happy to read their mail and news, watch videos, and check their social networks on the go. It’s the same reason Apple kept the iPad large, until it caved in and brought out the Mini and stretched the iPhone a bit. People just want to do more and don’t find tiny screens enough. Smaller screens are for those who still primarily use their phones for calling and haven’t yet expanded their activities to match a phone’s capabilities. No wonder 83 million phablets were shipped in 2012, an increase of 4,504 per cent from 2011. And for this year, ABI Research predicts it will be 150 million phablets and this will be 18 per cent of all smartphones. You can see the trend from the ads around you.<br /> </div><div>But that’s worldwide. In India, there’s another trend taking root. Low-cost phablets are invading the market and from the collection I’ve seen so far, they offer a surprising amount of value for money.<br /> <br />Take the Canvas 2 from Micromax which I’m using occasionally these days. It’s slim, light and runs on a 1.2GHz dual core MediaTek MT6577 processor with Android 4.0. The screen isn’t high-end, but it more than does the job. Browsing is fine. The camera is an 8MP but again, not what you’d get on other top phones. Overall, it’s usable. And all it costs is about Rs 10,000. A large phone, dual-sim at that, and it costs one fourth of what the most-coveted ones do. For those who can’t afford the 40k phones, a device like the Canvas 2 is amazing. Phones in the low and mid-range from the bigger companies cost more than this super phone. So Micromax went ahead and launched the next version of its Canvas line, the Canvas HD, with a quad core processor and a top notch IPS screen and under Rs 15,000. Not just that, Micromax plans to launch another 30 phones this year.<br /> <br />There’s a joke going around that what Samsung did to Apple, Micromax will do to Samsung.<br /> <br />Micromax claims to have sold more phablets than Samsung in Q4 and is confident it will beat them, given a little more time. While that may or may not be true, it’s a fact that Samsung has had to join the race and just after Micromax’s launch, released a 5-inch dual core phone too – with a display not as good as Micromax’s 1280 x 720 either. In a sense, it’s ironic that Samsung had to launch the Galaxy Grand Duos in a category which it was responsible for beginning. Obviously, it’s going to be a big war, with the beneficiaries being the consumers. Not only will students and anyone not ready to shell out close to half a lakh on phones find they have affordable options, the entire pricing structure may have to adjust to this new reality. So far, the second tier or mid-range phones have actually tended to be the least value for money, costing as much as Rs 25,000. But now, the 5-inch force offers more than this segment of Rs 15,000 to 25,000 does and many who didn’t consider large phones until now, may do so.<br /> </div><div>If the phablet army wants to keep up its advantages though, it will have to figure out setting up service for repair or replacements. They also need to consider pushing Android updates which are important in the absence of “skins” or signature interfaces, special features and apps. Given these, there are always some fairly powerful apps on Google Play that could make the device useful for work as well. The government might well want to consider backing an Akaash phablet, for that matter.<br /><br />mala(at)pobox(dot)com,(at)malabhargava on Twitter<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal;">(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 11-03-2013)</span><br /><br /> </div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
