I have been having a Samsung Galaxy Grand and have been very happy with that and found no reason to change it despite the fact that it tended to keep hanging every so often inspite of reformatting.(Got it a few years back). Actually I was looking for a Tab to provide companionship to me on frequent flights to watch movies and also have a bigger screen to review office related documents while on the move. I came across this device – Lenovo Phab Plus. After checking out the features and tempted by the Amazing discoung – offered at approx 14K against the going market rate of 20K(at that time) with a 15% CitiCard discount – I purchased the device. Given below are my observations –I am not going to parrot the specs which are available everywhere – rather I am listing the hidden or not-so-obvious features or lack of them and also recommend why you should(or should NOT) purchase this mammoth.
In the race to have a bigger and bigger screen(Bhala uski Phone meri Phone se badi kaise?)- the Lenovo Phab Plus I guess has hit the ceiling with a monstrous 6.8 inch diagonal screen size. While there is no standard as to what constitutes a Phone and what constitutes a tab- it is generally accepted that anything 7 inches and above can be termed a tab and phones in general are 5.5 inches and below. Hence Lenovo has(clevery?) positioned this device not as a phone not as a tab but as a Phablet!
Yes – it is MONSTROUS. With a 6.8 inch diagonal screen size you would think that there is no way that this monster can be used as a regular phone but thanks to its very narrow bezel(border) you actually can comfortably use this as a phone- which I am as this is now my regular phone.
It is definitely not conducive for a one handed operation though there is a ‘provision’ to shrink the screen to a more common screen size – but this is no big deal as I am not used to one-handed operation on my earlier phones either- I am a two handed operator and will remain as such.
Review continued on the ‘comments section’ as I’ve run out of space?
What stands out about this device is;
• The MASSIVE screen real estate - screen size of a tad below 7 Inches.
• The astonishingly sharp and vivid display – You can watch HD movies/clips and would be surprised at the quality.(of course the source file needs to be HD to make a difference).
• The superb camera – Folks who have seen the photos taken with this device have invariably commented on the superb photo quality.
• Sleeeeek. It is surprisingly thin and with the screen occupying almost all of the physical available space - the aluminium body looks matches that of iPhones(there have been critics who have said that this has copied the iPhone design( – I say who cares)
• DOLBY ATOS – you have to hear it to believe this Cinema Theatre experience on your phone. Obviously you need suitable headphones and a good quality source. (N.B the supplied earbud type headphones SUCK!)
• With a pretty heavy 32G storage and 2 GB RAM with 8-core Qualcomm Quadcore – the speed of the device is quite acceptable as of now.
• Dual SIM (isn’t that almost a standard now?) with 4G no VoLTE(whatever that is!) but LTE compliant. – Goodenough experience with 4G on Airtel/Chennai
• Android Lollipop with promises to permit upgrade to Marshmallow.
• Having to read/respond to work related and other mails throughout the day – this makes my job easy and I don’t now need to get another device to the long list of must-have devices now(MP3 player / smart phone/ Tablet / Laptop / PC and in addition the latest fad of FitBit)
• Handling the device i.e talking on the phone one-handed surprisingly is not akward. I can comfortably hold and talk with the device to my ear one-handed. (And as palm sizes go – I fall into the much below average palm size category).
• It does(with a little bit of squeeze) fit into my shirt pocket, but more than a third of it projects out.(Your mileage may vary)
Whats NOT cool-
• Its massive size(which is actually it’s USP –s o you can take it or leave it)
• It does not support Dual-SIM with SD card – you have a choice of having a Primary SIM along with a SD card or a 2nd SIM but not both.(The card tray has been designed accordingly) So you can have one SIM and an SD card or 2 SIMs.
• Supplied earbud type headphone is junk – It is low volume and also flat. Get a better one.
• Does not have a working PC-Phone interface(I found something in Japanese or Chinese –but could not figure out how to work it)
• Call volume is very low- need to stick the phone close to ear and also position it so that the speaker is in line with your ear’s working parts.
• Having been with Sammy for a long while – I(wrongly) assumed that the outside world is as sweet and nice – I was sadly mistaken- some of the features which are default in a Samsung phone are sorely lacking:
o Featureless stock email- Being a power Exchange user for my work emails the supplied email program and stock Android calendar are missing so many features which come in Samsung are not found.
o PC – phone interface- found a Chinese Version in Lenovo site but in Chinese and was not able to make it work.
o Local backup/restore feature –it only has a backup/restore to Google – I’m not comfortable with that.
o Cannot send a text to someone on the Call list. I need to go to the SMS app or go to contacts and find this contact and then use the SMS icon.
o Very erratic push mail/ active sync behaviour – Updates/incoming mails are quite often not immediate.
o NO auto answer on BT(i.e Auto answer on headset connected feature) - There is no autoanswer feature- As I invariably need to answer calls when I am driving over my Bluetoosh Car audio system- I need them to be auto answered after xx seconds. Presently I need to manually press the Phone Answer button on my Steering wheel- which is sometimes very awkward- if I’m in a turn and the answer button on my wheel is in some position other than te normal position of near to my left thumb. Shame shame.
o Message notification: Totally unacceptable – Many apps – the functionality tied to notifications works ONLY if the app is running in the background i.e you may not KILL /STOP it but if you CLOSE the app – the notifications are not triggered. This practically makes my phone useless as the emails/calendar does not get syned instantaneously since the app must be open. Not sure if this is a generic issue with Lollip or lenovo’s implementation. To anyone who should question why need to have instantaneous sync(push mail) – I say – unto each his own. – my profession dictates that I read/respond to mails almost instantaneously.
Finally in conclusion:
You should NOT buy this phone if:
• You are looking for a phone which can easily fit into your shirt/pant pocket
• You are looking for a standard phone and not something on steroids.
• You already have a tab or are in no need of one.
• You already feel that the current range of smart phones are too big/heavy or difficult to handle.
• You are a What’s app / SMS addict and NEED one handed operations especially when you are texting while hanging on to the strap in the crowded Delhi Metro / Mumbai local during your daily commute.
• You never watch movies / videos on your phone- you have your 56 inch big LED TV for that. Also you never really use the email / office function much on your mobile device.
• I’d rather have a full blown and official tablet rather than this ‘almost’ tab.
• Especially you should buy if you feel ‘It’s too BIG’
You SHOULD buy this Phab if:
• You would want to have large screen estate size especially to read emails/documents.
• You don’t want to lug another device. You are a all-in one guy.
• You don’t care if folks say ‘ How do you manage with something so BIG(referring to your phone stupid!)
• Want to have superb experience of watching moves / clips in HD with Dolby Sound.
• Watch Movies with subtitles comfortably(MX player has this option)
• You love the superb camera quality.
• You are not bothered much about the missing features found in all other phone.
As far as my personal feedback is concerned my happiness/unhappiness ratio would be 70:30- As such I don’t regret purchasing this phone and/or tab