Lenovo Bets BIG on 6.8″ Smartphone – The Phab Plus

I’ll be honest. With the rise of phablets like the Note and Lumia 1520, I’ve almsot entirely stopped using mini-tablets like my Nexus 7. Lenovo is doubling down on big screen phones with the Phab Plus.

We can joke about what this might look like holding it up to your face, but the calls are no longer the primary use for our “phones”. We expect excellent data driven experiences. In a way, it is kind of silly that our LTE enabled tablets can’t make and receive calls…

PHAB Plus_Gold_Details_01The Phab Plus sports a 6.8″ 1080p screen paired with a Qualcomm Octa-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. 32GB of storage is built in, and you can add more via MicroSD. A 13MP rear camera and 5MP FFC should handle most photo and video tasks, and the larger body means there’s more room for a larger speaker and “sound chamber” Lenovo claims will offer a more immersive audio experience.

This LTE device will have a 3500mAh battery which Lenovo claims is good for “up to 2 days of battery”, but I would imagine this will likely be a “charge every night” kinda phone.

From a design standpoint, it follow in the footsteps of their Vibe series, rounded aluminum frame.

PHAB Plus_Gray_Hero_05-1This mini-tablet phone wont break the bank. $299 seems pretty reasonable for such an audacious experiment. We’re still waiting out shipping info, but expect the Phab Plus before the holidays.