MOBILE

Giants Of The Phone World (Part 1) : Lava IRIS 501

3/7/2013 9:31:27 AM

Large phone or small tablet, the ever-growing acceptance of large screens will ensure this year the phablet will become main-stream.

Big smartphones with screens larger than five inches are no longer a rarity. In fact, they are fast becoming bestsellers in India and across the globe.

When Dell stared the trend in 2010 with its 5-inch Android smartphone Streak, it came in for criticism for a big and bulky design. In 2011, Samsung tried to create a new category with its Galaxy Note. Slightly sleeker and lighter than the Streak, the Note had a 5.3-inch capacitive display and an S Pen functionality that caught everyone’s attention. Even as the industry tried to figure out Q what to make of the large smartphone small-tablet, Samsung announced that it had sold a million Notes in less than two months.

Large phone or small tablet, the ever-growing acceptance of large screens will ensure this year the phablet will become main-stream

Large phone or small tablet, the ever-growing acceptance of large screens will ensure this year the phablet will become main-stream

Samsung followed it up with an equally successful Galaxy Note II which sported a 5.5-inch touch display.

Market intelligence firm IHS iSuppli predicts phablet shipments will more than double to 60.4 million units worldwide this year. Amit Gujral, Marketing Head, LG mobiles says the phablet or the super smartphone is here to stay. “More and more data consumption and increase in web browsing makes larger displays desirable. Tablets cannot be carried everywhere and won’t fit into our pockets. We always like to use our phones as mini-computers and we always desire our phones should work more and more as our computers do.”

The biggest reason behind the sudden success of this new category is the changing behavior of smartphone users. Linda F. Kozlowski, Director of Market Development, APAC, Evemote explains, “All devices have different advantages. While smartphones are more portable, giving users immediate, easy access anywhere and anytime, phablets provide a larger viewing area that allow users to consume more content easily. “

With the more smart functionalities and processing power being added to smartphones, we are no longer solely dependent on the laptops to access emails, browse the web, play games or handle documents. However, the smaller display sizes have always been a spoiler for people who wanted to do more with their phones. While some found it tough to browse the web on smaller screens and needed to zoom in to read the text better, others struggled with the virtual keyboards on 3-inch screens. The 5-inch, or larger, screen eliminates these problems and also adds to the multimedia experience.

“Phablets have brought in one more option for consumers to access the web. Its larger screen size will definitely encourage consumers to spend more time on browsing the web through the device compared to what they would do on a phone,” says Sunil Kamath, VP for South Asia, Opera Software.

“Phablets have brought in one more option for consumers to access the web.

“Phablets have brought in one more option for consumers to access the web.

Another factor, which is key in the Indian market, is the pricing of these devices. There are already many phablets selling for under? 10,000 and provide a good mid-way device for those planning to buy a smaller smartphone and a larger tablet.

“Keeping in mind the utility that the five inch screen has to offer, we think phablets will get most acceptance in emerging markets like India where the mass do not have the luxury of owning both, a smartphone and a tablet. We also feel the Android platform will have a greater advantage on phablets and will hold a higher value as it will be a more comfortable experience for its users on the go,” says Andre Sommer, Marketing & Advertising Head, eBuddy.

But the phablet and its large screen comes with its own set of disadvantages. These big devices aren’t very good for single-hand operation. Plus, the larger display drains the battery faster. But that isn’t stopping this segment from growing large and maybe even dwarf the other smartphones soon.

The wannabe

Lava IRIS 501

·         Price: $174

·         Specs: Android ICS; 5-inch capacitive display; 5MP camera; 1 GHz dualcore processor; 512MB RAM; 1GB internal storage, 32GB expandable; dual-SIM, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth; 2300 mAh battery; 185 grams

After introducing some decent Android smartphones, Lava has now launched a 5-inch phablet called the Iris 501.

Lava IRIS 501

Lava IRIS 501

The Iris 501 has a curved design with the large capacitive touch display dominating the front above illuminated home, back and menu key A 3.5-mm headphone jack and charging port have been placed on the top, with volume controls on the left panel and power and lock keys on the other side. Although the device looks neat, it is comparatively heavy to hold

The touch was responsive with no lag. Though this one too runs an Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, the user-interface has been customized with curved icons and is very refreshing. The pre-loaded apps here include CricketFever, Asphalt6, Fusion, Hike, Little Big City

Lava's tryst with Intel is limited to the Xolo range, so the Iris 501 runs on Mediatek's chipset powered by a 1 GFHz dual-core processor with 51 2MB RAM. The browsing experience was really smooth and video too worked fine. But the phablet failed to rise to expectations when we used a data intensive app with some others running in the background.

This device comes with a 5MP rear camera which captures good images and videos. The 0.3MP front camera is just about okay for video calling.

The IRIS 501 has some shortcomings too. For instance, the screen has a poor viewing angle and there is just 1GB storage onboard for saving applications. Thankfully, this supports up to 32GB of expandable memory - there is a 4GB memory card in the box. The Lava Iris 501 packs in a 2300 mAh battery that lasts a day and a-half between the charges.

Other  
 
Top 10
Review : Sigma 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art
Review : Canon EF11-24mm f/4L USM
Review : Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2
Review : Philips Fidelio M2L
Review : Alienware 17 - Dell's Alienware laptops
Review Smartwatch : Wellograph
Review : Xiaomi Redmi 2
Extending LINQ to Objects : Writing a Single Element Operator (part 2) - Building the RandomElement Operator
Extending LINQ to Objects : Writing a Single Element Operator (part 1) - Building Our Own Last Operator
3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 2) - Discharge Smart, Use Smart
REVIEW
- First look: Apple Watch

- 3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 1)

- 3 Tips for Maintaining Your Cell Phone Battery (part 2)
VIDEO TUTORIAL
- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 1)

- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 2)

- How to create your first Swimlane Diagram or Cross-Functional Flowchart Diagram by using Microsoft Visio 2010 (Part 3)
Popular Tags
Video Tutorail Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft OneNote Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Project Microsoft Visio Microsoft Word Active Directory Exchange Server Sharepoint Sql Server Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2012 Windows 7 Windows 8 Adobe Flash Professional Dreamweaver Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop CorelDRAW X5 CorelDraw 10 windows Phone 7 windows Phone 8 Iphone
Visit movie_stars's profile on Pinterest.