Huawei has given the strongest hint yet that it's squaring up to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with an oversized phone.
Previous leaks have revealed that the Huawei Ascend Mate is to be a 6.1-inch behemoth of a phone-cum-tablet, and a Huawei boss has spoken out to apparently confirm the rumours.
Speaking on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, a Huawei boss confirmed an oversized device for some time in the new year -- and posted that update from a Samsung Galaxy Note 2, as a way of getting to know the enemy.
The new device promises cooler industrial design, an eye-popping screen, a slimmer bezel with plenty of grip, and plenty of grunt under the bonnet while also improving battery life. I don't know how that would go down in Korea, but them's fightin' words round here.
Actual specs are thin on the ground, but we'll keep you posted as we learn more.
Samsung invented the oversized phone / undersized tablet -- phablet, if you must -- with the original Note, a design that left us scratching our heads at first but has since proved highly successful, the Note 2 shifting 3 million devices already.
That success hasn't gone unnoticed, and Huawei isn't the first to tout its own take on the Note. HTC is planning the HTC Deluxe and LG has the LG Optimus Vu in the pipeline, while ZTE is rumoured to be working on the first Windows Phone phablet.
If you have a Note and you want to get the most from it, or if you want to know what a phablet is good for, check out our 25 phablet tips.
Is the Note the future of tablets, or is one Note enough? Can Huawei do an HTC and rise to prominence in the phone world? Sketch your thoughts in the comments or on our oversized Facebook page.
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Matt Winston. 6 December, 2012 17:54
People are making less calls, I expect to see more devices like the Note. And 5 inches, 6 inches might sound big, and are big, but it's still smaller and thinner than a Sky Remote Control, I can fit 2 in one pocket!
And the word 'plablet' just isn't taking off.
anonymous 6 December, 2012 22:01
people aren't just buying the bigger phone. They want the productivity of a bigger phone. So if all the other phones come with a stylus and productivity features like multitask (as it is on the note 2 right now), then they might have a chance of getting some phones sold. But just hoping on the size is just stupid.
anonymous 7 December, 2012 01:23
Isn't the whole idea of the Note the pen which seems to be absent on this phone making comparisons somewhat redundant?
anonymous 7 December, 2012 08:08
6inches will probably be the ceiling, but looking at the S3 it looks like you could get another half an inch screen space without increasing the phone's overall size. I think that's the direction we'll see, phones staying a similar size but screens going closer to the edges.
I have a Nexus 7, I love it, it's amazing, but I just wish that more of the tablet was taken up with screen space rather than bezel space. But then again, the bezels are needed to grip onto the tablet so I'm not sure how Asus/Google could have changed that.
Got to say that Samsung releasing a Galaxy S3 Mini is a really good move, a fairly high end phone but in a less intimidating size. Sure the specs could be higher, but then so too would the price.
anonymous 25 December, 2012 17:55
Some of us over 40's don't have as good eyesight as when we were younger. The phablets are good for that reason if nothing else. I enjoyed using the stylus on my Sony Ericcson and welcome its return on the Note 2.