Enormous. Ridiculous. Gigantic. Plain silly.

Those are some of the words more than two dozen people used to describe the experience talking on the Samsung Galaxy Mega, which AT&T began selling today for $149.99. The phone is essentially identical to the popular Samsung Galaxy S4, with one exception: It is immense. Really immense.

The Mega has a 6.3-inch screen, making it among the largest smartphones in the world - among because the Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a 6.4-inch screen, winning the bigger-is-better award by a hair. Both are in some ways too big. Hold the Mega to your ear and the other end of the phone will jut comically far into space. Try holding a shoe box to your head and you’ll feel as silly as I do with this thing. And walking around New York City with it yesterday, New Yorkers were quick to point that out (thanks, folks).

Yes, the Mega is a ridiculous smartphone. But it’s smart nonetheless.

Here’s the thing: How often are you really on the phone? Americans are increasingly skipping calls and opting for emails and text messages these days. It’s especially true among people under 21. So forget that it’s kind of silly as a phone and consider the other factors. That's where it gets interesting.

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Many people carry around a dizzying array of gizmos today: a smartphone for chatting and text, a Kindle or other e-reader for digital books, a tablet for, well, still other things. The Mega aims to replace all of those, with a screen big enough to read on that’s somehow still a phone.

The 6.3-inch screen nicely bridges the gap between small tablets and large smartphones. It measures almost as big as the 7-inch Galaxy Nexus 7, which is widely hailed as the reigning mini tablet. But it’s far bigger than even the biggest smartphones out there; your next game of Candy Crush will be far more entertaining when scaled up.

The display isn’t the sharpest or best on the market. That Nexus 7 comes with a 1080p screen that smooshes 323 pixels into each inch. The more pixels per inch, the sharper and crisper the screen display. The Galaxy Mega has a 720p screen with just 233 pixels per inch. Obviously, crisper is better. But in reality, most screens are of a high-enough quality that you’re unlikely to register that distinction.

Source: www.foxnews.com