Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

Samsung's new Galaxy Mega 6.3 is a mid-range Android smartphone with a huge 6.3in touchscreen. Is bigger always better or simply ridiculous? Let's go hands-on and find out!

The Galaxy Mega 6.3 retail packaging. It follows the same recycled paper look as the Galaxy S4.
Do keep in mind that our review unit is a French model, so the Australian packaging may differ if and when it is officially released Down Under. Our review unit includes 8GB of internal memory, though Samsung also produces a 16GB model.
Unboxing the Galaxy Mega 6.3. The sheer size of this handset is overwhelming.
The standard accessories and documentation are included in the box.
Our European 4G model (GT-I9205) came with an 4GB microSD card and microSD to SD adapter, a USB charging cable, an AC adapter, a pair of headphones and a range of different sized silicone tips for the headphones.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 follows the same design ethos as the rest of Samsung's Galaxy range. The familiar glossy plastic finish comes in white or black colour variants.
An 8 megapixel rear-facing camera captures still photos and full HD video. There's also a single LED flash.
There's no mistaking the size of the Galaxy Mega 6.3. At 88mm wide and almost 198mm tall, this is one of the biggest smartphones on the market, easily dwarfing the Galaxy Note II by some margin.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is also bigger than the 6.1in Huawei Ascend Mate, a phone that Huawei claimed had the "biggest screen in the world" back in February.
Here's a size comparison with the Galaxy S4 (left). You can see that it's a significant difference.
A standard micro-USB port for charging is located on the bottom.
There's a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on top, along with a small infrared port. The latter works with the pre-loaded Samsung WatchON app to act as a remote control for your TV.
The power button on the right side of the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is situated almost half way down the handset. This makes it easy to press if you're holding the device single-handedly.
The same applies to the volume rocker on the left side.
The back cover is removable. Here you can access the battery and also the microSD and micro-SIM card slots.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a large 3200mAh battery.
Compared to the Galaxy S4, the Galaxy Mega 6.3's screen has a lower, 720p screen resolution of 1280x720. The display is also a regular TFT panel compared with the Galaxy S4's super AMOLED screen technology.
The advantage of such a large screen is that everything is, well, bigger. Here's Samsung's default on-screen keyboard. It's huge.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 runs the latest version of Android, 4.2 Jelly Bean, but is skinned with Samsung's TouchWIZ user interface. Features include 'Air View', which enables users to hover their finger over the screen to preview selected information on the phone, such as a video thumbnail, a calendar entry, or a photo gallery, an S Translator app that can translate nine different languages using both text to speech and speech to text, and 'Group Play', which can send music photos and documents to multiple devices on the same Wi-Fi network.
On Australian models of the Galaxy S4, users aren't able to edit the four home screen dock shortcuts (by default set to phone, contacts, messaging and Internet). Thankfully, this issue has been resolved on the Galaxy Mega.
The layout of the default home screen on the Galaxy Mega 6.3 remains almost identical to other current Galaxy devices.
The above image gives you an idea of how much of a website you can fit on the Galaxy Mega 6.3's huge screen.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a number of camera software features including 'Drama Shot', which takes 100 shots in four seconds, "Sound & Shot' which takes a picture and captures up to nine seconds of audio, and 'Story Album' which groups photos together somewhat like a timeline.
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is available now in selected European markets, but there's been no word as if or when it will be officially be released in Australia. You can purchase a grey import model through online store [[xref:http://www.mobicity.com.au/samsung-galaxy-mega-6-3-4g-lte-16gb.html|MobiCity]].

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