Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 Review

One Giant Smartphone for Mankind

Godzilla, Frankenstein's monster and Bigfoot are mythical creatures that don't exist (although you might dispute the latter). But now, an equally beastly smartphone -- one seemingly designed specifically for them -- is available to buy. The Samsung Galaxy Mega is a 6.3-inch woolly mammoth of a handset, and it reigns as the largest of its kind, even if only for a brief period of time; the title will soon be taken over by the Sony Xperia ZU once it hits the market. We were curious to see how a phone of its size would hold out during regular use, so our friends at Negri Electronics -- an online retailer which currently sells the Mega for $570 or $600 (8GB and 16GB, respectively) -- were kind enough to let us take one for a test drive for a few days. Is the phone's magnitude a benefit or hindrance to the user experience? Is it even worth considering if you don't need the largest possible screen? Find out as we dissect it after the break.

If this review taught us nothing else, we at least discovered that the Mega makes for an amazing icebreaker in elevators, parties and anywhere else. The odds of hearing "Wow, that thing's a phone?" were, expectedly, incredibly high. Of course, novelty isn't typically a factor we consider when reviewing a phone, nor should it be; perhaps a few folks may think of this as an opportunity to cure their shyness, but we believe it's far more important to judge a smartphone by its actual merits rather than perceived social implications.