Phablets vs Tablets | Who’s Better?

You’ve probably heard of the Samsung Note 7 before. Yes, it was famous for catching on fire, but it was also known as a seriously huge phone. It’s a phablet which is a mix between a mobile device and a tab. They generally come with more benefits than regular phones. That’s why you may be wondering how they’d stack up against their larger counterpart. Let’s discuss this.

Size

Phablets can measure 7 inches. They will be hard to hold if you have smaller hands, but most tablets are over 7 inches and require both hands to use. You’ll easily be able to take phablets around with you as they’re still small enough to fit into pockets. Depending on how big your tab is, you might need a bag – many of them these days come with screens that are around 12 inches, letting you attach keyboards and use them as laptops.

We have to talk about dimensions. Phablets are phones at the end of the day, and manufacturers do everything in their power to make them thin. This is true for more budget devices too. Tablets are not as thin as their counterparts as they have larger batteries. Manufacturers aren’t pressured to make them as slim either.

As they are thinner and smaller, it’s no surprise that phablets don’t weight as much as their cousins. This makes them easier to carry around.

Styluses

One of the major benefits of using tabs were the styluses they came with. Although not all offered the feature, a good chunk of them did. The pens made using them easier, but the best thing was that they helped tablets become mediums for creating art. Tabs that utilize styluses these days, even give graphic tablets, give Wacom a run for their money. The best example of this would be iPad Pros. Not only do they come with super sensitive styluses, but they offer Procreate – the expert art program.

Some phablets come with the pens too – like Samsung’s Note devices. However, they don’t offer a screen as large as tablets, so the ability to design is not as good. They also tend to be less pressure-sensitive than their larger counterparts.

Cameras

Phablets are mobile devices, so cameras are important to them, as they’re made to be used for all sorts of activities – taking photos, answering calls, browsing the internet, and more. Tablets aren’t meant to be as functional. Their main purpose is for you to consume media better – hence the larger screen.  It’s not that tabs don’t come with cameras, it’s just that they are not anything to write home about. They are especially low in resolution and generally don’t work great in low light.

Build

As phablets can be taken anywhere, manufacturers want you to show them off with pride. This is why they include cool designs on their backs. You’ll see multiple Huawei phabs rocking gradients and metallic effects. Not only are tablets harder to carry around, but they are usually placed in cases, as their backs are monotone most of the time. If there is an effect on them, it will likely not be as show-stopping.

Cheaper phablets tend to come with plastic bodies. However, it’s not hard to find a few with Gorilla Glass or aluminum rears. When it comes to tabs, it won’t be that easy to find more affordable types made from higher-end materials.

Communication

Using a tablet to make calls is a challenge. Although it might come with a sim-slot, it will be hard to place the over 7-inch device to your ear. What’s more, not all tablets come with the slots. We’ve seen quite a few that don’t have the feature.

Remember that phablets are a combination of tablets and mobile devices, but they’re essentially phones – what kind of phone doesn’t make calls? Manufacturers include the latest features to help make calls more effective. If you’ve tried the Note 10 before, you’d know how crisp its lines are.

Display

As tablets have larger screens, they provide a more immersive viewing experience. Although phablets are large, they don’t stand a chance against them. That being said, they tend to have better PPI – this makes them sharper. You’ll find tablets with less bezel action going on, but those that provide infinity displays would be expensive.

If you compare tabs in the $200 range to phablets around that price, the latter would come with Super AMOLED or other types of OLED panels. What’s great about them is that they provide colourful viewing experiences – they allow for the most contrast.

Battery

The larger a device, the bigger battery it will have. This is something we’ve seen in mobiles time and time again. This should mean that tablets last longer than their phablet counterparts, right? Not exactly. They could be so big that they’d need 10,000 mAh batteries to power through the day. This leaves tablets and phablets lasting about the same time. Both come with fast charging. Something that phablets have that tabs don’t is reverse charging – this is when your battery is used as a power bank.

Storage

Storage-wise, the two don’t differ. If you pick a high-end phablet up, you’ll probably see 256 gigs of space along with 6 or 8 GB of RAM. The same is true for tablets. Even if tablets don’t come with as many gigs, they’d still have expandable storage – the feature is widespread in both of them.

You have to make note of RAM too. Generally, mobile devices have more as they handle a larger number of tasks.

Final Thoughts

So, who comes out on top? We think phablets are the winners as they are a cross between mobile devices and tablets. For starters, they are large, so you can easily watch your favourite shows. However, they aren’t too big to make them hard to carry them around. They are phones at the end of the day, so they come with superb cameras and call features. Unfortunately, you won’t see this in tabs as their primary use is to browse the internet.

That being said, the efficiency of tabs that come with styluses is something you should consider.