Why I loathe an iPhablet

Making phone call on Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Talk of an Apple phablet dates back to March 2012 when a pretty credible Japanese blog mentioned an unreleased iOS device with a five-inch 1,600-by-960 Retina screen which may or may not be the 4.8-inch iPhone 6 some analysts see coming in 2014.

The phablet, I’m sure you know, was popularized against all odds by Samsung of South Korea, its jumbo-sized Galaxy Note devices selling millions of units (ten million as of August 2012).

Just yesterday, the company released its latest iPad mini contender, the eight-inch Galaxy Note. In addition to the S-Pen, an IR blaster and a quad core processor, Samsung’s baby outsmarts the iPad mini with its ability to make phone calls over cellular networks. The question is, would you dare use such a giant ‘cell phone’ – and I’m using the term loosely – in public?

That image top of post got me floored, via Android Central.

I don’t think Apple should ever make an iPhablet.

That doesn’t mean I’m opposed to a five-inch iPhone or an oversized iPod touch falling somewhere in between the four-inch iPhone 5 and the 7.9-inch iPad mini. Heck, more than half of you who voted in iDB’s non-scientific poll are warmed up to the idea of a larger iOS device.

But whatever oversized device you’re working on, please Apple don’t call it a phablet.

Ever!

The phablet, as you know, is a cross between the smartphone and the tablet – hence the name. A phablet that doesn’t make phone calls technically isn’t a phablet – it’s a tablet.

While Apple could have easily added cellular voice calling to the iPad mini, boy am I glad they didn’t. Cellular calling surely makes a nice bullet point in other companies’ side-by-side comparison sheets, but we’re talking Apple here and I sincerely doubt iFans would make fools of themselves by pulling a jumbo-sized iPhablet out of their pocket and press it against their head.

Maybe we need a netiquette of sorts to using these things.

I don’t know, you tell me: is it socially acceptable to use phablets to make phone calls in public?