Gadgetory

what happens when two behemoths Samsung smartphones go toe-to-toe we're about to find out I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the Samsung Galaxy mega 6.3 versus a samsung galaxy note 2 smartphones are bigger than ever when Samsung announced the original Galaxy Note we were left scratching our heads asking why would anyone ever want a 5.3 inch phone in fact we were slightly confused when smartphones began exceeding the 4-inch threshold now it's rare to see a high-end smartphone with the display smaller than 4.5 inches enter Galaxy mega Samsung's latest smartphone brand that's built for Giants or people who simply want to use a phone two-handed the mega variant we have on hand is the mega 6.3 which as the name alludes sports a giant 6.3 inch display across its face naturally we have to compare this behemoth with what used to be the largest smartphone on the block now the mega 6.3 is smaller sibling the Galaxy Note 2 from the instant you look at either you know their Samsung smartphones there's no denying their uncanny resemblance and there's no deviation from Samsung's now standard design language at all we are familiar with the Galaxy Note 2's build it features last year's pho brushed metal design with a classic chrome trim around the edges the galaxy note 2 is a practically a larger galaxy s3 with slightly harder corners and different internals and lest we forget the S Pen tucked in the lower right corner the defining feature of the Note brand the Galaxy mega 6.3 towers over the galaxy note 2 but if you weren't looking too closely you might mistake the mega for the note 2 and the note 2 for a Galaxy s3 or s4 it's not exactly easy to portray how large the mega truly is so here's a size comparison from left to right iPhone 5 galaxy s3 HTC One Galaxy Note 2 Galaxy mega 6.3 and the Galaxy Note 8.0 on the outside the mega more closely resembles this year's galaxy s4 the edges are harder the chrome doesn't blend into the edge of the device and instead gives the device a distinguished edge and the pattern beneath the hyper glazed finish is the same dot pattern found on the s4 around back it has the same camera hump as the s4 the same flash placement and the same large speaker side-by-side the difference in dimensions is tremendous the mega 6.3 is sixteen point five millimeters taller seven point five millimeters wider but 1.4 millimeters thinner than the note2 it's also sixteen grams heavier the note2 is 5.5 inch display makes it difficult but still possible with some practice to use one-handed the mega 6.3 is practically impossible to use one-handed even with my large hands there are also some pretty major differences between the two under the hood the galaxy note 2 comes with a 1.6 gigahertz quad core Exynos chip set 2 gigabytes of RAM 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of inbuilt storage with a micro SD card slot Wi-Fi b/g/n and a 30 100 million power battery the galaxy mega 6.3 ships with either 8 or 16 gigabytes of storage expandable up to 64 additional gigabytes by way of microSD a 1.7 gigahertz dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipset 1.5 gigabytes of RAM a 3200 milliamp hour battery and an IR blaster it also has Wi-Fi b/g/n and AC both come with 8 megapixel cameras NFC and LTE capabilities though both are Note 2 and mega 6.3 or HSPA+ only models both devices coded in Samsung's so-called hyper glaze finish or also fingerprint magnets and they're certainly lightweight for their size despite being so light both devices feel fairly solid and we can't finish the topic of hardware without addressing the display differences at 6.3 inches diagonally the Galaxy Megas display carries a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels mounting to 233 pixels per inch the Galaxy Note 2 also features 720p resolution at 5.5 inches for pixel density of 267 pixels per inch the note 2 uses Samsung's famed supersaturated Super AMOLED panel unlike other AMOLED panels however the note 2 does not utilize the pentile matrix sub pixel layout making its relatively low pixel density more bearable the mega 6.3 for a change does not use AMOLED like the Note 8.0 the mega uses a TFT panel that's noticeably less vibrant and saturated than the note twos but it's certainly not dull yet its blacks are not nearly as inky and it offers wider viewing ankle's the low PPI is offset by the lower dpi setting which manages to squeeze more information on a single screen rather than simply stretching more information across a larger display in other words interface elements display more tablet light than with the note to the meges display is noticeably brighter than the note twos and although it isn't the most crisp display ever there are a few things to complain about point-blank if you can deal with the note two's display the galaxy mega 6.3 screen likely won't bother you either software is an area these two giant smartphones differ as much as they're alike they're both running TouchWiz but the Galaxy Note 2 is still running Android 4.1 with an older version of TouchWiz the top while the galaxy mega 6.3 has Android 4.2.2 out of the gate with the latest version of TouchWiz comparing the software on these two devices save for the S Pen features is almost identical to comparing the current galaxy s3 software with the walkthrough of the leaked 4.2.2 firmware last month the software on the mega 6.3 is similar to that of the s4 software but it's lacking many of the s4 s buzzie features like smart scroll smart Paul's air gesture S health and more however it does allow air view with your finger smart stay lock screen widgets and the updated quick settings in the notification shade many of these features are also on the note 2 air view using the S Pen and smart stay for example being extra large devices both also offer one-handed operation settings and the multi window feature and oddly enough the mega 6.3 does not offer smart rotation while the note 2 does outside the changes brought in the 4.2 version of TouchWiz and the note twos S Pen specific software the wears on these two devices are quite similar though they have the same icons and widgets TouchWiz looks the same as it always does and there's no denying you're using a Samsung smartphone running Samsung software in day-to-day operation both the note 2 and the mega 6.3 are pretty snappy yes even on the mega 6.3 s dual-core Snapdragon 400 chipset in fact the Snapdragon 400 is no slouch the mega 6.3 clocked at 1.7 gigahertz versus the note 2's 1.6 gigahertz is just a bit snappier when you're turning home opening apps switching apps and pretty much all lightweight tasks and both of them seem to handle gaming quite well running synthetic benchmarks tells a different story however and n22 the Galaxy Note 2 ran circles around the mega 6.3 consistently scoring over 17 thousand while the mega scored in the 11000 range every time the two were closer using the quadrant standard test both averaging around 6600 and in Geekbench to the Galaxy Note 2 scored over 2,000 every time while the mega 6.3 hung around 1600 as per usual with TouchWiz there are some small instances of lag here and there and thanks to X voice there is a constant hesitation when pressing the home button but that can be disabled in s voice settings we haven't really had the mega 6.3 long enough to talk too much about battery life but there are some quantitative means of at least roughly estimating how battery life will be the galaxy note 2 has a 3100 milliamp hour battery and large display it usually manages to last all day through some heavy abuse with relative ease the mega has a 32 hundred million power battery but a much larger display and a more efficient Snapdragon 400 chipset at the very worst the battery life might be shorter than the note two's but we imagine they will both be in the same ballpark about a day's usage the note 2 in galaxy mega 6.3 both come with LTE connectivity but both of our units are HSPA+ only and both are running on AT&T HSPA+ network in the Charlotte metro area the Galaxy Note 2 averaged just over 5.2 megabits per second down and 1.1 megabits per second up the mega 6.3 average 6.6 megabits per second down and one point five megabits per second up the mega proves to offer faster speeds but negligibly slow considering both Samsung devices have 8 megapixel cameras we were hoping the differences between the two would be very slight in fact since the mega is running a newer version we hoped it might be even a little better and would include all the s4 camera features unfortunately this is not the case the camera software is missing pretty much all the galaxy s4 s new camera features such as drama shot and dual camera it does use the new york-- cleaner interface but as far as software goes that has a little more than the Galaxy Note 2 the camera apps only look different and the output from each is definitely anything but disappointing but the Galaxy Note 2 seemed to handle various scenarios a little better both were pretty poor at low-light performance offering images full of noise and artifacts but in well-lit scenes the cameras performed on par with one another providing the same balanced tones and rich colors where the note 2 managed to edge out the mega 6.3 is exposure the mega was quick to overexpose and blow out whites it's also worth mentioning the mega 6.3 like the s4 comes set to a 16:9 shooting mode out of the box instead of being set to 8 megapixels as advertised it's set to 6 megapixels and crops vertical pixels to give the illusion of a wider shot of course this can be changed in the settings both the Galaxy mega 6.3 and the Galaxy Note 2 will be too large for comfort for most users they without a doubt gigantic phones but for those willing to carry a smartphone which rides a line between phone and tablet both are great options despite the differences in specifications the two devices are on a fairly level playing field if you can come to grips with using the note 2 a primarily two headed device the jump to a 6.3 inch phone as absurd as it may seem is not all that difficult if you're even considering the Galaxy mega 6.3 or Galaxy Note 2 both are worth checking out in person but true power users may want to err on the side of the note 2 with more RAM to more processing cores and the s-pen that's going to do it for this comparison if you enjoyed it be sure to click the like button and subscribe to see more videos like this one in the future keep it locked on the YouTube channel and on the site to see more Galaxy mega 6.3 coverage later this week and into the beginning of next week follow us in all the usual places Twitter Google+ and Facebook and pocket now I'm Taylor Martin and I'll see you next time