The launch event for the Phab Plus was held today at The Sum of Us, a comfortable little coffee house at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. Amidst all the fanfare and pomp was the rather large Phab Plus, resting on tables waiting to be picked up by the many journalists present.
Shortly into the event Jeff Meredith, General Manager and Vice President, Tablet Business Unit, Lenovo stood up to say his piece about the Phab Plus: “With today’s tech-savvy millennial generation in mind, Lenovo is addressing the popularity of larger-screen personal devices, while acknowledging the portability struggles associated with tablet computers. The new Phab Plus conquers these boundaries, merging the fun of a tablet with the portability of a smartphone in a stylish metallic uni-body casing. Unlike other phablets on the market, the Lenovo Phab Plus boasts a full HD display optimized for one-hand usage and provides an unrivaled viewing and sound experience.”
One of the other points Mr. Meredith brought up was the fact that not many of us use our phones for the sole purpose of calling. As a result the Phab Plus is being marketed as an entertainment-focused consumption tablet. The Phab Plus features a 6.8-inch full HD panel display with a crisp definition of 326ppi. Compatible with all HD content including photos, movies and games along with 32GB of memory, users would be under the notion that they held an all powerful multimedia device in their hand, rather than a simple smartphone or tablet. In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology also guarantees an ultra-wide viewing angle, significantly enhancing screen legibility and color vibrancy for watching videos and viewing social media content.
What I found to be particularly useful when it came to the 6.8 inch device was optimized for one-hand usability, making it more comfortable to hold and use the phablet. The fact that it is compatible with both left- and right-handed users (a feature missed out on most smartphones and indeed many other devices) is also quite fantastic. Users can double-tap to turn their screen on, long-press anywhere on the screen to take a photo, shake to lock, create a one-hand keyboard that shrinks and snaps to their hand position, and answer calls through a series of voice-activated prompts.
Lenovo plans to sell the Phab Plus at Gitex next week in three distinct colours: Gunmetal Grey, Titanium Silver and Champagne Gold. While the adjectives added to the colours may seem unnecessary, the price of the Phab Plus will make you overlook that. It will retail for AED 999, making it an instant favourite amongst consumers who’d rather not drill a hole into their wallet.
A thorough review of the Phab Plus will soon be up on AbsoluteGeeks.
