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What are the best phablets?

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Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs Motorola Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus

 vs Samsung Galaxy S5 vs LG G3 vs Huawei Mate 9 vs Nexus 6P

Specs

CPU

1.9 GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 & 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 / 2.7 GHz quad-core Krait 450

Storage

32 GB / 64 GB

GPU

ARM Mali T760 / Adreno 420

Battery

3200 mAh

Rear-facing camera

15 MP f/2.0 OIS

Front-facing camera

3.7 MP f/1.9

Video

2160p@30fps / 1080p@60fps

Memory

3 GB

SoC

Samsung Exynos 7 Octa 5433 / Qualcomm Snapdragon 805

Removable storage

microSDXC ≤ 128 GB

Display Size

5.7 in 2560x1440 (515 ppi) Super Amoled

Display

-

OS

-

RAM

-

CPU

2.7 GHz quad-coreKrait 450

Storage

32 GB / 64 GB

GPU

Adreno 420

Battery

3220 mAh / Qi wireless charging / turbo charging

Rear-facing camera

13 MP f/2.0 OIS

Front-facing camera

2 MP f/2.0

Video

2160p@30fps

Memory

3 GB

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 805

Removable storage

N/A

Display Size

-

Display

5.96 in 2560x1440 (493 ppi) QHD AMOLED

OS

-

RAM

-

CPU

-

Storage

-

GPU

-

Battery

-

Rear-facing camera

-

Front-facing camera

-

Video

-

Memory

-

SoC

-

Removable storage

-

Display Size

-

Display

-

OS

iOS

RAM

-

CPU

1.9 GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 & 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 / 2.5 GHz quad-core Krait 400

Storage

16 GB / 32 GB

GPU

ARM Mali T628MP6 / Adreno 330

Battery

2800 mAh

Rear-facing camera

16 MP

Front-facing camera

2 MP

Video

2160p@60fps / 1080p@60fps

Memory

2 GB

SoC

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5422 / Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 / 805

Removable storage

microSD ≤ 128 GB

Display Size

-

Display

5.1 in 1920x1080 (432 ppi) AMOLED

OS

-

RAM

-

CPU

2.5 GHz quad-core Krait 400

Storage

16 GB / 32 GB

GPU

Adreno 330

Battery

3000 mAh / Qi wireless charging (non-US)

Rear-facing camera

13 MP f/2.4 OIS+

Front-facing camera

2.1 MP f/2.4

Video

2160p@30fps / 1080p@30fps

Memory

2 GB (16 GB model) / 3 GB (32 GB model)

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Removable storage

microSDXC ≤ 128 GB

Display Size

-

Display

5.5 in 2560x1440 (534 ppi) QHD IPS LCD

OS

-

RAM

-

CPU

Kirin 960 Octa-core (4x2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A53)

Storage

64GB

GPU

Mali-G71 MP8

Battery

4000 mAh

Rear-facing camera

20MP Monochrome+12MP RGB

Front-facing camera

8MP AF, F1.9

Video

2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps

Memory

64 GB, 4 GB RAM, microSD up to 256 GB

SoC

Hisilicon Kirin 960

Removable storage

-

Display Size

-

Display

5.9 in 1080 x 1920 (373 ppi) IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen

OS

-

RAM

4 GB

CPU

Octa-core (4x1.55 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A57)

Storage

32/64/128 GB

GPU

Adreno 430

Battery

3450 mAh

Rear-facing camera

12.3 MP

Front-facing camera

8 MP

Video

-

Memory

-

SoC

-

Removable storage

-

Display Size

-

Display

AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

OS

-

RAM

3 GB

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Removable battery with excellent life and fast charging

N4 has a 3220 mAh battery that according to Phonearena will last for more than 8½ hours of typical use. The battery can be charge from 0% to 50% in about 30 minutes and from 0% to 100% in less than 100 minutes.
Comment

Pro
 Great 16 MP rear-facing camera with OIS

Note 4 has a 16 MP with optical image stabilization as well as software image stabilization. It can record great 4K30, 1080p60 and 720p120 video.
Comment

Pro
 Stylus

Located at the bottom edge is a stylus called the S-Pen. It's reasonably accurate and has a button for highlighting making it easy to copy and paste text or look up words in a dictionary.
Comment

Pro
 Good performance

Note 4 has two chip and cpu combinations available. 2.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 with Adreno 420 GPU ARMv8-A Exynos 7 Octa with a quad-core 1.3 GHz and quad-core 1.9 GHz CPUs Both variants have 3GB or RAM and are capable of handling anything thrown at them.
Comment

Pro
 Takes great advantage of being so big via TouchWiz

Note 4 runs TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0, an Android reskin, that has a multitasking interface for using two apps at the same time in split screen mode or by having another application in a floating window above anything currently on screen. Touchwiz also adds support for S-Pen functions and includes additional gestures, menus and apps that take better advantage of the big display.
Comment

Con
 TouchWiz bloatware slows the device down a bit

Comment

Pro
 Excellent 5.7" QHD display

N4 has a 5.7" 2560×1440 (515 ppi) AMOLED display. It's sharp, with good contrast, saturated colors and viewing angles.
Comment

Pro
 Includes a heart-rate monitor

Comment

Pro
 Has a fingerprint scanner

Comment

Pro
 Has a UV sensor

Comment

Pro
 Sharp 5.96" QHD display

Moto X has a sharp 5.96" 2560x1440 (493ppi) AMOLED display that accurately reproduces colors, has good viewing angles and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
Comment

Pro
 Pure Android experience

Nexus 6 comes with the latest stock Android. There are no OEM reskins or carrier bloatware to change the way the device is used or slow it down.
Comment

Pro
 Priority support from Google

As this is a stock Android device and a flagship Google phone, it receives priority support for updates and any new functionality developed by Google.
Comment

Pro
 Solid build quality

Nexus 6 has a curved back, an aluminium frame, and a display that goes all the way up to the side where it curves so that there are no sharp edges. It has dual front-facing speakers and power and volume buttons on the side. It's 159.26 x 82.98 x 3.8 mm and weighs 184 grams.
Comment

Pro
 Dual front-facing stereo speakers

Comment

Pro
 Qi wireless charging support

Comment

Pro
 13 MP camera with OIS and Dual LED ring flash

The Nexus 6 has a 13 MP (4128x3096px) cameara with fast autofocus, optical image stabilization, dual-LED (ring) flash. It's capable of dual recording, geo-tagging, touch focusing, face detection, photo sphere, panorama and HDR.
Comment

Pro
 Good battery life with Quickcharge support

Nexus 6 has a 3220 mAh battery that according to Phonearena will drain in just under 8 hours of typical use. Additionally, it can be charged up to 6 hours of battery life in 15 minutes via turbo charging.
Comment

Pro
 Good performance

Nexus 6 has a 2.7 GHz Qualcomm Krait 450 CPU, Adreno 420 GPU and 3 GB of RAM offering a smooth experience and being capable of running most software without a hitch.
Comment

Con
 No microSD card slot

Comment

Con
 Somewhat difficult to grip the phone

Due to its rounded edges, light weight, big size and smooth aluminum finish the iPhone 6 Plus feels like it might easily slip out of the hand.
Comment

Con
 Has structural integrity issues

It's possible to bend the phone if enough pressure is applied to a weak point near volume buttons.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent 8MP camera with OIS

The camera has excellent low-light performance due to its new sensors and lens, fast autofocus, optical image stabilization and top-notch image processing. It's capable of capturing HDR photos as well as shooting 1080p60, 720p240 video.
Comment

Pro
 Great 5.5" 1080p display

The iPhone 6 Plus has a bright 5.5" 1920x1080 (401 ppi) IPS display with accurate color reproduction, good contrast and excellent viewing angles due to "dual-domain pixels".
Comment

Pro
 Beautiful design

The iPhone 6 Plus is built from one peace of smooth aluminum rounded off at the corners. It's 7.1mm thin and weighs 172g. It has the power button on one side and volume rocker and mute switch on the other. The display goes all the way to the edge where it rounds off to create a seamless body.
Comment

Pro
 Reasonable battery life

The phone has a 2915 mAh battery that according to Phonearena will drain in about 6½ hours of typical use.
Comment

Pro
 Reasonable 1.2 MP front-facing camera

The 1.2 MP camera takes reasonable photos due to Apple's excellent image processing. There's also an HDR mode and a selection of pre-shot filters available.
Comment

Pro
 Great performance

The iPhone 6 Plus has a 1.4 GHz dual-core ARMv8-A CPU, PowerVR Series 6 GX6450 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. It's highly responsive in everyday use.
Comment

Con
 Has bloatware and a questionable front-end interface called TouchWiz

Galaxy S5 comes with a lot of extra applications not present in stock Android and an alternative front-end touch interface called TouchWiz that changes much of the default functionality of Android. Of the application included many duplicate the functionality of stock applications and essentially become useless taking up space and slightly slowing down the performance.
Comment

Con
 Annoying flap covers the charging port

Comment

Pro
 Great 16 MP camera

The camera has good low-light performance, quick auto-focus (takes about 0.3 seconds), real-time HDR capabilities and can record 4K video.
Comment

Pro
 Beautiful 5.1" 1080p screen

The S5 has a bright 5.1" 1920x1080 AMOLED screen with excellent contrast, color accuracy and the ability to toggle between wide color gamut and accurate color.
Comment

Pro
 IP67 certified

S5 is IP67 certified, which allows the phone to be submerged in water for ~30 minutes without damage. It's also resistant to dust.
Comment

Pro
 Removable battery with great life

OPO has a 2800 mAh battery that according to Phonearena would drain in under 8 hours of typical use.
Comment

Pro
 Strong performance

The Galaxy S5 uses a Snapdragon 801 2.5 GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM and a 578MHz Adreno 330 GPU. The phone is capable of handling most software without a hitch. Samsung also optimized software response times to touch improving the overall speed of the device. Although Samsung's sometimes extraneous software can lead to slowdowns.
Comment

Pro
 Expandable storage

Comment

Con
 Bland design

It's made from somewhat cheap feeling plastic.
Comment

Con
 Fingerprint scanner is difficult to operate

Comment

Pro
 Great 5.5" QHD display

The LG G3 has a high quality 5.5" 2560x1440 IPS (534 ppi) display with accurate colors, good viewing angles, contrast and outdoor performance.
Comment

Pro
 Relatively lightweight and compact for a phablet

Compared to its main competitors the LG G3 is lighter and fits a 5.5 inch display into the same overall dimensions as the HTC M8 does with a 5 inch display.
Comment

Pro
 Solid build quality and atractive design

The LG G3 has a high quality, scratch-resistant plastic case that's supposed to look and feel like brushed metal. Volume and power buttons are placed on the back. The phone has small bezels making it compact for a phone of its size at 146.3 x 74.6 x 8.9 mm.
Comment

Con
 Qi wireless charging in US is only available if QuickCircle case accessory is installed

Although the G3 natively supports Qi wireless charging in other markets, in US, due to carrier's restrictions, it is only supported if QuickCircle case accessory is installed.
Comment

Pro
 Removable battery with reasonable life

LG G3 has a 3000 mAh battery that according to Phonearena will drain in about 6h of typical usage. Considering the high resolution display, it's actually a good battery life overall.
Comment

Pro
 Useful OEM skin

G3 comes with a custom front-end touch interface called Optimus UI. It adds additional functionality to the device. For example, it allows changing the height of the keyboard, has an enhanced clipboard feature that remembers multiple things copied and a dual window feature for multitasking. It also has an intelligent personal assistant called "Smart Notice", supports Knock code for unlocking the device and includes "Content Lock" that allows storing files in a secure, private area.
Comment

Pro
 Expandable storage

A micro SD slot is located behind the back cover allowing the storage to be expanded up to 128 GB.
Comment

Pro
 Good 13 MP camera

G3 has a 13 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and good low-light performance. The phone uses "laser autofocus" allowing for very quick autofocus (276 milliseconds). If the data from IR is unreliable due to light conditions it can still fallback to contrast autofocus. It's also capable of 4K video. The accompanying software allows taking selfies by making a fist gesture that will then start the countdown timer.
Comment

Pro
 Good performance

The G3 has a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU with 2 GB (for the 16 GB version) or 3 GB (for the 32 GB version) of RAM. The device is snappy in everyday use.
Comment

Con
 Overheating problems

Comment

Pro
 Great 5.9 inches IPS display

Has a 5.9 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent Leica Dual Camera

Comment

Pro
 4000mAh battery

Comment

Pro
 Revolutionary speed

Comment

Pro
 Immersive audio experience

The speakers on the Nexus 6P are better than your average phone speakers. First off, there's two of them, and they're facing towards you (which makes sense when you think about it). Because they are on different sides of the screen, in landscape they create a stereo affect (you can hear sounds start at the left and move towards the right). The clarity and volume are also better than most competitors.
Comment

Pro
 Good battery life

The Nexus 6P will last a full day for even heavy users. The battery drains by 25% when playing a 90 minute video at 100% brightness. GSMArena rates the battery at 74h, which is a good score.
Comment

Pro
 Good performance

The Snapdragon 810 inside provides a solid amount of power. You shouldn't worry about performance - the newer Snapdragon 820 isn't much more powerful (it doesn't need to be - phones are plenty fast already). Instead, the main advantage of the Snapdragon 820 is better power efficiency which allows for smaller batteries - leading to slimmer designs.
Comment

Pro
 Future-ready charging port

USB Type-C will be the new standard going forward, and allows dual charging (to or from a phone) and it is reversible and more durable then the previous micro USB standard. Going forwards, the USB Type-C is superior to micro USB.
Comment

Pro
 Great display

The Nexus 6P has a 5.7-inch Amoled screen that is comparable to other high end Android phablets. At a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 it has a ppi of 518. The Amoled technology provides very punchy colors, and doesn't illuminate black pixels (unlike IPS panels) making dark colors look better, and also reducing the minimum brightness for nigh-time use.
Comment

Pro
 Fingerprint sensor in a natural location

Unlike most phones where the fingerprint sensor doubles a home button, the Nexus 6P has the sensor placed about 3/4 the way up the back of the phone, right where users already have their index finger when holding it. It is not a power button - only a fingerprint sensor, and its tucked away in a convenient-out-of-sight place.
Comment

Con
 New charging port isn't backwards compatible

Old micro USB cables will not work with this device, meaning if you lose or break your cable you will need to buy a new one instead of using an old cable you had lying around. If you need to top up your phone away from home, it will be much harder to find a suitable cable initially.
Comment

Con
 Rear camera housing stands out

Figuratively and literally, the housing for the rear camera sticks out quite a bit from the rest of the devices slick housing. This makes for an unsightly look to the device as well as a slight ledge where the housing for the camera begins.
Comment

Con
 Inconsistent camera performance

While this is the best camera ever on a Nexus device, that isn't saying much. All pictures come out darker than competitors, and the lack of OIS makes it use short exposure times in dark scenarios, further darkening pictures.
Comment

Con
 Slippery without a case

The phone is very thin, has a flat back with curved edges, feels a bit heavy in the hand, and is made of Gorilla Glass on one side and aluminum on the other. Without a case or skin, it can feel like the phone is constantly on the verge of slipping out of your grip.
Comment
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