Chuwi Hi12 meets the iPad Pro

It’s implicit. The difference between a tablet and a phone is screen size the greatest benchmark of which is one-handed use (note that all cell phones from late 90s on were specifically buit with “one-handedness” in mind).

The first phablet (Dell Streak) was a 5 incher. It was always 5+ devices as they are exactly the type of devices combining phone capabilities and tablet (two handed) use. All popular devices are mini tablets (mostly need two hands to operate) therefore the notion is phased out or slowly gets replaced by the term “phone”.

The traditional cellphone/smartphone is dead so we call phablets as “smartphones” instead.

That was a correct assessment, given their dimensions they were not easy to be used one handed , by comparison a modern 5 incher (mi4) is quite smaller in absolute numbers than those phones.

A 32inch TV at 480p/i is huge to this day, you can practically see the pixels (while watching TV) there.

The actual meaning of the words do change, but over many decades, sometimes centuries, you overestimate the pace of language’s evolution. BTW it’s quite clear that what we call a smartphone now is almost exactly the phablet of yore, point by point they share all characteristics one could use to describe them.

It’s the same concept spelt differently. Still very few phones around these days. BTW I don’t mind it, it’s obvious why people would gravitate to (mini) tablets (I still use my tablet more). Why I do mind is the virtual destruction of the smartphone niche that happened along the way (apart from Z5 compact, there are only low ends there, a proper graveyard).

No they lack the primary characteristic that made cell-phones popular in the first place, thumb control. They’re the natural continuation of phablets which are the natural continuation of PDAs.

They’re only connected to cell phones by the fact that they can make calls. Just because a think replaces another doesn’t also imply being a continuation of it. Letting go of thumb control was an end of an era, it happened subtly so most didn’t care, still it goes like this

PDAs -> Phablets -> post 2013 smartphones

cellphones -> feature phones -> pre 2013 smartphones -> dead.

Thumb control is secondary if not tertiary form of control, Modern phones are built to be used as PDAs of yore (one hand supporting, another using) , they’re all a species of pocketable tablets (modern phones, PDAs and phablets).

The argument that I’m trying to explain is what the ancient Greeks called the ship of Theseus: At which point does a thing stops being called “that thing” once all its parts got slowly replaced?

The answer is *never* but as it turns out that’s a linguistic trick , the new thing is not the old thing apart from the fact that people are calling it that (the new smartphones are a separate category than the old smartphones despite the same name).

A simple thought experiment to prove you that, is as follows: Suppose that many if not most flagships were still around the 4.5 inch mark. Some were 3.5 inch and others were 5.5 inches. People would automatically separate the 5.5 inch phones (calling them “phablets”) while grouping the other category (3.5 and 4.5 phones, calling them smartphones).

The *concepts persist* in the minds of people for decades (like I wrote language changes more slowly than that) to the point that if makers return to (one handed) thumb control (smartphones return) we’d call our present era (in phones) the phablets’ era, cause that’s exactly what we own.

No, I actually like big phones (moto X comes to mind), I find them a good compromise between a phablet and a smartphone. Of course those are mostly dead too.

What it boils down to is linguistics and the slow change of concepts, it’s not hard to understand that smartphones are dead, just look around you, most drop what they may be holding so that to interact with their pocketable tablet.

Don’t be confused by labels (that they still call them phones) we’re in a midst of a complete transformation of consumer electronics and the ever more central part that PDAs/pocketable tablets (once a niche of a niche) that they are taking it is a testament to that.

We’re more attached to our devices than ever, no wonder that we’ve let go of ergonomics (unlike how Steve Jobs famously predicted it, most people *feel* the need of ever bigger screens).

BTW I predict the screens getting even bigger, either in the form of foldable computers and/or VR, people are attracted to sources of information, *not* to “phones”.

A phablet is a phone-tablet. A tablet with phone capabilities.

It’s used like a tablet (one hand to hold it, another to interact with it), it *is* a tablet that also makes calls, that’s also pocketable. So it is the kind of tablet that has some of the features of a smartphone, it’s obviously not a pure cell-phone though as it lacks its ergonomics.

It’s a compromise… (unlike say iphone 5 which is a pure cell-phone that also has smart capabilities … a smart-phone)

Note that both in your example pictures are primarily usable with one hand.

The noted difference between a tablet and and any other electronic device is the way that it is being used. Touch enabled device that is held with one hand used with the other.

Exactly what a phablet is . A tablet first, a smartphone second.

A smartphone is the kind of touch enabled device that is not a tablet but also has cellular capabilities.

To conclude I think that you think of the topic in the opposite way around: you should not think whether your phone is a smartphone, anything can be one as you aptly put it, you should think whether it is a tablet… and lo and behold it is!

Since it is a tablet you can’t call it a phone because it’s already a tablet … with some phone capabilities. You can’t say the same about a real smartphone, because it’s *not* a tablet, so you have to call it a phone.

Phablets have more in common with PDAs than real phones.

You may occasionally use it one-handed but the vast majority of the world over the last 2 years went from cell-phone use (thumb based) to pda/tablet use (two hands).

Just *look* around you, in the tube, inside the train, when people relax, when they walk the street. It became completely apparent with iphone 6, now everywhere I see people carrying less things (seriously) just so that both hands can be free.

The death of phones had a *tangible* effect on the way cityscapes look on a given day, it’s not mere definition we’re talking here, it’s an actual worldwide trend. Phones are finally (and almost completely) dead…

Obviously I do not have the funds to conduct the study, but the change was/is as big as the early days of the mass adoption of smartphones were (late 00s).

We called them “smartphones” because that mass adoption triggered a visible change to how people interact with their handhelds (as opposed to feature phones). It happened again (and happens as we speak), people continue calling them “phones” but by now it’s a euphemism, phones are dead, and phablets gave them their last push (one-handed use is dead).

You see people using their behemoths one-handed. Of course it happens, but compare it with how more frequently they use them two-handed. This is not a minor point, it suggests a new form of interaction with our machines.

It’s as big of a difference as when we moved from feature phones to smartphones (we are now moving to mini tablets, probably soon we’d move to full tablets -foldable “phones”). When we’d fully move to tablets (foldable “phones”) you’d see how apparent this move already was circa 2016, you’d agree with me. Obviously the behemoth you’re holding is not a phone in any important sense.

I was talking about phones, it’s a behemoth compared to them. Do you remember the cellphone bricks of old? Well Phablets’ profile is bigger than them.

The reach of people’s thumbs is not an opinion. For better or worse people can’t use 5+ one handed (most of the screen is out of reach) so they don’t. You may be in a company of giants that can use them one-handed, where I live (and I suppose most of the world) that’s not the case.

The device you’re holding is a tablet, you’re calling it a phone because phones are dead and languages hate a void so they re-appropriate words (but the concepts remain).

I repeat the thought experiment that I’ve told you before: If flagships were still produced in all sizes (3.5 – 5.5 inches) then your device would have been called a phablet, those from 4.5 and down would have had been called “phones”.

It has been done before. You can use meta-analytical tools -even- to see when the change happened. Around late 2013, early 2014 people started calling phablets as “phones”. Post 2014 “phones” *are* mostly phablets, you own a phablet that you call a phone. Those are not hard to understand concepts…

1) No if it was we’d use the same word (we do now *only* after true smartphones dies interestingly enough): It’s a tablet with phone capabilities.

2)It’s a tablet *because* the majority of its screen is not thumb reachable: http://scotthurff.com/images/posts/thumb-zone-2/thumb-zones-lineup.png

BTW why do you hate that “tablet” moniker so much? Tablets (of all sizes IMO) are awesome

Those definitions are incomplete though. My 10 inch tablet is also a tablet according to the smartphone definition.

“Phablet”: that’s a correct a definition it implies a difference between a tablet and a smartphone (unlike the all-inclusive definition that you’re using). That difference can be summed up as “size”. The *only* cut off point to mark a difference (any difference) in the 4-8 inch range is one-handedness. so to sum up

1) “A phablet is an intermediate” so by definition can’t *also* be what we would call a smartphone.

2) The only characteristic that is affected by size is mode of use (one-handedness vs two-handed use).

3) Without using that cut-off size as point of inference then all tablets with cellular capabilities can be called smartphones and all smartphones can be called tablets. That’s a complete disaster, because everything would mean anything.

4) If we accept that words serve any purpose at all and taking (1), (2) and (3) in account, it’s *very* implicit that your device is *not* a smartphone in any important sense.

There… Linguistics and Analytical philosophy all in one post :p

They’re incomplete because they contradict each other (do you even read my posts? By now your argument that *concepts* evolve, as well as open-ended definitions being of any important meaning are both destroyed).

It’s quite simple really (what’s going on): What we used to call phablets we now call phones, what we called phones we now call “minis”.

Why’s it hard for you to understand? Why do you even protest? What difference does it make if you own a phablet instead of a phone?

I just explained you both.

Those definitions are incomplete for the simple reason that they can define anything. My 10 inch tablet can do everything your monster phablet can do as well, should I call it my smartphone? Does that mean that I now have two phones? Should I sell my other phone? Those are the questions that keep me up at night.

As to why I care, I’m educated you on how concepts form (actually they don’t, we merely give them names. So if you use the same name for a different concept doesn’t change the initial concept). For example you (like most people) started spelling phablets differently from 2013 on, I’m merely making you aware of it.

Heh, typical, proven wrong without any doubt from (one million diff sides) so you cry foul :p

But I understand them very well, I’ve even explained them to you.

I’m a research scientist, so in fact those concepts are a child’s play for me. For some reason you do not want to understand my explanations even though they’re quite clear and tried them from many different angles.

You still haven’t answered why I should not be calling my sim-equipped 10″ tablet as a phone, for example.

Don’t you see? You have giant wholes in your arguments, if you where to try to publish a paper with such logical wholes it would have had been immediately rejected.

I’m honestly trying to correct you, I’m not trying to be a smarta$$ (sorry if I seemed that way, it was not my intention).

I tend to disagree with things that make no sense, it’s particularly easy to do so when some arguments are self-defeating.

BTW I said nothing other than that what we call a phone *now* is different than what we used to call a phone. I’m not saying that you should not call your device a phone, *I* call 5+ devices as phones because it’s easier to communicate that way.

What I said is that we call “phones” nowadays are actually phablets, that’s not a controversial point, I don’t see why you feel so defensive.

Another example, if I convince people to call frogs by the names of “crocodiles” doesn’t *actually* change frogs to crocodiles, merely their name.

Similar to phablets, we call them phones, they’re still phablets. In science this widespread understanding that “belief” doesn’t *actually* change the world, merely how we see it (that’s why we have experiments) is what let it make any progress at all.

So -yeah- you own a phablet that you call a phone, I don’t see why you find that a problematic concept to believe.

I told you why I find the open-ended definition of smartphone problematic. It’s basically all-inclusive (for example it includes all touch-based devices regardless of size, for example the Note pro which is a 12.2 inch tablet).

All all-inclusive definitions are also all-exclusive (if they mean potentially everything, they actually mean nothing). So either the word “smartphone” means sth (and your device ain’t it) or it means potentially everything (it’s an all inclusive definition) in which case -again- your device ain’t it (because nothing actually is).

It’s logically inconsistent for your device to *actually* be a phone. But it’s very consistent to be “called a phone”. I merely explained to you the difference of the two (“I call a frog to be a crocodile but it’s still a frog”).

Again to *actually* think that you own a phone is bonkers. Of course you can call it a phone, you can call it Suzie for all I care :p

Well I’m not trying to entertain you, merely to explain a couple of things to you.

BTW my smartphone is 10.1 inches (Galaxy Note 10.1 – 4G). Great phone, I can make calls, write texts, use it as a laptop, serve coffee on it…