The ‘five inch’ revolution is only one year old, but already companies seem to be marching on to the next challenge – 5.7 inch, which have 30% more display area.
Two 5.7 inch quad-core Android smartphones have already been launched in the last two weeks, and many more are on the way according to trends in the Chinese market.
First off was the Karbonn Titanium S9, and it was followed by Josh Thunder 5.7.
Of course, 5.7 and 6 inch phones have always been there in the market, but they all suffered from a key drawback – CPU power and poor display resolution.
While a qHD resolution may be OK on a 4.5 inch screen, or even on a 5 inch screen, it gets grainy on a 5.7 or 6 inch display.
Even when bigger phones came with an HD display (Byond Phablet II), their CPU power was less than half of what you got on quad-core 5-inch phones like Micromax HD or Videocon A55.
That has finally been rectified, thanks to the launch of the S9 and the Josh Thunder.
Both come in almost identical specifications, except that the S9 has slightly better features than the Josh model in areas like Camera (13 MP vs 8 MP), built-in storage memory (16 GB vs 2 GB) and operating system (4.2 vs 4.1).
However, in terms of the core features such as display (720p IPS), battery (2600 mAh) and processor/chipset (MTK MT6589), the phones are identical.
Right now, the premium in terms of price required to by the 5.7-inch model is Rs 3,500. Though it may sound a little too much to pay for 30% more display area, the premium is likely to fall to about Rs 2,000 as more and more 5.7-inch models are launched.
Both models are yet to hit the stores – and the Josh model carries and MRP of Rs 15,999 and the Karbonn model Rs 19,999. However, actual retail prices are likely to be lower when they hit the stores in early August.
Considering that the current price of such models in the international markets start from $230 (Rs 14,000), the prices offered in India are reasonable as one has to add about $30 for shipping and another $30-$50 as duties.
It may be noted that for the same amount or less, consumers can by full-HD phones such as the Berry’s Auxus Nuclea N1, the Spice Mi-525 or the Lemon Aspire FHD.
For those for whom price is not a problem, other models such as the Lenovo K900 (Full HD 5.5 inch), priced at Rs 27,000, the Huawei Ascend Mate (720p 6.1 inch), priced at Rs 24,500 and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra (6.4 inch full HD, quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, Rs 44,500) can all be considered.