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That giant phone you love? Would you feel differently about it if you knew it was supposed to be called a ‘fonblet’? I thought so.
This slide from a Samsung presentation to investors claims that its Galaxy Note series of massive mobiles should be referred to as ‘fonblets’, rather than the generally accepted ‘phablet’. Phablet is an utterly awful portmanteau, but I think we can all agree fonblet is no improvement.
JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile, used the term several times in the presentation yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports. Fonblets, he said, offer “optimised multitasking platforms on large displays.”
It’s not the first time the horrible mashup has appeared — back in January, rumours circulated that Samsung was working on a phone called the Galaxy Fonblet 5.8, which never materialised.
Samsung’s right to claim leadership of the gigantification of mobiles, however, with every phone maker rushing to produce their own whopping great blower in the wake of the Note’s success. Recent copycats have included the 5.9-inch HTC One Max and the ludicrous 7-inch Asus Fonepad.
The latest 5.9-inch Note 3 is more than just a pretty large face though, with an S Pen stylus for doodling and handwriting and a vast bevy of software tweaks and apps to make the most of all that space, including, as Shin says, using two apps at once — true multitasking that’s rare on phones.
Samsung shopping for software
Samsung’s keen to add even more software to its blowers, with the WSJ also reporting that an internal document lists a number of Silicon Valley startups and established mobile app developers that the Korean company is considering buying. It’s apparently looking to bolster its gaming, mapping, search and video chat offerings.
That may be in an effort to reduce its reliance on Google for all those things, and conceivably produce its own version, or fork, of Android. As Amazon has found with the Kindle Fire, that would require making its own maps, multiplayer gaming interface and chat services.
Are you fondly fondling your fonblet? Or just mollycoddling your massive mobile? Let me know what you call your phone in the comments, or on our no-nonsense Facebook page.
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Image credit: Wall Street Journal
