Phablet what Phablet?

I recently had a BIG problem that most tech inclined and dependent individuals will inevitably come across one day; my smart phone became acting stupid (read failing)!

So I was at a cross road with many offerings and had to make a quick decision. Because, as so many of us, my phone is my life (digitally speaking). I need it to email, skype, socialize, text and keep my work life organized. So the perspective of being stuck with a device that was always dying or failing to be useful was not something I was seeing enthusiastically.

I wanted to stay with my current carrier as my agreement was not up and because the service I get from them is very good (a rare feat in a world of gouging and scamming by Big Telecoms). So that already set some limitations as to which models I could choose from.

I also knew I wanted a powerful smart phone with a big screen. So the choices were again reduced. Happily for me, I was buying at a time when the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 were about to become available to consumers so the prices of their predecessors were slashed substantially. So after looking up the specs of major offerings from LG, Samsung, Apple and Sony, I had 3 choices left to decide from;

1. Apple iPhone 5s 32GB

2. Samsung Galaxy Note 3

3. LG G3

My first criteria was screen size as I wanted to stop carrying my tablet around as it became too cumbersome for a commute on which I regularly have to fight for standing space on the train. That meant that the Apple iPhonre 5s with its measly 4 inch display was quickly eliminated. It simply cannot compete against the LG G3's 5.5 inches and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3's 5.7 inches.

My second criteria was to be a net improvement in comparison to my LG Nexus 4's featurs. The second thing other than it's sheer screen size that caught my attention about the
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was the Smart Pen and the S Note app. This feature truly turns your phablet into a portable laptop if you use it properly. You can write and edit on the fly. No more post its or shopping lists for me! Also S Health and it's integrated pedometer was a nice bonus.

So I now have a single device, my trusty Samsung Note 3 that acts as a reader, notepad, and of course as a phone. And to those that think that their hands will hurt from holding this behemoth, trust me it will not. It may require some adjustment and adaptation in the first minute or so but then it's amazing.

Simply speaking, the Note 3 is awesome and very complete. As for the Note 4, I do not feel the need to pay top dollar to have a phablet that hit the market last week. Last month's model is just as good and was FREE. I mean what else can be better then a FREE Samsung Galaxy Note 3? Not much, tech wise of course!