Samsung Mega-phone

When is a big screen TOO big? Samsung unveils the aptly named Mega-phone with 6.3inch screen

Believed to be among the biggest smartphones on sale

Samsung hopes the big design will appeal to commuters and others who regularly watch films on their gadgets

It is the biggest smartphone on sale, with a giant 6.3inch screen.

Samsung's new Mega Galaxy handset look more like a tablet than a phone - and has already been slammed as 'just too big'.

Samsung hopes the big design will appeal to commuters and others who regularly watch films on their gadgets.

'The newest addition to the Galaxy family balances an optimal viewing experience on a 6.3-inch HD screen, yet is ultra-thin and portable enough to put into a pocket or hold in one hand,' the firm said.

'The GALAXY Mega offers a mix of popular smartphone and tablet features such as an effortless user experience, a split screen, multitasking between video and other apps and more.'

It claims video and web browsing will be the main uses for the Mega.

'We are aware of a great potential in the bigger screen for extensive viewing multimedia, web browsing, and more,' said JK Shin of Samsung.

'We are excited to provide another choice to meet our consumers’ varying lifestyles, all while maintaining the high-quality features of the award-winning GALAXY series.'

However, experts are less impressed.

Rik Henderson of Pocket Lint said 'The screen size of the Galaxy Note works as you take notes - but the Mega is just a massive phone, it's just too big.

'However, I think we'll see an arms race to get to that size, there's a real blurring of the lines between phones and tablets now.

'But for consumers, I think its a fad - it's just too big.'

Samsung helped popularise the so-called 'phablet' category - in which phones approach tablet dimensions - with its original 5.3in Galaxy Note, which was released in 2011.

Analysts have deemed a 'phablet' is a mobile gadget with a screen more than 5inches diagonally.

The word comes from blending phone and tablet.

Samsung's Galaxy Note was the first popular 'phablet', but others are expected to follow this year.

Experts have predicted that 2013 could be the year of the 'phablet'.

Analysts claim the emergence of so-called 'giant mobile' which blend tablets and mobile phones, will lead to a whole new category of gadgets.

The upshot is a market for phablets that will quadruple in value to $135 billion in three years, according to analysts at Barclays.

Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to 228 million during the same period, though estimates vary because no one can agree on where smartphones stop and phablets start.

But that's the point, some say.

'I think phone size was a preconceived notion based on voice usage,' said John Berns, a Singapore-based executive who works in the information technology industry.