The Lenovo Phab Plus, as its name suggests, doesn't shy away one bit from maximising on phablet scale. Make no bones about it: this 6.8-inch phablet-phone is an absolute monster to hold.

Our quick take

Phab or drab? 6.8-inch Lenovo Phab Plus is one supersize smartphone (hands-on)

FORAGAINST

If it looks somewhat familiar then cast your minds back to April when Huawei announced the P8max, another 6.8-inch device. Although to call either a phone is a little misleading: the Phab Plus is effectively a tablet that can also make phone calls.

It's not quite maximum "fab", though, with a feature set that shies away from the flagship, embodying a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 2GB RAM. It runs fine, with full Android delivering the full phone-tablet, daresay phablet, experience.

Given its significant scale, Lenovo has introduced some software additions to help with one-handed use. There's a virtual button which can be repositioned on the screen to make reaching to, say, close an app all the easier; while the option to miniaturise the operating system to a "normal" phone size on the screen may help with some other tasks.

phab or drab 6 8 inch lenovo phab plus is one supersize smartphone hands on image 6
Pocket-lint

After which it's a case of flipping it landscape and popping on a video. The 1920 x 1080 resolution screen hits the Full HD mark, but couldn't be called flagship, what with Sony announcing the 4K 5.5-inch Z5 smartphone. But despite the Lenovo lagging behind in pixel count it looks just fine to our eyes: held up close and there's nothing to complain about.

Things should run for plenty of time too, with a 3,500mAh battery keeping everything running. We rarely see more capacious batteries in smartphones, although the also-announced-at-IFA Gigaset Me Pro packs in a 4,000mAh offering in a smaller overall body size.

Also packed into this 7.6mm slice of supersize phone is a 13MP front-facing camera, 5MP on the rear, and the full array of connectivity options as you'd expect. The 32GB internal storage can be expanded via microSD card.

So if you want to feel like you're holding a tablet to your face then when can you get hold of a Lenovo Phab Plus? Possibly never. Well, not unless you live in China anyway, where the phone has gone on sale. UKers, as with all phones Lenovo, it's unlikely to every cross over to these waters.