Samsung has made an official announcement of its new Samsung GALAXY Mega series, a smartphone available in 5.8-ich and 6.3-inch versions designed to combine the convenience of a smartphone with viewing experience of a tablet. The biggest smartphone to date hasbeen designed to allow users watch videos or run two apps alongside each other.

"We are aware of a great potential in the bigger screen for extensive viewing multimedia, web browsing, and more," said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Business, Samsung Electronics. "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."

The GALAXY Mega 6.3 features an 6.3-inch HD TFT LCD screen with landscape mode support. The more compact version, has a 5.8-inch (147mm) QHD TFT screen. Samsung did not clarify whether the screens support 720p or the "full HD" 1080p resolution.

New home features include:

- 'Group Play': Enables easy content sharing for up to 8 devices on the same Wi-Fi network.
- 'Samsung WatchON': Transforms into an IR remote controller. Connect the device to your home entertainment system, and it will provide program recommendations, schedules, and even remotely control your TV.
- 'Samsung Link': Easily streams photos, videos, notes, or music to your television, tablet or computer.
- 'S Translator': Say or text what you need translated into the GALAXY Mega, and it will provide instant translation, using text or voice translation on applications including email, and ChatON.
- 'ChatON': Share what's on your screen with friends to stay more connected.

Split screen capability for a variety of applications including email, messages, 'MyFiles,' 'S Memo,' 'S Planner', and more, makes for increased efficiency. With the 'Air View' feature, users can preview information in emails, photos in Gallery, and speed dial contacts.

The GALAXY Mega is equipped with an enhanced 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera, along with a variety of camera modes including 'Drama Shot'(merging continuous shots of a moving object), 'Sound & Shot' (captures 9 seconds of sound and voice together as the picture is taken to capture moments), 'Rich tone,' 'Sports' and more. The device also packs various newly-introduced features including:

- 'S Travel': Provides trip information, local guides and resources and more
- 'Story Album': Allows users to create albums of daily events, keep special moments in one place using a timeline, geo-tag information and publish digital albums in hard copy

Both GALAXY Mega 6.3 and 5.8 run on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS and feature Dual Core Processor, 8/16GB internal storage along with up to 64GB of expandable memory.

The GALAXY Mega will be available globally beginning May from Europe and Russia.

Another South Korean firm, Pantech, currently lays claim to offering the biggest "full HD" smartphone with its 5.9in Vega No 6 which was announced in January.

China's Huawei had previously boasted having the biggest largest-screened 720p smartphone with its 6.1in Ascend Mate.

Samsung was the most popular smartphone maker in 2012 accounting for 30.3% of all shipments, according to analysts at IDC. Apple came in second with a 19.1% market share.

	Samsung GALAXY Mega 5.8	Samsung GALAXY Mega 6.3
Network	HSPA＋21/5.76	LTE100/50Mbps, HSPA＋21/5.76
Display	5.8-inch (147mm) QHD TFT	6.3-inch (159.7mm) HD TFT
Processor	1.4GHz Dual Core AP	1.7GHz Dual Core AP
OS	Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
Camera	Main (Rear): 8 megapixel rear-facing camera Sub (Front): 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera
Camera Feature	Beauty Face, Best Photo, Best Face, Drama, Rich Tone (High Dynamic Range),  Sound & Shot, Sports, , Continuous shot
Video	MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM	3GP, MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, MKV
Audio	MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA	MP3, M4A, MP4, 3GP, 3GA, WMA, OGG, OGA, AAC, FLAC
Services  &  Additional  Features	Group Play: Share Music, Share Picture, Share Document, Play Games
	Story Album, S Translator
	Multi Window, Pop Up Play	Air View, Multi Window, Pop Up Play
	Samsung ChatON mobile communication service
	Samsung WatchON
	Samsung Link, S Travel (TripAdvisor), S Voice 2.0
Google MobileServices	Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Latitude, Google Play Store, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Places, Google Navigation, Google Downloads, Voice Search
Connectivity	Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct BT 4.0(BLE), USB 2.0 H/S GPS＋GLONASS	Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, WiFi Direct BT 4.0(BLE), USB 2.0 H/S GPS＋GLONASS, NFC, MHL
Sensor	Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Light, Gyroscope	Accelerometer, RGB light, Geomagnetic, Proximity, Gyroscope
Memory	8GB Internal Memory (microSD up to 64GB) ＋ 1.5GB RAM	8/16GB Internal Memory (microSD up to 64GB) ＋ 1.5GB RAM
Dimension	162.6 x 82.4 x 9.0 mm,  182g	167.6 x 88 x 8.0 mm , 199g
Battery	Standard battery, Li-ion 2,600 mAh	Standard battery, Li-ion 3,200 mAh