# Have you ever used the word "phablet"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250 "2015-02-09T19:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/1 "2015-02-09T19:50:21Z")
I’m doing a show for a large computer tech company right now and they have been using the word “phablet” non-ironically to describe a large cel phone. A quick google check shows that the word was coined several years ago, yet to the best of my recollection I’ve never encountered it before. And I do shows for Nextel, the CTIA, Apple, Samsung, etc. all the time. Not only that, I can’t imagine using the word; it just sounds and looks like a shitty word. But I know that I’m usually in the minority about some pop culture trends, so I thought I’d see if any Dopers had picked up the word and made it a part of their regular vocabulary. Has anyone? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/2 "2015-02-09T20:02:10Z")
I work in the cellphone industry, and it’s a word you see written more than spoken. I think everybody agrees it’s a stupid word but it’s also the most common term for describing the jumbo phones like Samsung’s Note series and Apple’s iPhone 6+. It gained traction originally, I think, because a lot of tech journalists thought these devices were cumbersome and poorly-designed and they wanted to point out that they were more like undersized tablets than big phones. I saw it originally in a lot of sentences like, “Have you seen the phablet Samsung is launching? Who would buy that?” Turns out: a **bunch** of people. It might be the most “out of touch” thing I’ve seen from the tech journalism industry in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/3 "2015-02-09T20:05:57Z")
Have you ever used the word “phablet”? No. Never. Never heard anyone speak it. I’m not sure we need a new word. “Large cell phone” works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/4 "2015-02-09T20:11:39Z")
No, and I hope I never do. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/5 "2015-02-09T20:16:50Z")
I have. It came up in a meeting we were having about our web site at work, and we were discussing responsive design and all the different form factors there are for screens now. Some folks in the meeting hadn’t heard the word yet so it got some laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/6 "2015-02-09T20:28:00Z")
I used it once. I was in a group of people and and this young girl remarked how huge my iPhone 6 Plus (in an Otterbox case, btw) was, and I said “Yeah, phones this size are sometimes called 'phablets”, because they’re kind of a cross between a phone and a tablet. A big, burly guy in the group grinned at me and teasingly said that he’d never have suspected he’d ever hear the word “phablet” coming out of my mouth. I felt duly chastised. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/7 "2015-02-09T20:37:02Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it, but I think I like it. I will start using it and see how people react. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/8 "2015-02-09T20:51:57Z")
Phuck no. I’ve heard it on the news though. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/9 "2015-02-09T20:54:25Z")
I’ve had other people use it around me, and know what it means, but it hasn’t actually come out of my mouth. Because . . . phablet? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/10 "2015-02-09T21:11:50Z")
It’s a dumb term that I’ve nevertheless used, although while bending over backwards to distance myself from it. Can we stop calling them “phones”? You have pocket computers, tablets, laptops, desktops (and mainframes, and supercomputers, etc). It’s only a matter of historical accident that one of those form factors usually has an additional “make person to person calls” function included by default, and there’s no reason desktops, laptops or tablets can’t have that same capability. The British use of “mobile” for this device would end some of the confusion, I think. And it would have the added benefit of preventing idiotic frankenterms like “phablet” from entering our vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/11 "2015-02-09T21:25:44Z")
I’ve never used the word. Sounds like something made up by an advertising agency. I also don’t like the devices. My phone (Nexus 5) is almost too big as it is. The Nexus 6 is too big. I don’t care what wonderful things it does – there’s no way I can comfortably carry that thing around with me. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/12 "2015-02-09T21:28:32Z")
Only with accompanying eyeroll and air-quotes. I have had a Note II for several years, so the word does come up in context. Which usually includes the phrase “…it fits in \*my \*pocket just fine.” (Because I’m not a teen, a model, a soccer mom or a hipster wearing clothes that can’t carry a bare credit card.) ---
**Author:** ![spyderkill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@spyderkill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spyderkill)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/13 "2015-02-09T22:22:18Z")
I have a Xperia Z Ultra, a Phablet. In the internet i use this word, but in the real life it sounds a little ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/14 "2015-02-09T23:14:45Z")
Never, except to comment on how much I hate the word. [This article](http://www.thewire.com/technology/2013/01/what-is-a-phablet/60910/) did a good job explaining what’s so off-putting about it. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/15 "2015-02-09T23:21:51Z")
I just got a note 4 through work and called it a phablet the other day. Never realized it was a weird word to use ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/16 "2015-02-10T00:11:24Z")
Only when saying ‘phablets are crap, they neither function well as phones nor tablets’. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/17 "2015-02-10T00:25:53Z")
A friend of mine used the word “phlabet” once when he was trying to say “alphabet” when drunk. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/18 "2015-02-10T01:10:02Z")
No, but I have said that the big iPhone 6 looks like a Pop Tart. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/19 "2015-02-10T02:57:05Z")
I work in tech. We use the word to describe that specific form factor, but, like you, we don’t think that the majority of people who have the things use that term. Here in the US, it’s their cell phone. Elsewhere, it’s their mobile. I would say it depends on the audience: techie or standard consumer? The word has the benefit of getting across exactly what is being discussed, but that’s only helpful if the reader doesn’t have to stop and Google the term. ---
**Author:** ![seadoggie01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seadoggie01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seadoggie01)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250/20 "2015-02-10T03:25:42Z")
Weird. Have never ever heard that word before. I have to go look it up now to see how to pronounce it. Eww. It sounds like… flab or something. Now I really don’t want to own one 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-used-the-word-phablet/712250.md?page=2)