Best Highend Phablets of 2014

This list will include some phones from late 2013. Also when I say Phablet I am talking about phones with 5.5 inch displays or larger.
(published: 5/1/14)
5. Sony Xperia Z ultra

I will start off with the Sony Xperia Z Ultra being the phone with the largest 6.4 inch display. To put that into perspective the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has only a 5.7 inch display and most tablets such as the Google Nexus 7 start at 7.0 inches. Another great feature is that the Ultra is one of the only water/dust resistant phablets which holds an IP 58 certification. It comes with a nice 1080p display, 2gb of ram, a quad core 2.2 GHz processor, and an 8 megapixel camera. Just like all the recent Xperia Z phones it comes in a both front and back glass feel, a squared off design, and a very light and thin feel contributing to the premium feel. If you've ever dealt with Sony's UI you might notice that Sony really likes to keep it close to stock android and I find it not as intrusive as some other skins like touch wiz. The absolutely only drawback I can see in this phone is lack of flash which is something I rarely use on my camera unless I'm looking to use it as a flashlight. Click here for full spec list.
4. HTC One Max

Like most of the phones on this list the HTC One Max comes from its smaller sibling the HTC One. It went for a large form factor with a 5.9 1080p display and front speakers which leads to a very large and somewhat heavy phone. HTC keeps the curved aluminum back that so many people loved, and even added a strange fingerprint scanner on the back. Instead of starting with 32 GB and no expandable storage like the original One they now went back to the standard 16 GB of storage and the very missed SD slot. Most Phablets tend to come with very large batteries but somehow HTC managed to pull of one of the most efficient and best batteries that pulls in front of most competitors. They also continued the Ultra Pixel idea that so many people came to dislike. The ultra-pixel did have its advantages like superior low lighting performance and having smaller 4mp images to save space in storage. There is also the wide lens front camera that can come in great use when trying to fit many people in a selfie, but it does stretch out what you are trying to capture on the sides, its most noticeable with people. I think an average person will usually overlook many of these small things about the camera and will probably still be completely satisfied. Click here for full spec list.
3. LG G Pro 2

For anyone who tried the LG G2 last year, this is a very similar high-end smartphone with a few minor spec upgrades and a screen bumped up from 5 to 5.9 inches. Like every other android on this list it comes running with Kit-Kat 4.4 but with the LG Optimus UI skin on top. I've always seen a lot of what Samsung does in LG's smartphones; everything from the rounded glossy plastic form factor to the heavy customizable UI with a plethora of gimmicky features sometimes almost making it difficult to distinguish the fact that it's even android. LG does however have its own ideas of how to innovate and improve their own smartphones, shown with the placement of the power and volume buttons, meaning all the sides of the phone don't have a single button. LG is also a company that learned how to make a great compact phone and added some nice features like 4k recording, and an IR blaster so you can use your phone like a remote for things such as a TV or DVD player. In addition it comes stock with 32 GB built in storage and storage expansion with a SD card going up 64 GB. In conclusion this a great phone capable to go head to head with Samsung and their Note series. Click here for full spec list.
2. Nokia Lumia 1520 

With the Nokia Lumia 1520 the first thing that's important to understand is that it runs Windows 8. Running such an OS has some nice advantages such as having the ability to use Microsoft Office for free and that's something that not all people use on normal phones, but of course this is a very large smartphone with a 6 inch display. There is also the fact that like Apple's iOS it's not to overloaded with a ton of features and the OS always runs very smoothly. Then there are the live tiles that are up to personal preference and something I think actually looks pretty neat. And just like anything else there comes some disadvantages like lack of customization and most noticeably the lack of some apps, though Microsoft has been getting better about this. One very strong aspect of the Nokia is their incredible build quality and durability, also the emphasis on a good camera (20 Megapixels). I'll also add that as far as specs go Nokia did a great job and added all the latest technology. In short, before picking this phone look at what you need from it most, like whether you need a lot of apps or just a great camera. Click here for full spec list.
1. Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Now of course it all leads down to Samsung and their note series. So Samsung was one of the first large manufactures to successfully create and sell many of these large phones which are now often referred to as phablets and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 continues to be a great success. The Note continues working on their S Pen and adding an almost overwhelming amount of features into Touchwiz, also upgraded to a 1080p 5.7 inch display while managing to keep the same footprint as the note 2. Although no doubt this is a large phone, it's actually one of the smallest of the phablets on this list especially because of the compact design and small bezel. Something that's not very new but often goes unmentioned about Samsung products is their Super AMOLED displays and why they use it. Without getting very technical what makes it special is the ability for only part of the screen to be turned of meaning whenever there is something black on the display it is truly black. This is kind of rare for phones to have and also comes with additional benefit of not wasting as much battery life. They also added a leather feeling back in hopes that it will feel more premium. The last feature I'd want to mention is just like the S5 it comes with a newer version of micro USB that speeds up the charging process but still makes it compatible with the standard micro USB. Click here for full spec list. ^^Above you can buy or check out any of these smartphones from Amazon.^^ (unless you're on mobile version)