[Nexus 7 (2013) Q&A] Zilliman:
In a thread that's about Nexus's inability to make voice calls, you are suggesting that instead it has "other virtues", that people do not really want a phablet, that manufacturers do not bother with phablets, and that the crappy screen issues of the Nexus are to be overlooked. And that I have lost something by returning the Nexus? You have been smoking something bad my friend. To me, and to the readers of this thread, the Nexus 7 LTE is like a car with no wheels. You get in and expect it to move but it does not. Who cares if the seats are leather, the damn thing does not move. I hope you start to understand now.

And to add some useful info for any readers. Phablets are just that, "phone+tablet" in one. There are dozens of them, from 6" up to over 10". Hundreds even. Last time I looked I just could not choose for the selection was vast. The Nexus 7 is in the middle of the range screen-wise, Or rather, it would be, because it is not a phablet. Even Asus who made the Nexus (badly) have their own "fonepad". Some phablets are very expensive, and some are dead cheap. You pays your money...

Bigger screens are the way of the future. For the simple reason of how human eyes are made, how well they can read, at what distance, how big our fingers are etc. My 6.5" DG650 phone has 1080x1920 resolution which is exactly the same as on my 17" Sony Vaio laptop! But productivity on the Vaio is a million times better. Actually even on the 6.5" there is no much productivity to talk about. Not because Android is crap, but because the screen is physically too small and there is no detached keyboard. Dozens of Chinese phablets, from 6" to 10" and of course we have Samsung and other bigger manufacturers realising that people expect more from their expensive "toys" so they are improving the specs of their phones/tablets. I hear that the next iphone will also have a big screen. Samsung already have the Mega etc and there are other non-Chinese makes at 6" and over (which is where you'd call it a phablet I suppose).

The LTE version of the Nexus is much more expensive than the normal version. Since it cannot make calls, it has no reason for existence. In Europe at least, you already have a SIM which gives you a ton of 3G data, so why would you go out and pay for another SIM just for the brain-dead Nexus? Naturally you'd want to stick your existing SIM into the Nexus LTE and carry on as normal. And if you are forced to also carry the phone with you, then you can much easily tether the Wifi Nexus on to it, rather than spending on the LTE model plus dedicated SIM. This thread emphasizes that - with no voice calls what's the use of the LTE?

I am so far very happy with my 6.5" Doogee DG650 phablet. It has HD screen, 2GB/32GB + SD, good cameras front and back, very strong flash, everything which it says it does, it does well. I did not buy it to flash new ROMs on to it, I bought it for what it does out of the box. I'd rather have bought a more known make, that I could trust more, but there simply is no phone at this price range, you'd have to pay more than double eg the Lumia 1520, the Xperia Z Ultra and so on, cost a small fortune. If the Nexus could make voice calls, it would wipe the floor with the competition, even with its problematic screen. But it was obviously a marketing decision to castrate it so as not to compete with the Samsung Notes. Meges, Lumias and Xperias out there. This is also mentioned in this thread.