Samsung has once again proved that it could stay ahead of its rivals with the release of its latest flagship phablet- Samsung Galaxy Note 3...
Samsung has once again proved that it could stay ahead of its rivals with the release of its latest flagship phablet-Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It is not easy to remain at the top of your game when others are breathing down your neck going for your jugular. It is this very intense competition that has spurred Samsung to create the best Android smartphone for 2013-Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Previously I had written about LG G2 which was better compared to Samsung Galaxy S4. However nothing can be compared to Note 3, "note" even iPhone 5S nor Sony Xperia Z Ultra.
Continuing on the success of its predecessor-Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the new Note 3 floored the gas right of the bat. Knowing that it has little margin for error or complacency, Samsung ensure that their latest flagship phablet is fully loaded with all the ammunition that can help it beat off rivals for at least months to come. Measuring at 5.95 inches (151.2mm) tall, 3.1 inches (79.2mm) wide and 0.3 inch (8.3 mm) deep, Samsung Galaxy Note 3's footprint has remained largely unchanged despite the larger display (5.7 inches, up from 5.5). In fact, it's now slimmer and narrower, and only 0.1mm longer. It is even lighter as well, dropping from 6.35 oz. (180g) to 5.93 (168g).
DESIGN
One of the most notable change about the design of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has got to be its new "faux leather" back. This textured "leather like" back, complete with "faux stitching" gives Samsung Galaxy Note 3 a more premium feel to it. A welcome upgrade from its usual flimsy plastic cover. Besides adding a touch of class, the "faux leather" actually gives better grip for users to handle it. Soft and rubbery to the touch, you will spare your Note 3 from accidental gravity-influenced screen wipeout.
Luxurious faux leather finish.
DISPLAY
You will be amazed once you lay your eyes on the huge, gorgeous 5.7inch full HD Super AMOLED display. Just like its little brother-Galaxy S4, Note 3 uses the same PenTile ‘diamond’ display, where the sub-pixels are arranged into a diamond shape. At 396ppi, the screen offers a marked improvement over its predecessors. Colors are vivid and vibrant and those equally important blacks are nice and dark as you'd hope. Flicking the display setting to "Professional Photo", you will be feasting your eyes on unbelievable realistic colours.
CAMERA
Bumping up from 8Megapixel in Note 2, the new zero shutter lag 13Megapixel rear camera of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is really an impressive snapper. The main camera on Note 3 produces bright, vivid photos which are well-saturated and great in contrast. As a standard, Galaxy Note 3 comes with full Auto mode. Compared to Galaxy S4, Night mode has been offloaded, leaving only "Smart Stabilization," for low-light situations which is more or less similar to the Galaxy S4's auto night-detection option. All of the other camera modes from before are present, such as Best Face, Eraser, Sound and Shot plus two more new ones-Golf and Surround Shot.
Flip the phone and you will be greeted by the 2Megapixel front-facing camera which is sufficient for some selfies and video-calling. Onboard of Samsung Galaxy Note 3, you will also have the popular Dual Camera mode at your disposal. Yupe~you can have fun toying with the Dual Shot, Dual Recording and even Dual Video Call. Note 3 doesn't disappoint in video capture department as well. There’s refocusing during video recording, 1080p video capture, software image stabilisation for both slow motion and fast motion capture.
S PEN STYLUS
One of the main selling point of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has gotta be the S Pen Stylus. Once the mighty "pen" is slid out, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover how intuitive it is to use the S Pen just like any other pen that you use to scribble and doodle. The newly designed S Pen's variable pressure rubber tip offers plenty of friction and resistance that can almost replicate our natural handwriting. The best part about Galaxy Note 3 and the S Pen stylus is that it can accurately convert all your handwriting into messages or notes. So you don't need the keyboard anymore!
The Air Command menu wheel will be brought up when you hover the S Pen over the screen and click its button. You will be greeted by 5 different Air Commands: Air Memo, Pen Window, S Finder, Screen Write and Scrapbook. Each has its very own flashy tricks and some maybe a bit weird, to say the least.
Action Memo: You’ll get a Post-It-sized overlay for you to make quick notes. If you write say, a phone number, an email, someone's address and a URL, you can then select it and carry out the relevant action for each. If you have jotted down a phone number, you can either save it to contacts or call it directly.
Pen Window: With Pen Window you can draw out a box, choose from a list of compatible apps, and voila you have just drawn yourself a fully interactive widget. Honestly it is more like a show pony, because it’s a lot quicker to just fire up the app that you need. Then again who knows/
S Finder: Write something and it will run a universal search that sifts through everything on your Galaxy Note 3, and that includes your handwritten notes and doodles. I believe this is a really useful feature.
Screen Write: Allows you to snap a screen shot that you can make annotations on. A brilliant feature for taking a more detailed notes and bookmarks.
Scrapbook: You can select parts of the screen that are relevant before defacing them with doodles, handwriting or whatever that you can do with your S Pen...more or less like a well...Scrapbook.
PERFORMANCE
Being Samsung's most important flagship smartphone, you can bet that Note 3 is brimming with all the bells and whistles especially when it comes to the hardward department. In fact Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is no doubt the most powerful smartphone in 2013 that you can buy. Under the hood, there is the omnipotent Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip which clocks in at a cool 2.3GHz, and with an amazing 3GB of RAM to play with (and the Note's family name to uphold) you can expect Galaxy Note 3 to do wonders with just about everything that you throw at it.
Despite being heavily skinned with TouchWiz, you will not experience any stuttering, slowdown or whatsoever lag even if you are running dozens of apps and demanding games SIMULTANEOUSLY. Yes! Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is really a multitasking powerhouse and it can handle every single task that you assign to it. It goes to show how important the 3GB of RAM that Galaxy Note 3 has to marshal all the processes in it butterly smooth.
| THE GIST: | SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3-SPECIFICATIONS |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 5.95 x 3.12 x 0.33 inches (151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm) |
| Weight | 5.92 oz. (168g) |
| Screen size | 5.7 inches |
| Screen resolution | 1,920 x 1,080 (386 ppi) |
| Screen type | Full HD Super AMOLED |
| Battery | 3,200mAh |
| Internal storage | 32 / 64GB |
| External storage | microSD (up to 64GB) |
| Rear camera | 13MP |
| Front-facing cam | 2MP |
| Video capture | 1080p, 4K/UHD* (only in some markets) |
| NFC | Yes |
| Radios | HSPA+, LTE Advanced |
| Bluetooth | Version 4.0 |
| SoC | 2.3GHz quad-core processor / 1.9GHz octa-core processor (varies by region) |
| RAM | 3GB |
| MHL | Yes |
| Operating system | Android 4.3 Jelly Bean |
VERDICT
Besides the usual connectivity such as NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, MHL, WiFi etc, Galaxy Note 3 features a 64GB miscroSD slot should you use up the integrated 32GB of storage. Running on Android Jelly Bean 4.3, you can expect to enjoy all the goodies from Android plus the extras that TouchWiz is providing. With its monstrous capabilities (thanks to the processor and 3GB of RAM), you can expect this Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to be relatively future proof. So who wants this Samsung Galaxy Note 3? *hands up* I want! I want! Hopefully Santa can grant me this wish this year. LOL :D
I want Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for Christmas!
I want Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for Christmas!
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