The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the third iteration of Samsung's
popularphablet series that has just become even
bigger.
With its large 5.7in screen and S Pen stylus, the Note 3
is unashamedly a phablet that will stretch prospective buyers hands and
pockets, but provide fast and fluid experience while its at it.
Design: You'll need at least two hands
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is anything but small. A phablet
through and through, it has a very large footprint compared to most other
smartphones with screens between 4.7 and 5in, and while it's thin at just 8.9mm
thick, it certainly feels big in your hand.
The sheer size of the device basically makes one-handed
operation impossible. Samsung's given the Note 3 an entire settings menu
dedicated to trying to make it easier to use one-handed, but even with my adult
male-sized hands it's a struggle to reach even half of the screen without
dropping the device.
Samsung
has used its characteristically plastic phone construction for the Note 3,
matching the design ethos displayed by the rest of the Samsung Galaxy Android
phone line, including its current flagship phone, the Galaxy S4
However,
instead of a glossy plastic back, Samsung has given the Note 3 a fake leather
back reminiscent of a cheap "pleather" sofa.
I wouldn't call that an upgrade. Combined with chromed and
ridged plastic edges, it makes the Note 3 feel anything but premium.
Despite the cheap feel, the Note 3 is solidly built and
displays little to no give, flex or creak in the body when twisted, while being
lightweight.
The front of the device is dominated by an excellent,
bright and colourful large 5.7in screen. With a full HD 1920x1080 resolution the
display is pin sharp making text on websites and ebooks easily legible, images
crisp and detailed, while making watching videos a joy.
Specifications
·
Screen: 5.7in
full HD Super AMOLED
·
Processor: 2.3
GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
·
RAM: 3GB
of RAM
· Storage: 32/64GB
plus microSD slotsupporting up to 64GB cards
·
Operating system Android 4.3 with Samsung TouchWiz
·
Camera: 13-megapixel
rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera
·
Connectivity: LTE,
Wi-Fi (n/ac), NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 with BLE, IR and GPS
·
Dimensions: 151.2
x 79.2 x 8.3mm
·
Weight: 168g
Powerful - and excellent for gaming
Samsung has given the Note 3 a top of the line processor
in the form of a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800, and it really shows. The
phablet absolutely flies along, with near-instant app loading and no
perceptible lag anywhere within the operating system (more on that later).
Even
the most graphically intensive games run as smooth as butter, making the Note 3
excellent for gaming, while 3GB of RAM mean it should be up to any sort of
multi-tasking you're likely to throw at it.
To
keep you fully stocked with apps, games and movies, the Note 3 sports ample
storage with either 32GB or 64GB built-in, depending on model, of which the
operating system takes up 5.64GB of space. A microSD card slot also stands
ready to add up to another 64GB, should you need more.
The Note 3 comes with USB 3.0 support, which makes
transferring movies and music to the device much faster than most other
smartphones that are saddled with the slower USB 2.0 standard.
Charging the Note 3 is also fast via the included USB 3.0
cable, which from the mains charger adds about 1% of battery life per minute up
until around 90% of capacity. It's 3,200mAh battery then gives it a very decent
battery life of just about two days of real world use.
That generally means you might have to top up the battery
a little towards the end of the second day, but it should easily manage to last
a day's mixed use even for the most demanding of users.
Software:
TouchWiz is cluttered and confusing
The Galaxy Note 3 runs Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean"
and has unfettered access to all the Google apps and services that are
available through the Google Play Store, including Gmail, Chrome and Google
Now.
However, like most manufacturers, Samsung chooses to customise
the Android experience on its devices. Samsung's modifications are known as
TouchWiz, and include things like a custom keyboard, modified settings menus,
and a custom home screen.
TouchWiz
is a bit like Marmite - you will either love it or hate it. Personally, I
loathe it, and find it cluttered and overly complicated. For instance, the
settings menus are confusingly laid out at best, and the keyboard's strange,
inefficient key spacing makes hitting the right touchscreen keys harder than it
needs to be.
Within the TouchWiz experience lays a whole host of
gimmicky features that are of little practical use, including 'Air gesture'
that allows you to wave your hand over the device to turn pages, but only in
specific apps, and 'Smart screen', which uses the phablet's front-facing camera
to watch for your gaze and pause video among other things when you look away.
Generally they are confusing at best to use, and put
additional drain on your device's battery at worst. Your mileage might vary,
but I found myself turning them off within a frustrating first day of trying to
use them.
Stylus:
Completely ignore it
Samsung's 'S Pen' stylus also has a high potential for
being relegated to just a gimmick. For the most part, there's little you can do
with the stylus that you can't with a finger, which is often quicker and more
convenient.
The Note 3's 'Air command' function brings up a circular
quick action menu that allows you to annotate a screenshot, but also provides
access to 'Pen Window'.
Pen
Window allows you to perform multi-window multi-tasking, by drawing out a
window of your desired size with the stylus that you can fill with a select few
apps that include Google Hangouts, a browser and a calculator - something that
sounds potentially useful, but ends up being laborious to use and slower than
just switching between dedicated full-screen apps.
Some of the drawing and annotation functions within
Samsung's apps such as S Note, SketchBook and Scrapbook could be useful for
someone who can draw well, but they're lost on me.
On the whole, the stylus doesn't detract from the Note 3's
experience, as it slots neatly into the back, but it can often be completely
ignored unless you're trying to actually sketch something on-screen.
Camera: Great for stills, but ultra HD is a gimmick
The Note 3 packs the same camera as the Samsung Galaxy S4,
which at 13-megapixels produces clean, colourful and sharp images in decent
lighting.
In poor lighting, the camera can struggle to focus
properly, however, it compares well to most other smartphone cameras and will
capture pictures of a similar quality to most dedicated compact cameras.
Samsung's camera software is easy and straightforward to use. It also
manages to incorporate useful functions like an 'Eraser Mode', which is capable
of removing unwanted objects like passers-by from your photos, and 'Drama
Shot', which captures a series of shots
and then stitches them together to make one over-laid action shot of a bike
leaping off a ramp, or a football's flight through the air.
Along with 13-megapixel stills, the Note 3's camera is
capable of capturing video at up to 4K ultra high-definition, which at
3840x2160 has four times the number of pixels as full high definition.
Since the Note 3's screen is only full HD, and 4K TVs are
few and far between at the moment, capturing video in 4K UHD is a gimmick and
will fill up the Note 3's storage very quickly with its large file sizes.
The Note 3 will, of course, capture decent lower
resolution video, including smooth normal full HD, and will even provide slow
motion video at up to 120 frames per second if required.
Price:
More expensive than iPhone 5S
Available in black, pink or white, the Samsung Galaxy Note
3 is a large, flagship phone and therefore commands a premium price. Bought
outright, the Note 3 costs £650, which makes it one of the most expensive
smartphones available at £100 more expensive than an iPhone 5s and around £230 more than a
5in Samsung Galaxy S4.
However,
bought with a mobile phone contract in the UK, the Note 3 is available for free
on contracts starting at around £42 a month for 24 months.
Verdict: a great phablet but too big for most
If you're after a phablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the best
one available right now.
It's a snappy, lag-free experience, with great battery
life and fast charging, but it's just not big enough to be a proper 7in tablet
replacement.
It's also likely be too big for most users looking for a
smartphone, who will struggle to fit it in their pockets and will find it
near-on impossible to use one-handed. Samsung's TouchWiz customisations to
Android are often gimmicky and confusing, but they can be turned off to save
frustration and battery life.
The S Pen is responsive and easy to use, but actually
using a stylus on a phone feels clumsy and fiddly, meaning it can safely be
ignored in favour of a finger unless you're actually trying to sketch something
on-screen.
Overall, Samsung hopes to continue dominating the phablet
category and maintain its 50% market share of a device type that equals tablets
and laptops combined in sales in Asia-Pacific. The Note 3 is an
improvement on the previous Galaxy Note 2 in every way, and is therefore
probably the device to do that.
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Source: Theguradian
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