Apparently Galaxy Note 2
customers weren't happy with 5.5 inches, so Samsung has increased the
screen size for the sequel to 5.7in. The AMOLED display has been bumped
up to a full HD 1,920x1,080 panel, which looked excessively bright
during our brief hands-on - switching from ful brightness to auto
brought it back to more realistic levels which won't slaughter the
battery. Colours were understandably vibrant and viewing angles looked
excellent too, although we expect low brightness on a bright sunny day
to be just as hard to use as it is now.
Despite the change in screen size, the handset is both thinner and
lighter than the Note 2, at just 8.3mm and 168g respectively. It still
feels large in the hand, but nowhere near as uncomfortable to hold as
some 7in tablets - we laughed at 5in smartphones a few years ago, but
now they feel right at home. The textured rear finish is accented by
silver detailing around each edge, giving it a premium appearance
despite the fact it still uses plastic construction.
Inside, you'll either get a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800
processor running at 2.3GHz if you opt for the 4G LTE version, or
Samsung's own eight-core Exnos 5 Octa running at 1.9GHz for the 3G only
model. It's likely that the 3G model won't actually come to the UK, so
we concentrated on the 4G version, which includes a whopping 3GB of RAM.
Despite the huge clock speed, Samsung still expects around 13 hours of
1080p video playback from the 3200mAh battery.
There are other benefits to using a Snapdragon CPU, mainly the
ability to record 4K video clips and high quality 24bit 192KHz audio.
The Galaxy Note 3 isn't the first handset to include such features -
that would be the Acer Liquid S2 and LG G2
respectively. However, it is the first to combine the two which should
give it a real edge. We did notice that 4K recording has a 5 minute
limit, which is potentially due to file size, but weren't able to test
out the high quality audio.
Beyond video recording, the Galaxy Note 3 can also capture
13-megapixel stills using its rear camera sensor. It has an LED flash
and "smart stabilization", which should help it cope well with low light
shooting. We weren't able to save our quick test shots during the
hands-on, but they looked crisp and detailed on the handset - we'll just
have to wait for a review unit for a final conclusion.
As usual for a Note device, the highlight is the S Pen. Samsung has
added a few new features since its last appearance, including a
streamlined scrapbook interface which saves clippings, web pages,
images, audio and video to a fully searchable folder. S Note has been
updated with a cleaner UI and multiple notebooks to help you better
store your scribbles. It also syncs to Evernote, so Samsung has included
twelve months of Evernote Premium with every new Note 3.
Multi Window now lets you open two instances of the same app, which
could be ideal for sending multiple emails or texts, or talking to
multiple friends on an IM client. Finally, Multi Vision lets you sync
multiple Note 3 handsets for larger video playback, although we think
this is much more a novelty than an everyday feature.
The Galaxy Note 3 is due to go on sale later this month in the India.
Based on what we've seen, the S Pen updates could easily tempt existing
Note users and the top-end specification should appeal to everyone else.
We'll be giving it a full review as soon as we can.
Under that slablike screen is a beefy 2.3GHz processor with a
whopping 3GB of RAM. All that power harnessed to a giant screen could
empty the tank with alarming alacrity, but a 3,200mAh battery is there
to ensure there's plenty of grunt left when you need it.
And the Note has plenty of speed, too: it has 4G LTE for connecting to
the Internet at high speeds, with support for the fastest category 4 4G.
Around back is a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash. It's set in
a textured, leather-effect rear edged in fake stitching. Perhaps stung
by the criticism aimed at the cheap-looking glossy plastic of the Galaxy
S4 and its ilk, Samsung is obviously going for the premium look of an
expensive wallet, and, coupled with the classy metal rim, it actually
works.
Still, I can't help but smile at the timing: Samsung's fierce rival Apple has just ditched stitching from its iOS software because it looked dated.
This chart details a full list of Galaxy Note 3 specs, and how the device compares with the Note 2.
S Pen
The distinguishing feature of the Note family is the S Pen, a dinky
stylus stowed away in the bottom of the phablet. The Note 3 expands
upon the S Pen's capabilities, making it more than an unnecessary
accessory strictly for any old-timers who haven't yet figured out touch
screens.
As soon as you unsheathe the S Pen from its cubbyhole,
the Air Command wheel appears on screen, floating on top of the app or
home screen. You can also call it up beholding the S Pen hovering over
the screen and clicking the button on the side of the stylus. The
onscreen wheel includes icons that give you shortcuts to assorted clever
features that use the stylus.
The most basic use for the S Pen is to scrawl a note or memo;
but those notes and memos can then spring to life. Say you meet a
pretty young thing at your pilates class and end up jotting down digits.
After waiting the requisite three days -- don't want to look too keen
-- you can call your new friend by drawing a box around the scribbled
number and hitting the call icon.
It's not as smooth as I'd like, though. Hitting the call icon
launches the dialer with the number in it, whereupon you have to hit
call again. Clever as this is, there's still a screen press or two too
many, which might put you off your seductive chat once you do get
through to your potential new love interest.
You can also bring to life addresses, links, or e-mail addresses
that you've written down, by once again drawing a box around them and
hitting the relevant icon to open the maps, e-mail, or browser apps.
Also on the Air Command wheel is an option to save snippets to a
Scrapbook app. Draw a box around something you want to save, whether
it's part of a Web page, an image, some text, or a YouTube video, and
it's saved to the app. You can add your own tags or handwritten notes to
each snippet, and later edit the saved text or open the Web page again.
The Scrapbook app syncs across Samsung devices, but unlike
Evernote you can't access it online. Seeing as there's already an
Evernote Android app, you might as well install that.
With the S Finder you can search your Note 3, looking not only
for files, music, and photos by name but also by date or tags. And you
can search handwritten notes, even for hand-drawn symbols like a star.
Type in a location, such as London, and S Finder will not only
sniff out anything with the word London in it, but will ferret through
your geotagged photos to find any snaps taken in London. You can refine
the search by the past seven days, the past month or year, or other
filters such as keywords.
More multitasking
A bigger screen means more room for movies and games. That's
all very well, but previous Notes came up with a next-level use for a
big screen: simultaneous multitasking. When you've got all that leg
room, why stop at one app when you can use two at the same time?
With Multi Window, you can divide the screen in half between two apps.
On the Note 3, more apps support Multi Window. You can drag and drop
stuff between two apps: no more cumbersome copying text, switching apps,
pasting it, switching back, copying the next bit, and so on and so on.
Instead, just use the S Pen to select what you want -- some
text, a link, a phone number, or whatever -- and slide it neatly to the
other app.
You can grab the dividing line between the two apps and slide it
about to choose how much space each app takes up. And you can even
split one app in half to use the same app in two windows.
For example, why not have two separate browser windows open at
the same time to compare information? Or two separate chat windows, to
chat with two different people behind each others' backs? Just whatever
you do, don't mix up which one's which.
If there's a pair of apps you often need to bring together, you
can save them for quick access in future. And there's no limit to how
many of these combinations the Note 3 remembers.
More than one app multitasking
But why stop at two apps? Sometimes you want to use an app very
quickly without disturbing your main app. So selected apps can be called
up to quickly float over your main app then be just as quickly pushed
to one side, waiting to be called on again. The clever part is, you can
have as many of these quick apps open or minimised at one time as you'd
like.
These quick access apps include the calculator, phone
dialer, and the YouTube app. Grab your S Pen, call up the Air Command
wheel, and select the option to call up one of the quick apps. Then draw
a box or just a line where you want the app to appear -- any size, and
anywhere on the screen.
Say you're browsing the Web and you see some numbers you need
to crunch. Draw a box to open the calculator or phone app and do a
quick sum or make a quick call from the numbers in your main app. If
you're done with the quick app but think you may need it again, just
minimise it.
It then becomes a small round icon floating above
the screen, ready to be moved unceremoniously around, opened again for
more speedy calculations, or closed -- exactly like the Facebook's Chat
Heads, now I come to think of it, only with apps instead of old friends
who post too many baby photos.
Take Note
As phones get bigger and tablets get more ubiquitous, it's good to see a
device do something different that actually justifies the increased
size. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3's multitasking features are particularly
well-thought-out -- but whether you think it looks good in leather is
up to you.