The estimated reading time for this post is 5 minutes
The tech announcements continue this week with Samsung introducing its next smartphone, the Galaxy Note 3. This next-generation phablet tries to prove that good things come in big packages.
Samsung has enhanced many features of Note 2 and introduced many new features in Note 3. The phone seems to take its name seriously and position itself as a fit for the heavy mobile user who doesn’t want to carry both a smartphone and a tablet. Even the design of Note 3 resembles its moniker with its ridged rim resembling the papers of a notebook.
Note 3 — Bigger Is Smaller
If you thought the Note 2 was big, you were right. With a 5.5″ screen, the Note 2 was massive for a phone, with some people complaining that it was too big for their paws.
The Note 3 is both bigger and smaller than the Note 2. With a 5.7″ screen, Note 3 provides plenty of viewing real estate, but the overall size of the phone has been reduced. This magic trick has been accomplished by making the phone thinner and by narrowing the bezel around the screen, shaving width off of the phone. The phone also is lighter and longer than the Note 2, increasing screen space without straining your hand more than before.
The Note 3 is 1.3mm narrower, 1.1mm thinner, and 0.1mm taller than Note 2. The Note 3 weighs in at 168g, 12g lighter than the Note 2. How long before phones achieve zero gravity?
Hardware Features
The Note 3 doesn’t just give more screen quantity, it promises more quality as well. The specs show the Note 3’s HD screen to be significantly sharper and brighter than the Note 2.
The Note 3 comes with your choice of 32 or 64 GB of storage space and will run Android 4. 3, Jelly Bean. The back of the phone is leather with faux stitching, though you can switch out the leather back for plastic covers in many colors and designs. Time will tell how well a leather-backed phone will hold up to wear and tear and the rigors of life in pockets and purses.
The improved screen means more thirst for power and the Note 3 will come with a stronger battery than the Note 2, 3400 vs. 3100mAh. Note 3 also has improved cameras — 13 MP rear and 2 MP front.
Note 3 Notes
The phone’s S Pen stylus packs more features, enhancing your ability to take notes, use apps and surf the web. The S Pen activates Air Command, a menu of five task icons including:
- Action Memo
- Scrap Booker
- Screen Write
- S Finder
- Pen Window
These tasks help you take notes using handwriting, drawing, typing and screen clips so you can be creative with your notes. Once your notes are created, you can edit, share and store them by dragging and dropping them where you want them to be.
The S Finder helps you find your notes, and other content on the phone, similar to Spotlight search on the iPhone, but S Finder will even search your handwriting.
Handwriting Recognition
The handwriting recognition capabilities of Note 3 extend to recognizing phone numbers. When you handwrite a phone number on your Note 3, you can call that number and add it to contacts directly from the handwritten note. Not only will the phone recognize your handwriting, but the phone will also know that the series of numbers is a phone number.
I am curious how accurately the phone will be able to recognize phone numbers. Does neatness count? Will it recognize phone numbers in other countries? The US phone number format is quite different from those in many other countries. Count on this feature being put to the test after launch.
Multitasking
The Note 3 also takes advantage of its screen space by allowing you to open multiple windows at once. You can resize the windows and drag and drop items between the two open windows. You can even open an app in both windows at once, handy for people who have multiple Twitter accounts or want to play against themselves in Words with Friends.
Backing Up Your Notes
With all those important notes on your phone, you will want to have an easy backup option. Losing or breaking your phone shouldn’t mean that both your notes and your Note 3 are gone.
Samsung anticipated this issue so your notes on your Note 3 can be synced to either a Samsung account or Evernote. Choosing Evernote means your notes are available online, while the Samsung backups are only available on Samsung devices.
Galaxy Gear
Another feature of Note 3 is its integration with Samsung’s new smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear. Stay tuned to The Wonder of Tech for a preview of the Gear.
Availability
The Note 3 is available for pre-order beginning today and will ship in 140 countries beginning September 25. In the US, the Note 3 will be available on Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular. Pricing has not yet been announced.
Bottom Line
The Note 3 looks very promising for those who want a large-screen phone with a high-quality build and plenty of features. Each of these features has the potential to make note-taking more powerful and the phone more functional, but each one involves a learning curve.
If you enjoy making the most of your tech and are willing to put in a bit of time and effort to learn the ropes, you may relish these features. If you’re the type who likes simplicity with tech, then the Note’s features might be overload for you.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Note 3? Do you like phones with larger screens? Are you excited about the note taking features of the phone? Would you like to multitask on this phone? Let us know in the Comments section below!
_______________________
Pennsylvania Conference for Women
November 1 is the date for this year’s Pennsylvania Conference for Women in Philadelphia, celebrating its 10th year of bringing information and inspiration to women. This year’s Conference features keynote speakers: former Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeleine Albright, Judge Glenda Hatchett, and Sallie Krawcheck, former head of Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney.
The theme of this year’s Conference, ““The Power of Possibilities: Define Your Own Success,” will be the focus of hundreds of speakers providing opportunities for inspiration, reinvention and networking. Topics for the speakers and breakout sessions include leadership, career advancement, money management, health and wellness, small business and entrepreneurship, social media, branding and more.
Having attended this Conference last year, I look forward to attending this year as well. You can find out more at The Pennsylvania Conference for Women website.
In our opinion there is too many features to learn and a lot of those features will not be used by the average smart phone buyer. However the large screen and build quality definitely gives us iphone users something to think about.
Hi John, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You’re right, there are quite a few features for people to learn with the Note 3. Putting in a bit of time to learn them may pay off for heavy smartphone users. People who don’t want the advanced features of the Note 3 may still like the phone for its large, sharp screen.
Good point about iPhone users having something to think about. After the Note 3 was announced, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was considering bringing a much larger phone to the iPhone in 2014.
Wow, the phone being able to recognize your handwriting is pretty darn cool. Yeah, I’d also be curious how well it works as my writing can get a little sloppy, especially when I am in a hurry. Good review Carolyn!
Hi Kyle, Yes, people can be in a hurry or they can struggle to write with a stylus. It will be interesting to see how much neatness counts with the Note 3!
Whoa Whoa Whoa…!!
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has lots of new features to go for Carolyn, the best part is they made it slim than the note 2 so it will be handy to hold it. I am just waiting for this phone to launch in UK. I love phones with big screens because they have better camera quality and i cannot take my Nikon everywhere. So its amazing to have such phones and share pictures and docs on the move.
Hi Jon, Yes, this is a very exciting phone. You’re right, it’s great how they made the screen bigger yet the phone narrower. Now more people can use it because it won’t be too big for their hands.
Big screens do come in very handy, especially when using the camera and its many features.
It looks like these improvements may make the Note 3 something I’d be interested in! Awesome post, thanks!!
Hi Sarah, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you like this article and the Note 3. Thanks for sharing that with us.
Okay, so we started with big phones, made them smaller and now we are going back to big phones? What is this world coming to? 😛
My dad has a Galaxy Note 2 – I just hate the phone because of its size 😀
Wow, this phone has better processor than my laptop? (Sorry, I am not that familiar with the smartphone market :D)
Anyways, the features are amazing; Handwriting recognition and Air command looks promising (but like you mentioned, there seems to be a learning curve)
But, features like these, phones like these just increases the addiction towards phone (not a healthy thing, but smartphone companies might say otherwise). Plus, innovations such as these are not really improving our problems are they? (I mean, problems we face as a species, such as climate change).
Anyways, thanks for the preview post, Carolyn 🙂
Hi Jeevan, You’re right, not everyone likes bigger screens. Those who do swear by them, those who don’t swear at them. 😉
These really are mini computers and the size of this phone reflects that. As far as improving climate change, well, I guess the best you could say about this is that it can lower people’s carbon footprint because they won’t have to take notes on paper or attend far away meetings as often because of how efficient they can be with their phones.
Haha 😉
Indeed. But, I think most people tend to forget the amount of resources spent on making these devices (think about the electricity required to charge these everyday. And nowadays, you have got to recharge a smartphone 2 or 3 times a day).
Plants on the other hand are replenishable, at least to an extent 🙂
But, who am I to talk? I too rely too much on my electronic devices – particularly my laptop. I wonder if there are any solar powered laptops 😉 [Without converting the whole home into solar powered).
Here you go, Jeevan. The world’s first solar-powered laptop: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/06/sol-solar-powered-ubuntu-laptop/
Enjoy! 🙂
Samsung Galaxy Note III obviously includes some of the best quality features as expected….It has too many sensors like Geo-magnetic, Proximity, Hall Sensor etc….The first look of this phablet is quite amazing….
Hi Aditya, Yes, Samsung really packed a lot into this phablet. I’m very excited about its release and how it’s lifting the bar for smartphones.
Hi Carolyn !
This is a fantastic review ! This new galaxy is very impressive and have more better features than the galaxy note 2 . You had reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S4 too … isn’t this smartphone better than it?
-Pramod
Hi Pramod, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this preview. I haven’t actually tested the Note 3 yet as it hasn’t hit the market yet.
Some people would prefer the S4, but I use my phone as a work horse so the note taking abilities of the Note 3 would be very appealing to me. I also think bigger is better when it comes to smartphone screens, but not everyone thinks that way.
Note 3 will by default be complicated because it does a whole heap of things that I’ve come to regard as essential on my Note 2 and would miss if I went back to my iPhone. Flexible folder structures & and versatile file handling means I can do far more on the move. Ftp transfers,& unzips, external memory card etc it’s a grown-up device that rewards time spent learning its features. Overall nice review mates.
Hi Arora, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, the Note 3 is complicated not only because of the number of things it does but also because many of the tasks are not intuitive. There will be a learning curve, but once you get over that hurdle, the phone can be extremely useful.
Hi Carolyn,
Yes, I love the phone with a big screen, and I also have one 🙂
As you say, with a larger screen allows me to open multiple windows at once, of course is beneficial for users. Thanks for sharing this article
Nice article!
Hi Nanda, Yes, I definitely have big screen envy as my iPhone 4S has a 3.5″ screen. You’re right, the advantages of having a big screen go beyond seeing more on the screen. You can actually do more things with the phone when it has a large screen, such as have multiple browser windows and apps open at the same time.
Users will balance having the advantages of a large screen with the fit of the phone in their hands. If a phone is too big for them to hold comfortably, then they won’t want the added functionality.
Carolyn, nice review as always. The Note 3 does look very impressive indeed. I like the array of features it boasts, especially the handwriting recognition which is pretty sweet.
Hi Frank, I was very impressed with the handwriting recognition skills of the phone. I would use the stylus a lot and the ability to handwrite instead of trying to type would be very handy!
i just want to buy them but my friends say you will purchase i phone not a samsung.
but i like the samsung phones because it’s very styles and more than useful for social media and other futures.
Hi Kelly, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, there is definitely a source of disagreement between iPhone and Android owners about which phone is best. My advice to you? Figure out which one works best for you and get that phone, no matter what your friends say. Listen to their points and then make your own decision. Who knows? You may convince them to switch next time they want to upgrade their phones.