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JabbaMK1's 30 minutes with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 LTE


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Old 21-09-2013, 22:38
jabbamk1
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As an owner of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 i've always been happy with my phone. After the announcement of Note 3 i was left wanting to swap my phone for the Note 3 ASAP. However i never buy a phone on launch and always like to wait a few months after to see how the phone is, see what users and professionals are saying and to have a look at the phone myself. This time i was able to talk to one of the Samsung reps i know and he allowed me to have a play around with the Note 3 before it hits stores later next week. Well first i must let you know that i was using a demo unit that was manufactured back in August and is running a test/demo firmware dated August 26th. I've been told that this is pretty much final firmware but it is still a pre production unit so nothing i post here about the phones performance and features is 100% fact. The model i was using was the UK LTE model (N9005). This is the model that comes with the Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz. First i will talk about the exterior.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 looks very similar to the Galaxy Note 2 from the front. However the plastic at the front looks a lot better due to the fact it is a very dark black and not grey like the note 2. It makes the screen blend in with the bezel very easily and doesn't stand out like the Note 2's front bezel. The Note 3 still has the brused metal look on the front. Not much has changed from the front apart from the colour. The buttons are the same, the camera and notification light seem to be in the same position and the volume and power buttons are in the same position. The side of the phone now has a metal like strip around the edge which looks really nice and premium. The only thing i really noticed as different about the front rather than the colour was that the Note 3 seemed to be a lot more rectangular. Putting my Note 2 next to the Note 3 showed i was correct. Despite being told the Note 3 wasn't any bigger than the Note 2 i couldn't help but feel that the Note 3 was slightly taller somehow. The back of the phone really is something, the faux leather feels great when you grip the phone and feels great as well. I really love this design and it works really well with the phone. The phone is certainly thinner and this means that the headphone jack and camera now stick out a bit on the back. The phone feels great in the hand and even though it's supposed to be lighter it has that weighty feel to it that makes it feel like a well built phone.

The new S-pen is in the same position as before, it's slightly taller than the old one. Something i actually discovered myself is that the S-Pen now goes in any way you want. So you can have the pen facing up or down when you put it back into the slot. A really nice feature and one i actually see the point of. I was shown a couple of new features with the S-Pen such as the phone beeping when you move away from the pen etc... The new air command is actually really easy to access. I thought it'd be a pain to hover the pen over the screen and then press the button. But the pen button is easily accessible and just in the right place. Also it seems to pick up air command no matter how fast you press the button. The first air command i tried out was pen window. A really nice feature but quite gimmicky and i don't really see the point when you have multi-window or could just switch apps using the home button. Action memo is really great to use and the handwriting recognition is really fast and accurate. Scrap book is anothe cool idea. But for me i wouldn't really use it. The only one i didn't try out was screen write as we were limited for time. To be honest i think a lot of Samsungs touchwiz features like this are just gimmicks. The air commands didn't interest me at all. I'd much rather have a CM based ROM over touchwiz based.

So, moving onto the phone itself. The Note 3 has the best screen i've ever seen! Maybe it's just because of the bigger screen but this is without a doubt the best 1080p screen i have ever seen. Pictures and videos look great and even he homescreen just pops out at you. I've calibrated by Note 2 screen to look amazing but even the Note 3 blew me away first time i saw it. The only other thing i want to know is how the Note 3 screen is under direct sunlight but i didn't have time to test this out. It is very bright though and i'm really impressed with the screen. The phone is also super fast. There is quite literally no lag at all. And that is probably thanks to the 3GB RAM and Snapdragon 800 processor. The amount of customising you can do in touchwiz now is quite good. lockscreen widgets, shortcuts and more mean you can get to your favourite apps in no time. And finally we now have quick settings for the Note 3 in the notification bar! You can add pretty much anything you want!

The camera is really nice at indoor shots. I didn't have time to test outdoor and i can't upload any because they're currently still on the phone. The 13mp camera really is great and all my favourite features such as burst shot etc... are still there. Dual shot is a gimmick but useful for skype (if that's possible???). Panorama is just a catch up feature. I have to admit the camera is really fast to respond and has a lot of customisation but i still miss the lack of dedicated two step camera buttons. But the pictures are great and video recording is nice as well. I played the video back and found the audio to be really really good. This was also something i noticed when playing a demo video on the phone. Samsung have certainly worked on the audio here.

Like i said, the Note 3 has taken what the Note 2 did best and then just improved on it. It hasn't changed any of the features that worked well and it hasn't changed the core audience of the Note. It has added more useful features and refined the design to make it even better than before. In the 30 minutes i had with the Note 3 i didn't see the battery drop at all (don't know what percentage it was at) so the battery seems to be good but that's hardly a conclusive test. I have to admit that using the phone i really can't tell that the Note 3 has a bigger screen than my Note 2. But side by side i can. The Note 3 i had came with 32GB of storage. There was 26GB of user storage available. The Note 3 is certainly a phone i would buy. There is no doubt about that. The phone is certainly worth considering if you're coming from a 2011 release phone and is certainly the best phone coming out this month.

I have some pictures here in this album.
http://s481.photobucket.com/user/jab...Note%203%20LTE

Please forgive me for my English and spelling mistakes. Also please understand that i only spent about 30 minutes using the Note 3 so this is more my first impressions rather than a review or anything to take as 100% fact. If you have any questions please ask.

Antutu score went to 31,500+
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Old 21-09-2013, 22:45
enapace
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Sounds like a new interesting Phablet that should give the Xperia Z Ultra and the upcoming HTC One Max a run for there money. I completely agree with you about Touchwiz most of the stuff is gimmicky but it sells because average consumer like that sort of stuff. Good solid snapshot review though covered pretty much everything and was easy read. Out of curiosity is it the type of faux leather where you can tell it is fake or is decent faux leather. I know that sounds stupid but some you can't tell difference and some you can.
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Old 21-09-2013, 23:05
jabbamk1
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Sounds like a new interesting Phablet that should give the Xperia Z Ultra and the upcoming HTC One Max a run for there money. I completely agree with you about Touchwiz most of the stuff is gimmicky but it sells because average consumer like that sort of stuff. Good solid snapshot review though covered pretty much everything and was easy read. Out of curiosity is it the type of faux leather where you can tell it is fake or is decent faux leather. I know that sounds stupid but some you can't tell difference and some you can.
The touchwiz stuff is gimmicky. But the stuff that uses the S-Pen such as the handwriting recognition, S-Planner/Action memo and S-Finder are really useful. But the rest is a bit meh. Just gimmicks for me. But like i said it's nothing a custom ROM can't sort out.

The back actually feels really nice. I mean you can tell it's fake, but it feels premium fake.... if that's a thing!
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Old 21-09-2013, 23:10
enapace
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The touchwiz stuff is gimmicky. But the stuff that uses the S-Pen such as the handwriting recognition, S-Planner/Action memo and S-Finder are really useful. But the rest is a bit meh. Just gimmicks for me. But like i said it's nothing a custom ROM can't sort out.

The back actually feels really nice. I mean you can tell it's fake, but it feels premium fake.... if that's a thing!
I haven't actually put a custom rom on my devices for a while I should probably look at some for the HTC One some might be good might be boring but I do actually like Sense 5. But yeah I get about what you mean about leather there is actually a scale of how good fake leather is quite a few various kinds. Nice to know they went for a good quality one though.
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Old 21-09-2013, 23:22
Sniffle774
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Thanks for that, I'm about to change my phone soon and looking at the Note 3 and the Xperia Z1 as the two main ones.
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Old 21-09-2013, 23:53
DevonBloke
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Great review. Is anyone paying you for that coz they should be
Have you had to replace your keyboard now? Hahaha
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Old 22-09-2013, 01:08
barcajaden
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As an owner of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 i've always been happy with my phone. After the announcement of Note 3 i was left wanting to swap my phone for the Note 3 ASAP. However i never buy a phone on launch and always like to wait a few months after to see how the phone is, see what users and professionals are saying and to have a look at the phone myself. This time i was able to talk to one of the Samsung reps i know and he allowed me to have a play around with the Note 3 before it hits stores later next week. Well first i must let you know that i was using a demo unit that was manufactured back in August and is running a test/demo firmware dated August 26th. I've been told that this is pretty much final firmware but it is still a pre production unit so nothing i post here about the phones performance and features is 100% fact. The model i was using was the UK LTE model (N9005). This is the model that comes with the Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz. First i will talk about the exterior.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 looks very similar to the Galaxy Note 2 from the front. However the plastic at the front looks a lot better due to the fact it is a very dark black and not grey like the note 2. It makes the screen blend in with the bezel very easily and doesn't stand out like the Note 2's front bezel. The Note 3 still has the brused metal look on the front. Not much has changed from the front apart from the colour. The buttons are the same, the camera and notification light seem to be in the same position and the volume and power buttons are in the same position. The side of the phone now has a metal like strip around the edge which looks really nice and premium. The only thing i really noticed as different about the front rather than the colour was that the Note 3 seemed to be a lot more rectangular. Putting my Note 2 next to the Note 3 showed i was correct. Despite being told the Note 3 wasn't any bigger than the Note 2 i couldn't help but feel that the Note 3 was slightly taller somehow. The back of the phone really is something, the faux leather feels great when you grip the phone and feels great as well. I really love this design and it works really well with the phone. The phone is certainly thinner and this means that the headphone jack and camera now stick out a bit on the back. The phone feels great in the hand and even though it's supposed to be lighter it has that weighty feel to it that makes it feel like a well built phone.

The new S-pen is in the same position as before, it's slightly taller than the old one. Something i actually discovered myself is that the S-Pen now goes in any way you want. So you can have the pen facing up or down when you put it back into the slot. A really nice feature and one i actually see the point of. I was shown a couple of new features with the S-Pen such as the phone beeping when you move away from the pen etc... The new air command is actually really easy to access. I thought it'd be a pain to hover the pen over the screen and then press the button. But the pen button is easily accessible and just in the right place. Also it seems to pick up air command no matter how fast you press the button. The first air command i tried out was pen window. A really nice feature but quite gimmicky and i don't really see the point when you have multi-window or could just switch apps using the home button. Action memo is really great to use and the handwriting recognition is really fast and accurate. Scrap book is anothe cool idea. But for me i wouldn't really use it. The only one i didn't try out was screen write as we were limited for time. To be honest i think a lot of Samsungs touchwiz features like this are just gimmicks. The air commands didn't interest me at all. I'd much rather have a CM based ROM over touchwiz based.

So, moving onto the phone itself. The Note 3 has the best screen i've ever seen! Maybe it's just because of the bigger screen but this is without a doubt the best 1080p screen i have ever seen. Pictures and videos look great and even he homescreen just pops out at you. I've calibrated by Note 2 screen to look amazing but even the Note 3 blew me away first time i saw it. The only other thing i want to know is how the Note 3 screen is under direct sunlight but i didn't have time to test this out. It is very bright though and i'm really impressed with the screen. The phone is also super fast. There is quite literally no lag at all. And that is probably thanks to the 3GB RAM and Snapdragon 800 processor. The amount of customising you can do in touchwiz now is quite good. lockscreen widgets, shortcuts and more mean you can get to your favourite apps in no time. And finally we now have quick settings for the Note 3 in the notification bar! You can add pretty much anything you want!

The camera is really nice at indoor shots. I didn't have time to test outdoor and i can't upload any because they're currently still on the phone. The 13mp camera really is great and all my favourite features such as burst shot etc... are still there. Dual shot is a gimmick but useful for skype (if that's possible???). Panorama is just a catch up feature. I have to admit the camera is really fast to respond and has a lot of customisation but i still miss the lack of dedicated two step camera buttons. But the pictures are great and video recording is nice as well. I played the video back and found the audio to be really really good. This was also something i noticed when playing a demo video on the phone. Samsung have certainly worked on the audio here.

Like i said, the Note 3 has taken what the Note 2 did best and then just improved on it. It hasn't changed any of the features that worked well and it hasn't changed the core audience of the Note. It has added more useful features and refined the design to make it even better than before. In the 30 minutes i had with the Note 3 i didn't see the battery drop at all (don't know what percentage it was at) so the battery seems to be good but that's hardly a conclusive test. I have to admit that using the phone i really can't tell that the Note 3 has a bigger screen than my Note 2. But side by side i can. The Note 3 i had came with 32GB of storage. There was 26GB of user storage available. The Note 3 is certainly a phone i would buy. There is no doubt about that. The phone is certainly worth considering if you're coming from a 2011 release phone and is certainly the best phone coming out this month.

I have some pictures here in this album.
http://s481.photobucket.com/user/jab...Note%203%20LTE

Please forgive me for my English and spelling mistakes. Also please understand that i only spent about 30 minutes using the Note 3 so this is more my first impressions rather than a review or anything to take as 100% fact. If you have any questions please ask.

Antutu score went to 31,500+
do you think the note 3 is too big to be a phone especially for a woman
is it more aimed at those who want a tablet?
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Old 22-09-2013, 09:06
denyo1977
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Something i actually discovered myself is that the S-Pen now goes in any way you want. So you can have the pen facing up or down when you put it back into the slot. A really nice feature and one i actually see the point of.
So far I have only seen video reviews of the Note 3, but I think the S-Pen doesn't blend in as nicely when inserted into the phone as before. It kinda sticks out (even though just a tiny bit).
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Old 22-09-2013, 16:34
klendathu
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Interesting review
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Old 22-09-2013, 17:54
jabbamk1
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Great review. Is anyone paying you for that coz they should be
Have you had to replace your keyboard now? Hahaha
Haha, no i don't get paid! Are you offering?
And i've just read it back today and noticed the over 1,000 spelling mistakes...

do you think the note 3 is too big to be a phone especially for a woman
is it more aimed at those who want a tablet?
Bit of both. I've gotten used to the screen on my Note 2 and whilst i do admit it can be a bit difficult to use with one hand, i would never go back to a smaller screen. It's great as a phone as well and the size doesn't really bother me any more. I'd say the Note 3 is an excellent buy for anyone.

So far I have only seen video reviews of the Note 3, but I think the S-Pen doesn't blend in as nicely when inserted into the phone as before. It kinda sticks out (even though just a tiny bit).
The pen fits quite well. But because you can now put it in anyway up it means the lip of the pen is now further down the bottom with a gap on both sides so you can get it out. Yes the Note 2 pen looks better. But the Note 3 pen fits in just fine and looks just fine.

Interesting review
Thanks
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Old 22-09-2013, 18:16
jabbamk1
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One thing i forgot to mention is that the Galaxy Note 3 comes with a USB 3.0 charger. It's a bit weird. Basically it's the normal Micro USB connector with another smaller connector next to it. So basically it plugs in to the phone in two separate ports which are right next to each other. So it's backwards compatible with old chargers that fit into the first port. But the new charger fits into both ports and makes it charge faster and transfer data faster.

It looks really weird but i think it's a good feature.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3163871/usbmicrob.jpg
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Old 22-09-2013, 18:30
enapace
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One thing i forgot to mention is that the Galaxy Note 3 comes with a USB 3.0 charger. It's a bit weird. Basically it's the normal Micro USB connector with another smaller connector next to it. So basically it plugs in to the phone in two separate ports which are right next to each other. So it's backwards compatible with old chargers that fit into the first port. But the new charger fits into both ports and makes it charge faster and transfer data faster.

It looks really weird but i think it's a good feature.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3163871/usbmicrob.jpg
Not sure will to much better honestly as those sort of leads are used on USB 3.0 external portable drives one is for power other side is for transfer not exactly cheap to replace either. So not sure if normal cables will be able power and transfer at same time depends on set up I guess.
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Old 22-09-2013, 18:36
jabbamk1
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So not sure if normal cables will be able power and transfer at same time depends on set up I guess.
I think they can. I was told it's fully backwards compatible so does the same things. That should include file transfer over USB 2.0 + charging at the same time.
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