Gadgetory

sure the Galaxy s4 is considered one of Samsung's flagship devices but there is another phone out there that is bigger badder and can do everything that the s4 can and then some Hey Strasbourg are from Andhra I thought oh what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 the Galaxy Note 3 is probably one of the most anticipated phones of the year and for good reason after succeeding in the numbers game with the features on the galaxy s4 people wondered how much greater the note line could get with all of those extras baked-in has a pretty new note user I'm excited to see what this phone and its little friend could do I'll say this right off the bat I now get why the no line is so popular but I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself first off yes I started off with the white version of the Galaxy Note 3 but that was the one I dropped tested it held up really well almost surprisingly but I think that this was the right choice really because I would venture to say that the Black Edition is much more attractive in terms of design anyone who is getting tired of this signature Samsung glossy plastic will appreciate this new textured material you first will behold the screen up front and then be pleasantly surprised when you turn it over the back cover though still as thin and bendy as ever is now of a textured material that mimics leather especially in the black version this back cover is also removable as is usually the case with Samsung phones giving access to the battery and card slots move to the sides and you will find the same classic Samsung button layout but this time there is a line design on the sides that is supposed to mimic the pages of a notebook the bottom of the phone houses the speaker grille and of course it houses the s-pen but also there is the new micro USB 3.0 charging port that don't worry still takes the original plug finally we see the front and the 5.7 inch behemoth of a screen the note line was arguably the start of the oversized screen craze and it continues with a point to increase for this third iteration there's really no getting around it though I especially love the Black Edition the note 3 is pretty much the most attractive Samsung device I've ever come the idea of mimicking leather actually gets across and gives the node3 a look and feel that I can only describe as executive flatter sides much like the galaxy s4 make the phone easier to grip while the back rest nicely on your palm and while I'll get into the s-pen later I can say now that using it just adds to that executive feel overall it's i popping stylish almost surprisingly classy and whether it just shows its back with that textured material or it shows us front with that attractively thin bezel the note 3 just looks great all around the screen is definitely one of the note 3's biggest pluses it's hard not to just generally appreciate the quality of the Super AMOLED pentile display taking the same great display from the s4 and making it even bigger was a great move lending to a viewing experience full of vivid albeit sometimes oversaturated colors and with 1080p 386 ppi capabilities everything from playing games to reading new stories is very easy on the eyes everything is generally formatted in such a way that was very easy to look at there's just something about the way the note 3 handles its content that keeps everything accessible sure this 5.7 inch screen is squarely in the realm outside of one-handed usage but this is a phone that requires two hands anyway considering the s-pen Samsung does try to make life easier by making keyboards and various other elements shrunken down to a side for better one-handed usage it's a nice move but just know that two-handed operation will pretty much always be a part of your note 3 life let's finally get into what's underneath the surface the note 3 marks the first not just for Samsung but also for the general Android space in the case of sheer power what we get here is the Snapdragon 800 processor clocked in at 2.3 gigahertz backing up the CPU is the audrina 330 and an inaugural three gigabytes of RAM for a phone that is supposed to Don multiple hats often at once this power is all put to good use and in actual usage the note 3 flies through its elements and everything from home screens to loading apps to running those apps it the only instances of lag that I saw came when things had to be pre-loaded as the app was being opened the main example of this was the new my magazine homescreen they had to load the new story and social media pictures as it initiated other than that however the note 3 basically wins the spec were at the moment with its powerful package made for some rigorous multitasking and you can actually feel it working pretty well in hardware we do get the removable battery and 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of on-board storage call quality was adequate when at full volume but it could easily still be drowned out by enough outside noise the speaker at the bottom of the note 3 is pretty loud also and complements media consumption but it definitely isn't a defining part of that experience but after all of this the hardware department sees the Galaxy Note 3 take on what the Galaxy S 4 introduced in the many sensor editions involved these include all of the air gesture air view smart squirrel IR blaster and even s health measuring tools needed for new ways of navigation just look at the drop down shape there are so many options so you don't even need to use the S Pen if you don't want to that being said the actual pen itself gets the line design you see from the sides of the phone and even though it's thinness might be a little hard to handle for larger hands I found it easy to get used to hovering over the screen with it gives you a small cursor that helps you aim and reach contextual features and the button on the stylus itself brings you either the new Air Command menu or the quick clip function the Air Command menu is the biggest addition to the pen experience and will be focused upon in the software section another popular feature of the note series is it's typically large battery unit and in the note 3 the 3200 milliamp hour performer doesn't disappoint my experience with this powerful phone was highlighted by a five-hour span of time in which I use the phone for at least half of those hours straight for browsing the web viewing local video files making notes downloading humblebundle games handwriting my text messages and even viewing my social media networks by the end of the 5 hours I was very pleased to see almost 70% battery left nightly charging will definitely be a reality for heavy power users but if you can put down the money for a spare battery you should basically see no issues getting everything you need out of the galaxy note 3 the optics in the galaxy note 3 are largely the same as those found in the galaxy s4 with the addition of a digital smart stabilization that should help alleviate shaky hands and at least somewhat improve low-light photography the app is also very much the same bringing pretty much all of the many features the s4 introduced best modes like face or shot drama and eraser modes dual recording the works picture quality is about as good as was found on the s4 which is very welcome all these pictures were taken in full auto mode at four by three to ensure all 13 megapixels were being utilized low-light shots still suffer but the smart stabilization seems to improve things at least a little bit but you'll probably use the flash in most of these cases anyway if you liked the Galaxy s4 camera you'll largely feel the same about the note 3 finally we get into the software the section that centers around the s-pen if you never touch the pen though what you're getting baked into the note 3 is essentially the same old TouchWiz updated to Android 4.3 however another success of the note 3's experience is that the touch was in it seems very much cater to this 5.7 inch screen and thus lends itself to impressively easy viewing everything is large obviously but not obnoxiously or weirdly so altogether TouchWiz for the note line makes a somewhat niche product incredibly accessible there is the addition of the new my magazine though accessed through an upward swipe on the homescreen it's basically like a blink feed and Flipboard had a child it's a nice way of consolidating news and social media but it's new sources are pretty determined so you won't be able to add in your own media outlets now the biggest additions definitely have to do with the s-pen there are plenty of people out there who don't use the s-pen but Samsung is encouraging all of them to do so by making it even easier to use remove the s-pen and you immediately get the Air Command menu this is a new 5 button menu that gives you access to the main functions of the s-pen I will get into much more detail on all of these in a future focus video that is coming up but I wanted to give you here in particular my experience as anyone can use any combination of the features available in the note 3 mine is just one example I don't really scrapbook though the scrapbooker gives much more information than just the thing you cut out like the website metadata so you can always bounce back to where you originally saw the clip the screen right is pretty much a memoed screenshot that is another form of documentation and then the S window helps you make a small area on the screen in which a small application will be put further enhancing multitasking really there aren't really very many apps that you can use for this however especially when you compare it to the multi window out of all five of these Pen functions I definitely use the action level most this is the contextually aware part of the S Pen that opens up a pad for you to write anything you need in it you can make quick notes that are stored for later or take what you wrote and plug it into a slew of different apps action memo Android authority and then you can easily search for it on the web for example or you can make a few lines of what you need to do later and it will quickly make a task list for you it's an incredibly useful tool to use when your S Pen is in hand and it helps get a lot done quickly speaking of when the S Pen is in your hand I generally end up writing out all of my correspondence using the handwriting pop-up however over any text box and a small icon comes up hit it and you can write in the box that comes up the handwriting recognition is kind of scarily accurate and should work pretty well for even the worst chicken scratch writers for finding just about anything that I have made the S finder works really well and utilizes that handwriting recognition put just about any term in there and they can even find your hand written action memo notes with or without the S Pen multitasking is also a must on the note 3 multi window has been enhanced to allow two of the same app to run at once this is most useful for say multiple chat windows you can even send info from one side to the other easily by selecting the dot right in the middle watch a youtube video while messaging your friends yep browse the web while checking your mail yeah you can do that too there's so much that the Galaxy Note 3 is capable of and you can use just about any combination of them to get what you need done and that's what makes the Galaxy Note 3 one of the most attractive smartphones available today you do have to pay for all of this flexibility however as the notary will set you back an average of two hundred and ninety nine dollars on two-year contracts in the US and it will be well above the seven hundred and fifty dollar mark when unlocked if you're already a note loyalist this step up to the note 3 is one I'm pretty sure you're going to make anyway but for everyone else this kind of insurance free is admittedly pretty steep but if you can swing it I think you'll really like what you're going to get and so there you have it like I said before I now get why the note line is so popular especially with this note 3 I've learned that this is more than just a large phone while some people were stray away from its size that's honestly really only the main detractor in my opinion and these days the only people who really hate on large phones are the ones who haven't made the leap yet as far as the S Pen goes plenty of people use the note without even touching it but in its many different implementations the note 3 works and generally succeeds as a phone as a tiny tablet as a media player as a backup camera as a personal assistant as a bridge in the gap between analog writing and digital input as quite the looker and overall as a tool for everyday use and the beauty is when you start to put these things together the power underneath the surface then makes the note 3 capable of handling everything you throw at it even when you personally just can't keep it all straight so if you haven't quite gotten into the note line just yet the third time's the charm for Samsung and the Galaxy Note 3 is a wonderful place to start I hope you guys enjoyed this full review and if you did don't forget to drop us a like down below and to subscribe to our channel if you haven't already this is definitely not the end of our galaxy note 3 coverage we have a bunch of videos ready for you in the coming days so make sure you stay tuned for that and for all of the best coverage at Android authority your source for all things Android