Gadgetory

here we have past verses present and in a lot of ways the newest entry in the note line is just a further perfecting of everything that came before it hey Josh McArthur manager at Horry what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 versus the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 the recently released Galaxy Note 3 not only takes on a different design philosophy than its predecessor it also takes on a different approach to its main defining feature the s-pen we start off with design in which the updates to the Galaxy Note 3 mark a pretty new beginning for Samsung the note 2 carried on what became a long-standing tradition of Samsung's material choice glossy plastic and thus was a pretty finger print prone and at times quite slippery device in the hand it also took on a more rounded look much like the galaxy s3 only its larger size with that 5.5 inch screen thus made it one of the first popular bigger smartphones nonetheless everything else is pretty much classic Samsung with the button layout and the removable back cover the s-pen on the note 2 had to take on the rounded shape of the phone's back which meant that its rear portion had to be contoured to that curve and thus could only be inserted in that one particular way fast forward a year and Samsung finally decided to change the game up a little bit the first thing you notice about the note 3 is the new material choice the back cover is no longer of a glossy plastic and is now textured and it tries to mimic leather especially in the etching found around the edges the general shape is also no longer pebble-like and is generally more decisive with its flatter sides and overall flatter profile this new material solves the fingerprinting problem and makes your phone that looks pretty great even after some heavy usage the Bund layout is still the same and even if the screen is larger than the note 2's by 0.2 inches it is just about the same footprint as its predecessor while becoming even lighter in the hand it's surprisingly nimble for a big phone the s-pen was also given the same treatment it is lighter than before but also has been given a more symmetrical shape so it doesn't have to be oriented one specific way to be inserted into its slot it's hard to find pretty much anyone these days who are still into the glossy plastic for the most part people have grown tired of its repetition that's why the note 3 marks such a nice beginning because even if it's not technically that drastic of a change it is still very welcome overall it just feels so much better and helped solidify it as a truth of for the note line the display experience has beefed up from the note two with the note three ascending to the standards that we've gotten used to in the top tier the note 2 has a 5.5 inch 720p display that was a good performer and in plenty of ways still is the signature Samsung saturation was definitely a factor but also showed the capabilities of the Super AMOLED display for many people this screen meant much easier to read material and a good media viewing experience now compare this to the next evolution the Super AMOLED pentile display of the Galaxy Note 3 has been brought up to a full HD 1080p experience and is among one of the best screens available on a smartphone today despite an increase to 5.7 inches in size it handles just about as well as its predecessor due to its similar footprint which is a great feat saturation levels of the Super AMOLED screen remain pretty high but in this new version of TouchWiz these color preferences are actually customizable the higher pixel density makes for everything from text to media fit even better on the large screen making it seem like a bloated TouchWiz was made for the size of the screen pretty much no matter how you put it together you know three display experience is just so much better than was found on the galaxy note 2 while the note 2 display isn't terrible even by today's standards it just isn't as good as the new hotness we continued the trend of the evolution with the performance section it's no surprise that the Galaxy Note 3 gets the highly upgraded specs have you been released one year later than the note 2 which came with the Exynos quad-core 44 total package clocked in at 1.6 gigahertz the Mali 400 MP and 2 gigabytes of RAM this is definitely still a respectable package even today and performs quite well any lag or stutter that was or is still proceed on the note 2 could be just as much an issue with the older version of TouchWiz as it may be with the processing package for plenty of users today the Galaxy Note 2 continues to perform the way they need it to reliably more than anything so its abilities to get work done is far from in question but then we get to the Galaxy Note 3 which basically wins the spec war today by having the current best package while offering even more than the competition this version of the smartphone packs a Snapdragon 800 the processor clocked in at a whopping 2.3 gigahertz and is backed by the also updated Adreno 330 perhaps the most jarring change is the inclusion of three gigabytes of RAM which is a first for the Android space all of this power is necessary for the new S Pen functionality but so for the sheer multitasking that the note 3 is capable of personally I have yet to encounter any lag rest order that truly slowed me down and with an updated TouchWiz I have only found a little bit of slowdown one apps needed to load information during their initiation once again the note 3 simply Trump's its predecessor by being the true next step for the note line while the note 2 might still be great for people who don't demand too much from their s-pen enabled smartphone what the note 3 offers is just very difficult to dismiss at their core the key elements that make the Galaxy Note line attractive to users remains in either device the removal of that cover still implies removable batteries and expandable storage of which the note 3 begins at 32 gigabytes while the note 2 began at 16 in the case of the note 2 it was all about popularizing the s-pen which went from being a niche tool to becoming a part of the multitudes of users experiences while many people use the note 2 without even touching the s-pen it still became part of the general lexicon for every user the note 3 would then be the next step forward for the s-pen and it truly is but then the game changed somewhat when the galaxy s4 came into the picture Samsung put so many new navigation features via sensors and extra add-ons that many wondered if the note line would benefit from them as well their wishes were granted the note 3 includes not only the s-pen enhancements but also benefits from all of the same sensors that originally came in the s4 this includes everything for air gestures air view the IR blaster and even measuring your general surroundings with s-health while we'll get into the s-pen enhancements more in a little bit all of these non s-pen additions make one thing very clear Samsung knows that you may not use the s-pen and if you don't here are all of the extra ways you can use your Galaxy Note 3 when it comes to the camera the Galaxy Note 2 continue the tradition initially started by the galaxy s3 whose optics were quite well received this 8 megapixel shooter is not the kind of talk to your offering we're used to seeing anymore but that doesn't keep it from still pleasing its users even one whole year later the app itself is pretty simplistic with icons taking up a fair amount of space in the viewfinder and aside from best modes and HDR there aren't too many extra functions that add to otherwise classical smartphone photography experience much like with the sensors and the hardware the release of the galaxy s4 also conspired the camera upgrade in the galaxy note 3 the 13 megapixel shooter in the note 3 is very much like the one found in the galaxy s4 right down to the app features such as that new drama and eraser modes are available in the note 3 allowing for plenty of options for any shutterbug in video anyone that really wants to get a great enhancement can look to the Snapdragon version of the note 3 for 4k video capture overall the quality of the Note 3 camera is a proper update trumping the note 2 not only in its picture sizes but also in the level of detail and color reproduction again the note 3 just performs better than its predecessor all of these upgrades are expected in a new version and so far the move forward is felt throughout finally we have the software in which at first glance you may not immediately see the difference this is because TouchWiz by-and-large has not really changed and quite frankly is in need of a generally updated look that being said the TouchWiz in the no 2 definitely looks more bloated due to the lower resolution of the screen and without the S 4's navigation additions it is largely a classical experience added on to by the s-pen speaking of the s-pen its main usage in the note 2 was in general handwriting and pretty simplistic clipping if you wanted to use the s-pen for more contextual tasks a quick gesture brought up the quick command which required the use of symbols in order to trigger specific functions essentially all of these functions were reimagined in the Galaxy Note 3 which not only added in the navigation features but also looks much better on a 1080p display while everything definitely looks bigger on this 5.7 inch screen they aren't overly or obnoxiously large keeping everything easy to view without becoming eyesores s-pen usage has become much more intuitive with the addition of the air commands menu triggered by pressing the pen button while hovering over the screen action memo is essentially the updated version of quake commands only all handwriting can be recognized and then plugged into the appropriate application clipping has also been enhanced with the scrapbooker and even the screen rights which are only a couple more of the enhancements that are baked in for all that the s-pen can do on the Galaxy Note 3 you can see my future focus video basically outlining it all ultimately TouchWiz doesn't look like it has changed a whole lot but in the Galaxy Note 3 it is capable of so much more and that is where its appeal definitely is it should be obvious by now that the Galaxy Note 3 is just leaps and bounds better than its predecessor but all of that also comes with a price while the Galaxy Note 2 now a year older can be found for $500 or sometimes less on and $1.99 on two-year contracts via US carriers the galaxy note 3 gets the much more premium price of $800 unlocked and $299 on contract and so there you have basically it comes down to the price for your choice what this verses has taught us however is that if you go for the note 2 because of its better price you really do get what you pay for the note 2 does provide a good big smartphone experience still and decent s-pen functions but clearly it pales in comparison to all that the note 3 is capable of personally I do think that if you can put down the extra money for the note 3 it is worth every single penny because it can do a hell of a lot and even better you can do them pretty damn well as always thank you guys very much for watching if for whatever reason you still haven't seen my Galaxy Note 3 review you can find it in a link right over on the side and like I mentioned before you can get a more in-depth look at the s-pen and everything you can do on the Galaxy Note 3 in the future focus video that is also linked over on the side stay tuned to android authority for all of the best coverage we have everything from weekly shows to reviews to vs. comparisons to future focus videos we've got a lot here at the channel so make sure you keep it tuned here because we are your source for all things Android