Gadgetory

slimmer faster lighter longer larger those were samsung's promises just a few weeks ago at the ephah 2013 unveiling of its newest phablet the Galaxy Note 3 and now thanks to our friends at Negri electronics we've got a brand new Note 3 of our own here at pocket now let's find out just how big an improvement it is over its predecessor last year's surprise blockbuster the Galaxy Note 2 first things first yes we did just unbox the Note 3 a mere 48 hours ago so impressions of the device are in their infancy wait for our full Galaxy Note 3 review coming the week of September 30th for are more detailed feelings on this device be sure to follow us on social media so you don't miss it secondly we want to make clear exactly which models we're comparing here the Galaxy Note 2 we have on hand is the AT&T version for North America while our new note 3 is international unlocked model SM and 900 and finally as we mentioned in the intro this Note 3 review unit comes to us from Negri electronics visit them in the link in the video description if you're looking for a note 3 of your own now let's see how the incoming and outgoing kings of the phablet world compare Hardware is up first and there's actually quite a big disparity here last year's Note 2 was very much an expanded galaxy s3 featuring a lot of curves and a faux brushed metal finish on its plastic battery cover all of it topped off with a thick coat of gleaming Samsung hyper glaze all that plastic surrounded a 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display at 720p resolution with a Wacom digitizer capable of over a thousand levels of pressure sensitivity used to great effect by the note 2's onboard s-pen the whole affair felt good in the hand solid because of its 183 gram mass and nine point four millimeter thickness but not great because of that glossy plastic well much as we love to hate on that hyper glaze coating we have to admit that we do miss it just a little on the note 3 not due to appearance we actually much prefer the look of the note 3's faux leather with it's fine border stitching motif that plays better with the concept of the note family and does a better job of setting it apart but the new material is slippery and that combines with the new notes sharper corners and reduced thickness and mass to make it a little less comfortable in the hand the trade-off is absolutely worth it it's nice to see the note 3 stand out a bit aesthetically from the galaxy s line and the new larger 5.7 inch 1080p display features over a hundred more pixels per inch and much more accurate colors for those who crave maximum performance from their phablet screens but for us the note 2 is still the more comfortable device to hold in the hand the Galaxy Note line is for the most power hungry of power users and so we shouldn't be surprised to find the so-called Exynos octa-core Evac tup by an impressive three gigs of ram us versions of the note 3 will feature LTE support and a Snapdragon 800 processor at 2.3 gigahertz in lieu of this setup but either way the new combo easily Trump's the note twos 1.6 gigahertz Exynos 44 12 and 2 gigs of ram these being samsung devices the removable batteries and expandable storage options remain though the note 3 does bump its battery capacity a bit to complete its spec dominance the note 3 adds a handful of new features not found on the - like an infrared port Wi-Fi 802.11 B 3 port and cable for faster charging and data transfers but don't worry your old microUSB cable will still work that's the end of the spectrum catch your breath while we hop on down to software the result of all this spec one-upmanship should be a significantly more capable device but you wouldn't know it necessarily by looking at the interface we're admittedly running an older Android version on the note 2 thanks to AT&T but Samsung's TouchWiz layer is so thick you're hardly going to notice that Gulf and that heavy UI is much the same between these units if you didn't like Samsung's bloated cartoony UI before you won't like it now then you certainly won't like the occasional skip or stutter the heavy software imposes on your expiry if your the routing and modding type you'll probably be switching to a custom launcher soon after picking up either of these thankfully not all the changes are bad Samsung has added it's useful s health fitness suite to the note 3 which leverages the device's new sensor array to help you stay in shape and Samsung Knox is here for those who need a firewall between work and play on their smart phone more importantly the company has also overhauled the S Pen interface on the note 3 instituting air command a circular launch pad containing useful shortcuts to stylish related system functions as well as a system-wide search tool called s finder the S Pen itself has received a slight cosmetic upgrade on the 3 and it can now be inserted into the silo at any roll angle but it is a little harder to remove and yes this time around Samsung has given the S Pen the ability to trigger the capacitive buttons a feature we saw on the note 8 and a very welcome addition here back on the software samsung has added a few more touches like the Flipboard asked my magazine feature kind of like HTC blinkfeed it lives below the homescreen and the company has also renovated the multi screen feature on the note 3 to make it a little smelter and easier to use and it's also built in yet another multitasking feature quick apps in repositionable self-contained windows we didn't like this approach on the LG g2 and we can't see it being terribly useful here either but it's worth mentioning that it's not found on the note 2 now we do expect some of these enhancements to come to the note 2 with software updates eventually but for now they give the note 3 a pretty decisive edge in terms of functionality those improvements continue popping up not just in benchmarks where the note 3 predictably trounces its predecessor but in day-to-day use as well for the first time in a while we've got a new Samsung device that actually delivers better voice quality than its predecessor the note 3 delivers crisper sound on our end and callers said we sounded better on it than on the note 2 in both conventional and loudspeaker modes speakerphone performance is another story with the bottom mounted unit on the note 3 sounding quieter and less bacing delivering thinner sound overall it's still a fine unit it's just not as throaty as the one the older phone the new note steps it up in camera performance replacing the note 2's 8 megapixel camera with a new 13 megapixel unit very similar to the one found on the Galaxy s4 the note 3's bump in resolution is welcome and even shooting at 9.6 megapixels to preserve the same aspect ratio the photos produced are visibly crisper improving on an already pretty solid camera under ideal lighting conditions unfortunately the new phone features a problem we remember from the s4 it may not be a problem for you but we found it annoying a much narrower field of view is present on the note 3 meaning you need to get quite a bit further from your subject to fit it all in the frame also Samsung has inexplicably removed the night shooting mode from the Note 3's viewfinder meaning low-light photos aren't nearly as good in its place novelty modes like golf shot this would be pretty funny if it wasn't so disappointing we look forward to the company's rien clusion of night shooting mode in a future software update which we hope is forthcoming things get brighter on the video side with the note 3 delivering superior audio performance and faster exposure adjustments along with a more balanced color overall than the note 2 though the autofocus is a little on the slow side fortunately the software anti-shake makes up for it it captures pretty smooth video for a phone with no optical image stabilization so should you invest in a note 3 of your own well listen if you're a die-hard phablet fan you already know the answer the added horsepower of the note 3 spec sheet and its many many improvements over the previous generation means you've probably already pre-ordered one and from what we can see at this early point you should probably feel pretty good about your purchase but if you're already carrying or thinking about picking up a note 2 you should feel pretty good about that too the phone got one of our highest ratings last year and it's aged quite well since the note 3 is still the more impressive device by a longshot but not so much so that you should be throwing your note 2 in the recycle bin just yet there's much more to come from pocket now on the new Galaxy Note 3 including our full review stay tuned for it follow us on social media drop a comment down below if you have something to say and thank you for watching we'll see you next time