Samsung note 3 specifications. Samsung Galaxy Note III - bigger, faster, more powerful. Various sensors perform various quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device recognizes

Contents of delivery:

Telephone
Battery 3200 mAh Li-Ion
Charger with USB cable
Wired stereo headset
Instruction

Positioning

It would not be superfluous to recall that it was Samsung that created the direction of phablets, despite the fact that such models appeared even before the first Note. But only Note became successful, and the reason was not only and not so much in the size of the screen, but in a number of characteristics - operating time, convenience in the hand, the presence of a stylus that allowed both writing by hand and drawing. By the second generation of the Note, competitors had launched their own models, but all focused only on screen size, overlooking "minor" improvements in other areas. Practice has shown that not only size is important for users, but also other characteristics. And if the first Note was a purely niche product that unexpectedly took off, then Samsung approached the creation of the second Note in a more meaningful way, trying to strengthen the winning sides of this product. These include the S-Pen stylus, an input technology from Wacom, for which a part of this company was even bought so that competitors could not gain access to it. At the same time, Note has always had the same or slightly improved characteristics compared to the current flagship of the company, which also gave it the status of a top product, which Samsung did not deny, without emphasizing the uniqueness of this model and actually being outside any lines and classifications.

The sales of the first Note reached 10 million units, from the introduction of Note 2 to September 2013, that is, in almost a year, the second generation sold 28 million copies, JK Shin spoke about this at IFA. An excellent indicator for the model is not for everyone.

Samsung approached the creation of the third generation of the phablet with a clear understanding - to improve what worked for the Note 2, add a few features that show the newness of the product, and at the same time try to bring the model to the mass market for the first time. We can say that Note2 almost managed to win the sympathy of a wide audience, the buyers of this product were not only geeks or those who understood the advantages of a stylus and a number of other functions. Among the buyers, there was a separate category of girls who keep their nose to the wind and purchase products that become fashionable. The percentage of such buyers was relatively low, but they are an indicator that by the next generation there may be a qualitative leap and sales will expand due to new audiences.

In my opinion, Samsung felt the reaction of the market and, of course, wanted to increase their sales, especially since the Note category is the most interesting - this product has the largest margin in the line, both in relative and absolute terms. For a slightly different positioning of this device, it had to be given an external gloss, namely, to add accessories from leading designers (a standard move that Samsung has long mastered), to enhance the difference from the Galaxy S4 (32 GB minimum in Note 3 versus 16 GB in a standard S4) . Strengthening the distinction from the S4 was also necessary in terms of design, for the first time the Note differs from the current flagship in terms of materials and how it feels in the hand, it was a deliberate move by the company.

If we discard the marketing rhetoric that talks about premium materials, then we will have one of the most productive, long-lived smartphones with interesting additional features. This device, as before, will be in demand from geeks, as well as those who often write by hand or draw, there are simply no alternatives to the Note. But along with Note 3, we can say that many business users can look towards this device, for them it has a number of features that can be called a breakthrough on mobile devices without underestimation (draw graphs by hand and very quickly, a pop-up calculator and calendar and more). Following this audience, "mods" are instantly pulled up, those who choose an expensive device that is in demand among businessmen. In my opinion, it is these two closely related groups of consumers that will push the sales of Note 3 up, and there is no doubt that they will grow compared to the previous model.

It is curious that the most innovative device on the market, as well as in the Samsung lineup, is not the current flagship at all, but the Note 3. Moreover, the screen size here is a conscious advantage, from which many functions follow.

Design, dimensions, controls

Samsung, when introducing the Note 3, mentioned that they interviewed users and found out that in addition to technical characteristics, they are extremely interested in the quality of materials, they would like to receive a premium quality product. Given that the positioning of the Note line is in this segment, the company tried to do such a trick. Firstly, for the first time they moved away from the same design language with the flagship, if Note 2 was similar to the Galaxy S3, then Note 3 is more like Galaxy S2 than Galaxy S4.

Much has been said about the back cover of the device, which is embossed under the skin. Immediately, a lot of discussion arose about what the cover was made of - someone swore that it was leather, someone thought that it was not. It is possible that the confusion arose because of the S-Cover, since all the covers for this device are made of leather, they replace the back cover. But the standard cover is plastic, it is ordinary plastic with a leather texture and even a line along the edge.

In the hand, such a cover feels good, it does not get dirty, does not wear out. But in terms of material, the difference with the previous model is only in the absence of gloss and varnish, it is more practical. But it's exactly the same stuff. Curiously, Apple has also released plastic cases for the iPhone 5S, but with a leathery feel. Looks like a trend in the market for top devices.

The device is available in three basic colors - white, black and pink. Don't ask me why the pink color appeared, I don't know.

But with the help of covers, you can choose almost any color - there are many of them, and they are very bright, for every taste.

The size of the device is 151.2x79.2x8.3 mm, weight - 168 grams. For comparison, the Note 2 measures 151.1x80.5x9.4mm and weighs 183 grams. De facto, with a larger screen diagonal, a more capacious battery, the model has become smaller. It lies well in the hand and is quite comfortable. Another thing is that for women, this device may still be not very convenient, especially in one-handed operation.

The layout of the device is traditional: there is a mechanical key on the front panel, and two touch keys around it. Above the screen you can see the front camera, as well as the proximity sensor, light. On the left side there is a paired volume control button, on the right side there is an on/off button. At the top there is a 3.5mm headphone or headset jack, and there are microphones on both ends. The main camera is located on the back surface, next to it is an LED flash. Finally, at the bottom end there is a standard microUSB-connector, here you can see the slot for the S-Pen stylus. The difference in the slot from the previous model is that the stylus can be inserted in either direction, it doesn't matter now.

The build quality of the device is excellent, there are no backlashes, the parts are tightly fitted to each other. Opening the back cover, you will see an NFC antenna on it, as well as a microSD slot and a slot for a microSIM card inside.

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8

Comparison with Samsung Galaxy S4

Display

The screen has a diagonal of 5.7 inches, is made using Super AMOLED technology, the resolution compared to its predecessor has increased from 1280x720 to 1920x1080 pixels (16 million colors). The screen is capacitive, supports up to 10 simultaneous clicks. The screen quality is excellent, the ppi value is 386 (in the first Note ppi 285, with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels, and a diagonal of 5.3 inches, in the second with a diagonal of 5.5 inches, 265 ppi).

In my opinion, the race in the quality of screens has come to its logical conclusion, the diagonal may grow, but the picture quality remains almost unchanged (the parameters that the user cannot see, for example, power consumption, may differ). But the Note 3 greatly increased the contrast of the screen, which is clearly visible when shooting with the camera, the colors on the screen are more vibrant, the same applies to a number of other modes. After the Note 3 screen, it's hard to return to the SGS4, the screen looks pale.

Another point is related to the color rendition of this screen - in the settings, all the branded features typical for the flagships of the line have been preserved, in particular, adjusting the saturation of colors, you can make them calm, or you can choose bright colors. But look at the comparison screens with Note 2, I think you will notice that Note 3 (in the comparison photos below) is a little more relaxed (not at all sure that the photos convey this difference, which is almost imperceptible).

In the sun, the screen fades, but remains readable, the screen size and the ability to set the brightness to automatic adjustment make the device interesting. In general, in terms of technical capabilities, this model is one of the most advanced on the market - there is a screen control with a glance (SmartStay, as in SGS4 - pampering, but someone will definitely like it), but the main thing is the optimization of the displayed content, as for video, as well as for pictures. Samsung engineers have optimized the algorithms, and now when using this engine, the energy consumption is much less. The traditional choice of font sizes is very pleasing on a large screen diagonal.

Galaxy S4 screen for comparison

Battery

The phone uses a 3200 mAh lithium-ion battery (3100 mAh in the Galaxy Note 2). According to the manufacturer, the battery can provide up to 16 hours of talk time, up to 890 hours of standby time (3G mode). Under the conditions of Moscow networks, the device works on average for about two full days at a very high load (the difference with the second Note is not very noticeable). The time to fully charge the battery is about 3 hours.

There are not many models on the market that have batteries with a capacity of more than 3000 mAh, while this is a rarity, and Note 3 looks advantageous, although it does not outperform Note 2. Moreover, in some modes, Note 3 even loses to its brother, as a more productive platform (N9000 octa-core Exynos Octa processor), consumes more power. This is clearly visible when navigating the web. But on average, when using two devices, you will not see much difference, it's just that the power consumption in various functions is different.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Bluetooth. Bluetooth version 4.0 (LE). When transferring files to other devices that support this technology, Wi-Fi 802.11 n is used, and the theoretical transfer speed is about 24 Mbps. Checking the transfer of 1 GB of a file showed a maximum speed of about 12 Mbps within three meters between devices.

The model supports various profiles, in particular Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial Up Networking, File Transfer, Object Push, Basic Printing, SIM Access, A2DP. Working with headsets does not raise any questions, everything is ordinary.

USB connection. In Android 4, for some reason, they abandoned the USB Mass Storage mode, leaving only MTP (there is also a PTP mode).

USB version - 3, data transfer rate - about 45 Mb / s.

When connected to a PC, simultaneous operation of USB and Bluetooth is unacceptable, the device requires Bluetooth to be turned off regardless of the current state (whether there is a connection and transmission, or not), this is extremely inconvenient. When connected via USB, the device is charged.

The microUSB connector also supports the MHL standard, which means that using a special cable (available from electronics stores) you can connect your phone to a TV (to the HDMI output). In fact, the standard describes the ability to connect via microUSB to HDMI. This solution looks more preferable than a separate miniHDMI-connector on the case.

For GSM networks, EDGE class 12 is provided.

WiFi. 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac is supported, the wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember the selected networks, automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router with one touch, for this you need to press a key on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device's menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Of the additional options, it is worth noting the setup wizard, it appears when the signal is weak or disappears. You can also set Wi-Fi to work on a schedule.

HT40 mode of operation is also supported for 802.11n, allowing you to double the Wi-Fi throughput (requires support from another device).

WiFi Direct. A protocol that aims to replace Bluetooth or compete with its third version (it also uses Wi-Fi version n to transfer large files). In the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone starts searching for devices around. Select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. Now in the file manager you can view files on another device, as well as transfer them. Another option is to simply find the devices connected to your router and transfer the necessary files to them, this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

NFC. The device has NFC technology, it can be used with various additional applications.

S Beam. A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring and authorize phones, but the second is already used to transfer the files themselves. The creatively redesigned way to use Wi-Fi Direct is much easier than using the connection on two devices, selecting files, and so on.

IR port. Required to use the phone as a remote control for various household appliances. Automatically configured for almost any model of equipment.

Memory, memory cards

The phone has 32 GB of internal memory (there is a 64 GB version, the latter will appear later), initially the entire space is available to the user, except for 2.9 GB used by the system. Memory cards up to 64 GB are also supported.

The amount of RAM is 3 GB, after downloading about 2 GB is free. This is enough for all applications and is a kind of record for today's phones. It is curious that in my version of the device on Octa I did not observe any problems specific to SGS4 (brakes in the gallery and the like), I am sure that this is due to the increased amount of RAM. The device turned out to be very smart.

Hardware model options

The model is available in two versions: the first and most massive, with which this device appears in most markets, is the Snapdragon 800 (quad-core processor clock from Qualcomm up to 2.3 GHz, graphics coprocessor Adreno 330). At the same time, the Exynos 5420 Octa is built on the big.LITTLE ARM architecture and uses two quad-core processors (eight cores in total), one processor on the Cortex A7 architecture (frequency of each core up to 1.3 GHz), one processor on Cortex-A15 (frequency up to 1.9 GHz). ). The graphics coprocessor in this case is PowerVR SGX 544MP3 533 MHz.

In Russia, initially 3G devices based on Octa (N9000) will be sold, later their version with LTE will appear (version for Europe on Snapdragon - N9005). A dual SIM version (N9002) will also be available. Below in the benchmarks you can see the performance of the LTE device, which is typical for such models.

Camera

Almost identical to the one used in the Galaxy S4 in terms of most settings and modes. I don’t see the point in describing all the possibilities of a functional sense, I send you to the corresponding review, everything is the same there - this is simultaneous shooting with the front and main cameras, the presence of various modes.

Camera 13-megapixel (BSI sensor), with LED flash. Once again, the automatic detection of lighting conditions has been improved, there are no other differences, except for video recording in 4K (2160p). In this case, the stream is 47 mbps, 29 frames per second. Considering that there are almost no TVs that support viewing such a picture in the hands of the population, for now this is a feature that is premature. Although in the future most products will support it. Stereo sound recording comes from two microphones.

Photo examples:

Here are some comparison photos with the Galaxy S4 (all settings are automatic). The camera on the Note 3 has a wider angle, colors come out brighter, and details are a little better. Therefore, it is probably impossible to say that they are identical with SGS4. The improvements are big enough and noticeable to the naked eye, this is one of the best cameras on the market.

Galaxy Note 3	Galaxy S4

Note 3 software features - S-Pen control

The most interesting thing about Samsung's phablet is the possibilities associated with a stylus called the S-Pen. In previous devices, many users did not use the pen, because they did not consider it convenient, important, they did not see examples of real use in software. With the release of Note 3, this situation will change dramatically, as the software update is aimed at making it convenient for you to do many things not only with your hands, but also with a stylus.

The S-Pen update was called a new concept, which sounds like this: “Smart Freedom” (Smart Freedom). The main feature is the control of the stylus without touching the screen (Air View / Air Command) and the call of the auxiliary menu with 5 quick functions. Let's look at these commands in detail.

AT S Action now all notes are recognized, they can be linked to actions, so, you enter an entry to call such and such, the phone recognizes it and adds it to the calendar or makes it possible to call from the phone book at the right time. The function is not too popular and amazing, perhaps the most useless of all.

scrapbook- an application that allows you to save text, pictures, and so on from the screen, you circle the desired piece of the page and then select a category. Everything is saved in one place, including the video. A nice feature that might be interesting as an analogue, albeit weaker, of Evernote. The advantage is that this feature is built into the phone.

S Finder- universal search by phone and its memory, searches for data in all applications without exception (you can, however, set up places where you should not look for anything).

Pen Window- draw a square on the screen, and a window of the size that you drew appears, it contains application icons. In fact, this is a pop-up window that you may need when you are working somewhere and want to, for example, calculate something in a calculator. It hangs over the main window and can be closed at any time. Conveniently.

The S Note application has been updated, it has synchronization with Evernote (!), a fairly convenient interface for working with notes, you can see several pages, which is extremely convenient compared to the current version. I highly recommend watching a video about this application to share my enthusiasm - one of the most interesting programs on the phone.

In Multi Window, you can now open the same application in two parts of the window, for example, talking in IM with two different friends at the same time. But the best feature is that you can copy a message from one part of the window to another.

The strange function of MultiVision is that you can transfer one picture to several devices, by combining several devices, you will make one big screen. I highly doubt anyone needs it. But suddenly?

As you can see, the main features of Note 3 are in the software and are associated with the use of a stylus, and in this product it looks very convenient, and you get used to using it literally in a matter of days. In addition, the device has all the features that we saw in the SGS4, for example, it's Air Gesture, that is, gesture control over the front camera. I see no point in describing all these features again, you can read about them in the SGS4 review.

The speed that Speedtest showed is not very high, although it differs from 3G in a big way. This is due to the poor LTE coverage of Megafon in Moscow. In addition, high-rise buildings around the place where testing was carried out may be to blame.

Battery

The new Galaxy Note 3 smartphone has a 3200 mAh lithium-ion battery. With a powerful processor and a large screen, the battery will last a little more than a day of active use. With a gentle mode, the "plafond" can last up to two days. Of course, a lot depends on the brightness of the screen, so by making the backlight a little less, you can significantly extend the battery life.

In general, the use case will not change. You still have to charge your smartphone in the evening. Even if you use the device a little and do not plant it much during the day, then the next day you run the risk of being left without a phone by lunchtime.

Issue price

The new gadget costs 34,990 rubles. It may seem that the price of the device is too high. If so, then not by much. Judge for yourself: there is a powerful processor, a good camera, a new design has been developed, and there are a lot of software chips. In fact, this is an enlarged Galaxy S 4, and it cost only 29,990 rubles at the start. So, the price is quite adequate for the set of hardware and software that Samsung provides us with.

In addition, the situation is significantly improved by the opportunity to buy Galaxy Note 3 in the Megafon salon at a price of 21,990 rubles. But even here everything is not so simple. Of course, there will be no mandatory contract for 2 years (like AT&T and iPhone) here. But you will need to deposit 3,000 rubles into your account, and this is where your obligations to Samsung and Megafon end. In principle, the idea itself is good, and I see such a model in Russia for the first time. But the lack of support from other operators is depressing. That is, if you have Beeline or MTS, then you will not buy a smartphone for less than 34,990 rubles, at least not yet.

Smartphones purchased in the Megfon salon will be blocked for use with other operators. This imposes restrictions on the use of a smartphone in other countries. In fact, it will not be possible to insert a local SIM card and you will have to use roaming, which is inconvenient. Information was leaked to the media that smartphones blocked by the operator can work with local SIM cards abroad for up to 90 days. The Russian representation of Samsung has not yet commented on this information to us.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is already available for sale in official Samsung stores, as well as in Megafon branded stores. The price is for a smartphone with an Exynos processor. How much the version with LTE and Snapdragon 800 will cost is still unknown. Judging by the sales experience of the Galaxy S 4, the price of this model can be significantly higher.

Competitors

Sony Xperia Z Ultra

This flagship smartphone from Sony features a record-breaking 6.4-inch Full HD display with proprietary TRILUMINOS Display technology. The smartphone is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor with a clock frequency of 2.2 GHz, supports 4G LTE standard and HD voice technology.

Samsung every year presents two flagship devices - one each in the Galaxy Note and Galaxy S lines. Yes, the Korean manufacturer does not forget to please its fans with cheaper devices in the “C”, “J” and “A” series, but the attention of most smartphone lovers is riveted on the two lines of flagships.

Historically, the Galaxy Note is released after the release of the Galaxy S, so the developers have time to fix all the problems that have arisen with the flagship of the "S" series. The first Galaxy Note was released in 2011. It was a large smartphone, which many people laughed at because of its size. But no matter what, the Korean company sold more than 10 million phablets without even expecting it.

It is important to know

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has become one of the most popular smartphones at the time of its introduction to the market. The release date of the device is 2013. At that time, the Koreans did not position this line as a flagship.

Specifications

There are two models of Samsung Galaxy Note 3: marked N9005 and marked N900. The difference between them lies in the hardware. The first one received a chip from Qualcomm and an Adreno graphics accelerator, and the second one works on a proprietary chipset, the Mali video accelerator is responsible for the graphics. Both hardware platforms provide a high level of performance, and another fundamental difference between the specifications is that the N900 does not support 4G networks.

Display	Screen Diagonal: 5.7 Display resolution: 1920×1080
Manufacturer	Samsung
Model	Galaxy Note 3
Announcement date	year 2013
Dimensions	151×79×8.3mm Weight: 168g
SIM card	1
Operating system	Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
Communication standard	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz 3G WCDMA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz 4G (N9005 model only) 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 MHz (bands 20, 8, 5, 3, 1 and 7)
Memory	OP: 3GB; VP: 32/64 GB; Memory card support: micro-SD up to 64 GB
Camera	Primary: 13MP Flash / Autofocus: Yes / Yes Front: 2MP Flash / Autofocus: No / No
CPU	Name: Samsung Exynos 5420 Video core: Mali-T628 MP6 Number of cores: 8 Frequency: 4x Cortex-A15 @1.9GHz, 4x Cortex-A7 @1.3GHz
Wireless technologies	WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth v4.0
Battery	Battery capacity: 3200 mAh Removable battery: yes
Connectors	Charger connector: micro-USB Headphone Jack: 3.5mm
Navigation	GPS: yes A-GPS: yes Beidou: Yes GLONASS: Yes
Sensors	Accelerometer Geomagnetic sensor Gyro sensor RGB light Barometer Presence sensor Gestures Temperature and Humidity Magnetic field sensor

Video

Appearance and design

During the creation of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the Korean manufacturer conducted a survey among users to find out what is valued in smartphones in addition to technical specifications. According to the results of the survey, it turned out that customers are interested in the quality of the material from which the phone is made, as well as its design. During the introduction of Note 3, the Koreans focused on this.

In the case of the hero of the review, Samsung moved away from their idea of copying the design of the S line devices. For example, if the Note 2 looked like the Galaxy S3, then the Note 3 does not look like the Galaxy S4. It looks more like Galaxy S2.

The smartphone has a discreet design. The corners are slightly rounded, but not as much as the Galaxy S3/S4. This gives the design of the device rigor. The dimensions of the device are 151.2x79.2x8.3 mm, and the phablet weighs 168 g. Note 3 at the time of release was itself a thin, light and narrow representative of the line. It is 1.1mm thinner than its predecessor, 1.3mm narrower and 12g lighter. Reducing the size affected the ease of use of the phone. Note 3 is comfortable to hold and comfortable to use.

Will be useful

The hero of the review is sold in black, white and pink colors, and with the help of additional covers you can choose any color. Black color is the most practical.

On the front panel, small frames under the screen and above it are striking. If we compare Note 3 with Galaxy S2, then the latter had one and a half times more. At the top of the front face, the developers placed a speech speaker, various sensors and a selfie camera. The sensors and camera are located on the right side of the speaker, and below it is the company logo. Samsung, like LG, did not plan to abandon its logo on the front of smartphones for many years.

Smartphone front panel

Under the screen there was a place for two touch keys: go back and call the menu. Between them there is a hardware button "Home", a long press on which brings up a menu of running applications.

At the top there is an infrared port, an audio output for connecting wired headphones, and an additional microphone cell. At the bottom, the manufacturer has placed a Micro-USB port, a speaker grille, a speech microphone hole and a hole for an integral element of the Note line of smartphones - a stylus. The S-Pen has an equiangular section, which means that you can insert the pen into the hole in any direction.

On the right side there is a physical on / off button for the gadget, and on the left is a dual volume rocker. Both buttons protrude above the planes of the side faces on which they are located, so they can be quickly felt with your finger. The side frames are made of plastic and covered with glossy silver paint to simulate metal.

There are a minimum of elements on the back of the device. So, in its upper part there is a platform protruding above the plane of the case, on which the camera and flash are located, and in the center there is a company logo.

The back of the smartphone has caused a lot of controversy. And here the point is not in its design, but in the materials from which the removable cover is made. Some say that it is plastic, while others say that the back panel is made of leather. In fact, the first ones are right. Really, The lid looks like it's made of leather. This is evidenced by both the texture and the sensations arising from contact with the smartphone. The developers claim that this decision was made in order to show that Note 3 is considered a human notebook.

note

The main advantage of the back panel material is practicality. The back cover does not get dirty, does not collect fingerprints, and it is also not easy to scratch it.

The back of the smartphone

Assembled smartphone qualitatively. There are no squeaks and backlashes when squeezing. At first glance, it may seem that the device has a monolithic design, but in fact it is not. The back cover can be removed to reveal the removable battery and microSD card slot. The advantage of the design is that there is no need to pull out the battery to remove the memory card.

It is important to know

Comfort of operation depends on the constitution of the human body. Due to the large screen, not everyone will be comfortable using a smartphone with one hand, but it is more than convenient to work with the device with two.

Ergonomics Note 3 has three disadvantages. Firstly, the volume button is raised a lot, which is why it is not always possible to quickly reach it during a telephone conversation. Secondly, due to the presence of the manufacturer's logo above the screen, the speech speaker was forced to move to the upper end. For this reason, smartphone owners will have to train themselves to put the phone low to their ear. The third drawback is the location of the multimedia speaker. It is located on the bottom edge, so it is easy to obscure it with the palm of your hand if you hold the device in your hands horizontally. Often this happens while watching videos and playing games. But this is a double-edged sword. If the speaker were on the back, the sound would be muffled when the gadget was on a flat surface. Therefore, the current location of the external speaker has its own advantage.

Display

The hero of the review received a 5.7-inch display. The screen resolution is 1920x1080 pixels. The matrix, traditionally for Samsung smartphones, is made according to . The pixel density is 386 dpi. The AnTuTu benchmark shows that the phone's sensor is capable of responding to 10 simultaneous touches.

The Note 3 has an ambient light sensor that allows you to activate the auto-brightness mode. It works quickly and causes no complaints. When the light level changes, the brightness automatically increases/decreases to a comfortable level.

Will be useful

You can control the screen with gloves and using a special S-Pen stylus. The disadvantage of Glove mode is that when it is activated, the sensor becomes extremely sensitive, which causes erroneous clicks.

Smartphone display

The display of the device has maximum viewing angles. Colors are not distorted at critical deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular. In the settings, you can adjust the color settings.

The brightness range is wide. When exposed to direct sunlight, the image fades, but the information on the screen can be disassembled. At night, the minimum brightness value is sufficient for comfortable use of the smartphone.

Software

The review hero runs on Android 4.3. At the time of the release of the device, this version was up-to-date. The proprietary shell TouchWiz is responsible for the interface. Outwardly, it does not differ much from, however, due to the features of the device, it received several additional functions.

note

The main distinguishing feature of the Note line of devices is the presence of a special stylus. In the case of the third generation smartphone, the developers managed to eliminate the delay that was previously present between pressing the pen on the sensor and the appearance of the display on the display. Now you can quickly take notes on your phone, like a ballpoint pen in a paper notebook.

The creators have expanded the functionality of the S-Pen. With a long press on the screen, a window appears in which you can select the following action:

Cut out the fragment.
take a screenshot;
write a note;
S Finder;
open in a window.

The last command makes it possible to draw a rectangle anywhere on the screen and open some applications that were previously used in it. This function does not work with games, but you can run a calculator or an Internet browser.

S-Finder is a universal device search. With it, you can find any element in the phone's memory. It is also possible to mark folders that will not be searched.

The presence of a stylus greatly simplifies the process of working with a package of office applications. For example, Drawing tables in Excel is much more convenient with the S-Pen than with your fingers.

The presence of a pen is a competitive advantage of the hero of the review over other smartphones of its price category and dimensions. There have been attempts by both LG and Sony to create a phone with a stylus, but everything rested on the inability to eliminate the delay between touching the pen and performing an action. Samsung succeeded.

Sound

Note 3 received two high-quality speakers. The speaker does his job well. The sound quality can be called high. Thanks to the presence of an auxiliary microphone on the top end, there is no noise during telephone conversations. The volume reserve is also sufficient.

Multimedia speaker quality. Although it is loud, it does not distort the sound. Even at maximum volume, there are no wheezing.

The Galaxy Note line of smartphones occupies a special place in the Samsung lineup. On the one hand, the company does not position them as flagships, but on the other hand, the value of the model is growing every year. According to JK Shin, President and Head of IT and Mobile Communications at Samsung, the first and second Note sold more than 38 million copies, and the company predicts that the Note 3 will sell more than 10 million. as for a category of devices that did not even exist three years ago. Samsung really invented a successful form factor and is now trying to strengthen its position. But will the company be able to continue to successfully sell smartphones that come close to tablets? Let's look at the Galaxy Note 3 as an example.

Design

The appearance of the previous two versions of Note was based on the Galaxy S flagships, but not everyone likes glossy plastic and Samsung decided to draw its own design for the Note 3.

Of course, it is easy to recognize a Samsung smartphone in the appearance of the device, and it even reminds a little of the first Note. However, there is nothing similar in the company's lineup today.

Almost the entire front panel of the Note 3 is occupied by a 5.68-inch display covered with protective glass. Below it is a mechanical key to go to the start screen and, with a long press, call the manager of open programs. On the sides of it are touch buttons to call the menu and go back a step. Above the screen you can see the Samsung logo, and a little higher the earpiece grille.

The edges of the smartphone body are made of plastic coated with a glossy silvery metal-like paint.

The back of the Note 3 is a different story. Everyone to whom I managed to show the smartphone during the testing period could not believe the first time that the back cover was made of plastic.

It's hard to blame people for this mistake, for the simple reason that the back of the Note 3 really looks like it's made of leather.

Here you have the texture, and the stitching along the edges, and even the tactile sensations are very similar. It gives out only a hard coating in the plastic case, because leather is a soft material.

Samsung claims that by imitating the skin on the back, they tried to emphasize the fact that Note 3 acts as a notebook of a modern person. As for me, the designers succeeded. But most of all, the new material on the back pleases with its practicality. It does not get dirty, does not slap, and apparently, it will be difficult to scratch it.

At first glance, it seems that the Note 3 case is monolithic, it is so well assembled. However, as with previous Samsung models, the back cover of the smartphone can be removed to expose the battery. Without removing it, the user can remove the memory card from the slot, which can be useful for copying files to a laptop.

In general, the Samsung designers came up with a device with a nice design. One could complain about the plastic case again, but the tactile feel of the Note 3's materials is very pleasant.

Dimensions and ease of use

The increase in the display in Note 3 was bound to lead to an increase in the size of the smartphone itself. However, Samsung's engineers and designers have managed to fit a 5.68-inch display into a body that's only 0.1mm taller than the Note 2, yet is 1.3mm narrower and 1.1mm thinner.

Thus, the screen of the smartphone has grown, but the body has become smaller. Its actual dimensions are 151.2x79.2x8.3 mm, with a weight of 168 grams. Reducing the width of the case has significantly affected the usability, the device now fits better in the hand. By myself, I can say that working with a smartphone with one hand has become easier, although it is still on the verge of comfortable use.

Moreover, the human constitution plays a big role here, and for many people it will be simply inconvenient to work with Note 3 with one hand. But with two hands it is more than convenient to work with him. Ergonomics Note 3, in general, is at a good level, especially considering the size of the device. However, the smartphone still has three minuses in this regard. The first is the location of the volume keys.

For some reason, it was raised very high, so during a conversation, reaching it with your index or thumb, depending on the grip, is problematic.

Secondly, the speaker is very close to the top edge of the front panel, so when you receive a call, you need to accustom yourself to put the device to your ear not too high.

And the third - the location of the external speaker is such that it is very easy to close it with your hand if you hold the smartphone horizontally. This happens especially often in games and when watching videos. To the very dynamics of claims, by the way, no, it sounds loud.

If we talk about the size of the smartphone, then, as was the case with previous versions of Note, you get used to them very quickly. In addition, due to the smaller width, it no longer looks so massive.

Platform, performance and multitasking

Like the Galaxy S4, in the world, Note 3 will be sold with and without LTE support, and accordingly, it will have different platforms. LTE is not yet expected in Ukraine, so Samsung will import a version with an Exynos Octa 5420 system-on-a-chip, which includes 4 Cortex-A15 cores with a frequency of 1.9 GHz + 4 Cortex-A7 cores with a frequency of 1 .3 GHz, as well as Mali-T628 MP6 graphics with support for OpenGL 3.0. The RAM in the device is as much as 3 GB, the built-in memory can be 32 or 64 GB, which can be expanded by microSD cards by another 64 GB.

In the AnTuTu test, Note 3 scored more than 34 thousand points, and in general, according to the test results, it turned out to be faster than not only Note II, but also Galaxy S4.

The increase in performance compared to the previous version of the smartphone is very impressive, especially when it comes to 3D graphics. A powerful platform and a large amount of RAM (2.66 GB available to the user after switching on) allowed Samsung to improve multitasking. Let me remind you that in the case of Note, it consists not only in the ability to keep programs running in the background, but also to place two applications on the same screen at the same time. In Note 3, this functionality has been expanded, now you can not only view two windows at the same time, but also copy information from one window to another with a simple drag and drop.

For example, you can drag and drop images into S Note from the browser. This copy function works, unfortunately, not in all third-party applications, for example, dragging a link from Evernote to the Chrome browser will not work. But in programs from Samsung, everything works almost perfectly. Without full support from third-party applications, this functionality is quite limited, although the idea itself is interesting. Samsung just needs to convince developers to support the Note 3's new features.

Display

Over the past few years, Samsung has developed an interesting tradition of using a larger diagonal display in every new flagship smartphone. After the release of Note II with a 5.5-inch screen, it would seem that the boundary of comfortable use has been reached, there is nowhere to increase further. However, Samsung engineers were able to prove otherwise.

Note 3 uses a 5.68-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a density of 386 ppi. The matrix is based on the layout of PenTile subpixels, which is clearly visible, especially if you greatly enlarge the font image, it gives off green at the edges.

But in practice, with a screen resolution of Full HD and higher, the difference between PenTile and RGB is only from a technical point of view, and includes such parameters as power consumption, life cycle and production cost. Otherwise, the eyesight of the average person cannot pick up the difference. Of course, there are exceptions, but this is more of a rarity than a rule.

In the sun, the Note 3 display fades, but remains readable.

The viewing angles of the matrix are just excellent. The screen of the Galaxy Note 3 leaves a pleasant impression, it is moderately bright and with excellent image clarity. The only thing I would like to see in it is warmer colors, which can often be found in IPS matrices.

Camera

The Galaxy Note 3 has a 13-megapixel camera with a BSI sensor, F2.2 aperture, autofocus and LED flash. According to its characteristics, it repeats the photo module in the Galaxy S4 and takes, in general, photos of comparable quality. As with other Samsung smartphones, the detail of the shots depends on the lighting, the better it is, the better the photos turn out.

The color rendition of the camera is not perfect, this is especially evident in the example of sky shots, the colors look much more colorful than they really are. Otherwise, the Note 3's camera is one of the best smartphones out there.

Software

One of the features of the Galaxy Note line has always been a wide range of software. With the release of the Note 3, Samsung has gone a little further.

Smartphone buyers will find some nice perks in the form of a full version of the SketchBook drawing app, 50 GB of Dropbox space, and 1 year of Evernote premium subscription. The latter service, by the way, plays an important role in the new Note, the S Note note-taking program is now integrated with it, which I will discuss in more detail below. In general, judging by the Note 3, Samsung, apparently, decided to gradually build partnerships with popular Internet services. After all, another program built into the smartphone, My Magazine, which is called by moving a finger from the bottom of the screen to the center, right from the desktop, is built on the basis of Flipboard.

In fact, Samsung has made its own interface for this news reader application and imports content from it. At the same time, the Flipboard program itself is installed in Note 3 out of the box. Such tactics Samsung is very interesting, but it all depends on what other partners the company will be able to attract. Note is running Android 4.3 with a proprietary TouchWiz interface, there are no major changes in the shell, you can read its full review.

Note 3 vs notepad

The smartphone received the name “Note” not because it is musical, in the context of the device’s capabilities, we are talking about its ability to record and store information.

In this regard, Note 3 succeeded more than its predecessors, having received a new pen and the S Note program. I'll start with a pen. In terms of design, it has become more consistent with the appearance of Note 3, but at the same time its design has essentially not changed.

The pen is still hidden in the smartphone case and is equipped with a mechanical key.

However, the work with the stylus in Note 3 has undergone big changes.

After removing it from the case, a new menu appears on the smartphone screen, which includes five icons, we will analyze each one individually: Action Memo are quick handwritten notes that for some reason are not related to S Note in any way and are stored in a separate application.

Scrapbook is a very useful program that allows you to cut images from web pages and save them along with links.

Screen writing - takes a screenshot of the current image on the display and allows you to write handwritten notes on top of it.

S Finder is Samsung's new smartphone content search.

Pen window - allows you to draw a rectangle of almost any size on any screen and open a widget in it, for example, a calculator. This was done in order to launch a new one on top of it without leaving the current application. The idea is interesting, but there are very few programs available in this mode.

The S Note app is key to the Galaxy Note concept, allowing you to create and store handwritten and text notes. At the same time, the user receives a wide range of tools in order to record important information for himself or simply draw. After all, the Note 3 pen understands the degree of pressure.

As for S Note, you can add an unlimited number of notebooks to the program, and create separate sheets inside. Everything is almost the same as when working with a real notepad.

Inside the sheets, you can write, draw, add diagrams or already prepared sketches of drawings. In addition, images saved from the scrapbook can be inserted into recordings. Considering that S Note can now save notes to Evernote, this is a very good solution for those who want to change a real notepad to a digital one. Of course, Note 3 will not be able to imitate paper, but it doesn’t need it, the device copes quite well with most notepad tasks.

Health

Despite the fact that the Galaxy Note 3 is not at all positioned as a device for sports, Samsung has not forgotten about the health of its users. Note 3 has expanded support for ANT-compatible accessories, this allows you to directly connect a range of heart rate monitors and electronic scales to the device.

All this is implemented through the S Health program. She also knows how to turn a smartphone into a pedometer, a food log, workouts, and using a temperature and humidity sensor to determine how comfortable the environment is.

As a result, S Health acts as a single center through which the user can monitor their health. In this version of the program, it became possible to store your data on Samsung servers and synchronize between different Galaxy. However, this function is optional, and the entrance to S Health itself can generally be password protected.

Music

The Note 3 can play MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, AMR-NB/WB, Vorbis, FLAC and WAV out of the box. Moreover, the last two formats can be played in Hi-Fi quality 24 bit / 192 kHz.

The smartphone sounds really very good, if the standard sound seems not enough, it can be adjusted using the equalizer or preset modes. Among them there are such interesting ones as an imitation of a tube amplifier and 7.1-channel sound.

The Adapt Sound function has also not gone away and allows you to customize the sound of the headphones to suit your hearing.

Video

The built-in video player in Galaxy Note 3 supports H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, VC-1, WMV7, WMV8, Sorenson Spark, MP43, VP8, HEVC, AVI and MKV formats.

The smartphone has no problems with playing popular AVI and MKV formats in our country. Watching videos on the screen of Note 3 is very good.

autonomy

The Galaxy Note 3 has a 3200 mAh battery, which is a slight change from the Note II which uses a 3100 mAh battery. Despite the fact that the Exynos Octa 5420 processor is more energy efficient than the previous version, the Note 3's autonomy has not grown compared to its predecessor. The Full HD display has taken its toll, so the new smartphone demonstrates good, but not outstanding autonomy.

In my case, in medium load mode, the battery lasted about 17 hours, but with very active use up to 30%, it was discharged in 9.5 hours. Good, but as I already wrote, not an outstanding result.

Note 3 is charged via microUSB 3.0 connector, thanks to this charging is faster. Thanks to backwards compatibility, you can also charge your smartphone via regular microUSB.

Eventually

Smartphone Galaxy Note 3 can safely be called a worthy continuation of the line. It's nice that Samsung stopped increasing the display, just for the sake of the size itself, and thought about ease of use. It is also good that the company has taken a more thoughtful approach to the issue of selecting software, as well as scenarios for using the pen. Of course, here she still has something to work on, but this is a good start. The Note 3 itself, despite some flaws in ergonomics, will be an excellent choice for those who are looking for a large diagonal smartphone with the maximum functionality at the moment.

It seems that for Samsung itself, the success of the very first smartphone of the Note line was unexpected. In fact, having created a new class of devices - tablet phones - the Korean corporation quickly learned that instead of one "cash cow" in the form of Galaxy S, it is quite possible to produce two flagship models.

Now, every year the manufacturer is equally expected not only for Escu, but also for the new Note. It just so happens that it is from the latter that innovations are expected, whether it is the case material, the display, or the capabilities of the complete pen. The Note 3 was expected to have a fresh design, a metallic finish, a larger Full HD screen, unusual "chips" S Pen. Some expectations were justified, others remained expectations.

It's time to take a closer look at one of the most interesting Android smartphones of the year. Of course, let's not forget to compare it with last year's predecessor.

Design

Let's be honest - everyone is tired of the ubiquitous glossy Galaxy plastic. A few months before the announcement of the Note 3, there were rumors born of hope that the Koreans would finally decide enough was enough and make the device in a radically new design with a mandatory metal case.

In fact, we did not see anything radically new at the IFA in Berlin. The Note 3 is fully rendered in . Compared to the device, it has become noticeably stricter, all four corners are no longer so playfully rounded. But the leitmotif during the announcement of the device was a completely different feature.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Note 3

"Wow, leather cover!"- Approximately in this vein, the first messages of visitors to the exhibition in Berlin were sustained. A Samsung spokesperson was not shy about using eco-friendly materials and leather trim from the stage. To hell with it, with metal, since we have almost Vertu in front of us, only technologically a hundred times more perfect.

Doubts about the natural origin of the back panel material appeared immediately: it is impossible to produce such a mass-produced product with an expensive finish. In addition, we do not forget about the practicality and attacks of the ubiquitous defenders of flora and fauna. Yes, and the seam in the photos looked too smooth.

What's to play around - "leather" The lid is the most plastic. But, we admit, the imitation is good. The surface is moderately soft and "warm", the drawing is pleasant, according to tactile sensations - beyond praise. It looks like not the cheapest panel trim in some car. In general, we liked this performance, but psychologically you feel discomfort from the awareness of imitation and bravura statements made during the announcement.

If this moment does not bother you, then you will surely like the pseudo-leather plastic cover. It is generally extremely difficult to leave dirty marks on it, unlike glossy or even matte plastic, and the material does not wipe off like real leather. In general, practical, convenient, but with a slight veil of deceit.

By the way, imitation is generally inherent in Note 3. In addition to leather, the smartphone is also trying to copy metal. Under it, the ends are made of silvery plastic, flavored with longitudinal stripes.

What is surprising is the dimensions of the device. Despite the larger screen size compared to its predecessor, Note 3 has managed to become smaller and lighter. The length (151 mm) remained the same, but the width of the device decreased by a millimeter, to 79 mm. It also lost more than 1 mm in thickness - 8.3 mm versus 9.4 for Note 2. The weight decreased slightly, by a dozen grams, but still for such a densely packed giant, this is a noticeable achievement. The reduction in size with an enlarged display was achieved due to the narrowing of the frame separating the screen from the edges of the smartphone. Just a couple more millimeters, and it will be possible to talk about the matrix "from edge to edge".

There are only two hardware buttons. The power button is located on the right side and falls exactly under the thumb of the right hand. On the left side is a volume rocker. It is not very convenient to use it due to the rather large width of the device. There is also a complaint about the power button: in our copy, it stuck from time to time and did not respond to pressing with a finger. I had to bring her to her senses by pressing with a fingernail from different sides.

The stylus is securely fixed in a special compartment on the bottom. Next door is a not very loud external speaker, which, moreover, can often be closed by hand. There is also a microphone and an unusual dual microUSB 3.0 connector. It can be used both with a regular microUSB cable and with a special, wider one with an accelerated charging function.

The Note 3 has an additional noise-canceling microphone, an infrared sensor, and a 3.5mm audio jack located on top. And the device is literally stuffed with different sensors. In addition to the usual proximity sensors, light and gyroscope, there is a barometer, temperature, humidity and magnetic field sensors.

S Pen, spare nibs and tweezers to remove them

In terms of convenience, the model is in no way inferior to its predecessor and even surpasses it due to its thinner thickness and non-slip lid. Ergonomics is at a high level for a tablet phone. Let's add here another excellent (except for the mentioned embarrassment with the on / off button) assembly.

Display

The novelty received a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display. Compared to its predecessor, the difference in size is small, less than 0.2 inches. But the resolution of Note 3 has finally stepped into Full HD - the number of pixels per inch is almost one and a half times higher than that of Note 2 (386 vs. 267 ppi)! Now the image is very clear, without a hint of "teeth", which are visible only when the screen is unnaturally close to the eyes.

Instead of an RGB matrix, as in Note 2, PenTile is again used. Some users say they can tell the difference, but we didn't. And here "proprietary" the feature in the form of a greenish tint of white when the device is tilted remains. Here you have to put up with it and not pay attention to it, or look for a competitive tablet phone with IPS. From our point of view, there is nothing to worry about - the shade does not affect the perception of information in any way, and it is unlikely that anyone will often look at the display at a large inclination.

You can still select the screen mode by muting "poisonous" Super AMOLED color. For example, modes "Cinema" and "Professional Photography" bring picture quality closer to what the best examples of IPS matrices can show. At the same time, the contrast remains at the highest level, and the black color does not disappoint with its purple essence.

In terms of quality, the Note 3 screen is very similar to the Galaxy S4. It also has Gorilla Glass 3, the ability to work with gloves, high brightness, Full HD ... It's still a great display. Not the best anymore, since there is a Galaxy S4 with its 441 ppi, but one of the highest quality.

camera, sound

The PV module is another legacy of the Galaxy S4. The 13-megapixel camera is still good and has the same set of features. This time we did not experiment and took all the photos in automatic mode. The smartphone always chose the most suitable settings, there was no desire to reshoot something.

Below you can watch two videos shot in Full HD resolution. One of them clearly demonstrates the attempt of electronics to stabilize the video sequence while driving along a road with pits and potholes. In general, it is better to shoot videos in calm conditions with non-shaking hands.

We really liked the Note 3's camera. It's still the best Android smartphone makers have to offer.

The sound, unlike the camera, did not impress us. Through the external speakers, it is quite loud, but somehow flat and inexpressive. To very far. In headphones, the device also has nothing to surprise a sophisticated music lover with - frankly, there is not enough low frequencies.

Functionality, stylus

Any Galaxy Note is a Galaxy S plus the functionality of a stylus. We will not dwell on the features repeated in the Galaxy S4 again. You can read the corresponding review at the link. Let's take a look at new "chips" tablet phone, which got the latest Android 4.3 as an OS.

As soon as the user takes out the S Pen, a radial menu with five commands appears on the screen. It can also be called up at any time by pressing the button on the stylus. In this case, the pen does not have to touch the screen - the touchscreen recognizes the S Pen already at a distance of about a centimeter from the screen. By the way, the smartphone is compatible with the previous generation Note stylus.

The "Active note" function not only allows you to quickly make the necessary mark on a virtual sheet of paper, but also binds it to some action. For example, the system can check the handwritten text against the database of contacts in the phone book, search the Internet. You can also write an email address or designate a new contact.

With option "Save Fragment" you can save any elements from the current page. It is enough to circle a part of the screen, and the phone will determine the active areas, highlight them and offer to save to "Scrapbook". Not only the image is saved, but also the video and links.

"Screenshot"- the most useless feature. A screenshot with the ability to leave a handwritten mark on it can be taken much faster using the combination of the power button and "Home".

Service S Finder allows you to find anything in any application. Of course, there is support for handwriting, and the data you are looking for can be sorted by creation date, file type, etc. Not a very popular feature, but in case of clutter everything and everything can come in handy.

"Open in window". Most interesting "chip". By clicking on the rightmost button in the radial menu, we draw a square of arbitrary size on the screen. After that, a list of those applications that you can run in the second window appears. Among such programs are calculator, YouTube client, browser, clock, contacts, etc.

Among other innovations, it is worth mentioning the mode of operation with two active windows. Now you can open two identical applications. In this case, all content can be transferred from one screen to another.

The S Note has undergone a major upgrade. Thanks to synchronization with "cloudy" services, you can work with files through several devices. You can select a single fragment of the image and save only it.

The Note 3 model supports Samsung's proprietary KNOX service. This is a user data protection solution that runs applications in a special isolated container that is inaccessible to malware. Judging by the description, the system is very serious, it uses an encryption algorithm with a 256-bit key, etc. Even a screenshot is not allowed.

A news feed similar to BlinkFeed from HTC Sense 5 is implemented in an original way. Here you can also specify what should be broadcast on the main screen. This may be news from online media, the list of which cannot be edited (you can only select the country from which you want to receive the newsletter. Belarus is not among them). In addition, here you can display messages from social networks, as well as personal data such as photos, S Note data, SMS, etc. All information is shown in full screen. Unlike BlinkFeed, it does not occupy a separate desktop, but is invoked using a swipe across the screen from the bottom up.

Unfortunately, contactless smartphone control is still more like short-term entertainment. At first, flipping through photos with a wave of your hand above the screen is fun, but soon the “game” gets boring - the sensor does not always correctly recognize the movement of the brush and can scroll back to the picture, not forward. In addition, the hand gets tired quickly.

So far, the analogue of Siri has not received development. The system recognizes words well, but is unable to answer questions. She knows a few obvious commands "What is your name?", "What time is it now?" etc.), to which it can issue pre-prepared messages. If you move away from the banality a little to the side, problems begin: at best, you will be offered in broken Russian to “look for the answer on the Internet.” Probably, the developers perfectly understood the primitiveness of the system, since they taught them to adequately answer questions related to its stupidity.

During testing of the smartphone, we encountered several unpleasant bugs. Once Note 3 hung for 10-15 seconds, safely, however, returning to work. In two cases, the device turned off for no apparent reason and went into an endless reboot. The problems are probably software-related, so Samsung will most likely fix them in the next update.

Performance and battery life

The Korean company continued the practice of releasing different modifications of the same smartphone model for different regions. Note 3 is being sold in Belarus, which, like the Galaxy S4, is based on the Korean Exynos 5 Octa chip. This is a modified processor, which also consists of two blocks, each of which carries "on board" four cores.

When performing non-resource-intensive tasks, a bunch of four Cortex-A7 cores is used. while starting something "heavy" and demanding, instead of them two pairs of Cortex-A15 cores come into play, the clock frequency of which has grown by 100 MHz compared to the Galaxy S4, up to 1.9 GHz.

Instead of the PowerVR SGX544MP3, the Mali-T628MP6 chip is responsible for the graphics performance, the performance of which is twice as high as that of its counterpart. In addition, Note 3 received a record amount of RAM - just 3 GB. It would seem that with such power, a smartphone should easily grind any tasks, but not everything is so simple.

The novelty really easily copes with games of any complexity, but sometimes it slows down in built-in applications and a “heavy” proprietary interface, overgrown with a huge number of necessary and useless “ruffles”, decorations and functions. Most often, this is noticeable while working with the stylus and when viewing voluminous Internet pages that begin to slowly render.

On the one hand, all these delays are not critical, you quickly get used to them. In addition, it cannot be said that they are ubiquitous. And yet, in a phone costing more than $1000, to see even the slightest brakes in the interface is a bit strange. As for the comparison with Note 2, we did not see a big difference in performance. Of course, if we talk about real applications, and not about "parrots" in benchmarks.

If the smartphone is heavily loaded, there is a slight heating in the camera area. There is no need to worry about this, since you do not feel any discomfort. In addition, with the vertical orientation of the device, your hand is unlikely to reach there at all.

Power consumption also remained at the level of a tablet phone in 2012, which is great. A year ago, we praised the Note 2 for its long battery life. The hero of today's review also did not blunder. In the mode of non-stop video playback with Full HD resolution, with maximum brightness, wireless modules turned off, various sensors and “optimizers”, the device lasted 7 and a half hours - only 20 minutes less than its predecessor.

With merciless daily use, when we took hundreds of photos, shot videos, launched benchmarks and other applications, surfed the Internet, etc., Note 3 lasted more than two days. If desired, it is quite possible to make it work for four days, if you do not abuse the frequent launch of games. We add that the battery capacity with a reduced case thickness increased from 3100 to 3200 mAh.

While reviewing the Note 2, we noted an issue with the device taking a long time to charge. Samsung solved this problem: the Note 3 takes standard 2 hours to charge from the AC mains. Thanks to the new cable, charging via USB has also accelerated. Compatibility with standard microUSB cords, by the way, has remained, so you should not worry about a possible replacement of the cable.

Note that the device received 32 GB of internal memory and a microSD slot with support for cards up to 64 GB. The result is almost 100 GB of space - more than enough for any mobile "garbage".

findings

The Galaxy Note 3 is definitely better than its predecessor. Yes, this is generally one of the most crammed with all sorts of features Android smartphone. And yet, if last year's Note 2 caused delight, then the novelty rather left an aftertaste of indifference. We have already seen almost all of this in other Samsung models, and the innovations are not so significant as to draw attention to them.

It's a shame that technically one of the most advanced mobile devices is still bashfully slow in built-in programs. One could turn a blind eye to this if it were not for the high cost. Price is the Note 3's main stumbling block. Paying over $1,000 for plastic imitation leather? We are waiting for a reduction in cost by a third. In the meantime, if you really need a stylus, it is better to pay attention to Note 2 or take a closer look at the Galaxy S4.

Advantages:

high-quality screen;
excellent camera;
sometimes useful S Pen.

Disadvantages:

a lot of unnecessary software "ruffles";
offensive for such power braking;
price.
A source of information: