Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Reviewrigsandgeeks.com /samsung-galaxy-note-3-review/

Many companies have attempted to produce a large, note-pleasant smartphone, but non-e have succeededquite along with Samsung. While the 1st Galaxy Note was rather large and lacking in ref inement, Samsunghas steadily improved the line, this year releasing the brand new Galaxy Note 3, and contains some truecompetitors f or the very f irst t ime.

Sharing similarit ies with the Galaxy S4 in design and hardware, the Galaxy Take note 3 is amazing in manyaspects. Based on what model you select you’ll be handled to a robust Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 orSamsung Exynos 5 Octa SoC, a 5.7- inch 1080p Very AMOLED display, removable storage, a 13-megapixelcamera and the ever-helpf ul S-Pen. TouchWiz is also included on the Note, but that’s a tale f or later on inthe review.

I have both Galaxy Note 3 models with me f or this review, making it a f ascinating comparison between thef resh Exynos 5 Octa and the trusted Snapdragon 800. Which design is most ef f ective f or customersaround the globe? May be the Note 3 plenty of of an update f rom the prior Galaxy Note?

The Exynos-powered Galaxy Note 3 f ound in this review was supplied by Negri Electronics kindly. No matterwhere you’re on earth (Australia, US or overseas), Negri of f ers unlocked smartphones and capsules init ialand f or the cheapest prices – and you could choose whichever Note 3 design you like.

Design

Samsung hasn’t been the king of smartphone style. The Galaxy S4, while f unctional and ergonomic, lackedthe ref ined experience of other smartphones it had been competing against. The Take note 3 tries torectif y a f ew of the strange style options of its predecessors, but it ’s not minus the signature Samsungoddities that we’ve arrived at know.

Like prior models, the Galaxy Take note 3 is quite huge but it ’s not ungainly as soon as you get accustomedto the dimension. Unlike the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, the Take note 3 f its reasonably properly in pockets anddoesn’t restrict motion to the same education. One handed make use of isn’t easy and simple when you’recoping with a 5.7- inch display, but with repetit ion it gets easier than it seems f irst.

Despite a 0.2- inch upsurge in display size when compared to Note II, the overall f ootprint of the Note 3 hasactually decreased. The display of the Notice 3 covers 75% of its f ront f ace in comparison to 69% on theNotice II, and it ’s f urthermore slimmer (8.3mm versus 9.4mm) and lighter in weight (168g versus 180g); allchanges that improve the usability of the handset. The reduction in the bezel around the display is amarked improvement both f rom a visible and ergonomic standpoint.

On a less good note, there’s Samsung’s odd selection of components on the Notice 3′s removable backagain panel. The business has addressed some problems I got with the prior model – the trunk is not anylonger a clean, slippery litt le bit of cheap, f limsy plastic – but not to the point of a complete resolution.Aside f rom the f ront which is covered with Gorilla Glass, Samsung has utilized plastic f or all of those otherNote 3’s build.

In most cases I don’t have trouble with plastic: when used properly, it ’s rather a great option to metal inpremium devices. Samsung continues to utilize plastic in an awf ul way however. It ’s obvious that the trunkpanel isn’t leather immediately, but plastic designed to appear to be leather with f aux-sewn edges. It f eelsdecent readily available reasonably, nonetheless it looks so certainly artif icial that it resembles even more aChinese knock-of f when compared to a premium smartphone.

The same could possibly be said concerning the edges of the handset. Instantly you might be f ooled intoconsidering it ’s a steel rim, but Samsung of f ers a metal- lookalike plastic material rim instead. I wouldn’thave just as much of a concern with the materials selection if Samsung acquired unashamedly long gonewith plastic material and utilized it like plastic material. Instead it f eels as though they are attempting tocheat clients by designing a mobile phone that appears like it ’s created f rom premium components likealuminium and leather, but actually isn’t.

Moving on, leading panel of the Be aware 3 is dominated simply by the 5.7- inch AMOLED display and atriangle-patterned bezel. Above it you’ll discover the metallic loudspeaker grill, noticeable sensors whichlook unusual somewhat, a f ront f acing surveillance camera, and the ever-usef ul, very large notif icationlight. May be the tradit ional physical house button below, and also the menu button lef t and the relativeback again button to the proper.

Almost every other smartphones have the buttons within the opposite conf iguration, this means upgradersf rom any non-Samsung smartphone may f ind themselves conf used f or a couple weeks. The menu key inunderneath lef t is tough to press with all the phone in a single hand (suf f icient reason f or Google android4.0+ it ’s an unnecessary legacy button), theref ore the more used back again button is in f act in animproved posit ion f requently.

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Many companies have tried to make a large, note-f riendly smartphone, but none have succeeded quite aswell as Samsung. While the f irst Galaxy Note was rather large and lacking in ref inement, Samsung hassteadily improved the line, this year releasing the brand new Galaxy Note 3, and it has some truecompetit ion f or the f irst t ime.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – $640+ (unlocked)

5.7”, 1920×1080 Super AMOLED (388 ppi)

Snapdragon 800, or Exynos 5 Octa SoC

Krait 400 quad-core CPU, or Cortex A7+A15 octa-core CPU

Adreno 330 GPU, or Mali-T628 MP6 GPU

16/32/64 GB internal storage, 3 GB RAM, microSD card slot

13 MP camera, 1/3.06” sensor, f /2.2 lens, up to 4K video

3,200 mAh, 12.16 Wh battery

LTE or HSPA+, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC

Android 4.3 ‘Jelly Bean’

168 grams, 8.3mm thick

Sharing similarit ies with the Galaxy S4 in design and hardware, the Galaxy Note 3 is impressive in manyaspects. Depending on what model you choose you’ll be treated to a powerf ul Qualcomm Snapdragon 800or Samsung Exynos 5 Octa SoC, a 5.7- inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, removable storage, a 13-megapixel camera and the ever-usef ul S-Pen. TouchWiz is also included on the Note, but that’s a story f orlater in the review.

I have both Galaxy Note 3 models with me f or this review, making it an interesting comparison between thenew Exynos 5 Octa and the trusted Snapdragon 800. Which model is best suited f or users around theglobe? Is the Note 3 enough of an upgrade f rom the previous Galaxy Note?

The Exynos-powered Galaxy Note 3 used in this review was kindly provided by Negri Electronics. No matterwhere you are in the world (Australia, US or abroad), Negri provides unlocked smartphones and tablets firstand for the lowest prices – and you can choose whichever Note 3 model you like.

Design

Samsung has never been the king of smartphone design. The Galaxy S4, while ergonomic and f unctional,lacked the ref ined f eel of other smartphones it was competing against. The Note 3 attempts to rectif ysome of the strange design choices of its predecessors, but it ’s not without the signature Samsungoddities that we’ve come to know.

Like previous models, the Galaxy Note 3 is quite large but it ’s not ungainly once you get used to the size.Unlike the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, the Note 3 f its reasonably well in pockets and doesn’t restrict movement tothe same degree. One handed use isn’t the easiest when you’re dealing with a 5.7- inch display, but withpractice it becomes easier than it f irst appears.

Despite a 0.2- inch increase in display size compared to the Note II, the overall f ootprint of the Note 3 hasactually decreased. The screen of the Note 3 covers 75% of its f ront f ace compared to 69% on the Note II,and it ’s also slimmer (8.3mm versus 9.4mm) and lighter (168g versus 180g); all changes that improve theusability of the handset. The reduction in the bezel around the display is a marked improvement both f roma visual and ergonomic standpoint.

On a less posit ive note, there is Samsung’s odd choice of materials on the Note 3′s removable back panel.The company has addressed some issues I had with the previous model – the back is no longer a smooth,slippery piece of cheap, f limsy plastic – but not to the point of a complete resolution. Aside f rom the f rontwhich is covered with Gorilla Glass, Samsung has used plastic f or the rest of the Note 3’s build.

Generally speaking I don’t have a problem with plastic: when used well, it can be a great alternative to metalon premium devices. However Samsung continues to use plastic in a terrible way. It ’s immediately obviousthat the back panel is not leather, but plastic made to look like leather with f aux-sewn edges. It f eelsreasonably decent on hand, but it looks so obviously f ake that it resembles more a Chinese knock-of f thana premium smartphone.

The same could be said about the edges of the handset. At a glance you may be f ooled into thinking it ’s ametal rim, but instead Samsung provides a metal- lookalike plastic rim. I wouldn’t have as much of an issuewith the materials choice if Samsung had unashamedly gone with plastic and used it like plastic. Instead itf eels like they are trying to cheat customers by designing a phone that looks like it ’s made f rom premiummaterials like aluminium and leather, but actually isn’t.

Moving on, the f ront panel of the Note 3 is dominated by the 5.7- inch AMOLED display and a triangle-patterned bezel. Above it you’ll f ind the metallic speaker grill, visible sensors which look somewhat strange,a f ront f acing camera, and the ever-usef ul, quite large notif ication light. Below is the tradit ional physicalhome button, as well as the menu button to the lef t and the back button to the right.

Most other smartphones have the buttons in the opposite conf iguration, which means upgraders f rom anynon-Samsung smartphone could f ind themselves conf used f or a f ew weeks. The menu button in thebottom lef t is hard to press when using the phone in one hand (and with Android 4.0+ it ’s an unnecessarylegacy button), so the more f requently used back button is actually in a better posit ion.

Around the edges the lef t hand side has the volume rocker, the top has the 3.5mm headphone jack andinf rared LED, and the right hand side has the power button. In a comf ortable holding posit ion, the powerbutton is in the perf ect location f or easy operation.

The bottom panel gets the microUSB 3.0 slot, that is larger than the typical microUSB 2.0 slot that you’reutilized to see on additional devices but nonetheless accepts legacy wires. There’s also the loudspeakergrill lef t and the built- in stylus slot which keeps the S-Pen securely.

The S-Pen is styled similarly to the Note 3, in that it ’s created f rom white and metallic colored plastic. It ’squite comf y to use, and the event button is simple to push and in an easy location.

WHEN I mentioned earlier, the back cover of the Galaxy Note 3 can be removed, revealing the removableelectric battery, microSD cards slot and SIM cards slot. The removable electric battery is really a handyf eature f or a f ew, but in numerous respects it will become a downside. Needing to produce a supplementaryplastic casing f or both internal parts and the electric battery itself can make the mobile phone larger andbattery smaller sized than what will be possible otherwise. Build quality also tends to suf f er when you use aremovable back panel.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is about the screen. A 5.7- inch FHD Super AMOLED panel af f ords animpressive 89.6 sq. cm of screen property: 30% greater than a typical 5.0- inch display you’d f ind about adevice just like the Galaxy S4. In addition, it represents a litt le 7% boost on the f inal generation Note’sscreen, which isn’t a large amount, but still great considering the actual dimension of these devices hasn’tincreased consequently.

The 5.7- inch display includes a resolution of 1920 x 1080, which is the standard f or most high-endsmartphones this year, especially those with larger screens. It includes a pixel density of 386 PPI, densesuf f icient that you won’t have the ability to distinguish personal pixels on the screen, even though it ’s quitenear your f ace. The two 2.07 million pixels crammed in to the display can make everything appear verysharp, especially high-resolution images and text, where jagged edges certainly are a nonissue.

However it ’s nearly hanging around with the Galaxy Note 3’s display, as there’s been hook qualitydegradation when compared to Note II. Where in f act the Take note II’s Super AMOLED highlighted an S-stripe (RGB stripe) subpixel matrix, the Take note 3’s regresses to a PenTile matrix. If you’re unf amiliar withscreen subpixel matrices, the PenTile matrix, in its Take note 3 layout, includes outlines of environmentf riendly subpixels with alternating glowing blue and red subpixels among. As there isn’t one crimson, greenand glowing blue subpixel f or each pixel, the Take note 3’s display includes a lower ef f ective quality whencompared to a 1080p LCD panel, which utilizes the excellent RGB stripe three-subpixel matrix.

The low ef f ective resolution of the Note 3’s Super AMOLED is visible to a tuned eye; it basic doesn’t lookas ef f ective as a competing LCD panel. That’s not saying the Note 3 is suf f ering f rom poor screensharpness or clarity – it ’s still excellent generally in most respects – but it ’s nearly as ef f ective as what’spossible with other screen technology. The PenTile matrix will be most noticeable round the edges of textmessage, where sharp outlines aren’t as def ined, even though issue can be nowhere near as pronouncedas init ial- and second-era AMOLED panels.

Will you spot the lower display quality because of the PenTile subpixel matrix somewhat? Without anythingto review it to, not probably, especially because the 1080p resolution helps it be very hard to tell apart thepixels themselves. I’d choose an RGB stripe matrix f or the excess clarity, but it ’s def inately not the f inish ofthe world.

One section of AMOLED panels that can’t be beaten by LCD technology is normally inside the contrastratio. Blacks on the Note 3’s display look spectacular, because the display is actually of f when black mustbe displayed because of the insuf f icient a backlight in the panel’s construction. The degrees of black thescreen is with the capacity of are good however, not great: I couldn’t distinguish the distinction betweenf ive of the squares in a typical 256- level black test, this means handf ul of detail in darkish scenes couldpossibly be lost.

Whites are ok f rom the Note 3’s AMOLED, nonetheless it hasn’t been a solid suit of the display type. Thereexists an inclination to t int the screen blue-grey slightly, but not by around previous versions. Brightness isgood again, but not excellent, f alling behind many current-era LCD panels in optimum brightness levels. Theseveral layers the display comprises helps visibility outdoors considerably, but it ’s not easy and simplepanel to see in strong sunlight, particularly if you’ve got a white model where in f act the bezel ref lects awhole lot of light.

Like various other AMOLED-packing Galaxy smartphones, you can f ind f our screen modes to pick f rom inthese devices settings: Dynamic, Regular, Prof essional Movie and Photo. The def ault setting would be tohave the screen “adapt” (aka. pick the placing f or you with respect to the situations), and in every respect itlooks quite great, albeit oversaturated just like the usual AMOLED. Shades pop and images appearancevibrant, nonetheless it certainly isn’t probably the most precise setting to depart it on.

In the def ault placing, gamma is way of f (around 2.5 than the regular 2 rather.2) and oversaturation causesdetails and nuances in colour to end up being clipped away, in debt and blue channels specif ically. There’snoticeable colour banding when considering f ull-spectrum gradients also, which can’t be resolved throughmodif ying the display screen mode.

Annoyingly, it ’s impossible to simply change the screen mode and f ix the problems. Dynamic mode producesprecise gamma, but can make the oversaturation concern worse, while Movie setting signif icantly pulls inthe saturation and can make the whitened point less blue, but gamma continues to be an presssing issue.And that’s not really the only real issue, as setting the Take note 3 to probably the most accurate displayscreen mode (Film) makes the operating-system generally look very boring, because Samsung is rolling outit f or the radiant AMOLED panel.Looking at angles through the FHD Extremely AMOLED have become good,as always, with text readable at all of f angles basically. There’s hardly any contrast or color change whenadjusting the posit ion of viewing, that is normal f or an f antastic and AMOLED as always. Having less layersin the screen’s composition decreases ref lectivity also, so the screen is seen by you quite nicely in thecurrent presence of bright windows.

General, the Galaxy Note 3’s display is radiant and saturated in def ault situations (if inaccurate), and themassive amount screen real estate is ideal f or writ ing mass media and tasks consumption. The 1080pquality keeps the display sharp, but it ’s not really the sharpest panel I’ve run into, both because of thePenTile and dimension matrix. I’m not really convinced AMOLED panels will be the best choice, as LCDof f erings are usually so strong nowadays especially, however the Galaxy Note 3’s panel packs suf f icientlyquality to f ulf ill most buyers.

The S-Pen

Perhaps probably the most emblematic item incorporated with every Galaxy Note 3 may be the S-Pen, whichneatly slots into the bottom of the device. The S-Pen is really a passive stylus that just works together withthe Note 3, because of a particular pressure-sensit ive digit izer that’s built- into the display module. Overallthe stylus is comf ortable to use, sporting an individual button f or additional f eatures.

Once you take away the stylus f rom its slot (or simply by tapping the S-Pen switch at any time as the pen ishovering over the screen), a circular Air Control pop-upward appears. By hovering the stylus above the pop-up you will see f ive dif f erent options, which I’ll go through one-by-one below.

Action Memo may be the f irst option: a new f loating memo windowpane with greater f eatures than wasobserved in the S Notice f loating window inside the Galaxy Notice II. In order to of insight is usually throughthe stylus, but af ter you’ve rapidly jotted something down, it ’s an easy task to highlight the text messageand perf orm an actions. For instance if you jot down a phone quantity, you can highlight the number and ina f ew taps be calling it. Or you can jot down an tackle, highlight it, and in next to no time you’ll be looking atin Maps.

The app is among the most readily usef ul in the Galaxy Note’s sof tware array, building the best usage ofthe handset’s stylus. Notes can also be saved f or later in the f ull Action Memo app, just in case you needto access them later.

The next option may be the Scrapbooker, where one can attract around items you see on the screen andsave them to your Scrapbook to revisit later on. The theory behind this will be you will be searching theinternet f or the f avorite movie (f or instance), f inding cool content material in a variety of websites, andsaving items of it (eg. pictures) to a scrapbook f or the f ilm. I never f ound the f eature to be particularlyusef ul, but it f unctions suf f iciently that maybe it ’s worth using.

The 3rd option is Screen Write, which you’ll know about if you’ve used a Galaxy Note bef ore. Put simply,tapping the option will take a screenshot that you can annotate and save f or later. If you want to capturejust a small portion of the screen rather than its entirety, instead of using Screen Write it is possible tokeep down the S-Pen switch and attract around what you need to capture; af terwards there are someoptions f or saving the capture.

S Finder may be the f ourth option, and is simply a shortcut f or the application. In this app searching thephone utilizing the keyboard (you’re much better of f making use of Google Research), or research viahandwrit ing recognition. Usually I wouldn’t bother by using this app at all, especially as handwrit ingrecognition is usually slower than typing, but it can research Wolf ram Alpha f or handwritten f ormulae, thatmay come in handy.

The ult imate option you have is f or Pen Window, an expanded version of f loating windows whereby youattract on the screen to dictate how big is the window. Like multi-window apps, you can f ind limited PenWindow programs, but some (like the Calculator) have become handy.

The f inal S-Pen relevant f eature I wish to discuss is S Note, which remains among the best note-takingapplications I’ve used. Although f ast note-taking has happen to be shif ted to Actions Memo, if you’resettling set f or an extended session of note-using (in a lecture, f or instance), look no f urther than S Note,especially as it syncs with popular third-party application Evernote.

S Note posseses an astonishing selection of f eatures. Basic insight like key pad typing, handwrit ing andannotations are usually supported – alongside numerous controls f or every – plus you may also insert anenormous selection of items including pictures, video clips, audio, charts/graphs, tables, clip artwork,sketches, maps and much more. And, as soon as you’ve inserted any kind of text message or graphic, thereare tons of manipulation options ranging f rom size and style controls, to a switch that can transf ormhandwrit ing into f ormulas.

Personal notebooks with pagination are backed, so each subject matter or section of your work could bef iled right into an independent notebook. The user interf ace of the app is f airly easy to get accustomed to,and it ’s an easy task to change between viewing and modif ying notes, especially with the help of the stylus.It ’s obvious Samsung has put a lot of resources into perf ecting the S Note app, as it ’s much better thanany earlier iteration observed on the Galaxy Notes.

The excess f unctionality the S-Pen provides to the table is pref erable to it has ever been previously, oncemore showing that Samsung may be the leader with regards to stylus-supported, large-screen phones. Ifyou’re purchasing the Notice 3 f or the stylus, you won’t become disappointed.

Functionality: Exynos vs. Snapdragon

Af ter weeks of trying, I were able to secure both Qualcomm Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos variants ofthe Galaxy Note 3 f or the perf ormance portion of this review. Much like what we noticed with the Galaxy S4,both variants cover dif f erent marketplaces: Snapdragon f or LTE (SM-N9005), and Exynos f or HSPA+ just(SM-N900). From the distinctions in radios though apart, expect some signif icant distinctions in lots ofaspects of the inner hardware.

The Qualcomm-powered model uses the tried-and-true Snapdragon 800 MSM8974, which includes a 2.26GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU at 450 MHz, a 600 MHz Hexagon QDSP6V5A DSP, Wi-Fi802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and IZAT Gen8B Gps navigation+GLONASS. There’s f urthermore a dual-channelLPDDR3 storage controller that connects to 3 GB of RAM, giving bandwidth of around 12.8 GB/s.

I’ve discussed the Snapdragon 800 inside some of my previous gadget testimonials – f or the LG G2, SonyXperia Z Ultra, Sony Xperia Z1 and Search engines Nexus 5 – thus it ’s best to return back and check outthose f or additional inf ormation on the SoC.

The Exynos model is, in lots of respects, a f ar more interesting device to go over. The last period I utilizedan Exynos-powered gadget was the HSPA+ just Galaxy S4 model, and there have been several issues thatproduced is not worth taking into consideration when compared to Snapdragon 600 design simply. It hadbeen slower, f eatured worse electric battery lif e, and lacked some crit ical connection and camera f eatures.

The Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900 doesn’t utilize the same Exynos 5 Octa 5410 SoC because the Galaxy S4though, packing the upgraded Exynos 5 Octa 5420 instead. It ’s built on a single ARM big still.LITTLEf oundations – 4 ARM Cortex-A new15 CPU cores at 1.9 GHz plus f our ARM Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz –but nonetheless lacks the main element inclusion of heterogeneous multi-processing (HMP).

What is so excellent approximately HMP? In the Exynos Galaxy S4 (and in addition with the Note 3), it hadbeen only possible to utilize one group of CPU cores at the right t ime. If the controller wished to changef rom power-conserving A7 cores to high-perf ormance A15s (imagine the changeover f rom songs playing tointernet browsing), it could need to switch on the A15 cluster, migrate the duty, and strength down the A7cluster then. The whole process used valuable time, and the Galaxy S4 had been laggy whenever it had aneed to migrate between your clusters noticeably.

HMP completely ditches the cluster migration model simply by allowing most eight cores to perf ormsimultaneously. Music playback could be tasked to the A7 cores as internet browsing will be tasked to theA15s, without switchover necessary, no obvious lag. The HMP design may be the ideal ARM huge.LITTLEimplementation, since it not only provides even more processing f lexibility and power, but better poweradministration. For all of us end users, a f aster ought to be experienced by people processor with betterelectric battery lif e.

Unf ortunately, as the Exynos 5420 works with HMP, it is not enabled within the Galaxy Note 3 because ofthermal envelope problems. This is disappointing to hear, nevertheless the cluster migration techniqueconsiderably has been improved, removing the obvious lag as tasks changeover in one cluster to another.

In addition to a tweaked CPU setup, the GPU has been upgraded f rom the PowerVR SGX544MP3 to theMali-T628 MP6, clocked at around 480 MHz somewhere, providing an (on-paper) doubling of graphicsperf ormance. Now there’s a somewhat f aster 14 also.9 GB/s dual-channel LPDDR3e memory controller(also paired to 3 GB of RAM).

Connectivity-wise, the Exynos 5 Octa f alls at the rear of the Snapdragon 800, packing simply 42 MbpsHSPA+ (no LTE). However, there’s the most common Wi-Fi 802 still.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC andgps+glonass.

It ’s all properly and good discussing the specif ications and equipment of both Galaxy Note 3s, but f arWe’ve ignored how properly both devices in f act perf orm thus. Unlike with the Galaxy S4, where there is anoticeable distinction between your two models, both Snapdragon and Exynos Note 3 variants succeedextremely. Like any f lagship phone of 2013 just, the SoC capably handles any job thrown at it, f rom internetbrowsing to app use.

The excess GB of RAM (in comparison to other top-end Android handsets) allows a lot more apps to bestored in the backdrop, roughly is Samsung’s reasoning behind its inclusion. I in f act didn’t notice anexcellent dif f erence between your multi- tasking ef f iciency of the Galaxy Take note 3 along with other high-f inish handsets with just 2 GB of RAM. Loading apps f rom scratch is incredibly quick on the Snapdragon800 or Exynos 5 Octa already, theref ore the extra RAM is only shaving of f several milliseconds whenaccessing old previously used apps.

Gaming perf ormance is great f rom both Galaxy Take note models also. The Snapdragon variant seems tohave a small edge on the Exynos variant, but both deliver great perf ormance in the very best 3D tit les in theSearch engines Play Shop. There wasn’t an individual t ime where in f act the Note became as well laggy toplay, when rendering at 1080p actually, that is just what you intend to see.

What you don’t desire to see is benchmark cheating, that is just what Samsung does with both types of theGalaxy Note 3. From the benchmarks we run, 3DMark and Vellamo are usually both af f ected, f or the reason

that special program code within the operational program sof tware program f orces the CPU to perf orm atf ull acceleration in the benchmarks, of the load regardless. This type of practice is extremely created anddodgy to inf late the synthetic ef f iciency of the device, so keep that at heart when looking at another f ewbenchmarks.

In Peacekeeper, that is run in the stock browser (the web app), the Snapdragon-driven Note 3 published asubstantial speed advantage on the Exynos model. With f our cores clocked increased (2.26 GHz vs. 1.9GHz), the SM-N9005 was 33% f aster.

In Vellamo, the perf ormance dif f erence was less substantial. In the HTML5 check, designed to simulateinternet browsing, the Snapdragon Take note 3 was 6% quicker. The dif f erence between your twomodels had been negligible in the Steel benchmark, which talks about the perf ormance of several areas ofthe handset.

When benchmarking graphics perf ormance, the Snapdragon model was 29% f aster in 3DMark and 8%

quicker within GFXBench. This is actually the same type of small ef f iciency gap we noticed with the

Exynos and Snapdragon variants of the Galaxy S4.

For the very f irst t ime in a handset I’ve reviewed, the Galaxy Take note 3 carries a microUSB 3.0 slot acrossthe bottom edge, signif ying it can exchange to and f rom your own PC considerably f aster than additionalgadgets. The connector itself will be large and just a litt le awkward – it ’s generally used just on

transportable hard drives – nonetheless it certainly does the secret, enabling you to transf er inf ormationf rom the inner NAND more than doubly f ast as USB 2.0. Interestingly, USB 3.0 isn’t enabled automagicallyonce you connect the Take note to a supported PC, but tapping on the USB icon in the notif ication panereveals the choice.

While not contained in my benchmark as seen above, the inclusion of USB 3.0 speeds up transf ers to andf rom microSD cards also, of f ering you have a high-ef f iciency one. Copying an array of songs f rom my 32GB Course 10 microSD to my PC was around 1.5x f aster through the Galaxy Take note 3’s USB 3.0 choice,with write speeds staying roughly exactly the same (because of microSD perf ormance limitations).

I actually didn’t have any problems with mobile network ef f iciency, attaining around 14 Mbps lower throughHSPA+ or associated with 25 Mbps down via Optus LTE upwards. Signal strength is apparently very good,likely assisted by the inclusion of a more substantial antenna because of the larger phone dimension.Unf ortunately I wasn’t in a posit ion to test Wi-Fi 802.11ac inside the SM-N9005, but dual-band Wi-Fi n wasvery speedy otherwise. I f ound no problems with Bluetooth also, GPS or NFC, which worked as promoted.

Both Snapdragon and Exynos designs can handle 1080p encoding and decoding, of f ering stutter- f reeplayback of one’s Blu-ray rips. The Snapdragon model includes an one-up in that it could decode 4K UltraHD content also, but the insuf f icient broad availability of this article means this f unction is even more f orf uture-proof ing than other things.

Overall I was extremely impressed with the ef f iciency of both Galaxy Note 3 models. The Snapdragon 800as soon as f lexes its muscles, topping the charts in both GPU and CPU ef f iciency, however the Exynos 5Octa is not any slouch either. Several tweaks may actually have solved all the stutter problems with theA15+A7 big.Small implementation, despite HMP proceeding missing even now, and largely there is absolutelyno noticeable perf ormance dif f erence inside real-world usage when you compare Exynos to Snapdragon.

I would still adhere to the Snapdragon design (when possible) because of the inclusion of LTE, 4Kencoding/decoding and Wi-Fi 802.11ac, but this best t ime around both options are close more than enoughthat Exynos owners aren’t hugely disadvantaged.

Video and camera Quality

Unsurprisingly, Samsung of f ers repurposed the Galaxy S4’s camera module f or the Galaxy Note 3. Whatyou’re obtaining is really a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor RS IMX135 backside illuminated 1/3.06” CMOS sensor,f eaturing 1.12 μm pixels, and also a 31mm (ef f ective) f /2.2 lens module. There’s no optical picturestabilization (OIS), which def initely af f ects low-light images, and the rear video camera will be paired with a2-megapixel f ront- f acing unit.

In good lights conditions, ef f ects f rom the Note 3’s camera are f antastic, with strong color reproduction,accurate white balance and reasonably good dynamic range. Considering f ull- resolution crops revealpictures are quite sharp, if over-processed slightly, and without grain usually. The f /2.2 lens can f ocus closesuf f icient that macro-design images are possible, however bokeh is merely average, so expect amazingresults don’t.

Where conditions become less perf ect (indoors, cloudy times, artif icial lighting), the Note 3 is still areasonable perf ormer. Colors remain quite accurate although slightly less vibrant; sometimes images can bewashed out, but usually contrast is good enough. So f ar as smartphones proceed, the Note 3’s videocamera in moderate lights conditions is among the better types I’ve used, but not perf ect still.

Samsung has made some tweaks to what sort of camera sof tware f unctions inside lower degrees of lightto pay f or having less optical image stabilization. Once you capture a graphic in poor illumination, a dialogappears stating “Processing”. While I’m not absolutely sure what is going on behind the scenes, I believe a

burst shot is being taken, with sof tware instantly selecting (and enhancing and post-digesting) thesharpest picture af terwards.

The tweaked sof tware seems to work quite nicely, with almost all images I took in lower lighting being quitesharp, regardless of the insuf f icient OIS and sensor ’s small pixels. However it ’s obvious a high ISO hasbeen used, masked with quite severe noise reduction that signif icantly reduces the ef f ective resolution ofthe image. You don’t need to view f ull- resolution pictures to start to see the quality decrease in low light,especially in black areas where artif acts are immediately apparent.

Adding in OIS within a f uture model allows the camera sof tware program to employ a slower shutter velocityand lower ISO, leading to better images comparable to the Nokia’s high-f inish Lumia devices.

Automagically, the Galaxy Notice 3 shoots 9-megapixel cropped 16:9 pictures (which f orm nearly all samplesin this section), nevertheless, you may expand this to complete 13-megapixel 4:3 pictures in the cameraconf igurations. The 16:9 pictures f ill the display when you’re seeing them later, but if you want the extraresolution at the top and bottom, it ’s f ar better switch to 4:3.

Just like the Galaxy S4, there are always a wide variety of camera f unctions within the application f orm toexplore. A number of these f eatures depend on burst mode: Greatest Photo enables you to go f or oneimage f rom the burst shot; Best Encounter takes f ive pictures and stiches in the very best f aces; Dramarequires a burst chance of a shif t ing subject matter and merges the pictures; Eraser can remove shif t ingobjects f rom the backdrop of a graphic; and Golf requires a f ast burst of a swing movement.

Animated Photo is really a photo mode where one can create cool even now/shif t ing hybrid GIF pictures,and Good & Shot adds a brief snippet of good to an image. You can f ind two panorama modes –Panorama and Surround Chance (aka. Picture Sphere) – which are very simple to use, plus there’s a varietyof ef f ects/f ilters it is possible to apply instantly to pictures you take.

A number of these shooting modes are best f or one-of f cool pictures, but mostly you’ll be shooting in theautomatic mode, or the great Rich Tone (HDR) mode. High dynamic variety (HDR) pictures are compositepictures of the main one scene at several exposures, and the Galaxy Notice 3 has among the best HDRmodes I’ve observed. If you’re taking a photo of a scene with lots of contrast or shadows, the HDR settingwill need an image with much larger levels of visible detail compared to the standard Auto setting, making itan ideal shooting mode f or once you can’t obtain the exposure quite correct.

The Galaxy Note 3 gets the best group of video recording f eatures I’ve observed in a smartphone, packingaround 3840p30 (4K Ultra HD) recording f or the very f irst t ime, utilizing the Snapdragon 800’s f ull group ofencoding f eatures.

Recording at Ultra High def init ion is bound to the Snapdragon design, but in 48 Mbps High-user prof ileH.264 and an answer of 3840 x 2160, the total results are f antastic. Especially when downscaling the videoto 1080p, the clarity that you get f rom f ilming in Ultra HD, even though limited to 5 minutes of capturing withhuge f ile sizes, rocks !. Color reproduction is similar to what you get f rom still photos, and audio quality isalso very good.

If you don’t desire to movie in Ultra HD, or you have purchased the Exynos design, the Galaxy Note 3 alsosupports shooting 60 f rames per second 1080p video, like the LG G2. Filming in this mode, labelled EasyMotion in the conf igurations, delivers stutter- f ree video clips, although sharing them completely qualitybecomes dif f icult when websites like YouTube only assistance around 30 FPS videos.

Two other modes include Fast Movement, much like time lapse movie recording, and Slow Movement. Ialways f ind slow motion recording incredibly f un and compelling, and the Galaxy Note 3 supports around120 f rames per second at 720p. The standard of each f ramework recorded in slow movement is not asef f ective as you’ll obtain when recording at 720p30, but it ’s nevertheless a f ascinating f eature toexperiment with. If you need to proceed slower than 120 FPS, the Note does assistance documenting at 8xslower than true to lif e (240 FPS), but playback is at 15 FPS.

Battery Lif e, SUMMARY

Bef ore LG G2 came around some time ago, the Samsung Galaxy Take note II had held the crown inside ourbattery lif e rundown test. I’m expecting an solid electric battery displaying f rom the Galaxy Take note 3equally, which sees an enhanced battery size somewhat, leaping f rom 11.78 Wh to 12.16 Wh (3,200 mAh at3.8 V). Both Exynos 5420 and Snapdragon 800 SoCs tend to be more power ef f icient compared to theExynos 4412 f ound in the Galaxy Take note II, that ought to bring stamina improvements f urthermore.

Within my time using both Snapdragon plus Exynos Galaxy Note 3 variants, the battery lif e We experiencedwas excellent. Regardless of the sizable 5.7- inch AMOLED display, generally usage We were usually still lef twith around f if ty percent the juice remaining inside the battery f ollowing a day’s usage. On Wi-Fi especially,both models seem to be very power ef f icient; I possibly could expect to browse webpages f or 10 hrs onWi-Fi reasonably, which would be considered a f antastic result.

Once the powerf ul quad-primary CPU and top-f inish GPU must f ire upward, such as f or example in 3D-intensive games, the expected battery lif e reduces as it would in virtually any other portable gadgetnoticeably. If you anticipate using the Take note 3 as a handheld the game gaming console . f or t it les suchas f or example GTA: San Andreas, you can get around six hrs of solid use at best probably, going on myuse styles in the spells of video gaming I did so on the device.

Considering our battery daily lif e rundown check, the Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005 (Snapdragon 800 design)tops the charts simply by delivering just over 15 hrs of playback, dethroning the LG G2. Meanwhile, theExynos Take note 3 perf orms admirably still, lasting in the same way long because the Galaxy Be aware IIessentially.

The Snapdragon model delivered 20% better battery lif e compared to the Exynos model, which might seemlike a whole lot, but recall that the Galaxy S4 Snapdragon model was a complete 43% f orward when I testedit earlier this season, showing that Samsung is closing the gap. Large-screen competitors like the SonyXperia Z Ultra didn’t actually stand a chance against the Be aware; the SM-N9005 lasted a lot more thantwice as longer as Sony’s providing. SUMMARY

Af ter weeks with a Galaxy Take note 3 at hand, it ’s clear that it ’s the very best large-screened, stylus-

supporting smartphone you can obtain. The S-Pen may be the perf ect companion device f or annotationson the f ly, with quite a f ew impressive sof tware enhancements – specif ically S Note and Action Memoseriously.

Functionality f rom the Galaxy Be aware 3 is f antastic, which time both Exynos and Snapdragon versions areusually to scratch up. There’s no HMP assistance f or the octa-primary Exynos still, but the lag is f ully goneand perf ormance is on-par with the Qualcomm design largely. I’d be wanting Snapdragon-only f unctionssuch as f or example LTE and 4K movie recording in my own Note, however the Exynos model is really asolid choice nevertheless.

The 13-megapixel camera perf orms well generally in most light conditions. Battery lif e is great also,maintaining the Note custom of lasting all day long with plenty of juice to extra easily, despite the largescreen. The 5.7- inch 1080p AMOLED panel is amazing and quite very to look at, in case a tad inaccuraterather than as high-high quality as a competing LCD display.

No Samsung mobile phone is complete without some ackward style choices though. Choosing f ake, plasticmaterial leather on the trunk panel is terrible merely, diluting other improvements designed to the designwith this iteration. The program, while good in a f ew certain areas, is laden with much still, ugly tons andskin of useless bloatware and gimmicks.

The Galaxy Note 3 isn’t the best smartphone money can purchase, but it ’s your best option in the categoryit f ills, sure to help keep Samsung dominant f or another complete year or two.

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