Meet Samsung's luxurious Galaxy Note 3, the sleekest blend of style and do-it-all features on the always-crowded smartphone market.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (left) and Galaxy Gear work together to make the stylus and ‘smartwatch’ cool.
Styluses and watches weren't supposed to be "cool." Until now.
Meet Samsung's luxurious Galaxy Note 3, the sleekest blend of style and do-it-all features on the always-crowded smartphone market. Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 was my favorite smartphone of 2012, the only device I wanted to use more than that old reliable iPhone. In 2013, Samsung somehow makes things even better, yielding an absolutely splendid device.
It's all about innovation. In recent years, Samsung has been at its best when it's delivered unique devices (think the Note 2 and last year's Galaxy Camera) instead of merely following a crowd focused on battery power (yawn) and "thin and light" (sigh). So this time around, it focuses more on its S Pen stylus and crafts an optional Galaxy Gear, a completely pointless (yet totally cool) watch accessory, just for good measure.
The resulting smartphone is the best Android device this year, even if you don't shell out the exorbitant $299 extra for the Gear.
At a whopping six inches long, the Note 3 is far larger than even oversized devices such as the HTC One and Droid Maxx, but it never feels that way, still fitting easily into my jeans' back pocket. Samsung uses the real estate well, too, delivering a beautiful 5.7-inch full-HD display that makes movies and games look fantastic.
The Note 3 never feels or looks clunky, either. Samsung smartly ditches the cheap-feeling plastic back of this year's Galaxy S4, giving you a faux-leather back on the Note 3. No, it's not real (it's plastic, too), but, combined with the silver etching around the border, it adds a slight elegance to this phone. The grip and resistance against fingerprints help, too.
The guts of this phone are impressive. A 2.3-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor runs Android Jelly Bean (sorry, not KitKat), and there's a solid 3 GB of RAM. In practice, that means swift handling of everyday processes and easy Web browsing. The Snapdragon is so powerful it lets you balance two apps at once via Advanced Multi Window, a setup that's perfect on this oversized phone.
RELATED: REVIEW: SAMSUNG GALAXY S 4
The Snapdragon allows the Note 3 to run games easily, too. That last bit is especially worth noting when you consider the size of the Note 3. As a handheld gaming device with on-screen controls, it feels natural.
Not that Samsung intended this to be a gaming machine. The focus here is on productivity. To that end, there's a solid 13 megapixel camera. Like the S4, the Note 3 cam is loaded with software features and it functions well.
And then there's the S Pen, and this is truly the game changer. I fell in love with the S Pen last year and I haven't killed trees with awful reporter paper waste since. And this year's pen is even more appealing.
The S Pen itself is slick and responsive once you remove it from its unnoticeable slot on the bottom right side of the Note 3. Removing it from this slot instantly brings up a menu of stylus-compatible apps for use.
You can easily take notes with S Note or you can give Action Memo a try. This app converts your handwriting into texts or emails or contacts, and while it struggled to translate my reporter chicken scratch, in the right hands, it is a powerful, easy-to-use tool. The S Pen, meanwhile, is so easy to use that this phone is easy to recommend to students or reporters or anyone who takes plenty of notes.
It's a shame that Samsung's user interface isn't quite that good. This used to be my favorite Android UI, but it takes slight steps backwards here. On the positive side, the WatchON app, designed to let you control your TV via the Note 3's IR blaster, is brilliant and easy to set up, and it finally smoothly integrates AV receivers. The Note 3 also incorporates a numerical row of keys on its onscreen keyboard, a smart use of its real estate when you are texting.
But the drop-down menu has gotten overcrowded and, especially if you use WatchON, and there are so many apps that it is easy to lose track of things. It is good to give users options, but stuffing all of them onto the easy-access drop-down is overwhelming. You will want to tweak this early on. Air Gestures, which lets you command the phone without actually touching it, are needless and the eye-tracking capabilities are as useless here as they were on the S4.
RELATED: REVIEW: SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 ACTIVE SMARTPHONE
Still, all that stuff is customizable, so it is more annoyance than anything on a tremendous phone. At $299 on contract, the Note 3 is the class of premium smartphones, a dynamic performer, and it only gets better if you add the Galaxy Gear, too.
To be clear, you don't need a Gear because this device is completely unnecessary. But anyone who has ever wanted to feel like a secret agent or Michael Knight from "Knight Rider" will have a blast with this smartwatch, which links easily to your Note 3 via Bluetooth and stays connected. You can take calls from the Gear and you can take pictures using the Gear's camera (yes, slightly creepy), and eventually, you will be able to add other apps to the Gear.
It's a fun little add-on for those with a little extra income, although it's not quite there yet. The Gear takes calls easily and fluidly (and there's nothing quite like a bystander watching you talk to your watch), and the camera takes surprisingly solid shots. The Bluetooth pairing with your Note 3 is easy, too.
But at the moment $299 is just too much to pay for a device that doesn't have a full library of apps just yet. If you could, say, read your Twitter feed and text messages from your watch, that would be cool, and it would help eliminate the need to constantly pull out your oversized cellphone all the time. But as of this printing, there are no reliable apps that do that.
The Gear, therefore, is an extraneous gadget that's cool but not necessarily worth the cash — but you can't fault Samsung for giving it a try. It's innovative and different, and it'll strike a chord with at least a few people who have the extra income, which is increasingly becoming Samsung's way. Just look at the newly released Galaxy S4 Zoom phone, or the company's expanding line of tablets.
It's nice to see a company truly innovating, trying to develop interesting tech instead of simply copying and restyling the features that have been on the market for years. It's nice to see something different and unique.
And it's nice to use the Note 3, the finest Android smartphone to date.
Styluses and watches weren't supposed to be "cool." Until now.
Meet Samsung's luxurious Galaxy Note 3, the sleekest blend of style and do-it-all features on the always-crowded smartphone market. Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 was my favorite smartphone of 2012, the only device I wanted to use more than that old reliable iPhone. In 2013, Samsung somehow makes things even better, yielding an absolutely splendid device.
It's all about innovation. In recent years, Samsung has been at its best when it's delivered unique devices (think the Note 2 and last year's Galaxy Camera) instead of merely following a crowd focused on battery power (yawn) and "thin and light" (sigh). So this time around, it focuses more on its S Pen stylus and crafts an optional Galaxy Gear, a completely pointless (yet totally cool) watch accessory, just for good measure.
The resulting smartphone is the best Android device this year, even if you don't shell out the exorbitant $299 extra for the Gear.
At a whopping six inches long, the Note 3 is far larger than even oversized devices such as the HTC One and Droid Maxx, but it never feels that way, still fitting easily into my jeans' back pocket. Samsung uses the real estate well, too, delivering a beautiful 5.7-inch full-HD display that makes movies and games look fantastic.
The Note 3 never feels or looks clunky, either. Samsung smartly ditches the cheap-feeling plastic back of this year's Galaxy S4, giving you a faux-leather back on the Note 3. No, it's not real (it's plastic, too), but, combined with the silver etching around the border, it adds a slight elegance to this phone. The grip and resistance against fingerprints help, too.
The guts of this phone are impressive. A 2.3-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor runs Android Jelly Bean (sorry, not KitKat), and there's a solid 3 GB of RAM. In practice, that means swift handling of everyday processes and easy Web browsing. The Snapdragon is so powerful it lets you balance two apps at once via Advanced Multi Window, a setup that's perfect on this oversized phone.
RELATED: REVIEW: SAMSUNG GALAXY S 4
The Snapdragon allows the Note 3 to run games easily, too. That last bit is especially worth noting when you consider the size of the Note 3. As a handheld gaming device with on-screen controls, it feels natural.
Not that Samsung intended this to be a gaming machine. The focus here is on productivity. To that end, there's a solid 13 megapixel camera. Like the S4, the Note 3 cam is loaded with software features and it functions well.
And then there's the S Pen, and this is truly the game changer. I fell in love with the S Pen last year and I haven't killed trees with awful reporter paper waste since. And this year's pen is even more appealing.
The S Pen itself is slick and responsive once you remove it from its unnoticeable slot on the bottom right side of the Note 3. Removing it from this slot instantly brings up a menu of stylus-compatible apps for use.
You can easily take notes with S Note or you can give Action Memo a try. This app converts your handwriting into texts or emails or contacts, and while it struggled to translate my reporter chicken scratch, in the right hands, it is a powerful, easy-to-use tool. The S Pen, meanwhile, is so easy to use that this phone is easy to recommend to students or reporters or anyone who takes plenty of notes.
It's a shame that Samsung's user interface isn't quite that good. This used to be my favorite Android UI, but it takes slight steps backwards here. On the positive side, the WatchON app, designed to let you control your TV via the Note 3's IR blaster, is brilliant and easy to set up, and it finally smoothly integrates AV receivers. The Note 3 also incorporates a numerical row of keys on its onscreen keyboard, a smart use of its real estate when you are texting.
But the drop-down menu has gotten overcrowded and, especially if you use WatchON, and there are so many apps that it is easy to lose track of things. It is good to give users options, but stuffing all of them onto the easy-access drop-down is overwhelming. You will want to tweak this early on. Air Gestures, which lets you command the phone without actually touching it, are needless and the eye-tracking capabilities are as useless here as they were on the S4.
RELATED: REVIEW: SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 ACTIVE SMARTPHONE
Still, all that stuff is customizable, so it is more annoyance than anything on a tremendous phone. At $299 on contract, the Note 3 is the class of premium smartphones, a dynamic performer, and it only gets better if you add the Galaxy Gear, too.
To be clear, you don't need a Gear because this device is completely unnecessary. But anyone who has ever wanted to feel like a secret agent or Michael Knight from "Knight Rider" will have a blast with this smartwatch, which links easily to your Note 3 via Bluetooth and stays connected. You can take calls from the Gear and you can take pictures using the Gear's camera (yes, slightly creepy), and eventually, you will be able to add other apps to the Gear.
It's a fun little add-on for those with a little extra income, although it's not quite there yet. The Gear takes calls easily and fluidly (and there's nothing quite like a bystander watching you talk to your watch), and the camera takes surprisingly solid shots. The Bluetooth pairing with your Note 3 is easy, too.
But at the moment $299 is just too much to pay for a device that doesn't have a full library of apps just yet. If you could, say, read your Twitter feed and text messages from your watch, that would be cool, and it would help eliminate the need to constantly pull out your oversized cellphone all the time. But as of this printing, there are no reliable apps that do that.
The Gear, therefore, is an extraneous gadget that's cool but not necessarily worth the cash — but you can't fault Samsung for giving it a try. It's innovative and different, and it'll strike a chord with at least a few people who have the extra income, which is increasingly becoming Samsung's way. Just look at the newly released Galaxy S4 Zoom phone, or the company's expanding line of tablets.
It's nice to see a company truly innovating, trying to develop interesting tech instead of simply copying and restyling the features that have been on the market for years. It's nice to see something different and unique.
And it's nice to use the Note 3, the finest Android smartphone to date.
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