Samsung Galaxy Note 3: hands-on test - Portable Gear

November 20, 2013 – – Text and photos: Marc Wielaert –

Specifications

Samsung has once again seen on the Galaxy Note 3 chance to achieve without increasing the device. larger display The border around the display (the bezel) is up a little narrower. The rim of the device is upright aluminum. Most notable is the leatherette back. The unit gets a much more upscale look than the plastic back covers, and the device is much more pleasant (less “sticky”) in hand.

The device runs on the (until recently) most recent version of Android (4.3 Jelly Bean). The quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor 800 has a clock speed of 2.3 GHz. Samsung outclassed the competition with up to 3GB memory – a first on the smartphone market. The AMOLED screen with a diagonal of 5.7 inch a fraction greater than that of its predecessor. Moreover, it is a Full HD display (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). The colors are, as we expect from Samsung, are exuberant and pop off the screen. The battery provides up to 3200 mAh this time and it shows in practice than sufficient to utilize.

S Pen

A novelty in the S Pen is the “Air View command” – a sub-menu that is displayed when you pull it out of the housing, but you can also call separately in each screen of the display. By using the S Pen above that menu to move you through the various functions: “Action Memo”, “scrapbook”, “Writing on the Screen”, “S Finder” and “Penvenster”

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Action Memo you can link directly to handwriting applications. With Scrapbook you choose to share with the S Pen a website or a photo that record. In your scrapbook With Writing on the Screen to make a screenshot there to take notes. With S Finder you browse the contents of your phone, but also the Internet. With Penvenster you draw a rectangle anywhere on the display: then open a menu with several commonly used applications. All in all, the use of the S Pen become even more effective.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: S Pen features

Flipboard and KNOX

Samsung TouchWiz user interface is further expanded. One of the striking innovations is the ability to access by swiping. Upwards in the main menu under the screen Flipboard You can choose what shows this application in the field of news and your social networks themselves.

Galaxy Note 3 provides yet another first: the first is Samsung’s first smartphone with KNOX, you must install separately. KNOX provides a secure environment outside of Android. You look familiar in the menu icons for example the camera, e-mail (not Gmail), telephone and internet, but so everything you do happens outside Google’s servers. You’ll find therefore no Google Play (outside this area is supported), but many of Samsung’s own applications in a separate KNOX App store. The KNOX environment leaves you via the notification menu, where it remains active in the background.

built-in camera is that we already know from the Galaxy S4 (with a 13MP sensor) and there you can fine photos and videos with shooting. The Note 3, as many as “niche product”, but that may be a niche that is rapidly expanding. Or size you’re attractive or not, the Galaxy Note 3 if not the best, still the most comprehensive smartphone Samsung has ever produced.