Samsung Galaxy Note 3 announcement and owners thread

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#914633 14-Oct-2013 10:50

JayTaicho: What do you guys think of the upcoming HTC One Max? I'm really torn on whether to get the Note 3 or the Max. Owned both previous Notes so was wanting a different feel, but after testing the Note 3 for a few days, I really like it.

Plus, have heard a few complaints about the current HTC One.

I wouldn't go near the One Max. Snapdragon 600, which means performance won't be as good, in particular battery life. It's also going to be ginormous with the extra screen size and those Boomsound speakers. Camera won't match up either. MHL 1.0, worse USB OTG support, at the moment rumoured to be coming without the extra bluetooth stuff like LE. Can't really think of a single thing to recommend it over the Note unless you MUST have a metal body phone, or the extra screen size and S-LCD panel totally do it for you (in film mode the Note 3 colour accuracy is nothing to sneer at though, this isn't like other AMOLED panels you will have seen).

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#914672 14-Oct-2013 11:18

hey guys - long time geekzone member, ever since the Galaxy S really. been thru the S1, S2, S3, skipped the S4 and waited for the Note, which i picked up last thursday from Telecom store.

Thoroughly worth every penny. build is fantastic, speed is great, and after a few charge cycles, the battery is lasting longer and longer. Touchwiz is surprisingly fine to work with, i have never been satisfied with touchwiz on any of my previous devices and have always been a rooted-phone user, running Apex launcher, and all the usual hacks off the XDA forums. however given that the Note is designed to have all its SPen interactions done thru touchwiz it was the one thing i was determined to give a go and see if i could deal with it, and surprisingly, i can.

so far the only thing i can complain about is wasting that huge screen area on a standard 4x4 grid for widgets. on the S3 i was used to 5x4 and i was expecting that at least, or 6x4 on the expanse of the Note3's screen. or at least some kind of option to toggle this in touchwiz. alas, will have to wait for a hacked touchwiz for this. also, i have lost my "CRT off" animation thats been enabled in custom roms since gingerbread. and without root, i am unable to reinstall some app data from Titanium Backup. but thats all i can complain about so far

some notes on its overall usage so far

-feel in hand is splendid. real premium. everyone whos had a go has said same thing. in fact many people who scoff at large phones, scoff when i pull it out, immediately say "thats ridiculous", then when handed the device, opinion changes immediately "oh its not as heavy as my phone " "actually its quite light" "oh it feels nice aye" "really thin!" "actually, this is really good" and then all positive from then on. interesting social experiment.

-getting used to the size took about 1 day. whilst the phones were on my bench as i was copying data off our old S3s over to the new Notes (partner and I got one each of black and white) the "egg"yness of the S3 became more and more apparent, until such time that i couldnt stand to look at the S3 any more. partner had the same reaction, we both thought this was strange! as we were perfectly happy with the S3's all this while, they are still a solid device.

- i LOVE the way it handles folders on the desktop now. on the S3, folders were horrendous "manilla folder" icons and displaying contents was ugly and ungainly. i loved apex launcher's handling of folders, and previewing of folder content icons. i dont know if this was changed for the S4. but on the note, its handled very elegantly - icons are clustered to show you a preview of the folder contents as you would expect, and an SPen hover fans them out in a visually appealing manner. opening a folder dims the background icons, to draw your attention to to folder they are in. the folder also seems to open towards the bottom of the screen so its closer to where your thumb is for single handed launch

- single handed operation is 100% addressed with the onehanded support option. a simple swipe-in-swipe-out on the edge of the screen shrinks the entire contents to a resizable window where you suddenly have full reach of the whole screen with your thumb. this can be repositioned around the screen, resized, and is seamlessly fast and easy to access. this one feature alone should terminate ANY BS from iphone users or other people claiming "phone is too big" "need giant hands" and other idiotic whinging. fantastic feature being so easy to jump in and out of.

- multitasking seems much improved. guessing the 3gb ram is really showing its stuff here - you can have lots of apps open and the main 3 or 4 all seem to fit in memory without needing any screen redraws or reloads. on the S3 i was used to FB reloading whenever i switched out and switched back to it, it would refresh and redraw back to the top of the page. on this, it pops right back, as if nothing had happened. alot more useable to switch between commonly used things (for me its email, FB, whatsapp, gallery, mainly)

- on the subject of Gallery - this is still one part i dont like - the gallery tries to be clever and pull in content from everywhere... so i had a mess of Picasa, Dropbox, and Google photos mixed in with device photos and all my music album cover thumbnails as well. and not being able to customise it is annoying. ive mitigated it somewhat by disabling google photo/picasa sync, so just dropbox (thats usefull actually) but still all my damn music thumbnails are pulled in. i dont want to ".nomedia" those folders because then i assume the music will also not be found! not sure how to combat this, if someone has any suggestions? otherwise, im back to my faithful QuickPic. id love to use Gallery tho because of the preview/airview functions etc..... so i use both in tandem

- speaking of airview - most of the airview features from S4 seem to have come over - the only thing is that Air Gestures now only seem to work in Email app, and no where else (even the browser). i hate the stock browser because 1) im a stock browser hater from way back 2) i use Chrome everywhere else and its the only thing that makes sense cloud-wise 3) and now air gestures dont work on it. i was gonna use it if i could wave my way around NZHerald etc, but now that i cant, ive abandoned it. it also doesnt help that Telecom continue to idiotically rename the browser as "YxTWorld" or whatever it is, which makes me irrationally irate. so chrome it is.But otherwise, Air view in Emails is wicked. hovering over email headers gives you a quick and snappy preview, multiple accounts are handled with ease, and the added SPen features in the email interface (hover click on the attachments button to access historical recent items and clipboard, hover click on people icon to add recently contacted people) is fantastic. Email experience combined with air view and gestures is a real pleasure

- SPen feels great in hand. easy to hold and write. resistance on screen with the nib is perfect, can write and draw excellently. handwritiing recognition is unreal, a deathly scrawl is still decoded and only really unreasonable scribbles will come up incorrect. handwriting input on any text field is amazing. the Airview menu options are intuitive after a few uses and you start to understand how to use them in day to day operation. i have still to master using the scrap booker and Snote. but screenwrite, air command menu, and action memos are great. i am concerned as to the spen feel once i apply a screen protector, thats the only thing im concerned about (and yes im getting a screen protector because i have tried using phones naked and despite any orang-utan glass i still suffer from damage from the most lightest of impacts... so a screen protector is def going on this thing)

- phone came with XUBMI7 firmware from stock, android 4.3 of course..... and a day later we got a push update to XUBMJ1, apparently just stability fixes, only 30mb download so nothing major. i have not been able to spot any operational differences between these.

- only issue now is the fact that Chainfire has uncovered that the Note3 uses "fuses" to track if unsigned SW has been loaded to the device, for warranty purposes. so flashing a custom rom/rooting will now permanently write a BIT of information to the phone that is non-reversible (unlike the "Triangle-Away" hacks for previous phones) - im sure i will end up rooting and hacking this phone in the future but its one more thing thats caused me to stop and wait and see what happens. i hate not having root access and having most of my developer apps now disabled and useless... but i have faith in the developer world especially behind a flagship such as this.

anyway, didnt really intend on posting a "review" just wanted to contribute some thoughts, but happy to take any questions and try things out for those contemplating buying. i fully recommend it really, i think this image i doodled this morning sums it up:

thanks all :)

Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005, on Telecom 4G LTE. ROM: Stock Touchwiz, Android 4.3, XUDMJ6 MODEM: MJ4 Kernel: Stock (for now...:)

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#914678 14-Oct-2013 11:25

Well, that's that then. TBH, I just like the One design, but is not worth it's other flaws. Looks like the Note is king of the Phablets for another year. Originally was tossing between Z Ultra, One Max, G2 and Note 3. Was down to the final 2, now have a winner. Thanks for the comments.

NZtechfreak

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#914701 14-Oct-2013 11:44

JayTaicho: Well, that's that then. TBH, I just like the One design, but is not worth it's other flaws. Looks like the Note is king of the Phablets for another year. Originally was tossing between Z Ultra, One Max, G2 and Note 3. Was down to the final 2, now have a winner. Thanks for the comments.

Indeed.

I'll be interested to see what LG can bring to the table soon though, the G Pro was really quite nice and they're also doing some nice battery optimisations. I'm wondering whether they can fit 5.9 inches in the same footprint as the Note, given they got 5.2 inches in the G2 in much the same footprint as the S4.

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#914741 14-Oct-2013 12:35

I really want to pick up the note 3 and chuck the S4, but with the rumours that the S5 is possibly a february release and a premium chassis I am tempted to hold off. 16MP camera with OIS also rumoured. Not to mention a 64 bit octa core processor. Pretty impressive specs so far. Hopefully they keep the 5" screen though. Or maybe increase and reduce the bezzle.

corksta

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#914761 14-Oct-2013 13:01

lofreq: do you prefer the black or the white?

I'm kind of leaning towards replacing my grey Note II with the white one, but haven't actually seen either of them in person yet.

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#914768 14-Oct-2013 13:12

Kopkiwi: I really want to pick up the note 3 and chuck the S4, but with the rumours that the S5 is possibly a february release and a premium chassis I am tempted to hold off. 16MP camera with OIS also rumoured. Not to mention a 64 bit octa core processor. Pretty impressive specs so far. Hopefully they keep the 5" screen though. Or maybe increase and reduce the bezzle.

if you just got the S4 and are happy with the size/have no need for a stylus input or larger screen, id hold off - i was tempted to wait for the S5 for exactly the same reasons but realised that i was more keen on a larger device to replace my reliance on a phone+tablet combo.

i think that realistically the S5 will be announced in Feb but wont be in your hands till early April, so be ready. id say it will be released with a gen2 improved Gear smartwatch, and im expecting it to have a plastic AMOLED screen ("unbreakable") and possibly have a curve to it as well. and yes, "premium" semi-metallic chassis. we'll see eh. your S4 is solid, unless you have tons of cash to throw around, why not wait :)

corksta: lofreq: do you prefer the black or the white?

I'm kind of leaning towards replacing my grey Note II with the white one, but haven't actually seen either of them in person yet.

i prefer the black. the black's faux leather coating is softer to touch, grippier, very nice feel. the white seems to be a harder material, still grippy but not as much. the black note somehow feels like it almost molds to your hand/grip. it just begs to be picked up :)

also, i intend to swap back covers to a different color down the track and a black face is easier to match to alternate colors in my mind than a white one.

both look great in person and neither colour looks smaller or larger next to each other. best bet if still unsure is to go in store and handle one for real - it might be the clincher for you :)

Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005, on Telecom 4G LTE. ROM: Stock Touchwiz, Android 4.3, XUDMJ6 MODEM: MJ4 Kernel: Stock (for now...:)

Kopkiwi

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#914773 14-Oct-2013 13:26

lofreq:
Kopkiwi: I really want to pick up the note 3 and chuck the S4, but with the rumours that the S5 is possibly a february release and a premium chassis I am tempted to hold off. 16MP camera with OIS also rumoured. Not to mention a 64 bit octa core processor. Pretty impressive specs so far. Hopefully they keep the 5" screen though. Or maybe increase and reduce the bezzle.

if you just got the S4 and are happy with the size/have no need for a stylus input or larger screen, id hold off - i was tempted to wait for the S5 for exactly the same reasons but realised that i was more keen on a larger device to replace my reliance on a phone+tablet combo.

i think that realistically the S5 will be announced in Feb but wont be in your hands till early April, so be ready. id say it will be released with a gen2 improved Gear smartwatch, and im expecting it to have a plastic AMOLED screen ("unbreakable") and possibly have a curve to it as well. and yes, "premium" semi-metallic chassis. we'll see eh. your S4 is solid, unless you have tons of cash to throw around, why not wait :)

corksta: lofreq: do you prefer the black or the white?

I'm kind of leaning towards replacing my grey Note II with the white one, but haven't actually seen either of them in person yet.

i prefer the black. the black's faux leather coating is softer to touch, grippier, very nice feel. the white seems to be a harder material, still grippy but not as much. the black note somehow feels like it almost molds to your hand/grip. it just begs to be picked up :)

also, i intend to swap back covers to a different color down the track and a black face is easier to match to alternate colors in my mind than a white one.

both look great in person and neither colour looks smaller or larger next to each other. best bet if still unsure is to go in store and handle one for real - it might be the clincher for you :)

Dam you and your sensible thinking!!!

corksta

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#914782 14-Oct-2013 13:40

Awesome thanks for that!!

JayTaicho

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#914856 14-Oct-2013 15:29

NZtechfreak: I'll be interested to see what LG can bring to the table soon though, the G Pro was really quite nice and they're also doing some nice battery optimisations. I'm wondering whether they can fit 5.9 inches in the same footprint as the Note, given they got 5.2 inches in the G2 in much the same footprint as the S4.

Yeah, LG are picking up their game. The size of the G2 was what made me scratch it off the list for me. I would've jumped on a 5.9" version though. Plus, after 2 Notes, I'm used to Samsung button layout. LG's is the opposite for menu and back. Would get some getting used to. But those bezels with a larger screen would be hard to resist.

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#914881 14-Oct-2013 16:09

JayTaicho:
NZtechfreak: I'll be interested to see what LG can bring to the table soon though, the G Pro was really quite nice and they're also doing some nice battery optimisations. I'm wondering whether they can fit 5.9 inches in the same footprint as the Note, given they got 5.2 inches in the G2 in much the same footprint as the S4.

Yeah, LG are picking up their game. The size of the G2 was what made me scratch it off the list for me. I would've jumped on a 5.9" version though. Plus, after 2 Notes, I'm used to Samsung button layout. LG's is the opposite for menu and back. Would get some getting used to. But those bezels with a larger screen would be hard to resist.

It's what threw me with the HTC One, was so used to Samsung buttons, I just couldn't get out of the button layout habit. Drove me nuts!

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#915055 14-Oct-2013 21:34

This phone is crying out for a dpi change. Insane how much wasted space apps are throwing around the screen. If I can comfortably use and read it with the one handed mode set to smallest then clearly things are too big when used normally.

Also how can I deal to that stupid "earphones" recommended apps notification permanantly? Why is facebook, twitter and speedtest recommended for headphones?

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#915067 14-Oct-2013 22:19

richms: This phone is crying out for a dpi change. Insane how much wasted space apps are throwing around the screen. If I can comfortably use and read it with the one handed mode set to smallest then clearly things are too big when used normally.

agreed, a DPI increase would really help. id love the apps to change to 'phablet' mode really - im used to being able to control all this at an app-specific level using Paranoid Android - its tough/annoying not having that ability stock

Also how can I deal to that stupid "earphones" recommended apps notification permanantly? Why is facebook, twitter and speedtest recommended for headphones?

my earphones recommended apps are "Music player", "video player", "dialer", "youtube" and "google play music" - seemed logical to me?

Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005, on Telecom 4G LTE. ROM: Stock Touchwiz, Android 4.3, XUDMJ6 MODEM: MJ4 Kernel: Stock (for now...:)

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#915072 14-Oct-2013 22:22

I get the crappy phone landscape youtube interface, not the nice tablet one which is really annoying.

The apps in the notification were things like that before I used other apps, and now those apps are the recommended ones. So its recommendation is to open things that I use a lot. Seems not logical. I just want it gone. Same as that useless battery is full so unplug the charger one that it lights up at 2am to tell me.

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#916339 16-Oct-2013 22:16

Wow what an awesome phone! I sprung for the black version and it is a very worthwhile upgrade from the Note II.

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