Galaxy note 3 specifications. ⇡ Technical specifications

Good day, our dear regular readers! After a six-month break in our reviews, the time has come to analyze all the new products in the world of Samsung gadgets and conduct a detailed review of them. Probably the most significant event that has happened recently is the release of a new flagship from Samsung - Samsung Galaxy Note 3. This publication will be devoted to a review of this gadget, opening a new season of reviews of devices from Samsung.

Surely you have already seen a lot of video reviews on different languages this gadget, we will review the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in Russian, describing all the most interesting things that others practically do not talk about. Since we are already talking about video reviews, it is worth noting that they have become somewhat boring and monotonous: perhaps this is due to the boring models of Samsung gadgets, or I have lost interest, but I am full of energy, after the hot summer, and I am exploring this model with curiosity.

As you know, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a successor to Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which I dubbed the “shovel” in the last post. Well, no matter how tolerant and correct I may be, this nickname, which is in everyone’s vocabulary, is pronounced involuntarily. Will we see something new in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or will there be an upgrade of the “classic model” as always!? I myself already want to know about this, so let’s start reviewing the gadget.

Unboxing Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Holding the box with Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in my hand, I already suspect that it will be a “giant” again. A few words should be said about the box itself; as per the new established Samsung trend, it is made of environmentally friendly materials, even from recyclable materials, that is, recycled household waste. It’s somehow difficult to think and talk about environmental friendliness when this environmentally friendly packaging was made several hundred kilometers from Fokushima... No, well, these are undoubtedly good intentions that should be welcomed, but they don’t make flagship packaging like this, to be honest, it reminds me of toilet packaging paper, even the “poor man’s iPhone” is put in a beautiful box. Well, okay, we see the box only during the post-purchase period and until we remove the device from there.

So, we open our “eco” packaging and behold... - “Shovel!” This is exactly the same second reaction I have to the next model of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Looking ahead, I’ll say that I don’t see any innovations on the front, but the back cover really surprised me, but more on that a little later, first I’ll tell you about the gadget’s configuration.

EquipmentSamsungGalaxyNote 3

Under the phone in the box there is an instruction manual, also made of the same paper as the packaging. There are quite a lot of instructions, just in case. The package contains headphones with a 3.5 jack and a set of spare ear pads for them. The package also includes a DATA cable with a new connector and charger. Separately, it is worth mentioning an innovation: stylus refills. That's all: in principle, the necessary set for comfortable work with the device is included.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 design

There is no particular difference from the front, or rather there is none at all, both with the second version of Note and with its other brothers. The phone is made of plastic, which is carefully made up every time. The side edging of the smartphone is made, as always, to look like metal, but again it’s plastic. As was already prematurely mentioned above, there is an innovation on the back panel of the phone; it is made to look like leather, but it is again the same plastic, although it is quite pleasant to the touch. As the authors of this innovation admitted, they tried to emphasize the similarity of the gadget with a notebook; whether this is true or not - each user will determine for himself. Nevertheless, I liked the lid, it is pleasant to the touch, and most importantly, most likely, it will not be scratched - this is a significant advantage.

This back panel comes in three options colors: black, white and pink. On the left, on the side panel, there is a volume rocker, and on the right is the power button. At the bottom of the device there is a connector for connecting a DATA cable, as well as a microphone and speaker. A stylus called the S Pen is also inserted at the bottom. On top there is a 3.5 headphone jack, as well as a microphone hole and an infrared port. The back cover houses the camera and flash. At the top of the front there is a speaker, sensors and a camera, at the bottom there are 3 standard keys for Samsung gadgets.

In general, the design, although not particularly new, is still pleasant. The gadget fits comfortably in the hand, despite its large sizes, but its management is a separate issue.

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Now let's find out the device parameters:

Network: GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE, operating in the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands, 3G and LTE are also available.

Operating system: Android 4.3, with built-in Nature UX interface.

Processor: 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974) with a clock frequency of 2.26 GHz, Adreno 330 graphics, LTE or 8 nuclear processor Samsung Exynos Octa 5420 (4 cores clocked at 1.9 GHz, four cores at 1.3 GHz), ARM Mali-T628 MP6 graphics.

Physical memory: 3 GB.

Built-in memory: 32 GB + microSD (up to 64 GB).

Display: 5.7 inches, Full HD Super AMOLED with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Camera: main - 13 megapixels with autofocus and smart stabilization, LED flash; front camera - 2 MP with smart stabilization.

Video recording: 30 fps, Smooth motion (FHD 60fps), Slow motion (HD 120fps).

Connections: Wi-Fi operates in 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80), GPS and GLONASS geolocation services, Bluetooth 4.0, IR LED (remote control).

Sensors: Gesture sensor, position sensor, accelerometer, digital compass, temperature and humidity sensor, gyroscope and barometer.

Battery: removable Li-ion, 3200 mAh.

Dimensions: 151.2×79.2×8.3 mm, weight 168g.

General impressions about the device

Despite the large size of the device, the gadget is quite good. The large and high-quality screen is as always fascinating, the animation and features of Android are as always enticing. However, it is somewhat inconvenient to operate the device while holding it with one hand, especially to quickly answer a call - you need to train yourself to transfer it to your hand.

It is worth noting that the stylus is easy to use, the response is very good, it is especially convenient to draw with it. It will be convenient for those with large fingers to work with the stylus.

The performance of the gadget is, of course, fantastic: there was not a single slowdown when playing HD movies or the latest powerful games. Playing and watching movies on a smartphone is very convenient, again due to the large screen, as well as high resolution and high-quality color reproduction.

To summarize, I want to speak positively about Samsung’s innovation and recommend it to everyone who wants to buy it! Until the next reviews!

2 years ago 0

Screen Battery life Stylus Camera Speed Appearance(especially the back cover)

2 years ago 0

1. The screen, it’s beautiful, I specially loaded high-quality pictures onto the wallpaper, super. The viewing angles are maximum, the color rendition is excellent, the brightness is excessive, I have less than half. 2. Performance, I don’t play games, I didn’t load it too much, that’s enough for me. 3. S-Pen, I discovered this device, I use a notepad all the time, it’s very convenient. 4. Battery life compared to iPhone 5, Sony ZL, Sony Z Ultra is approximately 30% higher. I don’t have enough for two full ones, like many people, but by the end of the day I consistently have 40% left. 5. Support, 5.1.1 has been released, collapsible, unlike many flagships, changing the battery is not a problem.

2 years ago 0

Screen, functionality.

2 years ago 0

The screen, the speed of operation, a good battery, the technology of the phone justifies the price (a bunch of stuff), no WORSE than an iPhone!

2 years ago 0

The display is good! The sensor is without any complaints, they can do what they can do. The sound quality is simply excellent for a phone. BT 4.0 works great GPS - excellent GSM module - good. The case is assembled with high quality - there are no creaks or backlashes.

2 years ago 0

Stylus Photo quality Screen and ease of use

2 years ago 0

Undoubtedly, the advantages include a juicy screen (perhaps for some the stylus will be an advantage, but I don’t really need it), many accessories (especially in online stores), a good camera, many necessary applications, with new charging (micro or mini usb 3.0) charges very quickly, it’s convenient for reading books and surfing the Internet, watching movies and videos on this device is simply amazing, it’s good that the memory starts at 32 GB!

2 years ago 0

Screen Design Stylus Build quality Works quickly Camera Charges quickly

2 years ago 0

Screen size, memory capacity, camera, perhaps everything....

2 years ago 0

The plastic peels off over time
A large amount of unnecessary pre-installed software that is not needed, but hangs in the memory and eats up RAM and permanent memory. The software can be disabled, but there is no way to remove it without root. This is a flaw in most phones these days.

2 years ago 0

1. Price, a new one came out, but they forgot to reduce the price tag on the old one.
2. The fingerprint scanner does not work by pressing, you have to swipe it, it’s inconvenient, often doesn’t work, the competitor’s is much more convenient.

2 years ago 0

Latest firmware, which killed the smartphone :)

2 years ago 0

The back cover is very weak, the charging port is non-standard, the rest is fine.

2 years ago 0

The battery is simply terrible. I use several phones - there is something to compare with. A phone for active use? 10 hours of WiFi for Access to online resources + BT and 2 hours of calls drain the battery in 16 hours. It's hard to last a day. If you use it as a dialer, it can last 2-3 days. Other phones with smaller capacities hold a charge much longer. Movies and other entertainment are not used.
No games or apps are needed. It's terrible to constantly monitor the remaining charge. As was the case with Samsung, unoptimized consumption remains the same. I have experience with friends using almost the entire Samsung Galaxy line - complaints about low autonomy in almost all models.
The heating of the processor is not critical, but it is annoying - a kind of stove in your pants all of a sudden! Out of habit, God knows that we can

2 years ago 0

Green backlight (they say this is rare, but I was lucky, sometimes it glitches like that)

2 years ago 0

After updating Android to 5.0, it began to get very hot and quickly sit down.
The rapid discharge seems to have passed, perhaps it was discharged after the firmware update due to the fact that the phone did not let go of the hands at all.

2 years ago 0

If you play, the battery will be discharged “in the blink of an eye,” but the charger will quickly fix this;
Due to the fact that the 5.7-inch screen is sometimes inconvenient to use and there is nowhere to put it in places where there is little space, but any stick has “two sides”;

2 years ago 0

Discharges quickly

2 years ago 0

It's heating up! It gets terribly hot! And if you use it while charging, it’s actually something hot! Most of the RAM is always clogged with something and is absolutely not cleaned. After six months of use, the video card caught a glitch, when watching a video, the screen began to divide into many small screens and until you reboot the phone, this does not go away, sometimes in the browser the screen is divided into only two.

A tablet from the Korean manufacturer Samsung – Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005 32Gb.

Appearance of Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Touch monoblock. Made of plastic, stylized as leather. Available in two colors: black and white.
Screen with a diagonal of 5.7 inches and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 386 ppi.
Dimensions – 151×79×8.3 mm, weight – 168 g.

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 8-core processor, 2300 MHz.
RAM – 3 GB. Built-in memory – 32GB. The phone also supports memory cards.
Operating system – Android 4.3. (Jelly Bean), which is updated to new versions.
The battery is removable, 3200 mAh. This is enough for a day of active use of the phone. Of course, if you play games on it, the charge will last for several hours.
The main camera is of good quality – 13 MP. And the front one is only 2 megapixels.

You can buy Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in our online store by placing an order through the website shopping cart or by calling us at. Delivery in Moscow is possible on the day of order. The cost of delivery within the Moscow Ring Road is 400 rubles. Delivery to the Moscow region is calculated individually. Pickup from a retail store two minutes from Savelovskaya metro station.

Probably two years ago, when Samsung bosses launched the very first Note with a diagonal of 5.3 inches, even in their wildest fantasies they could not imagine what a crazy stir their new product would cause. At that time, flagship smartphones could boast screens with a diagonal of 4.3 inches, and a device with a 4.8-inch display was already considered gigantic (“And in general, how can you carry this in your pocket?” - they liked to say at that time).

The first Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 sold an insane number of copies all over the world - everyone who needed it was able to place it in their pockets, and they also said thank you to the manufacturer. Since then, the South Korean corporation, every year at the September IFA exhibition held in Berlin, presents an updated version of its now not the largest, but the most technically advanced smartphone. The main changes usually concern the hardware of the device and they begin with the words “we have increased here, here and here.” This was the case with the Galaxy Note 3 - with one remark: the company's designers have finally moved a couple of steps away from their standard design, which has migrated from one device to another more than once and is already quite boring.

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

However, the main changes concern the rear panel. The “face” of the smartphone remains almost the same. The main area of the front panel is occupied by a giant 5.7-inch screen. The thickness of the side frames around it decreased by 1.5 mm - 4 mm for the Galaxy Note II versus 2.5 mm for the Galaxy Note 3. There was less free space under and above the display, due to which the dimensions of the new “Laptop” remained almost the same, like its predecessor.

At first glance, distinguishing the third Galaxy Note from the second is not so easy - can you do it?

Due to the not so strongly rounded corners, the smartphone looks more strict. The central key has lost a little in size, but due to the slightly protruding edge, it won’t be difficult to hit it with your finger blindly. On the sides of it, as before, there are touch keys “Menu” and “Back”, equipped with backlight and invisible without it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (left, black) compared to iPhone 4s

The pseudo-chromed edging common to “Galaxies”, which slightly protrudes above the surface of the panel, has also not gone away. True, compared to how it was in the second Note, it is much “sharper”. The earpiece is still covered with a metallic mesh, to the right of it are the sensors and the front camera lens, and to the left is an indicator that glows in different colors depending on the event it wants to report.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is not that big in modern times

The company's designers are constantly experimenting with the back cover. In the first two Galaxy Notes, the backs of the devices were quite ordinary - matte textured in the first and glossy in the second. In the third generation of the Note, the design idea has gone much further - the back cover has a coating that looks and feels vaguely reminiscent of leather.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with the back panel removed

The solution is very much for an amateur. In our opinion, it would be much more appropriate if the back panel of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was not removable. After all, if you remove the panel - and this will have to be done at least to install a SIM card and memory card - cognitive dissonance involuntarily arises. After all, it’s obviously plastic, it doesn’t smell like leather—who were you trying to fool? Well, of course, anyone to whom you give a smartphone will first of all crawl under the cover - to find out whether this is really an elite skin of young polycarbonate. And he will definitely find out - it’s good if he doesn’t break the latches in the process.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - back panel and sides

The physical power and volume keys, located on the side faces, are shifted upward in the updated model, which greatly simplifies working with them. An IR port appeared on the top end, which the Galaxy Note II did not have, and the external speaker had to move to the bottom edge due to the new cover. Its location, interestingly, is very good - the speaker is not blocked by your hand, even if you hold the smartphone in landscape orientation. Next to it is a micro-USB 3.0 interface, which is compatible with standard micro-USB 2.0. By the way, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the first “wearable” gadget that supports the latest version of micro-USB. The proprietary S Pen stylus is still nestled in the lower right corner.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – side texture

Another difference of the third Note is that the traditional chrome edging running along all sides has become corrugated. This is probably done so that the smartphone looks like a notebook from the ends, and such a relief should resemble the pages in it. It does look quite Asian, though.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - slots for microSIM and microSD cards

Under the back cover everything is completely normal - the main area under it is occupied by a 3200 mAh battery. The slots for MicroSD and micro-SIM cards are located underneath each other, with the former being hot-swappable and the latter not.

Comparison Samsung sizes Galaxy Note 3, Samsung Galaxy Note II and iPhone 4s

Despite the significantly more powerful hardware, the smartphone has become a little thinner and lighter than its predecessor. If you do not take into account the slightly protruding rear camera lens, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has lost more than a millimeter in thickness (9.4 versus 8.3 mm) and has become 15 grams lighter (183 versus 168 g). It’s nice that even such a large gadget monitors its figure and sheds extra millimeters and grams from one version to another.

⇡ Technical specifications

We have specifically combined those table cells in which the characteristics of SGN2 and SGN3 are the same. As you can see, there were very few of them: despite the external similarity, the new model has changed in almost all respects.

	Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (GT-N7100)	Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9000)
Touch screen	5.55 inches, 1280x720, Super AMOLED	5.7 inches, 1920x1080, Super AMOLED Capacitive, up to 10 simultaneous touches
Air gap	No
Oleophobic coating	Eat
Polarizing filter	Eat
CPU	Samsung Exynos 4412: four Cortex-A9 cores (ARMv7), frequency 1.6 GHz; process technology 32 nm HKMG	Samsung Exynos Octa 5420: four Cortex-A15 cores (ARMv7), frequency 1.9 GHz; four Cortex-A7 cores (ARMv7); frequency 1.3 GHz; process technology 28 nm HKMG
Graphics controller	ARM Mali-400 MP4	ARM Mali-T628 MP6
RAM	2 GB LPDDR2-1066	3 GB LPDDR3-1600
Flash memory	16 GB (~11.5 GB available) + MicroSD	32 GB (~25.5 GB available) + MicroSD
Connectors	1 x Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 x MicroSD 1 x Micro-SIM	1 x Micro-USB 3.0 (MHL) 1 x 3.5mm headset jack 1 x MicroSD 1 x Micro-SIM
Cellular connection	Intel XMM 6260 platform (PMB9811 modem + PMB5712 transceiver): 3G: HSPA+ (21 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz 4G: no* Micro-SIM	Intel XMM 6360 platform (PMB9820 modem + PMB5745 transceiver): 2G: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz 3G: DC-HSPA+ (42 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz 4G: no** Micro-SIM
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth	4.0
NFC	Eat
IR port	No	Eat
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS (Broadcom BCM4752)	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS (Broadcom BCM47521)
Sensors	Light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass)	Light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), pressure sensor, temperature sensor, humidity sensor
Main camera	8 MP (3264x2448), autofocus, LED flash	13 MP (4128x3096), Sony Exmor RS IMX135 sensor autofocus, LED flash
Front camera	1.2 MP (1280x960), no autofocus	2 MP (1920x1080), Samsung S5K6B2YX03 sensor, without autofocus
Nutrition	Removable battery 11.78 Wh (3100 mAh, 3.8 V)	Removable battery 12.16 Wh (3200 mAh, 3.8 V)
Size	80.5x151.1 mm, case thickness 9.4 mm	79x151.2 mm, case thickness 8.3 mm
Weight	183 g	168 g
Water and dust protection	Absent
operating system	Google Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)	Google Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
Recommended price	19,990 rubles	24,990 rubles
* 4G is supported in GT-N7105 version. ** 4G is supported in the SM-N9005 version with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, which is currently exclusively sold by MegaFon in Russia.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - information about the system and hardware

The situation with the prices of the Galaxy Note 3 is quite confusing. The fact is that the official, snow-white price recommended by the Samsung representative office for the 3G version of this device is 34,990 rubles, traditional for a super-flagship Samsung product. Theoretically, if you go to a communications store or an electronics store of a large chain, you can see a price tag there with such an extremely inhumane figure.

It's almost unlikely that this will happen to you. Because MegaFon managed to agree with Samsung to sell this Galaxy Note 3 for 24,990 (on advertising banners you will see even more beautiful numbers - 21,990 rubles - but another 3,000 will have to be mandatory add to account). For this price you will receive a device locked to the specified operator. And since MegaFon already has this super offer, all “gray” devices are sold at similar prices - about 22-25 thousand rubles, depending on the specific online store.

As for the LTE version of the Galaxy Note 3, then at the moment officially in Russia it is sold only by the same MegaFon - on exactly the same conditions as the 3G version, but a thousand rubles more expensive. It’s not a problem to find “gray” smartphones with LTE support on sale for about the same money, but surprises are possible with them.

⇡ Equipment

The smartphone comes in a small cardboard box, textured like wood. The inscriptions on the box are printed soy ink- such unreal environmental friendliness. Inside we found the following accessories:

Charger with USB connector power 10 W (5 V, 2 A);
USB cable ↔ micro-USB 3.0;
In-ear headphones with volume buttons and call answer key;
Printed quick start guide in English.

Samsung has already introduced the third Galaxy Note and, looking ahead, it has become even better. Moreover, this year Note 3 has moved forward further than the S4, it seems to me, both externally and internally. For those who are not in the know, let me remind you that it was in 2011 that I gave birth to a whole line of gadgets - lampshades. Before it, smartphones with 4.3″ displays seemed large, and those with 4.7″ displays seemed huge. After all, few would have thought that two years later, an ordinary flagship would have a display with a diagonal of 5-5.3″!

In fact, the most severe geeks could have guessed it, because they had the Nokia N800, N900, etc. But they did not become widespread, because at that time the mobile OS did not provide the user with such scope for work, which might require a large display. But the size of the display, on the contrary, caused inconvenience, because at that time it was very difficult, if not impossible, to make such a device compact.

Design and ergonomics

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 surprised everyone, because no one doubted that the display would become larger, that its resolution would increase to Full HD, that the processor would be more powerful, and that the camera would be better. The fact that all this could be placed in a more compact case was a surprise, but I think the case really surprised everyone. This is the first Note that went against the system and became non-glossy. After all, the original model had a matte cover only because that year the Galaxy S 2 had exactly the same cover. The Note 2 was made in the same style as the Galaxy S 3 - glossy, but the Note 3 is made in the style of a leather notebook, despite the glossy Galaxy S 4.

Despite the fact that today the situation in the smartphone market is settling down, other manufacturers are catching up, but even at the beginning of 2013 we would have asked the average user or even a geek what smartphone he was looking forward to most, I think many would have remembered the SGS4 and SGN3 . As I said last year, it is very difficult to make not just a popular smartphone, but a truly cult one. That's exactly what the Galaxy Note is.

This is a smartphone that has replaced two devices for many people: a smartphone and a tablet, because before the release of the original model, only a tablet could boast a 5-6″ screen. Today, the Galaxy Note 3 no longer causes so much excitement because of its size, because although it is larger than regular flagships, it is not by much. It’s really cool that the engineers were able to place a larger diagonal display in a more compact body - 5.7″ versus 5.5 last year. The body is 1.3 mm narrower and 1.1 mm thinner than the Galaxy Note 2, without increasing in height. And the difference in width with the very first Note is 3 mm, which is significant. Keep in mind that in the original model the display diagonal was 5.3″.

The case, as I already said, has greatly improved compared to its predecessor. It remained collapsible, retained its quality, but at the same time became much more practical and pleasant to use. The back cover is made to look like leather, there is even a thread stitch along the edge, although not real. The designers tried to convey the design of a classic leather notebook, even the side edging, which is made to look like metal, has longitudinal stripes, as if they were pages. Tactile - it turned out really cool, and the idea is clear - Galaxy Note from the first version has an S-Pen, with which you can write on the screen as if on a piece of paper. But the realism of the conveyed image is not complete; if the back cover really looks like leather, then the entire smartphone does not in any way resemble a notepad. But overall, I liked the design much better than anything currently in the Galaxy line, except for the Galaxy S 4 Active - they both have unique designs. The practical benefits of a non-glossy back cover are obvious: it does not collect fingerprints and is not susceptible to scratches. By the way, I wouldn’t even put a cover on the Note 3, because it would be hard to scratch the smartphone, and if something happens, the cover can simply be replaced. Today, not every smartphone allows you to do this!

A little about the location of everything on the body of the new “Nota”. Everything is more than standard. I’m glad that they didn’t forget about the IR port, but the standard application allows you to control only equipment that is connected to TV, albeit from different vendors. That is, you can forget about air conditioners. Fortunately, in Google Play There are a lot of alternative software.

And the second feature that cannot be ignored is microUSB 3.0, that is, the same as in external hard drives. I won’t say that it looks very beautiful, but Samsung is not to blame here. It’s just that the connector itself is even more inconvenient, and has become twice as large. Compatibility with old cords remains, they are simply inserted into one half of the connector. The difference is that microUSB 3.0 charges the smartphone faster. Also in the new interface, the data transfer speed has increased - up to 45 MB/s.

Everything else is standard: on the right is the lock key, on the left is the volume control, on the bottom is a microphone and speaker, next to them is the S-Pen, on top is a headphone jack, another microphone and an infrared port.

Under the display, as usual for all Samsung smartphones, there are three keys: one mechanical - home, and two touch ones. Above it is a 2 MP front camera and various sensors.

Display

Samsung, as usual, installs Super AMOLED displays in its flagship models, and the Galaxy Note 3 is no exception. The display has grown to 5.7″, and its resolution to 1920x1080 pixels. The pixel placement scheme is Pen Tile, but with a pixel density of 386 per inch, although it is possible to notice halos or individual pixels, you need to look closely. I liked the display, the clarity is excellent, the viewing angles and contrast are also maximum. The colors, as befits Super AMOLED, are very saturated, some people like it better, I prefer soft tones. However, you can tone down the colors a little using standard means - as with all the latest models, you can select a mode in the display settings. Standard is much calmer than dynamic.

Camera

As expected, the camera in the new Galaxy Note is very good. And, as has been the case for two years in a row, it is slightly better than the flagship Galaxy S model, in in this case- fourth generation. In particular, video stabilization is really good. Note 3 has a 13 MP BSI sensor, aperture - 2.2. But, in essence, the camera is exactly the same as in the Galaxy S 4. Perhaps a little more good videos and the pictures are obtained due to the modified software.

You can take photos while shooting videos, and there are many custom modes available to let you choose best photo from the series, take a photo of an object in motion and much more. There are also custom filters.

Examples of photos and videos

Working with the S-Pen

If in the days of Windows Mobile the stylus was simply a necessary manipulator, then its return in the era of capacitive displays was not entirely clear: why? Thus, the very first Galaxy Note was only able to reveal the potential of the S Pen at the end of its life cycle. We really saw a lot of innovations in working with the pen with the arrival of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 2 last year. There were so many features using the S Pen that we made a separate video on the functions of the pen. Also in Note 2, the stylus or pen itself has become much better; instead of 16 pressure levels, it now supports as many as 1024, and the size of the pen has increased, making the pen much more convenient to use.

Note 3 has added several useful innovations in working with the pen, the main ones are called up in a special menu consisting of five items. This window is called up by simply holding down the button on the S-Pen when it has not yet touched the display. You kind of indicate where this menu should appear.

Here you can select active notes, cut out a fragment of the screen, take a screenshot, open a search, or outline a window to launch a program in it.

Active Notes allows you to recognize handwriting and instantly use it in one of the applications: dialing, messages, etc.

Let me note that even the most clumsy handwriting is recognized, which means that writing down a contact has now become even faster. By the way, the functional menu opens automatically even from a locked state, if you simply take out the pen. So saving a number this way is really quick.

The second point is cutting out a fragment. This is a very useful feature that was once in one of the Android browsers. But what’s cool here is that it’s integrated into TouchWIZ. Wherever you are, simply call up this menu with your pen, select the second item and highlight the area you want to save. After this, you can add a comment or send a screenshot to a specific notepad; a separate application is dedicated for these purposes. By the way, if you save a fragment from any Internet page, you can easily go to it again later.

The third button allows you to take a screenshot and immediately mark something on it. Very convenient for quickly demonstrating something to someone on Twitter. Everything is clear with the search, but the last, fifth button is also interesting. It allows you to draw a window of a certain shape and size with a pen, and then place one of several applications in it, including a browser and YouTube. You can create several windows, minimize them, move them around the screen, maximize them, or close them. Everything is like on a computer!

Despite the fact that I always find such gadgets useless, I really enjoyed using at least three out of five: screenshot with instant editing, screenshot of a fragment and active notes.

The S Note application has also been completely updated, which now looks like a leather notebook. Sort of like an electronic moleskine.

BY

In addition to the previously described features, there are others that you can work with without a pen. For example, I liked the event aggregator, which can be called up by pressing the home button again, or by swiping from the bottom edge of the display. You can connect here social media, including Twitter, news is pulled from Flipboard, and personal information is pulled from the calendar.

The dual screen mode has also changed. Now you can place two chat windows, for example, in ChatOn, and drag messages between the windows. That is, now they are interconnected. This mode is called up and hidden as before - by long pressing the back key.

It's very cool that the Galaxy Note 3 is the first smartphone on the market, other than the Nexus, that comes preloaded with the latest version of Google's OS - Android 4.3 JB. On top of it is the latest TouchWIZ, which is now not only fast, but also does not seem overloaded. Samsung was smart and simply hid all their apps in a separate folder from the start so that all the apps fit on one screen.

Technical characteristics and autonomy

Our copy is powered by an Exynos Octa 5420 processor, which on paper is eight-core. In fact, there are four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.9 GHz, and four Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz, that is, big.LITTLE ARM architecture. We see a similar solution in SGS4, and many there were dissatisfied with the poor optimization of the software, as well as lags in the interface. It was a matter of honor for me to check how quickly the display lights up and goes out when I press the lock key. So - finally, very quickly, there is no such lag as we observed earlier in S4. But somewhere over the hill, a version with a Snapdragon 800 processor will be available. I think there will be no difference in operating speed, at least noticeable to the eye, but the camera in the second case will allow you to record video in 4k resolution.

But the truth is found in the smooth operation of the interface, games and applications, here everything is super on the third Note. Of course, all games run with maximum graphics settings, mirrors are displayed in RR3.

In addition to what is installed in Note 3 latest version OS - Android 4.3, there is also 3 GB of RAM. If you close everything completely, then 1.4 GB remain free, which is good, it seems to me.