# Samsung Galaxy Note III



## Darth Angelus (Sep 5, 2013)

Last night, at a Samsung press conference at IFA in Berlin, this large size, flagship phone was officially announced.
Unsurprisingly, it is a quite impressive handset, specs-wise and in general.

For those who are unfamiliar with this series, its screen - at over 5' - is larger than your normal phone, but still much smaller than a tablet. It comes with a pen, which you can use instead of your finger on the touchscreen. Also, it has the best current specs of Samsung's phones when released (typically slightly above the current generation of Samsungs general flagship phone, the S series), frankly making it among the most powerful phones (if not *the* most powerful phone). Its battery life is in the high-end as well.

First of all, they presented various new functions and features for organising information.
Among other things, it is supposed to be able to parse notes that you have made with your pen into more structured types of information, basically deciding what category the information falls into, and enabling you to add it directly into your contacts, if that is what it is.
If I understood it correctly, it is supposed to be able do something similar with information on the web, enabling you to save for later or look up anything you find on the web with a few strokes of the pen.
It is supposed to be able to open up two instances of the same app, side by side, and run the, simultaneously.
Obviously, it is hard for me to tell at the present time how functional and useful these features will be in reality, but they do seem generally well thought out and I have to give Samsung points for trying.

 Anyway, over to the ...
As mentioned above, this is a series of high-end phones, and the upcoming generation is no exception. The specs turned out to be what the rumours said (no surprises).
The screen size will increase from 5.55' in the Note II to 5.7' without increasing the size of the device (actually, reducing its size and weight slightly).
Just like the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S4]S4, it will have a Full-HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) Super Amoled display. While the larger screen size means the pixel density will drop compared to the S4, it should still be quite impressive and no cause for worry.
The CPU will even be slightly more powerful than that of the S4, and the memory will increase from the other Samsung high-end phone by a full 50%, going from 2 to 3 GB.
The rear camera will be 13 megapixels.
All in all, the Note 3 will be a powerhouse, and very safe in the specs department.

The rear will be faux leather, which will probably not make for a truly premium feel. Samsung has received criticism for feeling somewhat cheap in their choice of materials (and compared to iPhone 5 and HTC One, that criticism probably has some merit). While faux leather may or may not feel better than Samsung's usual plastic, those who think an elegant exterior is just as important as a great interior are probably better off looking elsewhere (skipping Samsung entirely, not just this phone).

Still, this appears to be a great phone overall, and one that I am likely to obtain myself asap. It is scheduled to be released on September 25th in most countries. I will probably be visiting the UK at that time, but we will see.
At the present time, I use the Note II, and I am pleased with almost every aspect of it, except the display. Having gotten used to Apple's Retina, and having seen the even better S4 display in a store, I can't really stand watching the Note II's screen very long. An upgrade to Note III should fix that.
I guess I might add that I like Apple's products in general, and still prefer iOS over Android somewhat as a platform, but I couldn't help but feel that iPhone 5's battery life was a bad joke, and I cannot deny that Apple is noticably behind Samsung in the specs department, when it comes to phones. Ultimately, the hardware is more important to me than the platform, at least when it comes to a phone.

But enough of me and my opinions on phones and mobile operating systems. What is your impression of the Note III?


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## Dr Zoidberg (Sep 5, 2013)

I've never been convinced by the screensize of the Notes.
They are just too large to carry in a trouser pocket, and if I'm going to go up to something I need a bag for, then a 7-8 inch tablet makes for a more useable device.

I guess for a jacket pocket or similar they are fine, but I want one device I can take everywhere. The iPhone 5 and 5S are right at the top end of the scale for me.


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