Samsung Galaxy Note 3

It beats its previous avatar in performance, feel and appearance

It’s a sensual experience holding the Galaxy Note 3. It has a soft textured back cover that feels like leather, with a delicate serration pattern stitch reminding you of the classic notebooks and planners of a time gone by. Slimmer than its previous avatar at 8.3 mm and lighter at just 168 gm, the Note 3 looks and feels good, but then a phone is not just about its look and feel, it also has to deliver, so let’s look at it up close.

The Note 3’s 5.7-inch full-HD super AMOLED display is bright, crisp and offers smooth visuals. This smartphone features a 13 megapixel rear camera that comes with Smart Stablisation; a high colour rendition index LED light for normalised colour, and a sensor that captures good pictures even in low light. This camera can shoot videos at 1080p. The front camera is a 1.9 megapixel camera that lets you make high-definition video calls.

The phone runs on a 1.9Ghz Eight Core Exynos 5 Octa processor, and its 3 Gigabytes of RAM ensure that you get a great experience. There is 32 GB of internal storage, which can be increased with a microSD card. The Note 3 uses Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system. Its TouchWiz UI lets you run applications side by side—you can keep a watch on your mailbox while browsing, or attach a picture by a drag-and-drop in your email—making multitasking easier. Samsung also bundles Knox, a security application that helps you store your data in a container that cannot be breached by malware and phishers. The Note 3 also has a Find My Mobile feature that lets you disable your phone remotely in case you lose it.

With the Note 3, Samsung has taken its Group Play to video sharing capabilities, so now you can play and share video content with friends who also have the Note 3.

In the little time that I got to review the Note 3, it breezed through most applications. In fact, it is a performance beast. For now, Samsung has a winner in its Note 3.

AndroidSamsung Galaxy Note 3smart phone