Many companies take tried to make a big, note-friendly smartphone, but none have succeeded quite as well every bit Samsung. While the first Galaxy Annotation was rather big and lacking in refinement, Samsung has steadily improved the line, this year releasing the make new Galaxy Annotation 3, and it has some true competition for the first time.

Samsung Galaxy Annotation iii - $640+ (unlocked)

  • five.7", 1920x1080 Super AMOLED (388 ppi)
  • Snapdragon 800, or Exynos 5 Octa SoC
  • Krait 400 quad-core CPU, or Cortex A7+A15 octa-cadre CPU
  • Adreno 330 GPU, or Mali-T628 MP6 GPU
  • sixteen/32/64 GB internal storage, iii GB RAM, microSD card slot
  • 13 MP camera, 1/three.06" sensor, f/ii.2 lens, up to 4K video
  • 3,200 mAh, 12.16 Wh bombardment
  • LTE or HSPA+, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
  • Android 4.iii 'Jelly Bean'
  • 168 grams, 8.3mm thick

Sharing similarities with the Milky way S4 in design and hardware, the Milky way Note 3 is impressive in many aspects. Depending on what model y'all choose you'll be treated to a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Samsung Exynos v Octa SoC, a 5.vii-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, removable storage, a 13-megapixel camera and the always-useful South-Pen. TouchWiz is also included on the Note, but that's a story for later in the review.

I have both Galaxy Note 3 models with me for this review, making it an interesting comparing between the new Exynos 5 Octa and the trusted Snapdragon 800. Which model is best suited for users around the globe? Is the Note 3 enough of an upgrade from the previous Milky way Note?

The Exynos-powered Galaxy Note 3 used in this review was kindly provided by Negri Electronics. No matter where you lot are in the world (Australia, U.s. or abroad), Negri provides unlocked smartphones and tablets first and for the everyman prices - and you can choose whichever Annotation iii model you similar.

Blueprint

Samsung has never been the king of smartphone design. The Galaxy S4, while ergonomic and functional, lacked the refined feel of other smartphones it was competing against. The Annotation 3 attempts to rectify some of the strange design choices of its predecessors, but information technology's non without the signature Samsung oddities that we've come up to know.

Like previous models, the Galaxy Note 3 is quite large only it'south not ungainly once y'all get used to the size. Unlike the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, the Annotation 3 fits reasonably well in pockets and doesn't restrict movement to the aforementioned degree. One handed use isn't the easiest when y'all're dealing with a five.7-inch display, but with practice it becomes easier than information technology first appears.

Despite a 0.2-inch increase in display size compared to the Note II, the overall footprint of the Note iii has really decreased. The screen of the Annotation 3 covers 75% of its front face compared to 69% on the Note II, and it's likewise slimmer (8.3mm versus 9.4mm) and lighter (168g versus 180g); all changes that better the usability of the handset. The reduction in the bezel around the display is a marked comeback both from a visual and ergonomic standpoint.

On a less positive note, there is Samsung's odd choice of materials on the Note iii's removable back console. The company has addressed some issues I had with the previous model – the back is no longer a smooth, slippery piece of cheap, flimsy plastic – but not to the indicate of a complete resolution. Bated from the forepart which is covered with Gorilla Glass, Samsung has used plastic for the balance of the Note 3'due south build.

Generally speaking I don't have a problem with plastic: when used well, it can be a dandy alternative to metallic on premium devices. However Samsung continues to use plastic in a terrible way. It's immediately obvious that the back panel is non leather, but plastic made to look like leather with faux-sewn edges. It feels reasonably decent on mitt, but it looks so evidently simulated that it resembles more a Chinese knock-off than a premium smartphone.

The aforementioned could be said near the edges of the handset. At a glance yous may be fooled into thinking information technology'south a metallic rim, but instead Samsung provides a metal-lookalike plastic rim. I wouldn't take equally much of an issue with the materials choice if Samsung had unashamedly gone with plastic and used information technology like plastic. Instead it feels similar they are trying to cheat customers by designing a phone that looks similar information technology's made from premium materials like aluminium and leather, but actually isn't.

Moving on, the front end panel of the Annotation 3 is dominated by the 5.7-inch AMOLED display and a triangle-patterned bezel. Higher up it you'll find the metallic speaker grill, visible sensors which look somewhat strange, a front facing photographic camera, and the ever-useful, quite large notification low-cal. Below is the traditional physical dwelling house push, also every bit the menu button to the left and the back button to the right.

Nearly other smartphones have the buttons in the opposite configuration, which means upgraders from any non-Samsung smartphone could find themselves dislocated for a few weeks. The bill of fare button in the lesser left is hard to press when using the phone in 1 hand (and with Android four.0+ it'southward an unnecessary legacy button), then the more oftentimes used back button is actually in a better position.

Effectually the edges the left hand side has the volume rocker, the acme has the 3.5mm headphone jack and infrared LED, and the right hand side has the power button. In a comfortable holding position, the power button is in the perfect location for like shooting fish in a barrel functioning.

The bottom console has the microUSB 3.0 port, which is larger than the standard microUSB 2.0 port that you're used to run across on other devices simply withal accepts legacy cables. There's besides the speaker grill to the left and the born stylus port which holds the S-Pen deeply.

The Due south-Pen is styled similarly to the Note three, in that it'south made from white and metallic colored plastic. It'southward quite comfortable to utilize, and the part button is easy to press and in a convenient location.

As I mentioned before, the dorsum cover of the Milky way Annotation iii tin exist removed, revealing the removable battery, microSD card slot and SIM card slot. The removable battery is a handy feature for some, but in many respects information technology becomes a downside. Having to produce an extra plastic housing for both the internal components and the battery itself makes the handset larger and battery smaller than what would exist possible otherwise. Build quality also tends to suffer when yous employ a removable back panel.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is all nearly the display. A v.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED panel affords a whopping 89.6 sq. cm of screen real manor: 30% more than a typical 5.0-inch display you'd discover on a device like the Galaxy S4. Information technology also represents a small 7% increase on the last generation Notation's display, which isn't a huge corporeality, simply withal nice considering the actual size of the device hasn't increased as a issue.

The 5.7-inch brandish has a resolution of 1920 ten 1080, which is the standard for most high-end smartphones this twelvemonth, peculiarly those with larger screens. It comes with a pixel density of 386 PPI, dense enough that you won't be able to distinguish individual pixels on the brandish, even when it'due south quite close to your face up. The 2.07 one thousand thousand pixels crammed into the brandish makes everything await very sharp, especially high-resolution images and text, where jagged edges are a not-upshot.

However it'southward not quite smooth sailing with the Milky way Annotation 3'due south display, as there has been a slight quality deposition compared to the Notation II. Where the Note Ii's Super AMOLED featured an S-stripe (RGB stripe) subpixel matrix, the Notation 3's regresses to a PenTile matrix. If you're non familiar with display subpixel matrices, the PenTile matrix, in its Note iii layout, includes lines of green subpixels with alternating red and bluish subpixels in betwixt. As in that location isn't one red, blue and green subpixel for every pixel, the Note 3's display has a lower constructive resolution than a 1080p LCD console, which uses the superior RGB stripe three-subpixel matrix.

The lower effective resolution of the Note 3'due south Super AMOLED is noticeable to a trained eye; information technology unproblematic doesn't look as expert as a competing LCD panel. That's not to say the Note 3 suffers from poor display sharpness or clarity – information technology's all the same very good in near respects – merely it's not quite equally practiced as what is possible with other display technologies. The PenTile matrix is about noticeable around the edges of text, where sharp lines aren't as defined, although the consequence is nowhere near as pronounced every bit first- and second-generation AMOLED panels.

Will you discover the slightly lower display quality due to the PenTile subpixel matrix? Without anything to compare it to, probably non, especially as the 1080p resolution makes it very hard to distinguish the pixels themselves. I'd prefer an RGB stripe matrix for the actress clarity, only information technology'southward far from the end of the world.

Ane area of AMOLED panels that cannot be browbeaten by LCD technology is in the contrast ratio. Blacks on the Notation 3's display look stunning, every bit the display is physically off when black needs to exist displayed due to the lack of a backlight in the panel's construction. The levels of black the display is capable of are expert but not fantastic: I couldn't distinguish the difference between five of the squares in a standard 256-level black exam, which ways a pocket-sized amount of detail in dark scenes could exist lost.

Whites are okay from the Note iii's AMOLED, even so it hasn't been a strong suit of this brandish type. There is a trend to tint the display slightly blueish-greyness, just not by equally much as previous models. Brightness is once more good, merely not dandy, falling backside most electric current-generation LCD panels in maximum effulgence levels. The few layers the brandish is composed of helps visibility outdoors significantly, but it's not the easiest panel to view in strong sunlight, especially if you have a white model where the bezel reflects a lot of calorie-free.

Similar other AMOLED-packing Galaxy smartphones, in that location are four screen modes to choose from in the device settings: Dynamic, Standard, Professional Photograph and Movie. The default setting is to accept the display "adapt" (aka. choose the setting for yous depending on the atmospheric condition), and in all respects information technology looks quite proficient, albeit oversaturated like the typical AMOLED. Colors pop and images wait vibrant, but it certainly isn't the nearly accurate setting to leave it on.

In the default setting, gamma is mode off (around 2.5 rather than the standard 2.2) and oversaturation causes particular and nuances in colour to be clipped away, particularly in the scarlet and bluish channels. There's as well noticeable colour banding when looking at full-spectrum gradients, which cannot be resolved through changing the screen mode.

Annoyingly, it's impossible to but change the screen mode and fix the issues. Dynamic mode produces accurate gamma, but makes the oversaturation issue worse, while Motion-picture show mode dramatically pulls in the saturation and makes the white point less blue, but gamma remains an issue. And that's non the only problem, equally setting the Notation iii to the most accurate screen mode (Movie) makes the operating system in general expect very wearisome, because Samsung has adult it for the vibrant AMOLED panel.

Viewing angles from the FHD Super AMOLED are very good, every bit always, with text readable at basically all off angles. There's very little colour or dissimilarity shift when adjusting the angle of viewing, which is normal for an AMOLED and fantastic as always. The lack of layers in the display'due south composition also reduces reflectivity, so you can meet the screen quite well in the presence of brilliant windows.

Overall, the Galaxy Annotation 3'due south display is vibrant and saturated under default conditions (if inaccurate), and the large corporeality of screen real manor is perfect for writing tasks and media consumption. The 1080p resolution keeps the display well-baked, merely it's non the sharpest panel I've come up across, both due to the size and PenTile matrix. I'm not convinced AMOLED panels are the best choice, especially as LCD offerings are then strong these days, but the Galaxy Annotation 3's panel packs enough quality to satisfy most buyers.