Samsung created a new category when it launched the Galaxy Note. While naysayers were initially critical of its ungainly size, it did manage to attract a large number of consumers who were looking for a device that integrated the big screen of a tablet with the portability and convenience of a smartphone. It even inspired other device makers to launch similar devices, though it’s been hard for them to offer a differentiating feature.
The Galaxy Note’s strength is the S Pen, the intelligent stylus that accompanies the device and allows users to do more than just navigate the user interface and scribble notes. With the Note 3, Samsung claims to take the experience at the next level. We try to find out if its still the best phablet in the market, in our review.
Build/ Design
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 retains the same design that gave the Note series of smartphones their own identity. When we first lay our hands on the phone, it reminded us of the original Note. The Note 3 looks much more similar to the first-generation Note than the Note II, which was more curved.
The Note 3 is essentially made of plastic but Samsung has cleverly disguised the finish of certain elements to give the smartphone a premium fit and finish. Despite its huge size, the phone doesn’t feel heavy and fits in the pocket in a better manner, if you compare it with the Sony Xperia Z Ultra. Having said that, it’s still ungainly when it comes to singe-handed operation, though Samsung has tried to find a solution for it.
Display
As we mentioned, the Galaxy Note 3 is in a way Samsung’s other flagship device, other than the Galaxy S4. All flagship devices now tick the full-HD display checkmark, and keeping with the trend, Samsung has also upgraded the screen to full-HD. The screen’s also bigger by 0.2-inches at 5.7-inches.
The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a full-HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels packing 386 pixels per inch.
The Galaxy Note 3’s display, is among the best displays we’ve seen so far. In our use, we found that text, images and videos appear extremely sharp, with vibrant colours. Reading text and browsing the web was also a pleasant experience.