Samsung‘s latest flagship, the Galaxy Note 3, is finally here in Nepal. The latest phablet launched by Samsung couple of months ago is the most expensive Android smartphones you can buy in Nepal. With a price tag of Rs. 86,900, this phone is a beast in terms of specs, Design, and s-pen. But, is it worth all the money? We review to find out.
[Note: I used the Note 3 for 2 months as my daily driver]
Design
The Galaxy Note 3 is much larger than what we have seen in GS4 or HTC one. It’s slightly bigger than Note 2 but the overall dimension is quite same. I hate Samsung’s plastic housings that make the phones feel cheap compared to devices like the HTC One and iPhone but The Galaxy Note 3 has a back covered with leather, which adds a bit of protection. I hope to see more innovation from Samsung when it comes to design because at the moment Sony & HTC are winning!
Display
The screen display on the Galaxy Note 3 is spectacular. With a super AMOLED screen, it’s ridiculously bright, the contrast is outstanding and the clarity is terrific as seen in Samsung Galaxy S4. With a bigger screen, carrying the Note 3 is like carrying a beautiful Samsung HDTV in your pocket.
Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa 5420 processor which is basically a set of two quad-core processors in big.LITTLE architecture — a 1.9GHz Cortex A15 quad-core processor and a 1.3GHz Cortex A7 quad-core processor that work together to optimize power and performance. It has 3GB RAM onboard, and a Mali T628 MP6 chip for processing graphics. Our review unit had 32GB of expandable built-in storage, out of which 24GB was available for our use. The performance is the biggest asset with the phone. It can handle multitasking with easy and gaming is a delight.
The Galaxy Note 3 features a 13-megapixel rear camera that takes excellent shots in daylight and good artificial light, a little better than the one seen in the Galaxy S4. Low-light shots are an area of weakness. Pictures come out distorted and noisy if it’s too dark. The phone can’t match the low-light performance of the HTC One or Nokia Lumia series. The Galaxy Note 3’s 2-megapixel front camera does a decent job when it comes to video chats.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of the OS (at the time of launching) and Touch Wiz Nature UX, Samsung’s own UI that includes custom apps in addition to a skinned interface.
S pen
The S Pen is the primary reason for the success of the Note line of smartphones. The special stylus brings added functionality to Samsung’s devices, allowing users to quickly take onscreen notes, draw pictures, and much more. Samsung added, even more, functionality to its S Pen stylus in the Galaxy Note 3.
Verdict:
If you are looking for a huge screen with a great camera, excellent battery life, and Spen functionality, this is your smartphone. Though it will cost you a high amount of money but look at the specs, you won’t regret it.
