Samsung
today launched the Galaxy Note 3 in India, the third iteration of the popular large-screened Android smartphone. The Note 3 will be launched in stores in India on September 25 for Rs. 49,900 along with the
Galaxy Gear Smartwatch, which will cost Rs. 22,990. Till the actual launch date, Samsung will let interested users walk into select stores and try out the device.
Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on both devices at the launch event itself and spent some time with both of them to form some initial impressions. Here they are:
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Looks, Design
All the criticism directed towards Samsung with respect to the use of plastic on its expensive flagship devices seems to have made a difference. Samsung executives made a point to repeat that design and build were very important for the Note 3. As a result, the Note 3 does actually feel and look much better that its previous iterations. The Note 3 has a textured leather back with stitching around the edges that’s reminiscent of a leatherbound notebook. The Note 3 is also very, very light for such a large device which came as a pleasant surprise. Overall, I still wouldn’t call the Note 3 a good looking phone (it still has this tacky looking glossy metallic rim around the entire body) but it’s good to see Samsung at least try to make something aesthetically pleasing.
Display
As per tradition, the Note 3 comes with a Super AMOLED display that’s very vibrant, so much so that colours look unnatural, especially in the default interface which itself is packed with a colourful wallpaper and icons. The vibrancy meant that under low lighting, the display looked brilliant but that may differ when the Note 3 is brought under regular lighting.
Usability
I played around with the Note 3 for a couple of minutes and predictably, didn’t run into any issues. The interface is smooth, the UI uncomplicated and the deep feature-set is hidden from the user until he/she wants to access it. There aren’t any great changes in the interface especially if you’ve used the Galaxy S4. Whether that’s a positive or a negative, is up to you. The S-Pen has also been given some extra functionality including the ability to directly save any webpage to a customized digital ‘scrapbook’, adding contacts by writing their info, searching through handwritten content created over the last 30 days among others. Unfortunately, while these were shown off during the presentation, I was unable to test out all of them on the Note 3.
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