Customer Reviews

Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Black 32GB (AT&T)

Last year I owned the Galaxy Note 2. I thought it was a near perfect phablet, except for just two main areas for improvement: Screen resolution/sunlight legibility, and after a while there was noticeable slowdown after too many apps were installed. Now that I have the Note 3, things are getting very very interesting....

Lets do this review by bulletin points for easier viewing:

PROS:

1) The biggest and most obvious different when you first pick this up is the screen. There are a handful of improvements:
* The resolution has been upgraded to 1080p(from 720p). You can noticeably tell that it is crisper.
* You will also find out that it is a bit brighter. For us geeks, that means Samsung has upped the brightness levels to an incredible and unheard of 660 cd/m2 max(when auto brightness is turned on).
* Sunlight legibility is MUCH improved over the Note 2. However, it is still not as good as the HTC One's screen. The Super AMOLED has AWESOME contrast levels(velvety deep blacks). As a whole however, and because of its Pentile pixel system, it comes just a bit short of the HTC One's Super LCD 3. It is really nitpicking though, so you won't ever regret this.

2) This phone flies, almost literally. The Samsung Exynos Octa-core/Snapdragon 800 processors mean this thing will hardly ever lag, and 3GB of RAM means you can multi-task to your heart's content!

3) Improved S-Pen hardware/software mean it's no longer a gimmick gadget from the original Note. Too much to describe all the functions, and you can do without it for most functions. But business users will really appreciate this once you work on productivity/design apps.

4) All those software features! Granted, you can do without most of them for day-to-day things, but being there nonetheless means it will improve your ease of use. The are also too many to go through all, I but what I love most is the Smart-Stay, which uses the front camera to monitor that you're looking at the screen and won't dim/turn off, which is super duper useful for when you are reading the news/web pages, etc., holding the phone up with one hand, and your other hand is pre-occupied. No more having to shuffle around to tap the screen when it auto-dims to bring the brightness back up. This is especially and specifically useful for me when I'm reading in bed on my Pulse News app.

5) The sound is noticeably louder as well. It doesn't have that immersive stereo effect of the HTC One's dual stereo speakers, but by itself it is louder. This is useful when you are in a noisy environment, and having one loud speaker is more useful than having two immersive speakers that are softer and harder to hear. As good as the HTC One sounds, I hate that for most things like music and video, it is so darn soft and frustrating. I now appreciate this one loud speaker setup more for regular everyday outdoors use.

6) Having a huge battery means I can do whatever the heck I want with it, and even after heavy use I can still not have to charge it until I'm in bed at night. The one thing that frustrates me most about the HTC One is this very flaw - I literally have to be near a charger/portable charger ALL THE TIME. I just use it to read the news for about 30-40 minutes and 20% will already be gone. And when I charge it, it trickle charges like a turtle! With the Note 3, being able to replace the battery is an added plus, and the USB 3 port means it can charge very quickly. But even these two advantages cannot compare to the simple fact that it has a huge-capacity battery in the first place.

CONS:

There are few things you can nitpick, like the design/material quality - for a flagship device it still feels a bit chintzy, not like the premium look and feel of the HTC One or even the Sony/Nokia phones. With rumors of a new Galaxy line, this may be changed very soon though. Also, the Touchwiz user interface can be hit or miss. It's not for everyone, that's for sure. Luckily, being Android means we'll never have to settle. My recommendation - especially if you like the simple/minimalistic look, is Smart Launcher Pro. Try the free lite version and see for yourself.

I can't think of much else really to fault this phone, except for the fact that simply for what it is: It's a niche machine that's half tablet/half phone - it will never satisfy you as a tablet replacement(I feel the perfect size for video/game usage is the 8-9 inch range), and it will frustrate you as a phone because you can never comfortably hold it, and do all the things you need one-handed(I feel the perfect size for a PHONE is the Apple 5/5S). But if you can compromise to this form factor and accept it for what it is, then there is no better alternative. This is a nearly flawless phablet with an brilliant screen, powerful hardware, useful software, and awesome battery life.

It's not often that I come across a piece of technology that completely changes my day to day routine. That changes the way that I interact and utilize the tool that's in my pocket. More so, a piece of tech that breathes life back into my passion for technology and the modern smartphone landscape.

The Galaxy Note 3 is one such device. For a bit of background I've used every major OS that is on the market now as well as some casualties of the Smartphone War. I've bounced back and forth between the current giants of the land but I've at times ventured away towards the outcasts. My last experiment was with a Nokia N9 running MeeGo which overall wasn't a bad experience but the dated hardware made me forfeit that journey early on.

Enter the greatest smartphone in the World! The Galaxy Note 3! Sorry, I don't mean to sound so dramatic but at the same time...I do. That's just how enjoyable this experience has been overall.

Everything about this device has me wanting to tell every person that I see to go and buy one. I try and show them cool features or just how beastly this device is and even with my impeccable sales skills my praises fall on deaf ears. Not because what I'm saying isn't a good enough example of the Note 3's superiority to every other device on the market currently. The issue is that all the features that make this N3 amazing are things that you have to experience first hand. The first time that you're on a call and take an Action Memo or your first Scrap Book creation or your first Sketch Book sketch. These are all things that need to happen naturally while using the device for you to sit back and think, " Wow...this phone is awesome!".

That's really the point to all this is that these are all things that you have to experience for yourself . I don't find it a coincidence that within Best Buy stores are Samsung Experience Shops. It's all about user experience and how their products differ and how it makes you feel. That in my opinion is the most important aspect of Apples business model that they copied or modeled themselves after. It's all about user experience in day to day operation and "almost" nothing else. I say "almost" because I've used enough Android devices to know specs matter on an Android powered smartphone.

I could drone on and on about the industry leading specs of the Note 3 but I'm not. Maybe they don't lead in every single category but as a whole its the Champion. It's actually the first Android smartphone that has my iFriends saying "Dude, I would use that Android phone over my iPhone in a heartbeat!". That little satisfying confession has zero to do with specs and everything to do with user experience in THIER eyes. Realistically, it's actually the insane spec sheet that is making this Note 3 so amazing to use as a daily driver. I'm sure they have no idea what the specs of their iPhone are nor do they care. Simply because that's not what Apple pushes. They push experience and status. Samsung has started on the same campaign as of late. If I knew just how awesome the Note line was I would've picked one up a long time ago. Though I fully believe that it's the Note 3 specifically that has reignited my passion for mobile tech and expanded my perception of the usefulness of electronic gadgets.

Clearly I'm more than satisfied with my purchase of the Note 3 . More than that though, I'm excited again to pick up my phone and use it. Heck, I find any reason to pick it up to use it for whatever or nothing sometimes simply to look at that gorgeous display. It also makes me excited to see what's on the horizon. Just to add a little more perspective, I'm someone who used to make fun of the entire Note line and all phablets for that matter. The reason for this was my ignorance of the Note line.

Bottom line : Each and every time that I pick up my Note 3 there's a smile on my face. I look forward to a reason to pick it up and I find myself pulling out the S Pen to do anything every time I use the N3. I highly recommend all smartphone lovers to at least give it an honest test drive. I guarantee that you won't come away disappointed. It may not be the device for you but I don't think you will be able to deny it's appeal and usefulness.

Best/favorite Android device to date

P.S. This was all written using the S Pen within the Google Keep app.

I've been a fan of the bigger sized phones for some time and Samsung has been paving the way in terms of quality large phones. I remember when I had the 4.5in screened Samsung Infuse and it was considered large. I've had a Note and Note 2 and loved both. Note 3 continues the tradition of keeping everything that worked, improving where needed, and adding features I wouldn't have even thought to ask. So many of the little annoyances I had with my Note 2 have been addressed. Its clear they put a lot of thought into finding out what people loved and wanted changed.

When I first held the phone I fell in love. The form factor is just great and the screen is a noticeable jump up. That's saying something when the Note 2 already had a stellar screen resolution. I don't feel the need to have this one in a case. The slippery back of the Note 2 required a case as I dropped it a couple times when holding it bare.

Rather than go on feature by feature I'll suffice to say everything feels like a great and noticeable improvement. S-pen, camera, screen, on and on its the phone I loved before but better in every way I could have asked for. I've tried dozens of smartphones over the past 5 years. The Note 2 was the first one I actually held onto for a year. I easily see myself holding onto the 3 that much or longer (depending on when they bring out a 4th ;) ).

I highly recommend this phone.

*Update a week in. I'm still just as impressed with this phone if not more so. The biggest thing I've found since my review is how much battery this phone offers. The battery size is insignificantly larger than the Note 2 which means they really improved the performance greatly to have increased battery efficiency this much. With the Note 2 most days of average us (lots of music streaming but not much else) I'd be about out of battery by end of work 5pm-ish. Now I'm at around 50%. I can make it through a full day without charge using the phone a good amount throughout. I did a test a couple days ago purposefully trying to drain it as fast as possible. Screen on high brightness near continuously while downloading several GB of data over 4G (I still have unlimited) and it lasted over 6 hours! I remain extremely happy I got this phone.

UPDATE April 2014: An update by AT&T fixed the GPS problem...no more navigation issues :D

UPDATE 2-6-2014: Dropping rating from 4 to 3 stars. There is a GPS issue with this phone. See Gadget Guy's comment and his link to the related AT&T thread. There are over 10 pages of complaints from AT&T customers. You can also Google "samsung note 3 gps issue". My own personal experience is my Note 3 drops the GPS signal much too frequently. I've ran tests in which I've used my son's Nexus 4 and my Note 3 simultaneously while navigating, and the Note 3 constantly drops the GPS signal whereas as the Nexus 4 does not. I currently live in the central Washington state area. As of this update there doesn't seem to be any official response from Samsung or AT&T.

--- ORIGINAL POST ---
My previous smartphone was a Nexus 4. I've wanted a large screen phone (5.5 inch screen and up) for a while now, so I took the plunge and the got the Note 3 on AT&T's network. I've been using it for two weeks now and below is what I think.

<< PROCESSING POWER: 5/5 >>
Along with the large screen, this is my favorite aspect of the Note 3. This is hands-down the fastest smartphone I've ever owned. Among other things, it opens up web pages almost as fast as my laptop. It is equipped with the powerful Snapdragon 800, so it's packing some of the latest hardware. Plus 3GB of RAM helps enable its overall noticeable pep.

<< STORAGE: 5/5 >>
A generous 32GB is provided by default, and the phone supports the use of a microSD card if you want more storage.

<< PHYSICAL DESIGN: 4.5/5 >>
- PRO: Large 5.7 inch screen...of course this is a pro for me. I'm 5'8 and don't have large hands, and the screen size doesn't bother me at all. I think the large screen is great, and enhances three key uses for the phone (reading, texting, and navigation).
- PRO: Artificial leather backing. Plastic leather might seem like it would be tacky, but Samsung pulled this one off nicely. It looks and almost feels like genuine leather...it's cool, definitely unique.
- NEUTRAL: The S-Pen. Hard to say how I feel about this. I don't see myself using it much, because if I want to write something I'd rather bang it out quickly using my thumbs and the virtual keyboard. Maybe some business dude would rather scribble out a note. One cool thing is at least having the S-Pen gives you the option to choose, and if you want draw a diagram or something it could obviously be useful.
- CON: The physical home button on the bottom center of the screen. As other users have noted, some of the Note 3's have extra play in this button so this button can be slightly askew at times. This can allow extra grime to creep in around the edges. Plus, after using the Nexus 4's virtual buttons (Back, Home, Windows) for about a year now...I prefer them over the physical Home button on the Note 3. Physical buttons can allow grime to creep in. The only physical buttons I currently want are my power and volume buttons.
- CON: The area around the micro-USB port on the bottom edge of the phone is flimsy. Over a year of use I could see it flexing and possibly cracking without a decent case on the phone.

<< SOFTWARE INTERFACE & UTILITIES: 3/5 >>
Unfortunately for me this is where the Note 3 falters.
- PRO: Samsung does add some nifty features to the device. Rather than go through them all here, just search for "25 hidden galaxy note 3 features" and read the article. These features are cool, but not ground breaking. I do think the multi-window feature is nifty.
- CON: Samsung's TouchWiz interface. After using the pure Android interface on my Nexus 4 for about a year, I found Samsung's TouchWiz to be clunky in comparison. After about a week of using TouchWiz I downloaded Nova Launcher from the Play Store, played with the settings for a bit, and finally got my Note 3 to have a mostly buttery smooth interface like my Nexus 4.
- CON: Bloatware. Both Samsung and AT&T throw their applications into the Android experience, which is okay. What is not okay is not giving a user the freedom to remove the cruddy apps if I don't want them. I understand some pre-installed apps have to be maintained to support the unique features of the Note 3 (e.g. the S-pen). But how about that Samsung Music app I don't want? And that Samsung S Health I don't want? Not to mention the crud AT&T throws on here. I like the modular approach taken by Google for pure Android. In pure Android, excluding core apps (e.g. dialer, email, calendar, text messaging, etc.), a user just installs the apps they want, customizing their experience as they go.
- CON: The amount of inconsistency in the user interface between the Note 3 and pure Android. Pure Android offers interface consistency from one Android device to the next, so that when I went from using my Nexus 4 to my Nexus 7 the transition was seamless. Samsung (and to some extent AT&T) tweaked the default Android interface a surprising amount...and the result was a little messy, muddying the Android interface more than helping it.
- CON: Because of the custom Android installed on this Note 3 (again, expected due to some of the unique features of the Note 3), expect newer flavors of Android to be released for this phone at a lot slower pace than for the pure Android devices. For example, the Note 2 has been on the Android 4.1 release since Sep--Dec of last year. Android 4.2 rolled out around that same time last year. Android 4.3 was released over the summer and the Note 2 it appears is finally about to get it. So basically the Note 2 went almost a whole year (Dec '12--Oct '13) without getting an Android refresh.

<< OVERALL 4/5 >>
I definitely like the phone. The large screen and processing power are great! However the few drawbacks I've listed above prevent me from giving it a full 5 stars. What I'd really like is to have a phone with this screen size, this processing power, but running pure Android. I don't need the S-Pen. The S-pen and other unique features of the Note 3 aren't major selling points for me.

I've had this phone for two days now and there just isn't anything I DON'T like about it.

Screen: The screen is a beautiful 5.7" FHD SAMOLED display. While it is not a true RGB display, it is still absolutely gorgeous. The viewing angles are superb and the colors are close to natural (assuming you use the Movie Mode).

Size: I bought this phone knowing it will be the largest phone I have ever used before. It's actually smaller than what I thought it would be. It is pretty much the same size as the Galaxy Note 2, but also a little lighter. I can use most of the features with one hand, no problem, but I have pretty large hands (piano hands). Thin bezels just add to the beauty of the phone!

Look and feel: I very much love the aesthetics of the phone! It's a real eye catcher. I love the textured back , it feels solid and it definitely won't be slipping out of my hand. I prefer the more squarish design of the Note 3 more than the round, "natural" design of the Note 2. It looks more futuristic. The volume buttons and home button are rock solid and provide the right amount of physical feedback when using them. Although, I find myself accidentally hitting the home key a lot.

Camera: The camera has been wonderful so far. I am by no means a photographer but it does the job superbly when I do want to catch that rare photo. The video on this thing is AMAZING compared to what I have had before. The 1080p 60 FPS is SO SMOOTH I LOVE IT. It's a little scary, actually.

Call Quality: Everyone has said that I have been coming through loud and clear, no issues. Everything is clear on my end, as well.

Sound/Speakers: This phone is capable of high quality sound through headphones but I never use headphones. The loud speaker is somewhat disappointing. It all sounds like it's coming out of a tin can. I don't use the loud speaker all that much though so it isn't a deal breaker by any means.

Software: I love the S-Pen, I find myself using it a lot more than I thought I would. I use the ScrapBook option a lot as I use StumbleUpon daily. Good place to keep recipes, especially since I can tag things then search for them later. I love writing out notes as well and then sending them to people. I hate S-Voice. It sucks and pales in comparison to Siri or Google Now. I had the option to say "Hi Galaxy" when the screen is off turned on and it turns on randomly! It did it once in the movie theatres! So embarrassing. I froze that app asap.

Battery Life: WOW. 5 hours screen-on time with mostly auto-brightness, but I generally watch an hour worth of videos a day on full brightness. It lasts all day and then some. It also charges in roughly 2.5 hours as well. I am VERY pleased with the battery life.

There really isn't anything wrong with this phone.. I love every aspect of it. It never lags, it handles everything beautifully.. the only thing I didn't like was S-Voice, but I also knew that when buying the phone. Nothing has let me down so far.

If you are on the fence about buying this phone, just buy it. You'll love it!

Actually, there is ONE thing I don't like. Because of the type of display, white colors drain the battery more quickly than darker colors. On the international variant, the Dialer, Messages and Contacts have a black background whereas the AT&T version has white backgrounds. This is dumb and needs to be fixed.

But seriously though, buy this phone.

Have a good day!

A little background on my cell phone history:

I used to be a huge believer that Apple made the best cell phones hands down. I got my first iPhone in 2009 or so, it was an iPhone 3GS. I loved it. After a year, I decided to move to Sprint and get an EVO 4g because Sprints plans were cheaper than AT&T's and the EVO totally crushed the iPhone 3GS and soon to be released 4 on paper. I lasted one week on Sprint because I thought the EVO 4G was one of the worst phones I had ever used. I immediately went back to AT&T and got the iPhone 4 when it launched.

I kept that iPhone for over 2 years, I didn't feel the 4s warranted an upgrade as I was very happy with my 4. When the 5 came out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. A bigger screen is something I had hoped Apple would give us, and they finally did. I was very happy with my iPhone 5 at first, then I started to tire of it as I saw my friends with bigger and bigger screens on their phones. 4 inches felt so tiny. Then I had to get my first iPhone replacement because my flash suddenly stopped working in February. I debated for months to switch back to Android and after playing with the Note 3 at my local Best Buy, I decided to go for it.

Note 3 Review:

So as I said, I was coming over to Android being a heavy Apple user and supporter. I decided on the Note 3 because I have rather large hands and I really loved the giant screen. I also thought the S-Pen was kind of cool also.

Pros:

Screen: Love it. Images look crisp, videos look amazing, no pixels noticeable in text.

Texting: Coming from an iPhone for over 4 years, it was nice to be able to Swype a text out if I wanted to. Also the auto-correct is so much better and I type much faster on this phone already and I haven't had it that long! This has greatly improved my texting experience.

Camera: Tons of options for shooting photos and videos. Gives you control the iPhone does not. Picture quality is nicer than iPhone 5 and also images are much more fun to look at with that amazing screen!

Battery: This battery lasts around 2.5 times longer than my iPhone would under the same usage. I know, this has a bigger battery in it, but it also has a much bigger screen and more powerful components to power. I am a heavy user and this battery gets me through a day easily.

Apps: Sure, back in the day Apple had Android crushed with apps. Now, every app I used on my iPhone, I was able to get on Android. Then there was some other great apps Android had that I don't recall seeing an equivalent on Apple. MightyText is one such app. It allows you to send texts from your browser. I feel Android has more intriguing app choices than Apple these days.

Choices: If I want to download a new keyboard, I can. If I want to make Chrome my browser of choice, I can. Apple restricts nearly every sort of customization you can do on your phone, Android does not.

Cons:

Looks: I really liked the iPhone 5 design. It looked nice. I felt bad taking it out of the case for fear I would scratch it. I know this has gotten praise from some reviewers for its looks, but it comes down to personal preference I guess. I think this thing is big and ugly. But who cares, I buy a phone for its performance and what it can do - not how it looks. Besides, I will slap an Otterbox on this when they come out.

Reception: I got MUCH stronger and more reliable service with my iPhone 5. Both the Note 3 and iPhone 5 have AT&T LTE support. In my room I used to get around 8mbs down and 4 mbs up on my iPhone. With my Note 3 I am only getting 3mbs down and 1 mbs up. I have also had an issue downloading an attachment and sending a picture message already. Not sure what the issue could be, but time will tell if this persists.

Power Button: The power button is so flush against the side, it makes it very hard to press. I literally need to focus and turn the phone in a certain way to lock it. Hopefully when I add a case it helps, but its a bit annoying at the moment. I may try to see if I can lock it with a double tap of the home screen or something. Also of note, the home button is crooked. This is widely documented and I did indeed notice my device is also afflicted with it.

Verdict:

I would definitely recommend a Note 3 to anyone and if you have an iPhone and are considering the switch - I say go for it. I don't see myself ever going back to Apple and their tiny 4 inch screens any time soon! I do miss universal search and I kinda do miss Siri - but that's about it.

Overall I give the Note 3 a 9/10.

UPDATE 11/30/2013

Well I have been using this phone over a month now and I still love it! Just to update a few things...

I had a defective unit which had an issue with the lock button. After getting an exchange from AT&T my new unit has no issues with the side button.

I don't use the stylus very much at all, I really thought I would use this feature a lot more than I have.

Still have an issue receiving mms messages and group messages. Sometimes restarting the phone corrects it immediately, but it gets a bit old having to restart that often.

Battery life is AMAZING. I was very concerned being a heavy user and having a giant 1080p screen would mean horrible battery life, but it is quite the opposite. I never have any trouble making it the whole day on a single charge and usually have 10-20 percent left by the end of the night.

Overall I am still very happy I upgraded and would not consider going back to Apple until they make a significantly larger display on their devices. Until then I will happily stick with my Note 3!

Forget those silly complaints about region lock. They do not affect USA carriers, or even 99.9% of other users. They do not apply to this US version. The region locked N9000 is not LTE and uses a different CPU; it is the European/ international version. It does have problems with switching SIMM cards between countries so no one should get it. (Bad move Samsung). US users need to get the phone for their respective carrier which changes the last digit of the number. It's that simple. Amazon makes many versions available.
[I teach overseas yearly. I keep my phone in airplane mode and use Wi-Fi or get a cheap phone card.]

First, I am not affiliated with Samsung in any way, nor do I work for a cell phone store. I am a writer though.
Secondly, I hate long reviews with the poster just reports the specs you already have. Rather, these comments show why the Galaxy Note 3 is more technologically advanced, and more phone for your money, compared to the many good phones on the market today. As for those phones that only show an app screen. I call them cave phones.

1. The beautiful 5.7" Super Amoled HD display has a "Wow!" factor. Everything is crisp and clear with a resolution of 1920 x 1080P, 386 PPI. Despite a few good contenders, no phone on the market can match the combination of vibrant color, and deep blacks. Check it out for yourself. For those who prefer drab, you can even adjust color intensity and contrast.
Is this practical? You bet. You get more viewable data for all social networking apps; you can see more email and contacts without scrolling; browsing is quick and pages more visible; YouTubes and video are fantastic; games are more playable; you can see larger areas on GPS maps; you get a better view of radar in weather; (live) wallpapers look great; you can use it as a reader; you can multitask with it; and with the right productivity apps you can even get some work done on it. I will never go back to a small screen phone. This phone is a joy to use.

2. The CPU (For US versions) is the quad core Qualcomm snapdragon 800 @ 2.3, which is the fastest processor on the planet as of this time. It will perform well for years to come. A few other phones have it. No lag on this baby. Just try to do things to outpace it. It moves data faster than you can see. Partially because of #3.

3. The Adreno 330 GPU is the best on the market, a few other phones have it. Graphics are amazing. It is 50% faster than the Adreno 320 in the Galaxy S4 which is a screamer.

4. It's the only phone to come with 3 GB of DDR 3 RAM. It also comes standard with 32 gigs of storage and you can add more with an SD card. Note: No extra charges for these!

5. It has a great 13 megapixel camera with useful software, a BSI Sensor, Smart Digital Stabilization and high CRI LED. Very few phones have this. It is also the only phone to do 4K video right now - sharp! It also does 1080P video at 60 FPS which is great.

6. No other phone has USB 3.0. 2 advantages: the phone charges very quickly on the 2 amp charger and nice thick cable. File transfer times are faster. With USB 3.0, a 2 gig file takes 27 seconds from the Note 3 to my (high end) PC. With USB 2.0 the same file takes 57 seconds.

7. How many phones have an S Pen? Except for email and quick notes, I seldom used the S Pen on my original Galaxy Note, but the Note 3 comes with some useful software making it more functional, and the handwriting recognition is scary accurate.

8. How many phones have a huge 3200 mA battery? It easily lasts all day with moderate to heavy use despite the large screen. Hardware CPU and GPU improvements, as well as Android 4.3 make the 100 mA bump over the Note 2 even more significant. You can also open the back and change out the battery - unlike some phones.

9. It does infrared remote control. It also has TV-out (via MHL A/V link), Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, temperature, humidity, and gesture sensor. I'm serious people, you get more for your money.

10. Hello multitasking! The fast CPU & GPU, extra memory, and high-resolution 5.7 inch screen make multitasking feasible and fun on a cell phone. You can even scroll through multiple applications in each split screen. This is even better if you hook up a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth or USB, and connect through HDMI to your TV or computer monitor. The Note 3 can actually serve as a small computer. How many phones can do that? You can also mirror the phone screen with your smart TV for internet, games, viewing pics, whatever.

11. This the best cell phone for gaming on the market , period. The above features and OpenGL 3.0 which is part of Android 4.3 make it happen. Don't believe me? Read the reviews, watch the you tubes, and compared it for yourself.

12. It doesn't just have GPS, it also uses A GPS (improved), and Glonass Satellites. DL a GPS satellite app, and you'll see it will access between 5 and 25 satellites at once depending on time of day and location.

13. Got Knox? No, you don't. This phone provides business enterprise, and government level security for boot, VPN, etc., and comes in handy for privacy on public Wi-Fi. You don't have to use it, but it is there.

EDIT: It is there, but for some reason AT&T does not allow access this secure environment. Guess they want their competitors to get all those deserting Blackberry customers.

14. The air command and air gesture features make the phone futuristic. How many phones do that?

15. Is the screen too large for one handed operation? Yes, but so what? The tradeoff is worth it. Besides, Samsung now includes software to shrink it for one-handed so you get the best of both worlds.

16. I have been using the original Galaxy Note, which is actually wider, wearing suit pants to jeans. Both phones fit fine in your pocket. Don't worry about it unless you wear skinny jeans.

17. The TouchWiz UI is fine, and super fast now, but I prefer a 3rd party launcher - Go Launcher EX from the play store. Over a million users. So, the launcher is not a deciding factor in phone purchase for any Android manufacturer. Neither is S-voice, which is still seriously lacking. Just use Google voice and DL a different sound from the app store if you want.

There are a few things that Samsung needs to improve in my opinion. I don't know how many thousands of people need to tell them that putting the volume rockers directly opposite the power button is inconvenient for users. The Note 2 placement was better but still wrong.

I do like the new speaker placement though. Its perfect for horizontal viewing because your hand channels the sound to the user. However, there should be a better one with more bass. It is Ok, and plenty loud, just not great like the rest of the phone.

This phone should also be waterproof right out-of-the-box. Not a scaled-down version, just waterproof the thing. Other manufacturers are doing it for their flagship phones. That means Samsung can do it too. Truth be known, we users never want to see another flagship phone that is not waterproof. It's doable, so please do it. Smoke it with that nano-whatever waterproofing stuff. You went to CES.

All that said, I'm very, very happy, with the Note 3. IMHO the Note 3 is so powerful and functional, it is the first device I would classify as a hand held computer. As a professor, I researched it for days and used the original Galaxy Note for over a year now. There are other good phones, but the Note 3 does it in one package, and in most cases does it better, for the same flag-ship- phone price. I feel sorry for the fanboys and people believing advertising hype who don't research the market. They pay top dollar but don't get their money's worth. Amazon is a great place to get your money's worth and to find out user information. Thanks Amazon.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention, it's a really good phone too.

Recommendation - get a case for any phone, one that raises a bevel on the front glass, and try to find a good screen protector.

I recently migrated from iPhone 4S to Galaxy Note 3. On the whole, I feel that Galaxy Note 3 is a superior phone compared to the iPhone. Larger screen is not the only benefit. I felt that Apple had made the syncing too restrictive (only thru iTunes). Note 3 allows much more flexible interface thru Windows PC. I am sure it is true for the Mac environment. I just don't have any experience with Mac.

However, the greatest drawback of Note 3 is that it is too cumbersome to sync contacts from Outlook and importing pictures is also quite cumbersome. In case of the iPhone, iCloud is an amazing tool. Every single contact you modify or every single picture you add or delete, it gets sync'd instantaneously. In case of Note 3, it is not that simple.

Take contacts for example. I have 560 contacts (between business and social). First I am required to upload these into my Google account and then my Note 3 syncs with my Google contacts. No problem so far. Now I add or modify let's say 7 contacts. Google does not allow me to import just seven contacts. I have to import all 567 contacts. However, before I import, I have to delete all Google contacts from my Google account. Or else, I will end up with all duplicate contacts. Google only allows me to delete 250 contacts at a time. So It takes three attempts to delete existing contacts and one more attempt to import new contacts. After this, Note 3 syncs fine (over WiFi). Now you can see what I mean by being "cumbersome".

Similar problem exists with importing pictures. The only difference being, I have to physically connect the device to my laptop and import pictures manually (same as saving them on an external HD).

In spite of these issues, I would strongly recommend this phone over iPhone any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

My objective is to bring these problems to the attention of the powers that be - so Samsung and Google can solve these problems. They have come a long way in creating a superior phone. But these improvements will make the phone nearly perfect.

And by the way, this phone is susceptible to virus attacks - which iPhone is NOT. So I suggest you subscribe to some virus protection service. I purchased a 2-year warranty from SAMS Club (thru SquareTrade). This two-year warranty cost me $ 100 and it includes a subscription to McAfee Premium service (for two years). This is just for comparison.

This just felt good the moment I grasped it ad held it in my hand. The screen size and the resolution are impressive and that is something I have been waiting for. The Galaxy Note 3 has a wider 5.7 inch Full HD 1080p. The image is really incredible. The S Pen feature really works. I am old school and being able to use the S Pen to handwrite notes and turn them into text is something I really like. I like the idea of having great visuals on a phone and to integrate them into 2-way communication functions is perfect for me. I recommend this phone for those reasons.

Switching from the original AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note i717 this upgrade was much better than expected. Mind you after years of experience with AT&T bloatware the first thing I did was root it and freeze all that junk. I mean geez who uses that AT&T navi app, or the half a dozen sync tools and services only for AT&T/Samsung devices whose utility is redundant, inferior, or annoying to what comes in a base android system. Now I can easily make it two days on a charge even with everything turned on.

I protected it with a Spigen NeoHybrid case, and iloome Flex Glass screen protector both of which I can recommend without reservation for this phone.