Mar 28, 2015 02:31 AM
8978 Views
It was March of 2014 when I got myself a brand new Note 3 phablet with exynos octa-core processor(Indian unit). Why I am stressing on exynos is because some might think an octa-core would be a lot more powerful than the other high end quad core units but sadly the answer is "NO".
Samsung has optimized this processor for better power management which it does and runs more on each full charge than the snapdragon(US unit). The raw processing power of this exynos chipset is also at par with the snapdragon 800 processor but where it lacks is the graphics performance. It's not bad at all but it's just a minor difference due to which snapdragon unit will outshine exynos unit in gaming performance.
Ok enough of exynos vs snapdragon battle and let's jump to the usage review. I mainly got this phone due to it's bigger screen and stellar multitasking capabilities as mentioned in many reviews. And I can say some of the features of this phablet have literally spoiled me to an extent that I might be short of choices when I will upgrade my device in near future. Initially I used to think that it's features like multiwindow, s-pen, 3 gb ram(highest in the market when it was launched) are merely marketing gimmicks but trust me they are not.
Note 3 is a real multi-tasking monster and it's capabilities have further been enhanced with android 5.0 lollipop upgrade received recently. My typical daily use includes simultaneous use of 5+ tabs of chrome, whatsapp, viber, occasionally some file manager with file transfer going in background, facebook app(eats up ram like anything) and some occasional resource intensive game paused in the background. I use all this by quickly switching between these apps which my note 3 does without any lag/stutter 90% of the times due to powerful processing capabilities and 3 gb of ram which is the territory of desktops/laptops. With multiwindow, I can re-size these apps, minimize them in an on-screen bubble, close them, open two apps side by side, drag and drop content.
The stylus is a nifty tool that is very usable during web browsing where the hover over feature works like hovering the mouse on webpage. I can accurately tap on required object with s-pen and it comes in handy when I need to jot down something where an average person will typically look for a pen and paper. All this gets practically usable with the 5.7" screen size and trust me, a bigger screen is required when your phone is so jam packed with features. My laptop usage has reduced to about 20% and I open it once a week as I can take care of my daily tasks on my Note 3.
The camera is beautiful and daylight shots look as if they have been taken with a DSLR. The screen is huge and has nice color reproduction so watching movies on it is a breeze. Being a popular samsung product, I never find myself short of accessories and I almost have a library of different cases and covers for this phone. The battery will last one full day of average use but intensive gaming will drain the battery as expected.
If you ask me any shortcomings, there are none as such but if I start with nit-picking, well I can say the recent software upgrade of android 5.0 is not-so stable but samsung is working on it and they released a stability patch a few days ago. Other shortcoming can be that it's a big phone so if you are coming from some phone with 5" screen or less, you will have to learn to use two hands instead of one for using your phone, but that's something you already know before purchasing it.
Looking at current market, I know I can go for note 4, nexus 6, htc one, iphone 6(really hate the design though) and the like but all that would be an incremental upgrade. Coming from a humble motorola atrix 2, this phone has been a revolution for me during past year, i'm just waiting for another eligible candidate which would seem worth spending money on because my Note 3 has everything to keep my loyalty for a good amount of time.
