Jump to content

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

From Alfawiki
Samsung Electronics
IndustryConsumer electronics
FoundedMarch 1, 1938; 88 years ago (1938-03-01)
Headquarters
Suwon
,
South Korea
ProductsSmartphones, tablets, consumer electronics
Websitewww.samsung.com

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an Android phablet smartphone developed by Samsung Electronics as a member of the Samsung Galaxy Note series. Officially announced on September 4, 2013, its global launch occurred later that same month. As the follow-up to the Samsung Galaxy Note II, the Note 3 introduced a more refined and lightweight design compared to earlier models in the Note lineup, featuring a synthetic leather rear cover and a faux metallic frame. The device enhanced stylus capabilities and multitasking features within its software, including a new pie menu accessible via the stylus button for rapid access to pen-optimized applications, alongside pop-up apps and improved multi-window support. Additional upgrades comprised new sensor integrations, a USB 3.0 interface, 3 GB of RAM, and an advanced video camera capable of recording in 4K (2160p) resolution and capturing 1080p video at 60 frames per second—making it one of the first smartphones to offer these specifications.

Unique within its series, the Galaxy Note 3 incorporated temperature and humidity sensors as well as a touchscreen capable of detecting hovering fingers—technologies initially introduced with the Galaxy S4 earlier that year.

During its initial month on the market, Samsung moved 5 million units of the Galaxy Note 3, surpassing 10 million sales within just two months.

Design

File:White Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (rear and pen).jpg
White Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – rear view and stylus

The Galaxy Note 3 was crafted to embody a more refined and "premium" aesthetic compared to earlier Samsung models. While maintaining a predominantly polycarbonate construction similar to recent Samsung smartphones, this model features a faux metal frame and a rear panel crafted from synthetic leather with simulated stitching. Measuring 8.3 mm (0.33 in) in thickness, it is marginally slimmer and lighter than the Galaxy Note II. Unlike its predecessors—the Note 1, 2, and 4—which have rear-mounted speakers, the Note 3’s speaker is positioned at the bottom.[1]

Initially, the Galaxy Note 3 was launched in black, white, and pink color variants. Later, in December 2013, Samsung expanded the palette by introducing three additional finishes for select regions: black with gold trim, white accented with rose gold trim, and red complemented by silver trim.[2]

Display

The device sports a 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED screen, slightly larger by 0.2 inches than the 5.5-inch display found on the Galaxy Note 2. This upgrade also includes an enhanced resolution compared to the Note 2’s 720p panel.[3][4][5][6]

Storage

Equipped with 3 GB of RAM—a first for smartphones—the Galaxy Note 3 offers internal storage capacities of 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB.[3][4][5][6]

Additionally, this model is pioneering as the first smartphone to support USB 3.0, facilitating accelerated data transfer rates and faster charging when connected to compatible ports.[7]

Battery

The battery capacity has been increased to 3200 mAh, which is 200 mAh more than that of its predecessor.[3][4][5][6]

During the Unpacked event unveiling the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung highlighted notable enhancements in battery longevity compared to the Galaxy Note 2, including an additional four hours of video playback attributed to improved efficiency.[8]

Chipsets and Connectivity

The Galaxy Note 3's LTE model, available in Europe and North America, is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. Conversely, the GSM-only version (N900), distributed outside these regions, utilizes an octa-core Exynos 5420 chipset, which combines four 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 cores with four 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 cores. Benchmark tests have demonstrated comparable performance levels between these two variants.

The Galaxy Note 3 Duos (N9002) is built upon the LTE configuration but incorporates an extra SIM card slot for dual-SIM functionality.

Sensors

Equipped with standard sensors such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass, front-facing proximity sensor, and a barometer, the Galaxy Note 3 also features specialized sensors for air gesture recognition, enabling functions like Quick glance, Air jump, Air browse, and Air call-accept. Additionally, it includes a hall sensor designed to detect the closing of the S-View Cover accessory.

Among Samsung’s flagship devices, alongside the Galaxy S4, the Note 3 uniquely incorporates both thermometer and hygrometer sensors. These are primarily utilized by Samsung’s S Health application and select third-party weather station apps.

To facilitate the floating finger detection required for the Air View feature, the device is equipped with an extra self-capacitive touch screen layer.

Camera

The rear camera on the Galaxy Note 3 boasts a 13-megapixel sensor with a resolution of 4128×3096 pixels. It supports video recording in 4K (2160p) at 30 frames per second, limited to five-minute clips, as well as 1080p footage at 60 frames per second. Slow-motion videos can be captured at 720p resolution with 120 frames per second; however, these recordings do not include audio.

Its built-in video player leverages the high-resolution footage by allowing zooming during playback, frame-by-frame navigation when paused, and extraction of individual frames as still images.

Only the Snapdragon-powered version supports recording in 4K resolution, while the Exynos model is restricted to a maximum of 1080p video capture.

Similar to the earlier-released Galaxy S4, the Note 3’s rear camera employs the Sony Exmor RS IMX135 image sensor. The camera software interface closely mirrors that found on the S4.

The Note 3 stands out as Samsung’s first smartphone—and among the earliest mobile devices—to offer video recording capabilities at 2160p, along with 1080p at 60 fps (doubling the standard frame rate) and slow-motion capture at 720p/120 fps.

On the front, it features a camera with an aperture of Template:F/2.4 using the same Samsung CMOS S5K6B2 sensor found in the Galaxy S4. This front-facing camera captures both photos and videos at 1080p resolution (2.1 megapixels), recording video at 30 frames per second.

S-Pen

Continuing the tradition of the Galaxy Note series, the Galaxy Note 3 includes an S Pen stylus that has been redesigned with a more balanced, symmetrical form.[3][4][5]

Similar to its predecessor, the device employs a Wacom digitizer capable of detecting 1024 distinct pressure levels.[9][10]

When the stylus is removed from its slot or its button is pressed while hovering over the screen, the new "Air Command" pie menu appears, offering quick access to pen-centric functionalities. These include Action Memos—on-screen sticky notes that utilize handwriting recognition to interpret content and suggest relevant actions such as address lookup via Google Maps or phone call initiation—Screen Write for annotations, Pen Window which enables users to create pop-up windows for running specific apps, the search utility S Finder, and Scrapbook for organizing and saving snippets of images and text from various applications.[11]

Enhancements to the multi-window feature include broader application compatibility, support for multiple instances of a single app, and drag-and-drop functionality between applications. Additionally, the phone comes preloaded with My Magazine, a news aggregator accessible by swiping upward from the bottom edge of the display, along with an improved version of S Note.[12][3][13]

Notably, the Galaxy Note 3 is the inaugural smartphone enabling certain supported apps to open as floating pop-up windows.[14] However, this capability is primarily accessed through the Air Command menu triggered by pressing the stylus button.[15][16]

The stylus also facilitates interaction with Samsung's Air View, which previews content when hovered over it. This includes viewing albums within Samsung’s native gallery application, previewing SMS messages, accessing speed dial contact details, inspecting text fields such as browser URL bars, and displaying a preview bubble from the seek bar in Samsung’s video player—functionality reminiscent of desktop previews on platforms like YouTube and Dailymotion.[15] Furthermore, scrolling can be controlled by hovering the S Pen near the screen’s top or bottom edges, and hovering over home screen folders will expand their icons.[17]

Among all devices in the Samsung Galaxy Note series, the Galaxy Note 3 uniquely supports Air View functionality using both the stylus and finger gestures.[15][18][19]

S-View Cover

The S-View Cover is a horizontally flipping case that includes a preview window allowing users to view the Android status bar, which displays battery status, signal strength, notification icons, as well as a clock and the count of unread messages and missed calls.

Additionally, it provides controls for answering calls, snoozing or stopping alarms, managing music playback, displaying track title and artist information, browsing album cover art and playlists; it also supports creating Action Memos (digital post-it notes), shows weather updates, offers an S Health step counter feature if enabled, and includes a basic camera interface[lower-alpha 1] with access to recently taken photos.

Compared to the original version on the Galaxy S4, Samsung's first device to support this accessory, the preview window size has been doubled. The functionalities mentioned above have been expanded since music playback controls were added.

This accessory replaces the standard rear cover instead of simply attaching over it and connects via pins located on its interior surface rather than employing a hall sensor as used in the Galaxy S4 model.

Software

File:TouchWiz 2013 control menu.png
The Galaxy Note 3's control menu showcasing 23 quick toggles. The "download booster" feature was introduced with the Android 4.4.2 update.

General

The Galaxy Note 3 ships with Android version 4.3 "Jelly Bean" alongside Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz NatureUX 2.5 interface and software suite. It incorporates enhanced pen-specific capabilities tailored for this model.

Building upon interaction features inherited from the Galaxy S4, the Note 3 supports functionalities such as Air View, Air Gestures, Samsung’s SmartScreen, and on-screen motion gestures.[20]

Its split-screen mode enables running certain applications simultaneously in two windows and facilitates drag-and-drop transfers between them.[21]

The Samsung Group Play feature introduced with the Galaxy S4 has been expanded to allow synchronized video playback across up to four Galaxy Note 3 devices, creating a combined larger display.[22]

Given the device’s substantial screen dimensions, a new functionality was introduced to simulate a reduced screen size for easier one-handed use.[23][24]

The built-in "My Files" file manager now includes an FTP client capability along with a search function integrated into system settings.[25][26]

Beyond inheriting camera features from the earlier Galaxy S4 model, additional modes such as spherical panorama ("photo sphere")—which stitches images captured in all directions around a point—and "Golf mode," designed to record golf swings for forward and reverse playback, have been introduced.[27][28] A later software update incorporated the "Virtual Tour" function from the subsequent 2014 Galaxy S5, enabling creation of interactive 3D room tours complete with directional mapping.[29]

Android 4.4.2 KitKat Update

The initial release of the Android 4.4.2 "KitKat" update for LTE variants was made available on January 13, 2014, through Samsung Kies in Poland. This update introduced several user interface enhancements, including a camera shortcut positioned on the lock screen's corner, the ability to select default launcher and messaging apps, integrated printing support, and a revamped location settings menu that allows users to monitor and control app access to location services. Additionally, Android 4.4 brought notable modifications to how secondary storage is managed for security purposes; apps are now confined to accessing only their designated directories on the SD card, while unrestricted access remains for internal primary storage. Although this restricted SD card access was introduced with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, manufacturers like Samsung had previously customized their Android versions to maintain broader SD card access for applications.

This update also incorporated features originally found on the Galaxy S5, such as the camera’s Spherical Panorama and Virtual Tour modes, alongside additions like Download Booster and Samsung's Kids Mode.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Update

In December 2014, Samsung initiated the deployment of the Android 5.0 "Lollipop" update.[30] This version brought a visible transformation to the user interface by replacing TouchWiz Nature UX 2.5 with the updated Nature UX 4.0.

Release

Samsung initially hinted at the Galaxy Note 3's launch by announcing a Samsung Heavy Packed event scheduled for September 4, 2013, during the IFA Berlin trade show, featuring the slogan "Note the date." The global release of the Galaxy Note 3 occurred on September 25, 2013, spanning over 140 countries, while the United States and Japan saw their launches in October of the same year. Each Galaxy Note 3 came bundled with a complimentary one-year subscription to Evernote Premium.

Certain models of the Galaxy Note 3 sold in the United States, Europe, and India incorporated a regional lockout mechanism that restricted SIM card usage to carriers within those specific regions. Although Samsung representatives stated that this lock would be lifted once a legitimate SIM card was inserted, user reports indicated otherwise. An XDA Developers community member created a utility to remove the carrier blacklist employed by this system; however, this solution necessitates rooting the device. Samsung explained that the primary goal behind this feature was to curb grey market imports, yet some critics speculated that carriers influenced Samsung to enforce it to compel users to roam when traveling abroad instead of using local SIM cards. Furthermore, Samsung disclosed that similar regional lock policies were applied to devices such as the Galaxy S III, Note II, S4, and S4 Mini models produced after July 2013.

Both Exynos and Snapdragon versions of the Note 3 can be rooted effortlessly using TWRP or CWM recovery tools, allowing installation of custom ROMs. Nevertheless, for the SM-N900V variant, switching to a developer edition is necessary to utilize TWRP or FlashFire, while the AT&T model supports only FlashFire.

Reception

The Verge praised the Galaxy Note 3 for its gradual enhancements in hardware and software, describing it as Samsung's "most refined effort yet at making touch input optional on a mobile device." The design was deemed "well-integrated and thoughtfully executed," despite Samsung's continued preference for plastic materials. Minor refinements such as a stylus with symmetrical design were also highlighted positively. Conversely, the My Magazine application was criticized as an unnecessary add-on. TechRadar regarded the Note 3 as an advancement over its predecessor—citing improved processing speed and a larger display—but expressed disappointment that its physical appearance did not appear as sleek or premium in person compared to promotional footage.

Some units encountered manufacturing quality issues. After brief use, certain users reported that the home button became "loose and shifted" positionally. Photographs shared by affected owners illustrated that pressing the home button caused it to move up, down, left, or right after only three hours of operation. A survey conducted by Android Police revealed that out of over 3,000 participants, 2,017 users experienced problems with their home button on the Note 3, whereas 1,150 users did not report such issues.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The camera resolution through the S-View Cover is capped at 3096×3096 pixels, representing the largest square crop from the sensor rather than the full 4128×3096 resolution. Images are stored in a dedicated folder: DCIM/CoverCamera.

References

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named N3pics
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pcmag-newcolors
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named verge-gn3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GSMArena-Review
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named verge-usb3
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named unpacked-battery
  9. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).Template:Unreliable source? (mentions Galaxy Note 3)
  10. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Review of the Galaxy Note 3 S-Pen — GSMArena
  16. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  17. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  18. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  19. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  20. ↑ Samsung Galaxy Note 3 user guide
  21. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  22. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  23. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  24. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  25. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  26. ↑ Tips and tricks for the Galaxy Note 3 – CNET (October 7th, 2013)
  27. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  28. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  29. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). (Note: The "Virtual Tour" feature may have been available starting with Android 4.4.2, though no confirmed reports exist.)
  30. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
File:Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]].
Template:Succession box

Template:Samsung smartphones Template:Samsung phones Template:Samsung Galaxy Note Template:Android phablets Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 159: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

Retrieved from "https://www.alfawiki.org/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_Note_3&oldid=32669"