Samsung Galaxy Note 3: A Noteworthy Mammoth of a Phone

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a phone that has a screen even larger than that of the Note 2; it is, however, smaller than the Galaxy S4 Mega. The Note 3 has a 5.7″ screen; the Note 2 had a 5.5″ screen with the same bezel size. The S4 Mega (aptly called ‘Mega’) has a 6.3″ screen, by comparison. Unlike the previous Notes, the Note 3 features a 1920×1080 screen; this resolution is typically found on 14″ screens and up! Indeed, with the high resolution and large screen this fits under the category of a ‘phablet:’ large phones that are too small to be fully tablets.

Like its predecessor, the Note 3 comes with a stylus, the S Pen. Luckily for those who are familiar with other types of touchscreen pens, this pen has a fine point. This means that the phone can fit more; the buttons don’t have to be as big.

According to Samsung’s website, the phone will come with 2.5G, which is slightly newer than 2G; 3G, which is usually used for voice calls; and 4G, which is the newer, faster cellular network for internet usage.

As for local connectivity, the Note 3 comes with Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (it features ac!), a GPS (GLONASS), and an infrared LED, which can be used to communicate with devices like TVs.

The back camera has a sizable 13 MP; the back has 2MP. For video recording, the Note 3 supports 30fps, 60fps, and 120fps. Samsung also packs many shooting modes for regular pictures.

As for the processor, the Galaxy Note 3 features either a Snapdragon 800 (2.3GHz, quad-core) or an Exynos octacore.

Samsung has packed a plethora of bells and whistles, including the S Pen’s Air command, Multi Window (run several windows side-by-side), Air Gesture. A more complete list can be found at http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote3+gear/index.html.

The battery is 3200 mAH, but that does not necessarily determine the battery life, as there is also the power consumption that must be taken into account.

Overall, this seems to be a phone with solid specs and a gigantic screen. While this is probably an overkill for the average user, it may be interesting if you enjoy having so many features and good performance.

Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch. Is Samsung pulling ahead of Apple in the mobile device market?

Galaxy Gear

The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a really neat product that allows users to interact with their phone. It is a smartwatch with a 1.63-inch watch face and runs on Google’s Android OS. Samsung wanted to give users a way to leave their phones in their pockets. Users can use the Gear to make hands-free calls, dictate e-mails, set alarms, and check the weather with just their voices. If those emails/texts can’t fit on the screen, they can pull out their phone and with a feature called Smart Relay whatever was on the screen of their Gear will display on their Galaxy Phone. Another very interesting feature of the gear is a 1.6MP camera. That’s right the watch has a CAMERA, the camera can take both pictures and 720p video. Other features include a pedometer and an option to make the watch beep if it sense it’s been misplaced. At launch more than 70 apps including eBay, Evernote, and RunKeeper are available to download on the gear.

The Galaxy Gear is coming on Sept. 25th and will retail for $299. While this product isn’t cheap it is definitely a step into the wearable computer market.

PCAW will have more information on the Samsung event from today, including a Galaxy Note 3 post coming later today.