Samsung Galaxy Note 3 officially announced

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was finally made official today during the ongoing IFA 2013 conference. The unveiling took place at a special conference which also saw the Samsung Galaxy Gear and a new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.

The Galaxy Note 3 brings an evolution in the Galaxy design with a stitched leather material on the back. The handset itself is not much wider than the Galaxy Note II measuring in at 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm, despite the larger screen and weighing a reasonable 168 grams.

Samsung will allow users to customize their Note 3 experience from a choice of ten different S View covers, which now offer a larger than before opening, so that you can view even more information.

The Galaxy Note 3 features a 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display with a full HD 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution. You can select between the 32GB and 64GB variants which can have their storage expanded by an additional 64GB through microSD. The device is powered 1.9 GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa core processor, while its 4G LTE variant will feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. Samsung has also added 3GB of RAM making it the first of its class to feature that amount of memory.

The device comes with a 13 megapixel camera similar to the one found on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Samsung has included a high CRI (color rendering index) LED flash which should offer the same high quality of photos you can expect from the Galaxy lineup. The camera also boasts 4K Ultra HD video capture on select models, while it would capture 1080p video at 60fps. In addition the Galaxy Note 3 will feature Ultra High Quality Audio (~192KHz, 24 bit) support similar what was demonstrated with the LG G2.

The Galaxy Note 3 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean which has been customized with Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX and brings several enhancements not available in the stock version of Android. One of the best improvements comes in the form of improved multi-tasking which not only allows you to view and interact with two apps side by side, but even allows you to interact with several instances of an app. Something which will be very useful when you chat with more than one friend at the same time.

Additionally the Galaxy Note 3 will have WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS / GLONASS, NFC, Bluetooth version 4.0, IR LED (Remote Control), and MHL 2.0 port for wired connectivity. Meanwhile the Snapdragon version of the device will support 6 LTE bands.

The Galaxy Note 3 has a 3200 mAh battery, which should be plenty for the phablet, with only a few other handsets out there sporting similar or larger capacity, which Samsung claims will offer 40% more video playback compared to the previous Note.

Samsung S Pen

The Galaxy Note 3 comes with an all new S Pen stylus with improved functionality titled Smart Freedom. When you interact with your device, the S Pen offers a fan menu with five options to select from - Action Memo, Scrapbook, Screen Write, S Finder, Pen Window.

Action Memo allows you to interact with your handwritten memos. For example if you have written down a telephone number on your Note 3, Action memo allows you to call the contact directly from the memo.

Scrapbook allows you to select certain sections of what you are browsing and store it for a later time. You can use these scrapbook content to even return to the website you extracted the scrap from.

The Pen window mode allows you to open an app quickly by simply drawing an area within the Note III where you will want an app to appear.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be available in Black, White and 'blush' Pink and is expected to arrive on September 25th in more than 140 countries around the world. It will be available in the U.S. later this year on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular.

Press Release