Samsung was the first company to introduce a 5inch+ phablet and they started it off with their original Samsung Galaxy Note. Initially, the Samsung Galaxy Note was not well received by the critics, but soon the adoption of the big display device among the users made it a hit. Samsung followed up the success of the original Samsung Galaxy Note with the second version – Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was launched at IFA 2012 and went on to become one of the greatest hits for Samsung. After having given back to back successful Galaxy Note products, Samsung was expected to come up with another champion of a phablet at IFA 2013 and Samsung did not disappoint. Samsung announced the third iteration of their Note series at IFA 2013 in Berlin – Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Being the successor of a very successful Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the Galaxy Note 3 had a lot of promises to fulfill. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is an update over the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in almost all the terms and lets check out if it is worth the upgrade.
You can check out the comparison video right below -
Design, Build Quality
One of the few let downs that we see in the Samsung Galaxy products is that they are made of plastic and do not appear premium. However, Samsung decided to drop the all plastic build for the first time in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Samsung gave the Note 3 a faux leather back and the rest of the body remains the same with a plastic rim running across the length of the device. In terms of looks, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 do not look much similar as you can see in the image below. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 follows a slightly different design approach with a more rectangular build. Samsung did a great job of fitting a bigger screen into Galaxy Note 3, despite keeping the overall dimensions close to the Galaxy Note 2.
In terms of dimensions, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 are pretty similar with the Galaxy Note 3 being slightly less wider and less thick. Samsung have really done a incredible job in packing a bigger display into the smaller body. Even in terms of weight, the newer Galaxy Note 3 is less heavier at 168g while the Galaxy Note 2 weighs 183g.
Belonging to the same Galaxy Note series, the positioning of keys is similar in both the devices. On the right side, we have the power lock key on both the phones.
On the bottom, we have an uncovered microUSB port, a microphone and S-Pen slot on both the phones. On the Galaxy Note 3, loud speaker is present at the bottom and it comes with a bigger microUSB 3.0 port.
The volume rocker is present on the left side. The keys are also made of plastic, but offer nice feedback.
On the top we have the 3.5mm jack and secondary microphone on both the phones while only the Galaxy Note 3 comes with an IR blaster.
On the front, above the display, we have the earpiece at the center and the ambient and proximity sensors, the 2MP front facing camera are at the right of the earpiece.
The bezels on the Galaxy Note 3 are quite thin and that has greatly made it look sleek.
Below the display, we have the usual Samsung arrangement with a physical home button at the center and capacitive touch keys on either side on both the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 2.
Moving to the back, we find some drastic difference. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a very good faux leather finish that gives it a great texture and prevents it from scratches and finger prints. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on the other hand has a plain glossy plastic finish that makes it a finger print magnet and prone to scratches. There is a 13MP camera with an LED flash below it on the Note 3 while the Note 2 has a 8MP snapper with an LED flash right next to it.
Both the phablets have removable back cover. Opening the back cover, we see that both the phones have a microSIM card slot that is not hot-swapabble and a hot-swappable microSD card slot. On the Galaxy Note 3, the microSIM card slot and the microSD card slot are stacked one above the other.
Overall, in terms of build quality and design, Samsung have done a better job with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 by giving it a faux leather back that gives the device a better grip and makes its secure against scratches and fingerprints when compared to the plain glossy plastic back of the Galaxy Note 2.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a 5.7inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 386ppi while the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a 5.5inch SuperAMOLED HD display with a pixel density of 267ppi.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has better brightness and the whites appear whiter than on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Viewing angles too are better on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 while the Galaxy Note 2 has a small advantage in terms of contrast. Colors are great on both the phones although Galaxy Note 2 seems slightly over-saturated while the Galaxy Note 3 seems more real despite its SuperAMOLED nature.
As you would expect in a successor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 comes with a higher pixel density and better display than the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
Hardware and Performance
The major differentiating factor between the two phones is the processor – Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is powered by a 1.9GHz octa-core Exynos 5420 SoC, 3GB RAM and Mali T628 MP6 GPU while the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is powered by a 1.6GHz QuadCore Exynos 4412 SoC, has 2GB RAM and graphics are taken care by Mali-400MP GPU.
Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 2 come in 16/32/64GB variants(we have the 32GB Note 3 and 16GB Note 2 variant). Out of the 32GB, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has 24GB available while the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has 10.3GB user accessible memory. Both the devices have a microSD card slot for expansion of internal storage.
Out of the 3GB RAM in Galaxy Note 3, 2.6GB is usable and 1.6GB is free when the device is idle while in the Galaxy Note 2, out of the 2GB RAM, 1.8GB RAM is usable and 1.3GB is free when the device is idle.
In terms of day to day performance, both the phones are quite snappy although the newer processor and the extra 1GB RAM give the Note 3 a distinct advantage.
In benchmarks, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 outdid the Galaxy Note 2 in all the benchmarks and by a very comfortable margin.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has seen a camera upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with a 13MP camera at the back and a 2MP camera at the front. Galaxy Note 2 has a 8MP camera at the back and 1.9MP camera at the front. Both the phones have an LED flash at the back. Both the phones are capable of recording 1080p videos from the rear camera, but only the Galaxy Note 3 records 1080p videos from the front camera while the Galaxy Note 2 records only 720p videos from the front camera.
One thing to differentiate both the phones here is that Samsung Galaxy Note 3 runs on the latest version of Android – 4.3 JellyBean and has the camera app from Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 Zoom which means that Galaxy Note 3 has the same screen for capturing photos and shooting videos while the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a toggle switch to choose between shooting photos or recording videos. When the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 gets its Android update, it will probably have the same camera application as the Galaxy Note 3. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a lot of shooting modes Sports Mode, Surround shot, Eraser Mode, Golf Mode, Animated Photo, Drama Mode and Sound&Shot mode which are not yet there on the Galaxy Note 2. Both the cameras have HDR, Panorama, Best face and best photo modes.
The image quality is better and the details were high on the Galaxy Note 3 because of the higher resolution. You can check out our camera comparison video right below.
Software features
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 have the same TouchWiz UI, but Galaxy Note 3 runs on the latest version of Android 4.3 JellyBean while the Galaxy Note 2 still runs on Android 4.1.2(it is expected to get the Android 4.3 update soon). Both the phones are packed with Samsung features like Smart Stay, Smart Rotation, S-Beam, Multi-windows, Airview and pop-out videos. Galaxy Note 3 comes with a bunch of extra features like Air Gesture, Smart Scroll and a reading mode. Both the phones come with an S-Pen which is the key part of Galaxy Note series. The functionality of S-Pen has been enhanced in Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Instead of a new Tab on the home screen, an Action Command option pops up allowing the users to access basic S-Pen functionalities with the click of a button on the S-Pen.
The new set of software features in Samsung Galaxy Note 3 start with the enhanced S-Pen functionality. As soon as you take out the S-Pen, an Air-command menu appears on the screen(this can be opened by pressing the button on the S-Pen as well) and it lets you one of the five actions – Action Memo, Scrap Booker, Screen Write, S-Finder and Pen Window. Action Memo lets you take notes and use these notes based on their content, Scrap Booker lets you save content from the screen, Screen Write lets you write on the screen, S-Finder helps you find files within your device and Pen Window is the best of all that lets you create a window of any size on the screen and fits certain apps inside it. It can be great for multi-tasking. All these new features are currently available only on the Galaxy Note 3 and are expected to be available on Galaxy Note 2 when it gets an Android update. To know more about the software features of Galaxy Note 3, check out our video below.
In terms of software features, Galaxy Note 3 has an advantage with newer version of Android and improved Software features.
Gaming
Gaming is good on both the devices. Almost all the games ran smoothly on both the devices, but newer games run fluidic smooth on the Galaxy Note 3. Since the Galaxy Note 3 has a bigger display and newer processor, Galaxy Note 3 has the advantage again.
Battery and Connectivity
The Galaxy Note 3 has a 3200mAh battery while the Galaxy Note 2 has a 3100mAh and in terms of battery life, we found that both the devices were pretty close although the newer Galaxy Note 3 was slightly better.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi (802.11 b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, DLNA, WiFi Direct and microUSB(MHL) connectivity. Galaxy Note 3 is the first device to come with USB 3.0 port which supports better transfer speeds. You can check out the USB 3.0 connectivity demo video right below.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy Note series is Samsung’s top of the line product and Samsung ensures that each version of Galaxy Note is better than the previous version. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 clearly is better than the Galaxy Note 2 in terms of everything – better design, bigger display in a more compact body, better display, better camera, better performance, better battery and better connectivity with Samsung’s latest set of software goodies. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3, currently priced around Rs. 46,000 is definitely worth the upgrade from Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which is currently available for Rs. 31,500. The difference of Rs. 15,000 gets you a bigger and better display, better performance, better camera, better software features and better software features in a better built device.
