Tag Archives: Samsung Note 3

Samsung Note 3 – 3 months later day 2 – review

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So after a frustrating first day, I’m giving the Note 3 another chance. I’ve reinstalled all my apps nearly, but will have to go through the painful process of setting each and every app up.

Samsung seem to have included a crazy amount of bloat ware apps. Totally unnecessary. By trying to flog their apps and services they part ruin the device. Within the Samsung Apps/Hub was a Winter Wonderland offer app with a free gift every day. I installed it to find the offers were no longer running. There was also 5 free albums on offer. I got the redemption code from the Samsung Music app only to find the same thing. Then Samsung Music Premium shows as stopping at end of Jan 2014. Then some of the apps for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 within Samsung’s App Store were just bloat ware again. Totally unacceptable.

So, I was setting up the Note 3 again from scratch installing all my apps without a sim installed as I had moved it back to another phone temporarily late last night. So after everything was installed from an app point of view, I powered off and put my sim back in the Note 3. Therein after it just kept rebooting with no end in sight. Don’t you love this phone! This was cured by removing the battery and powering up without the memory card installed and just the SIM card. Then I added the memory card whilst phone was powered on. Finally. And the memory card has to be removed every time you turn the phone on.

Right let’s put some balance back in the Note 3. Despite everything so far I really like this phone. Side by side with my iPhone 5S it looks like a bad boy and the 5S a kiddies toy, despite my 5S being the shiny gold version. So as you guys may realise I have a number of accessories that work with phones from my Sony QX10/100 lenses, Moga Pro Game Controller, WeMo internet plug and my new Sphero Robotic Ball. And with every single one of these the Note 3 flies above anything other phone using these hardware accessories. Let’s take each accessory in turn.

WeMo – nothing special here just a much larger screen to operate all my WeMo’s from Belkin

Sony QX10/100 lenses – using the Note 3 NFC these work from start far quicker than the iPhone. The clamp doesn’t really fit, so a tripod or flat surface is needed to use these. But the processor power of the Note 3 provides a seamless integration.

Moga Pro Controller – OMG – this controller was awesome when I got it, but compared to the iPhone version which I have, android Moga compatible games are on a different level. Air Attack HD and Need For Speed Most Wanted are now Moga A compatible. Asphalt 7 and 8 too. Playing on the gorgeous screen is breathtaking. The Note 3 fits fine in the Moga clamp. There is no way in a million years I can go back to the iPhone 5S after playing games with the Moga and the better screen. On Android there are over 200 games that work on this game controller versus 60 on iOS.

Sphero Robotic Ball – works perfectly as expected. But having a bigger screen to operate the on screen controls just provides a much better experience.

It’s all about the screen so far. The Note 3 first impressions is flawed but you must give it a chance. It doesn’t have the slickness of software and hardware integration of iOS 7, nothing does. BUT it does have its own magic.

In the next part I will cover more and more of the phone.

Samsung Note 3 – 3 months later impressions

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

I thought it would be a good idea to get the Samsung Note 3 again. It arrived yesterday at 11am, took over 2 hours to complete 7 software updates one after the other. If that wasn’t bad enough every app installed seemed to have an update even after 7 software updates. Then every Samsung app or service had same issue.

I have tried two hard resets wiping the phone clean and starting again. 2 restores after a hard reset. And despite the Samsung and Google backups in place, the restore process is crap compared to that provide by Apple for iPhones and iPads. None of the layouts are remembered in the restore and no app data either. Useless.

As I write this at 6pm I still don’t have a fully working phone. The positive. It’s a great piece of tech. Lovely sound quality via headphones, camera better than expected actually took best photo to date of my dog George. See below. This compares even to the amazing Nokia Lumia 1020 and iPhone 5S. It has the kitchen sink of specifications and I love every aspect of it.

But it cannot play music streamed via Google, using Google Play Music. It plays one track, maybe a second, but on third no sound comes out of the headphones even though the track is playing. If you pause song and press play again you hear sound immediately.

So, I have to ask why were there 7 software updates? Why not consolidate them into one, and update the default applications at the same time?

Not sure whether I have a faulty phone re the music issues, as I have read about other people having same issues. It’s a real pity as the technology inside the device is magical.

As an update it appears Google Play Music app got updated and became incompatible with many Note 3’s, see screen shot below of review of app..

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – amazing tech but missing the obvious perhaps?

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As the owner and editor of a tech blog I always like to own phones from different operating systems to try and maintain some neutral bias.

I was out shopping and was playing with the Note 3. I quite like this device but its originally sim free price was way too expensive. It has now seen this price drop by £200 so the option of owning one becomes more of a reality.

Whilst I was using the store demo model, instead of the shop assistant I was greeted by the actual Samsung representative who was visiting the store. We had a great exchange over the Note 3, but I did ask some questions which he did not really have a suitable answer or solution.

You see if you own an Apple iPhone or iPad you can backup your device to your PC or Apple’s iCloud. If ever you need to wipe and restore, or you get a new iPhone or iPad you can restore from your backup as easy as ABC. Everything comes back! This is an awesome feature and I have used it loads of time, always successfully.

But with the Note 3, everything becomes more complicated. Do you backup to Google? or to Samsung servers or both? What gets backed up? Everything? Or just pieces? What if your Note 3 phone got stolen or was faulty and you got a replacement? Can you restore it from your old Note 3? The answer is not completely.

What amazed me even more was the Note 3 stylus “Action Notes” which is one of the options that appears when you pull the stylus out of the device CANNOT be backed up anywhere. The Samsung representative even looked through the file manager, saying if you could find where they were stored, you could manually select and copy the Action Notes in to the cloud. Except he could not find them in the file manager either.

So one of the key Note 3 apps has no backup solution as a default. Am I missing something here because this cannot be right, surely?

Samsung Note 3 has measures to detect if phone was ever rooted to deny warranty claims

Android, Tech News

Samsung has been going out of its way to annoy customers and XDA members with some very anti-user Galaxy Note 3 behavior. First there was is the sim regional locking the handset against SIMs from afar.

And now Samsung is using permanent eFuses to record incidents of rooting/flashing and using that info to deny Note 3 owners the warranty service they’re owed.

I wonder if this is going to be a trend by Samsung to prevent rooting and buying phones from a different region, or using a sim from a different region as well.

More views on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear

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You may recall blog reader Jah left some views on the Samsung Note 3 and Galaxy Gear.

Jah left some more comments on both which you may find useful if you are still undecided about buying either devices.

“Gavin, I know you have a very long history with PDAs as well as Smartphones so hopefully you’ll appreciate that the Note 3 is really what PDAs should have been. That is, providing a set of integrated PIM apps and ability to take notes. The Note 3 s/w is so much more integrated now and I am using S-Planner as my primary PIM (with data added via Action Memo) and once Blackberry launch the BBM for Android I may sell my Q10 as I have been very impressed with the keyboard on the Note 3. So I may only use Android in the future with two devices (Note 3 and my new S4 Active). The battery on the Note 3 has also surprised me. I would say that it is 30% better than the Note 2, which itself was very good. But for serious note taking I still feel more comfortable with my Note 8 tablet. But given the superb quality of the digitiser and S Pen on the Note 3, I may even end-up selling my Note 8. Will give it another 2/3 weeks of testing.”

“I’ve been using BT watches for years and find the notification aspect useful. Also I had a couple that allowed me to control my mp3 player which I found convenient. My Gear is more capable and in particular I like the quality of this wearable. I think it is a niche. Like all good products if it does solve a problem then will not be successful. By the with careful battery management I can three working days of life from the Gear.”

If you have any further views on the Samsung Note 3 or Galaxy Gear, please leave a note in the comments.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 impressions

Android, Tech News

Last night I spent some time using the Note 3. Luckily, one of my neighbours picked one up and knew I would be interested in having a play.

First up this is Samsung’s best phone regardless of size. It is well designed and full of kitchen sink tech. You can read all the spec goodness on Samsung’s own website.

Picking the phone up it looked gorgeous. Black is much better than white. The rear fake black leather cover looks more realistic. The Note 3 looks slim and professional. Turning on the screen powers on and it is a total wow moment. It really has a phenomenal real estate. Using the new s-pen was excellent. Very responsive and was recognising my dodgy handwriting with ease. I tried all the various s-pen tricks and they all worked as advertised. I messed around with the camera and I must say Samsung really have a great camera app.

Available internal storage was 25.62gb. That’s a decent amount for apps and games with media going on a micro sd card.

Having had the Note 2, the Note 3 felt different and far more polished. However, the Note 3 is not a one handed device. You can either cope with its large screen and dimensions or you can’t.

In my mind if you want a top flight phone it is a decisions between the iPhone 5S and Note 3 depending on your preference to screen size and one handed use.

So one question you may be thinking. Does a 3gb ram phone have lag? At the moment it does at times. I would imagine software updates will improve this situation.

Would I want one. Actually not at the moment since using iOS 7 provides a much better feeling and function on the new iPhones.

Warning if you are buying a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – the sim has restrictions – read on

Android, Tech News

Clove Technology (www.clove.co.uk) started dispatching stock to its customers. It noticed the following sticker on the box.

notesim

In a nutshell, the Note 3 European SIM model, SM-N9005 has restricted functionality limitations regarding SIM cards on the Note 3.

As a consequence, this is the advisory message from Clove Technology.

“If you travel internationally (outside Europe) and usually insert a local SIM card when in those countries, the Note 3 will NOT be able to use the local network. It will lose all mobile connectivity with the exception of emergency calls.

For example, if you travel to the USA and insert a SIM card issued in the USA, you will not be able to use the Note 3 for any voice calls, text messages and mobile data connection. It will work via a WiFi connectivity only.

We are accepting and shipping all orders from Europe, with the exception of those countries mentioned.

As a result any orders received outside of Europe will not be shipped”

Just why Samsung has done this is unknown at present.

The same applies to phones sold in other regions. It only works with sims sold in that region. The Note 3 is a business phone and I cannot believe Samsung have been so underhand imposing this restriction without pre warning its commercial customers and its end users.

After the S4 internal memory saga, you would have thought Samsung would have learnt about being open with information that impacts its devices. Clearly not.

Why I am considering the Samsung Note 3

Android, Tech News

I finally sold by old Samsung Note N7000. This was the original Note and despite being a bit slow versus processors of today, it still rocked. This wasn’t my main device, just a second hand 2 year old phone.

The Note 3 seems to take the previous 2 versions and fine tune the hardware and software. In addition, the new S View cover is also available in a qi wireless charging option. That ticks a major box of mine.

It is also features the latest and greatest hardware specification and android 4.3 out of the box. The internal memory is adequate and expandable for media with a micro SD card. In terms of longevity, Samsung will keep this updated for a good few years. If the battery fades, I can just pop a new one in.

It is a little big, but in terms of including everything it really does tick the boxes. Even having USB 3 will mean really fast charging.

My only concern is the high price at launch. So I might just wait a few months for it to settle down.

Are you ready for the Note 3 and what accessories would you get with it ?

The only other phones I am considering is the Nokia Lumia 1020. And that’s due to the camera. And then Sony launched the Z1 and the QX10 and QX100 lenses and I had more ideas…..