News & Reviews:   Samsung Galaxy Note 3

While many people complain that their smartphone or phablet doesn't have big enough batteries, the solutions available to them are mostly external through powerbanks or additional power covers with built-in batteries. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 owners have another option thanks to Mugen, which is to replace the existing 3200 mAh battery with a 6500 mAh battery. The new Mugen HLI-N9005XL battery is a bit thicker than the standard 3200 mAh Samsung battery but Mugen solves this by adding on a custom fit back cover. This also means that if you use the Mugen battery and cover, your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is going to be slightly thicker than the standard 8.3mm. While we can't confirm it, the custom Mugen backside also looks to be completely hard shell plastic and not the plastic faux leather of the standard Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The benefits could be well worth it though as you get more than double the operating life for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for about 5 days to a week depending on usage. No other tech specs were available but we do know that it will be available in black or white and priced at $98.50 (RM315). Again, no specific Malaysia release dates but it should ship to the US and other markets from 6 December 2013.

This rumour comes courtesy of speculation that the Samsung Galaxy S5 may be using the new 64-bit Exynos processor from Samsung which is almost finished. This new Samsung Exynos chipset may be known as the 6-series or Exynos 6 but what is more interesting is that it will offer the ability to go beyond 3GB of effective RAM. This has fueled the rumour that the Samsung Galaxy S5 could be coming with 4GB of RAM as more memory support is one of the main features of the 64-bit architecture. Again, there are no specifics or tech specs or even features to mention here, and while we're thinking 4GB of RAM would be the right amount past the 3GB of RAM currently available in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the Samsung Galaxy S5 could just as likely arrive with 8GB of RAM instead. This would give the Samsung Galaxy S5 a new technical innovation asides from other smartphones, as there are now all too many smartphones with aluminum unibody chassis, huge megapixel cameras and ultra high ppi screens. We wouldn't be surprised if Samsung are also planning a Pro version device, as 8GB of RAM and a 64-bit processor could be all most high-performance users would need to make the shift.

Using a touchscreen device outdoor under direct Sunlight often results in a completely blank screen. While you can raise the brightness, it isn't the best of solutions as this will sap battery life very quickly. Nokia's solution for it's Lumia 1520 phablet is to use Assertive Display technology from Apical. This improves visibility under direct sunlight significantly by adjusting the colour and contrast ratio of each pixel based on the surrounding light. This active display tweaking is done quite smoothly, so much so that you'll hardly notice anything going on. Nokia have compared the Lumia 1520 Assertive Display technology with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in the video in this article.

The race for the world's best smartwatch is currently on and while the market is still fairly new, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch is probably the most feature filled of the bunch. Packing in a 1.9MP camera, a 1.6mm Super AMOLED screen and Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity this is one of the few smartwatches that you can use to take calls from, provided you have your smartphone connected. It is also locally available here in Malaysia for RM999. Does it live up to the hype? Read on and find out in our Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch review.

While the previous Samsung Galaxy Note 3 video ad didn't really help sell the phablet with it's rather weird puppetry, Samsung have come out with another promotional video that shows off the features of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 along with some mention of the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, this time through a stop-motion pop-up book. We think that it is quite creative and helps highlight features like Air Command, the new S Pen, and all of the Air Command functions such as Scrapbook and S Finder. Check out the video for yourself in the article.

The Samsung Galaxy Round, or the world's first commercial curved screen smartphone, has been announced by SK Telecom via Samsung Tomorrow. Unlike earlier rumours which suggested that it may be a side to side model like the one presented at CES 2013, the Samsung Galaxy Round sports a concave screen or a screen that curves inwards. Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Round also has an artificial leather like backside, right down to the stitching. According to SK Telecom, they will officially launch the Samsung Galaxy Round tomorrow (10 October 2013). Tech specs and features for the Samsung Galaxy Round include a 7.9mm profile, 154g weight and a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED screen featuring full HD 1080p playback. Other tech specs and features include LTE-A and a 2800 mAh battery with pricing around $1000 (RM3200). The phone apparently turns on when you press and roll it and turns off when you release it and it rolls back, but you can see this for yourself in the video in this article.

Samsung have also confirmed a 5.7-inch flexible screen that is also heading to a smartphone or similar device in October 2013. More specifically, Samsung have said to expect such a smartphone this week, which jives with earlier rumours saying that a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with a flexible display would be coming soon. Samsung is already mass producing these 5.7-inch displays with tech specs and features that include a lightness of just 5.2 grams and 0.12mm thinness. Other tech specs include support for full 1080 x 1920 pixel resolutions. Other rumours indicate that a flexible display enabled Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is expected to be mostly the same as current versions which would include Snapdragon 800 chipsets and other features.Samsung's flexible displays also have a curvature radius of 400mm, again beating out that of competitor LG. Samsung say that they can make about 1 million flexible screens per month.

Just like previous Samsung phones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 gets a dual-SIM version of it's own as Samsung recently made the launch for this version official. While Malaysia has yet to get the official announcement or Malaysia release date, the dual-SIM Note 3 has already been revealed in China. This China version is however not carrier locked and should work anywhere in the world (which means you could probably see some local sellers with the dual-SIM Note 3 quite soon). Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9005, the dual-SIM version uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset which means that it should feature LTE capabilities along with whatever tech specs that the N9005 has. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Dual-SIM is currently priced at €735 (RM3758) but we're pretty sure that the actual Malaysia pricing will be much lower than that.

As the latest and greatest phablet in the Samsung Galaxy Note series, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 offers a better Snapdragon 800 processor, GPU, larger screen and slightly bigger 3200 mAh battery. How does the battery life fare compared to the earlier Samsung Galaxy Note II and other smartphones? Check out the test below and other tests in the article:

While Malaysia only has the one Snapdragon 800 powered Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet, Samsung actually came out with two versions. One was powered by the 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset and processor while the other is running the 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa. Both managed to breach the 34000 limit on AnTuTu. Surprisingly, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 powered N9005 beat out the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa powered N9000, this was mainly due to the better graphics performance of the Adreno 330 GPU compared to the Mali GPU. In terms of multi-tasking and other processing tests, the Samsung Exynos 5 Octa did surprisingly better. Check out the video in the article for more information.