The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has finally been offered by 4 of the major telcos in Malaysia. Retailing at an RRP of RM2399, each of these telcos in Malaysia is offering the LTE-enabled 32GB version. It is also available at lower prices in our sister site of Mobile Mega Mall.com with discounts up to RM300. Of the 4 major telcos the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch is offered for free as a combo with DiGi, Celcom and Maxis while U Mobile has the smartwatch available for separate purchase at it's Berjaya Times Square branch. If you haven't tried it out yet, do check out our Samsung Galaxy Note 3 plan comparison tool for a more comprehensive listing of all the available plans for the phablet. In any case, you can see all the tables in this article, containing the details of each plan.

Samsung has just announced their ISOCELL CMOS image sensor technology which they say beats back side illumination (BSI) sensors in other cameraphones. According to Samsung, BSI has limitations in that the cross-talk interference is higher the closer pixels are to each other, which happens with larger megapixel camera sensors. Through Samsung's ISOCELL, each pixel is isolated, allowing it to catch more light from the sensor resulting in better exposed, blur-free photos shot in low-light conditions.

Now this is by no means a new rumour, as rumours about a metal body Samsung smartphone have been around since before the Samsung Galaxy S4. What is new, is that the source seems to be coming from mostly South Korean Media who suggest that Samsung may finally be making this move with a premium Project F series of smartphones. These F series smartphones would have metal chassis, feature the latest 64-bit Samsung Exynos chipsets and have the latest Samsung technology such as the ISOCELL mobile camera technology. Tech specs for the smartphones include 4.5-inch to 5.5-inch screen sizes that may see flexible displays and 16MP cameras with optical image stabilization. So far, no other features or information such as Malaysia release dates or pricing are available but rumours indicate that we could see the Samsung Project F smartphones make an appearance in March 2014 which coincides with CES 2014.

Finally, Maxis has come out with it's Samsung Galaxy Note 3 offerings and no surprise here but they also have a FREE Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch thrown in. Prices of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 start from RM1199 and as usual, you have to sign up for a 24 month contract but with Maxis you can choose between a SurfMore75 or TalkMore78+1GB or TalkMore78+3GB postpaid plan bundle. Check out the table and links in the article for the full details.

U Mobile has announced it's Samsung Galaxy Note 3 package deals from as low as RM999, which is a massive reduction from the retail price of RM2399. Users interested in the deal have to sign up for a U Mobile Ultimate Device plan under a 24 month contract with loyal customers being offered the highest tier of Ultimate Device 158 and the aforementioned lowest price of RM999. All of the Ultimate Device postpaid plans will require an upfront payment which will be credited back over the 24 period. For more details check out the table and other links in this article.

DiGi has announced that it will now be offering the Samsung Galaxy Grand Quattro Duos, from just RM0. Yep, you can get it for free, provided you sign up for the DG SmartPlan 148 under a 24 month contract. If you don't mind the same 24 month contract but are not such a heavy mobile internet user you can also sign up for the DG SmartPlan 58 or DG SmartPlan 88 at fairly low subsidized prices. For the full details check out the table and links in this article

With the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, it appears that the dual-SIM version or Samsung Galaxy Note 3 DUOS is in line for release as a device with similar naming conventions made it's appearance on the AnTuTu benchmark site. Using the model number SM-9002 the device got 31276 on AnTuTu which matches up with the Note 3 DUOS tech specs including a Snapdragon 800 processor, Android 4.3 and 16GB storage space. Other Tech specs that point it out include 2.5GB of RAM which could mean that it is still a prototype in development. No Malaysia pricing or release dates just yet but stay tuned.

When it was first introduced, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch was said to only be able to work with Samsung Galaxy smartphones and even then, it would only work with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 at the time. While it still only works with the Note 3 a recent announcement reveals that the smartwatch may soon be compatible with any smartphone provided that it supports Bluetooth LE and has Android 4.3 (which still means no go for you iOS users hoping for some cross compatibility). According to the announcement, firmware upgrades are being sent out and the Gear may soon be compatible with the Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy Note II. Ryan Bidan, Samsung Director of Product Marketing said:

"[I]t is just the timetable of bringing that software to other devices. It is nothing other than engineering work to do it.... Part of that functionality is tied to some updates in Android 4.3. So we are working to bring 4.3 to all those devices as well and so that is definitely one of the factors influencing adoption.
    [...]
We were working to make sure that we had the right engineering to do it on the Galaxy Note 3. So, here we are at the launch of the Galaxy Note 3 and here is Galaxy Gear. There is more to come, for sure."

Celcom is currently offering 2 new devices for their Celcom First plans in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 will be offered from RM888 while the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active will be offered from RM1388. Both are available on the Celcom First voice and / or data plans under 12 month or 18  month contracts.

Both devices offer LTE support but while the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is a dual-core 8-inch tablet, the Galaxy S4 Active is the rugged waterproof version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. You can get more information regarding this deal from the respective Celcom Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 and Celcom Samsung Galaxy S4 Active sites. Alternatively, you can also check out our other Celcom telco plans as well.

The newly announced Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch have a number of features which are both innovative and complex, so Samsung have gone and made a very instructional video on all of these new features. The video explains how you can use the Air Command function and all the other shortcut features like Action Memo and S Finder. It also shows how to use the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch in a more personal way and explores all the little details in a friendly instructional manner. While it doesn't show a real-life setting, it does get everything explained nicely so do check out the video in this article.