Samsung Galaxy Gear + Note 3 unveiling

Sometime on the first week of September, I had the extraordinary experience of checking in at the club floor of the Dusit Thani Manila in Makati. The funny thing is that my three year old daughter enjoyed the hotel room more than me. While she slept soundly on the heavenly bed, mommy was working at 2 am to catch the live broadcast of IFA, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show in Berlin.

What I stayed awake for: the grand reveal of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Gear, on sale starting Sept. 25 in some global markets like the US and India.

Samsung Unboxed 2013

And here was Lucy happy in the room with her yaya. Nothing like a new environment to excite a kid :)

Lucy in Dusit

Anyway, all I can say is that the new Note 3 is The Bomb! Even the tech writers can’t help but exclaim ooh’s and aah’s about Samsung’s newest offering. If you already own a Note, there is the usual upgrade on features but it is really on the software innovations that Samsung impresses. More after the jump….

Note 3

Appearance-wise, the new Galaxy Note 3 looks really attractive with its faux leather cover at the back & nice stitching details on the side. There’s also the choice between these colors: black, white and pink!

And here are its worthy assets: a 13 megapixel camera, 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display, 2.3 GHz quad core processor, thinness of only 8.3 mm and official weight of 168 g.

But probably this smartphone’s most outstanding feature is Air Command which is more like a launching app best used with the built-in stylus or S Pen. Just hover the pen on the screen or even just jot down or doodle on it and you will have access to relevant apps like Action Memo, Scrapbook and the S Finder.

This official Samsung video is quite long, but will give you an idea what the new gadgets (Note 3 + Galaxy Gear) can do. Useful if you’re eyeing for an upgrade or would like to have these for Christmas…yay!

As for me, am really excited about the Galaxy Gear because I like the idea of wearing my gadget and knowing Samsung technology, I can also sync it with my present phone (or rather, phablet), the Galaxy Mega.

Galaxy Gear

This device is expected to retail for US$299 but am loving what it can do: enable hands-free calls on your watch with the built-in speaker and you will also be able to draft memos or messages and set alarms with simple voice recognition. Not to mention, it has a fitness tracker and other apps.

The Galaxy Gear smart watch has 4-gigabyte internal memory, 512 megabytes of RAM and weighs 74 grams. It comes in a range of eyecatching colors like Rose Gold, Oatmeal Beige, Jet Black,Mocha Grey, Wild Orange and Lime Green.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 becomes official!

We’re live here in Berlin for the Samsung Unpacked 2013: Episode 2, days before the IFA opens on the 6th. Samsung has finally unveiled the new Galaxy Note 3.

Samsung bumped up most of the internal hardware while retaining the chassis size. The display is now at 5.7-inches but the width of the handset remained the same (same thing they did with the S4).

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005 specs:
5.68-inch full HD Super AMOLED display @ 1920×1080 pixels, 388ppi
Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 2.265GHz quad-core
Adreno 330 Graphics
3GB RAM
32GB, 64GB internal storage
up to 64GB via microSD card
LTE Category 4 150Mbps
WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.0
NFC
IR Blaster
GPS w/ aGPS support, GLONASS
13MP rear camera, BSI sensor
1080p @ 60fps
1.9MP front-facing camera
1080p video @ 30fps
3200mAh Li-Ion battery
8.3mm thin
168 grams
Android 4.3 Jellybean

Like the Galaxy S4, the Note 3 also comes with a 3G variant running a Samsung Exyos 5 Octa 1.9GHz dual quad-core (Note 3 SM-N9000).

The handset is available in classic white, jet black and blush pink leather colors. They also introduced a leather back-cover and did away with the old polycarbonate backplate.

Since the covers are still user-removable, there’s option to change the back-cover to other colors (10 color variants in all, including the standard 3 mentioned earlier).

One of the interesting features that was originally introduced in the Galaxy S4 was the Group Play. Now, with the Galaxy Note 3, the Group Play feature also includes video. You can basically play a single video and span them across multiple Galaxy Note 3 devices.

The new S Pen now features an Air Command where you hover the S Pen and you are showed a selection of actions.

Samsung also introduced the Galaxy Gear which is a companion device to the Note 3. It is worn like a watch but is a stand-alone device which can be paired with the Note 3 and the 2014 Galaxy Note 10.1 to provide extended functions.

Here’s a longer version of the video demo:

Global release is September 25 and should be available in all countries by October.

The post Samsung Galaxy Note 3 becomes official! appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

New Samsung phone leaks; is this the Galaxy Note 3?

We have already talked about the possibilities of the upcoming Galaxy Note 3, and a new leak coincides with the speculations. The images show off a new design language and what seems to be a place for the S-Pen.

EVleaks has been very accurate with its details as it recently outed accurate images of the HTC First, a few Lumias and etc. They now tweeted an image stating that it could be Samsung’s new design language that will be implemented on upcoming devices.

GNOTE3 leak

On the other hand, there has been a report that there was actually a metallic Galaxy S4 in Samsung’s labs, but it never saw the light of the day due to production problems. It also indicated that HTC’s build quality was worrying Samsung, which may push the Korean giant to produce a new design language for the S4 follow-up, the Galaxy Note 3.

About the leak, the screen shows a screenshot of TouchWiz, though it’s not very clear. The home button looks exactly like the one on the Galaxy Note 2, and there’s a spot for something on the bottom left side, presumably the S-Pen.

GNOTE3

While it could be Samsung’s upcoming design, it can easily be said that it’s a prototype and it won’t be the final product. If the Galaxy Note 3 ends up looking like this, would you consider getting one?

{source} {2}

The post New Samsung phone leaks; is this the Galaxy Note 3? appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: The Possibilities

So, the Galaxy S4 or any other flagship phone didn’t impress you and decided to wait for something else bigger (literally and figuratively). Your best would be the Galaxy Note line and there’s the uncertainty that what you’re waiting for may not be really worth it.

The likely candidate is the Galaxy Note 3. Take these information with a grain of salt as these are not official yet, though some are based on facts and reports.

note 3

Design & Construction

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, 5.8 the Note 8.0 and juxtapose that with the S4 — these are all recent Samsung devices that go above 5-inches in size. Cool thing to note here is that the Mega and the S4 share the same signature, so imagine the Note 3 having a similar design, but in a different screen size.

note 3 2

While that seems already a bit boring, there are reports from SamMobile that there was actually a metal Galaxy S4 hiding in Samsung’s labs, which everyone there loved, but due to production problems, they didn’t push it through. However, probably due to the likes of the HTC One, Samsung is planning to use this metal build on the Note 3 to change their so-called plastic construction.

Hardware

The Note line has always been like an extension of the S line, as specs were merely just slightly modified across devices. We’re expecting the same amount of RAM (2GB), the same Exynos Octa CPU with a higher clock speed (1.8GHz probably) and the same 13MP camera used on the Galaxy S4.

Battery seems to be always beefed up with the Note line-up with the last one packing a 3,100mAh battery. That’s already huge and we don’t think Samsung to go any lower, so expect it to be around 3,500mAh or higher.

Screen size is tricky to predict. If Samsung keeps the 5.5-inch size of the Note 2, then the lines between the ‘phablet’ and the phone will be blurry since smartphones are already catching up (LG Optimus G Pro for example). They could do the same trick as with the S3 and narrow down the bezel to make room for more screen real estate.

Perhaps a 5.8-inch display but with the same chassis dimensions as the 5.5-inch Note 2.

galaxy screen sizes

Samsung has revealed the Game Pad with the SGS4, which converts your Galaxy phone to a handheld console. The range of screen sizes that it supports is up to 6.3-inches — the same size with the Galaxy Mega. Hence, 6.3-inches is probably the ceiling for the next Galaxy Note’s display, although it’s probable that it could go for 6-inches as Samsung still doesn’t have any device sporting that screen size.

Software

The same report from SamMobile mentioned above stated that Samsung feels confident with its software, and as seen with the Galaxy S4, it did little changes with the UI; they only added more and more features. The thing here is, Google may have released the next version of Android by then, and last year, the Galaxy Note 2 was the first non-Nexus handset to get Android 4.1.

With all of that said, expect the Samsung Galaxy S4′s software on the next version of Android topped with an S-Pen suite. If that holds true, the Note 3 might already have Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.

Estimated Announcement

The first Galaxy Note was announced 7 months after the Galaxy S2 flagship. That long period of wait may be due to the fact that the jump to 5.3 inches is really huge at that time. The following year, it only took 3 months from the Galaxy S3 to announce the Note 2. The time frame is significantly shorter.

note yuga

Samsung may give it time for the Samsung Galaxy S4 to sink in. Besides, there’s IFA in Berlin which Samsung normally coincides with their own launches. Our best guess is August or September but if Samsung is really good, it could also be as early as June.

Possible Samsung Galaxy Note 3 specs:
6-inch Super AMOLED display @ 1080×1920, 367ppi
Exynos 5 Octa 1.8GHz quad-core CPU
PowerVR SGX 544MP3
16, 32GB, 64GB
Up to 64GB microSD
2GB RAM
3G/HSPA+, LTE
Wifi 802.11ac
NFC
IR Blaster
S-Pen
13MP autofocus, rear camera with LED flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps
2MP front-facing camera
1080p video recording @ 30fps
+-3,500mAh battery
TouchWiz UI 4
Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie

The post Samsung Galaxy Note 3: The Possibilities appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.