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I Bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Today

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Megatomic said:
There's no way I'd carry a phone that big. Ridiculous.
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I said the same thing until I bought one! Now I feel quite the opposite. Also, those pictures are a little weird with the camera angles. The phone looks as big as that poor girl's head!
 
DaveStall said:
I said the same thing until I bought one! Now I feel quite the opposite. Also, those pictures are a little weird with the camera angles. The phone looks as big as that poor girl's head!
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Imagine the size of the armband to put that monstrosity in when it's time to go run. It'd look like some weird techno-inspired shield. Time to go joust!!
 
Megatomic said:
Imagine the size of the armband to put that monstrosity in when it's time to go run. It'd look like some weird techno-inspired shield. Time to go joust!!
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lol, yeah that is the only real downside for me. I don't run with my Note. I tend to get caught in the rain a lot anyhow though so I just use an old MP3 player when I run.
 
I've had a serious mishap (caught in the rain with my phone in the armband). Now I leave the phone at home and use my old Timex Ironman to time my run over a known distance.
 
zerogear said:
I like almost everything about it but the TouchWiz, I'm also getting periodic Insufficient Memory messages on 3GB ram. Samsung overfilled this phone (S4 as well) with crapware like AirMotion, etc.
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What are you doing that you get insufficient memory messages? I've only ever seen that on a Droid Incredible...

I have everything active (trying to pinpoint a previous battery issue) and I don't have problems with insufficient memory, even streaming netflix or recording video.
 
I was thinking of buying the Note 3 Tmobile version from Negri Electronics for $670... but I already have the Note 2 and can't think of what my Note 2 can't do that the Note 3 can. Obviously the Note 3 would have better internals and a lot of the programs would be newer and have more optimizations/features... but I'm really happy with my note 2. I don't really game on my Note 2... I have a Shield for that (Kind of regret getting this POS since there are no android games coming out that are Shield optimized and I'm too cheap to get another videocard/cpu/mobo to play streamed steam games.)
 
Cappuccino said:
I have the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It sucks, slow and crap! Waiting for the new iPad! 😛
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If you're thinking of replacing it with an iPad, it's not the Note 2. The Note 2 is a big phone, like the SGS4 you have. Maybe you mean the Tab2? That sucks.
 
Chrono said:
I was thinking of buying the Note 3 Tmobile version from Negri Electronics for $670... but I already have the Note 2 and can't think of what my Note 2 can't do that the Note 3 can. Obviously the Note 3 would have better internals and a lot of the programs would be newer and have more optimizations/features... but I'm really happy with my note 2. I don't really game on my Note 2... I have a Shield for that (Kind of regret getting this POS since there are no android games coming out that are Shield optimized and I'm too cheap to get another videocard/cpu/mobo to play streamed steam games.)
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Other than the software, it was mainly the upped screen resolution that I like on the Note 3 over my Note 2. The slightly more squared off corners make it look a little nicer too, but truthfully, I'm not much a phone design snob to care all that much.

So with the software being the main pro, I think you'll be good once the Note 2 gets its update. If they kept most of the things that 4.3 has in the Note 3, the samsung keyboard is absolutely great now.
 
What demographic (aside from the obvious phone nerd) does a form factor like this appeal to? Are the people in this demographic physically active? Do they bring the devices along for runs/bike rides/rock climbing? With smaller phones (iPhone/Droid Razr Mini/Moto X) you can easily put the device into an arm sleeve and just about forget that it's along for ride. I just need to get some perspective here.
 
Megatomic said:
What demographic (aside from the obvious phone nerd) does a form factor like this appeal to? Are the people in this demographic physically active? Do they bring the devices along for runs/bike rides/rock climbing? With smaller phones (iPhone/Droid Razr Mini/Moto X) you can easily put the device into an arm sleeve and just about forget that it's along for ride. I just need to get some perspective here.
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So what you're saying is that all runners and bikers take their phones with them? How did you come to that conclusion? Not everyone that runs/bikes/(insert sport here) likes to have their phone on their arm. I personally like to be disconnected from everything when I go on runs, or if I want music I use a tiny MP3 player.

They sold 40 million Note 1 and 2's, that doesn't include all the other large phones. Obviously there's a market for phones this size.
 
Red Storm said:
So what you're saying is that all runners and bikers take their phones with them? How did you come to that conclusion? Not everyone that runs/bikes/(insert sport here) likes to have their phone on their arm. I personally like to be disconnected from everything when I go on runs, or if I want music I use a tiny MP3 player.

They sold 40 million Note 1 and 2's, that doesn't include all the other large phones. Obviously there's a market for phones this size.
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The ones I run with do, including myself. Every last one of them. It is a really good idea to do so especially when you are going out on remote trails and the chances of getting lost are good. Or when you are in serious training mode and need the data. I use my phone in place of a Garmin or the like.

In addition to the reasons why I take my phone out, my wife pretty much demands I do so as I've been involved in some accidents (broken ribs twice) and have been "lost" numerous times. lol
 
Megatomic said:
The ones I run with do, including myself. Every last one of them. It is a really good idea to do so especially when you are going out on remote trails and the chances of getting lost are good. Or when you are in serious training mode and need the data. I use my phone in place of a Garmin or the like.

In addition to the reasons why I take my phone out, my wife pretty much demands I do so as I've been involved in some accidents (broken ribs twice) and have been "lost" numerous times. lol
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To each their own. You have a specific need, which is to be able to use it outdoors without feeling like you're carrying a huge slab of glass and plastic. That's cool, I wouldn't want to carry around a large phone while jogging or biking. In fact, I don't because it's too cumbersome. If I go biking or jogging, I abandon the phone altogether because biking/jogging = me time and I want to be disconnected from it all while I'm out and about.

With that said, a large phone is useful for me because I need it for work to view PDFs, read large and windy emails, and mark up drawings and files (stylus = super useful for this). I'm a phone nerd for sure, but that's not the reason I got the phone. It's just damn useful for what I need it to do.
 
In all fairness, I don't see many folks sporting the Note 2/3 when doing hardcore outdoor activities. Mostly guys in tech/finance as well as a decent number of women. If you spend most of your day in the office, commuting, or doing other activities where being connected is important, it's an amazing productivity device. I'd kill myself if I had to try to work on my wife's IP5, using my Nexus 4 kills me sometimes.

I've had no issues carrying it on long hikes (7am to 8pm) in Yosemite, and the all day battery life was huge while everyone else's phones were dying.

I wouldn't carry it running but have no issues with it in the gym since I put the phone on the treadmill/elliptical. I'd never carry a phone on my arm while mountain biking due to the high probability of damage.

So it's a great productivity and content consumption device, fine for most exercise, and if you're all about hardcore outdoors - get something like the S4 Active.
 
Megatomic said:
What demographic (aside from the obvious phone nerd) does a form factor like this appeal to? Are the people in this demographic physically active? Do they bring the devices along for runs/bike rides/rock climbing? With smaller phones (iPhone/Droid Razr Mini/Moto X) you can easily put the device into an arm sleeve and just about forget that it's along for ride. I just need to get some perspective here.
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I am a runner as well, but I don't carry my phone with me on my runs. I have a Note 2 right now, but my previous phone was a iPhone 4S, but I still didn't carry it on my runs. I was always too worried that I would either get it wet from a rain storm, slip and fall breaking the phone, etc. I have an old iPod Touch that I have been running with and I use a Garmin GPS watch to track my runs.

If I wanted to have my phone on me when running I would probably either have stayed with a iPhone or went with something like a Galaxy S4. I suppose a larger phone could be strapped around the waist also. I use bluetooth headphones when I run so the phone location isn't a deal breaker.
 
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megatomic, that's why there are so many different sizes of phones, there's definitely a market for smaller phones, I find with a few tweaks though, I can accommodate the G Note series phones into my life style easily.

When I do wish I had/use (I have a handful of phones, LOL) a smaller phone is when I ride bicycle, or am active and want to use my phone. I can't seem to find a decent holder for my bicycle for the Note, while there are some awesome iPhone (and iPhone size phones) holders for bikes 🙁
 
Yay, congrats. Upload some 4K clips of London? Not on video hosting sites where the footages will be compressed. I want to see what kind of codecs are used and what the bitrates are like. It's kind of nuts to think that a phone can shoot a cinema-sized videos. (not cinema-quality, I suppose?)

P.S. Good to see you again, Rich.
 
The 4K video samples on Anandtech review are just mind blowing, full of details, 60p video are smooth too...but i prefer to stick on 1080p 30 fps as it is more standard for now. Youtube does only support 30 fps and 4K videos are just too big and power hungry to read.
 
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Megatomic said:
What demographic (aside from the obvious phone nerd) does a form factor like this appeal to? Are the people in this demographic physically active? Do they bring the devices along for runs/bike rides/rock climbing? With smaller phones (iPhone/Droid Razr Mini/Moto X) you can easily put the device into an arm sleeve and just about forget that it's along for ride. I just need to get some perspective here.
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I take my Note 2 to the gym. I keep it in my front pocket when lifting, & keep it on the holder on cardio equipment(usually watching netflix). I see several people at the gym, at least 10 others ,with large phones- htc one, gs4 & notes.
I know of 3 others at gym with Note 2.
As far as hiking, I usually keep it in my front pocket, if going for a serious hike or camping, I keep it in my daypack.
 
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Chocu1a said:
I take my Note 2 to the gym. I keep it in my front pocket when lifting, & keep it on the holder on cardio equipment(usually watching netflix). I see several people at the gym, at least 10 others ,with large phones- htc one, gs4 & notes.
I know of 3 others at gym with Note 2.
As far as hiking, I usually keep it in my front pocket, if going for a serious hike or camping, I keep it in my daypack.
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I can see stuffing it into my hydration pack (if I had one), that could work if I had a Pebble or a Gear to go with it. Thanks.
 
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