Bro, can PM me as well?

The eBay listing where the casing is ready for shipment. Or I misunderstood you

Ok, finally I'm home and settled down. Gonna spend some time to post my mini review here.

Physical Outlook and Build Quality
The material used is way much better compared to the hyperglaze in Galaxy S4 or Note 2 where the front and back no longer are a fingerprint magnet. You will either like or hate the faux leather here, but I really like it and the stitching at the side really makes the phone has a "premium" look to it. My father came to me and asked me if that is really a real leather, and my sister said the back cover looks like to flip case material.

The chrome painting on the sides also contribute to the premium feel of the phone, but I feels that the paint could chip easily if it is not taken with care. I find that the volume button is placed slightly high if I'm holding the phone with my right hand. My phone is white in color and the front fascia has some diamond pattern on it as compared to the brushed aluminium look in the black unit. The feel of the back cover is less sticky than the black and it feels similar to S2 back cover but a bit softer. I prefer the white over the black as it looks more classy but it is also easier to attracts dirt.

The S Pen is is slimmer compared to the one in Note 10.1 but to my surprise, the writing experience with N3's S Pen is way way better than Note 10.1. The "paper and pencil" writing experience in Note 3 is great despite the screen estate is smaller than Note 10.1

UI & Battery Life
As mentioned earlier, the smoothness of the UI is comparable to Nova launcher. Opening the apps drawer, switching between apps, and swiping across the home screen do not show any sign of lag. Regarding the heat issue that reported by few of the forumers here, surprisingly I didn't encounter that issue on my phone after a prolonged web browsing. Maybe the a/c in the function room is cooling it. With my Note 10.1, I always encounter there is some delay (about 1 to 2 seconds) when I try to wake the phone up by pressing the power button, luckily I didn't encounter such issue with N3.

The speaker in N3 is really loud and clear. I open the Music app and tune the volume to the max. Sound came out very clear without any distortion. I open up the first page of our Note 3 forum and play the video in both of my Note 3 and Note 10.1. The loudness of Note 3 loudspeaker is comparable to Note 10.1 but still it can't beat the stereo effect of the speaker found in Note 10.1


I know many of you here are very concerned on the RAM usage. I have opened up many applications and despite the amount of available RAM is not much, the phone didn't show any sign of lag as well. After leaving my stock browser idle for 40 minutes, the moment I reopen it, all 6 taps that I have opened earlier are still there without reloading. I would say the memory handling in N3 seems way better than Note 10.1 where the moment I leave the stock browser in idle for 20-30 minutes, all the taps will reload when I reopen it.

I'm someone who use heavily on the S Pen and I have been actively using the action memo to jot down few delegates names and h/p numbers. I save the memo and use the handwriting recognition feature to save their contacts into the phonebook. 5 of out 7 were successfully being recognized where the other 2 fail. Maybe is due to my handwriting but the recognition function is better than what I experience in Note 10.1. Scrapbook is also another features which I really fall in love with. I use to save the info found in websites and email and categorized them accordingly (1 for my training purpose and another one for good place for makan )

As suggested by perror, I tried the direct input method and it is really a joy in handwriting. Basically you can initiate your handwriting without opening the Samsung keyboard. I found myself using this method to reply whatsapp message.


My battery usage after the 1st charge cycle. I have been using the phone mainly in web browsing, downloading apps from Google Play, FB, whatsapp, viber, some voice calls and SMS and some camera testing. Was in data all the time without connecting to WiFi. I not sure if the above battery usage is good or bad but there is a moment where friendcaster drain quite a lot of my battery. It tried to sync data in the background for 1hour 34min and my battery level drops from 89% to 75%. Will try to monitor again tomorrow and see if I can get a better result.

Features "Borrowed" from iPhone
There are some features borrowed from the iPhone which is available under Setting > Device Tab > Accessibility


First one is the Assistant Menu. It is similar to the iOS software home key button and you can place it at anywhere you like. Personally I don't really like it but some will like it especially those with small hands. With this, there is a total of 5 ways of screen capture in Note 3 (Power + Home, Palm capture, S Pen, Screen Write, and this Personal Assistant)

Second one is the Flash Notification where your camera LED will blinks whenever you receive a new notification. This I find it useful especially when you are in a dark and noisy place (especially places like Neway) where chances of not hearing your phone's ringing tone is very high.

Camera
Finally is the camera. I don't have other phone to compare so I just took some picture with different mode as a testing. The camera is very snappy. It opens up instantly and modes that need extra processing (like HDR and smart stabilization in low light) process instantly.


(Download original image here)
Macro shot taken with Auto Mode. Lighting condition is not bright as the weather is very cloudy in Putrajaya)



(Download original image here and here)
Image on top is with Auto mode and bottom is with HDR.



(Download original image here and here)
Night shots. Image on top is Auto Mode with smart stabilization and bottom is Auto mode with flash

Panorama shot is huge in size, so if you want to view, you may download it here

Good or bad you decide as I'm not that good in photography. For me the camera is good enough for my usage.

This post has been edited by WiLyi: Sep 28 2013, 02:27 AM

Is ok bro..nvm as I think I also blur. Time to sleep

I have the same feeling as you. White cover's feel more like soft plastic instead of the soft rubber feel in black and less sticky. So technically it should be easier to maintain and won't have finger print issue (except dirt and stains)

What you mean is it the multiwindow side panel? Just long press on your back button or bring it out

I'm using solid explorer. The best explorer that I have to date. Super easy n convenient to do move or copy and paste from one place to another.

For handwriting, you can use the built in direct input. Very effective in recognising my handwriting

I have issue with instagram. Manage to sign in and post pictures

Bro..your unit still heating like day 1? I have been using it extensively on Web browsing and camera shooting also didn't heat up like yours. Different between white and black Jz kidding


Btw..Some update on my battery life after 2nd charge cycle. My usage is Web browsing, camera shooting, whatsapp, fb, viber, some voice call and sms. Any the same time I have auto sync for fb, email, weather, friend caster, Google account, Samsung account and all the time I'm connected to data. Hopefully after few charge cycle I can have some higher SOT

This post has been edited by WiLyi: Sep 29 2013, 02:58 PM