Samsung has been selling the ‘lite’ and ‘mini’ versions of its flagship devices and to be honest, we feel both terms have some negative connotation associated with it. To address this, Samsung introduced the Neo series. One of the first devices in the Neo range is the Galaxy Note 3 Neo and as the name suggests, it brings a somewhat similar feature set of the flagship Note device in a slightly compact chassis and trimmed down hardware. But does it deliver? Let’s find out.
There are no prizes for guessing how the Galaxy Note 3 Neo looks and feels. Yup, exactly like the Galaxy Note 3 but just a little smaller. If you disliked the Galaxy Note 3’s size, Galaxy Note 3 Neo will feel just at home as the device feels a bit smaller (in comparison with the Galaxy Note 3), thus giving a good grip on the device. The phone sports a large 5.5-inch display along with a physical home button, touch sensitive menu and back keys beneath it, 2 megapixel camera along with sensors and earpiece just above it.
The sides have the usual keys and port placement like a power/lock button on the right; infrared port, second mic, 3.5mm headphone jack at the top; volume button on the left; and microUSB port with a loudspeaker, main mic and S Pen slot at the bottom. The 8 megapixel pu camera, LED flash and faux leather with stitch design is at the back.
Although not a big drop but Galaxy Note 3 Neo’s display size stands at 5.5-inches. It’s a Super AMOLED panel and supports 720p resolution with a pixel density of 267ppi. Being a Super AMOLED panel, the blacks are amazing with good vibrant colour reproduction.
The Galaxy Note 3 Neo is powered by Samsung’s latest Exynos 5260 hexa-core processor coupled with 2GB of RAM. The Exynos processor hosts two 1.7GHz Cortex-A15 cores along with four Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. This processor is also HMP-enabled, which means if the phone detects a particular task needs more processing power, it will automatically activate all six cores or deactivate them, as the intensive use subsides.
Whatever the case is, the Exynos hexa-core does show some signs of lag and stutterness on the Android 4.3 and TouchWiz. Having said that, rest of the performance is pretty good with games and other processor intensive tasks working flawlessly. The only issue is with the user interface and we hope Samsung fixes it with a new software update or release the Android 4.4 Kitkat update as soon as possible.
Belonging to the Galaxy Note family, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo gets all the S Pen benefits. The device comes with Air Command support that opens up the Air Command feature as soon as one detaches the S Pen from the slot (automatic activation can be disabled from the settings menu). The Air Command includes Action Memo that overlays a memo to write something and even convert to an action with Link to action. For instance, you can write a phone number with the S Pen and tap on Link to Action to call the number or save as a contact. Scrapbook enables to scrapbook any content for future reference. Screen Write takes a screenshot of the current screen and enables to write anything and share it quickly. S Finder makes it easy to find anything on the device or on the web while Pen Window will open up a small windowed app. Pen Window allows users to open more than two apps at once but is restricted to a limited number of apps.
The phone also supports Air View that shows some information or enables to scan the video timeline just by hovering the S Pen or a finger, Smart Stay, Smart Pause, Smart Scroll, S Beam for transferring files with NFC, My Magazine and Club Samsung. The phone also supports WatchON but interestingly, it takes metadata from another provider and does not feature the channel guide support.
Samsung’s recent trend has been to integrate a 13 megapixel or above sensor in its flagship phone while mid-rangers get an 8 megapixel camera sensor. Galaxy Note 3 Neo is no different and since it’s a derivative of the flagship Galaxy Note device, this version comes with an 8 megapixel sensor. The camera on the device produces good picture quality. The colour reproduction, contrast are good and offers a variety of camera modes and camera filters to spruce up the image.
Galaxy Note 3 Neo supports video recording up to Full HD resolution with the main camera as well as the front 2 megapixel snapper.
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| Images taken by Galaxy Note 3 Neo |
The phone comes with a 3100mAh battery, which is a tad smaller than the original Galaxy Note 3 but we’re happy to report, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo is a workhorse. The battery life is amazing that gives over a day of run time with more than average use of calls, videos, internet surfing etc.
Samsung had initially priced the Galaxy Note 3 Neo around the Rs. 41,000 mark, which to be honest was high considering one could have the Galaxy Note 3 for a few thousand rupees more. Now, Samsung has corrected the price of the device to around Rs. 35,000 and if you’re looking for the S Pen features complemented with a good battery life, Galaxy Note 3 Neo won’t disappoint you.
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