[Galaxy Note II General] BarryH_GEG:
These discussions always fascinate me. Nothing new? Here are some samples:

S Pen is "new" and some of its new capabilities aren't backwardly compatible so the N3 and 10.1 2014 are the only devices that will support those features. I love that you no longer have to care about what angle the pen's at when placing it back in the device.

A big part of the Galaxy Note story is the integrated S Pen active digitizer. Samsung redesigned the S Pen for the new Note and combined it with some new features.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7274/samsungs-galaxy-note-3-snapdragon-800-in-a-slimmer-galaxy-note​

From Samsung's DevCon agenda:

The N3 is the first smartphone with USB 3.0 which means it'll charge off a PC at .9A vs. .5A which is a pretty big deal. It'll also transfer files 40% faster.

The display in addition to having a higher PPI than the N2 is also said to be brighter than the S4 which was Samsung's brightest AMOLED to date. That means much better outdoor visibility.

The N3 supports 802.11ac which also helps future proof it as well as LTE 4 for when LTE-A starts rolling out.

Knox is enabled for consumer use to segregate files to prevent unauthorized and unintended viewing of certain content and is persistent so the device can be tracked even after a wipe (if wipe isn't disabled which is a user choice).

The camera runs circles around the N2 - 13 Mega-pixel BSI Sensor, Auto Focus camera with Smart Stabilization, LED Flash( High CRI), and Zero Shutter Lag. It also records 1080P video at 60FPS and can record 4K video at 30FPS.

Lossless audio support matters to people who use high-end gear. To those that don't use $50 headsets the ability to playback at well beyond CD quality either via a wired or BT Apt X connection is a significant feature.

Battery life is going to be incredible. It's bigger, the display's optimized to draw less power, and both S-800/Octa have been proven to be incredibly power efficient; even supporing more powerful GPUs and higher PPI displays. It's also using Qualcomm's Envelope Tracker which reduces wireless battery drain by up to 30%.

The Note contains a Qualcomm chip called an envelope tracker, which will dramatically reduce the amount of power needed to run its LTE radio. We’re going to see this technology in a lot more devices.

http://gigaom.com/2013/09/05/thanks...xy-note-3s-huge-screen-wont-kill-its-battery/​

Samsung's finally moved away from shiny plastic and yet people still *****. Go buy a glass or metal phone that doesn't have a removable battery and/or expandable storage if you don't like Samsung's design language which is limited by accomodating removable back covers.

The N3 is thinner and lighter than the N2 yet has a bigger display and battery. Pretty impressive feat.

Finally, the capacitive buttons work with S Pen. That's a pretty big deal to those of us that use S Pen heavilly.

It has all the additional sensors the S4 has so you can use apps that take advantage of them like S Health which I'm looking forward to. Those extra sensors are needed to support Smart Scroll, Smart Pause, Air Gesture, and Air View; the latter can be used without S Pen as is required today. You can also use the N3 with gloves without S Pen.

It has IR which if none of you have used WatchOn on another Samsung device it's a great feature; especially with a Samsung Smart TV.

The flips covers (with and without a window) are actually leather and come in a variety of colors and designs including some from Moschino. You can take notes using S Pen with the windowed flip cover without unlocking the phone or opening the cover.

It has 32GB of internal storage. Let me say that again - it has 32GB of internal storage. When the N2 finally gets updated, depending on how much "S Stuff" is ported over, it's going to have a similar storage issue to the SGS4. Moving apps (that allow it) to SD doesn't solve anything when DRM protected apps require (large) files be stored on the internal SD.

It has 3GB of RAM. With all the new multitasking capabilities that's not a luxury it's a necessity. When not using multitasking the ability for the N3 to keep apps open in the background and just perform better all-around will be impressive. If Samsung ports some of the new multitasking features to the N2 good luck getting decent performance with a 1.6GHz year-old SoC and 2GB of RAM.

I'll let the numbers tell the performance story:

Benchmark PI

AnTuTu

Linpack

Egypt (Offscreen)

T-Rex (Offscreen)

Sunspider