[Galaxy Note 3 General] BarryH_GEG:
Our recommendation if you already own a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is to stick with it for about another year.

The next generation of phones in 2014 are going to start introducing some fascinating new technology that really will be revolutionary.

On the other hand, if you don't own a phablet and you want when then put the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on the top of your list. Yes it is very expensive but it blows just about every other phablet out of the water and it is well worth considering.​

Wow, it must be great to be psychic. But it's probably not too hard when you make sweeping broad brush statements and provide no detail. I follow mobile and I have no idea what new tech is coming out next year that could be commercialized sufficiently to be used in a smartphone.

Here are the main categories typically reviewed on a smartphone. What do you guys think is going to be advanced in the Note 4 assuming a October 2014 launch? Consider that major specs and components have to be locked down a minimum of 90 days before production units begin shipping to stores. My thoughts are included.

Design and build quality

– the dimensions race is nearing the law of diminishing returns. The G2 is a good example, it’s got a 5.2” display and the front of the device is almost bezel-less. Until displays can be folded in half the display size is going to determine the size of the device. And once you go beyond a certain thinness you place durability at risk. Since mobile devices rely on antennas for their radio signals what can be done materials wise is limited. Samsung bought a company that specializes in carbon fiber design. So for Samsung that might mean a new design approach.

Battery

– With Li-Ion and Li-Po capacity is tied to physical battery size. So if the Note 4 has a bigger battery in the same size chassis it’ll be because of other components being made smaller. Until some major advances are made in battery design there won’t be a lot of breakthroughs with the batteries themselves. Effort (EG: Octa) is focused on new tech that makes better use of existing battery technology.

Display

– 400+ PPI on a mobile device is nuts. The logic behind Apple’s choice of 326PPI (retina-display) was based on eliminating jaggies at the distances people typically held their devices (10-12”). So the PPI wars will continue but with little discernible benefit. Displays could get brighter while using the same battery life but AMOLED and LCD are mature so I wouldn’t expect any huge breakthroughs there.

UI and s/w

– The s/w and UI changes pushed out by Google and Samsung have become smaller over time as both Android and TW have matured. That’s the way s/w goes. Both will continue to evolve their s/w but the functions they are in place to support will be pretty much the same unless some new way of doing what we do today or new smartphone functions are introduced. And with the power of S-800 devices there’s no reason some or all of what’s introduced won’t be backwardly compatible.

Benchmarks and performance

– How much faster does a mobile device really need to be?

Voice assistants, phone book, telephony

– Voice interaction will evolve but there’s no h/w limitation on a S-800 device impeding it.

Messaging, text input, picture gallery

– Yawn.

Music player, audio quality, video player

– OK, we’ve hit 24 bit audio playback. What’s left?

Camera, image quality, video recording and quality

- The MP race is as dumb as the PPI race. Asus just announced a 13MP camera with re-sizable photosites that reduce MP in low light and ups the size of the photosites. If it works, that seems cool. It’s about good pictures not being able to see the nose hair of a subject shot 15 feet away with a 40MP camera when the image is zoomed. And we've hit 4K video capture and playback, what's next?

Connectivity and web browser

- LTE connectivity will improve including global roaming across all 40-some different LTE bands in use. Qualcomm’s already working on the tech.

Organizer and apps, Maps, app store

– Yawn.

So there you have it. And when saying “the N3 isn’t that great a leap from the N2” keep in mind the leaps other manufacturers have and haven’t made with their recently updated flagship devices. They’ve all been similar:

Bigger and higher PPI displays with less bezel

Fastest SoC available at the time of launch

Highest MP camera with or without some trick features

Bigger battery and longer battery life

Spiffy new proprietary h/w or s/w features

Some design or material changes

To me at least, the N3 over the N2 has certainly advanced those categories as well as any other recently announced flagship; even if the advances aren’t as startling as some people would like. Look at Apple. Their in the same rut. A 64 bit chip with nothing capable of running on it, an upgraded camera, and a finger print sensor is all they could muster for their flagship which will be on the market as long as the N3 will.