[Galaxy Note 3 General] buckwurst:
ExNote 2 User, My feedback after 2 weeks of owning Note 3 (N9005)

I'm coming from a Note 2 and before that an iphone and Xiaomi and before that a BB and before that various Nokias... I've never rooted a phone and worry too much about bricking it to do so. I live in China, but can't read Chinese, so I need to buy my phones outside of China (China versions are locked into Chinese and don't have play store, etc.)

I travel internationally (primarily in Asia) about 8 months a year, so some of my expectations may be different from people in other scenarios. Anyway, I bought my Note 2 in Delhi about 2 years ago and was very happy with it. 2 weeks ago I couldn't resist and bought the Note 3, in Melbourne. I think it's the Vodafone AU version. I bought unlocked. Here's my feedback so far (apologies to the purists who don’t want reviews and want every “issue” logged in the right place.

Dislike Removed options! - Can no longer edit the 5 apps at the bottom of the screen (phone, contacts, messages, internet, apps). This is a huge fail. This was no issue on the Note 2. I never use the default browser and rarely use text messages so would usually replace them with Wechat and FF. I wrote to Samsung AU about this and they said it's an intended change to the software and done on purpose... I can't imagine why, but it's really annoying. I lose something like 15% of screen space to stuff I don't want/use. Of course I realize I could mod/root or use some kind of launcher, but worry that this would bring other problems. Apparently this is something specific to the AU version of the N3…. May not seem like a big deal, but every time I turn on my screen I’m reminded…

Speaker - Compared to Note 2 speaker is not bad, and is on the bottom instead of the back... Sound quality is marginally better. 95% of the time I use the speaker is to watch videos. On the N2 this was pretty bad as it was blasting out of the back but I was looking at the front, now with the N3 it's on the bottom, which inevitably leads to me cupping my hand while holding. My better half has a HTC1 with 2 front speakers... a much better solution. Disappointed that they didn't put a speaker on the front, but bottom is slight improvement over N2. Speaker itself is pretty crappy though.

Camera - Disappointed that camera isn't better, esp. in low light. Again I feel HTC1 does a much better job here, despite having less pixels. Outside and with enough light it's fine, and pictures seem better/denser than N2. Also, application layer is kind of clunky and annoying requiring multiple clicks to do basic stuff. Additionally would be great to remove some of the "modes" that I'll never use, why do I have to cycle through "Golf shot" every time? Wouldn’t “golf mode” be something you make as an option to install rather than default? I can't see myself ever needing this.

As usual with Samsung, "less is more" seems to be an alien concept. Subjectively I feel N2 was easier/faster to use but this could just need time to adjust. Another disappointment is the front camera, but this goes for all phones, at least half the pictures I take are "selfies", am sure other people are like this as well, so why the poor front camera with no AF? It does seem slightly better than N2, but still not very good.

On the N2 I’d often get “processing” and a 1-2 second freeze after taking a picture. This seems to happen less on the N3, but hasn’t disappeared completely (seems to happen mostly on front camera). One thoughtful addition is that the “beauty face” mode is enable for the front camera. This appears to be some software magic that attempts to make you look younger, etc. Ladies may appreciate this more than men. Also seems to make eyes rounder, which is not really necessary for me (am not Asian) but probably appeals to majority of users (N2 was a huge seller in Asia, and Asians love selfies…). It’s included and even seem s to have a dial/control allowing you to turn it from 0 to 5. However, there’s no explanation to what this does, so you have to play with it to try to figure it out…

Wifi issues - I cannot stand Wi-Fi issues, this is for me something that just has to work, like making phone calls, on a phone. As data connectivity in China and many of the countries I work in is poor/non-existent, Wi-Fi is crucial for me. I've noticed sometimes the N3 won't connect or disconnects itself from Wi-Fi networks it thinks are slow with the message "Network disabled because internet connection is slow". Turning off various options in Wi-Fi settings is recommended in forums to stop this issue, and am currently trying, but my N2 never had/did this on the same networks.

Flipboard thingy - This is a kind of flipboard type copy thing, like HTC1 has as their home default. I don't like implementation for 2 reasons. 1 it's locked to swipe up which means that I accidentally trigger it at least twice a day, and there's no option to change or turn off. 2nd (and HTC1 has same issue) problem is its content filtering by country is way too broad. Basically you can choose one country and that's it... I would like to see news from UK, AU, DE, HK, JP, but never gossip/celebrity rubbish and only football and no other sports and only tech stuff in English but also German, etc… why can I only choose 1?

"Build quality/design" - I've noticed reviewers who complain about "build quality" and "premium design".. I think the N3's quite nice and fits well in the hand. I don't care if the surround or back is made of metal or plastic, in fact if it makes them lighter and easier to replace I'd prefer plastic... the pleather back is “grippier” than the note 2, has better tactile feel, and the back comes off and goes back on with more of a reassuring "it was meant to do this" feel than the N2 which sometimes made me worry I was going to break the back. Also, build quality for me is how long something lasts, my N2 lasted 2 years and still works, I expect N3 to do so as well, but how people can judge this in a single review is beyond me...Also, people complaining that it’s not leather…. Really, why would you want leather? In general, feels a little classier and more robust than the N2 without being heavier.

S-pen - Pen itself feels nicer than N2, and has more functions, although I still haven't learned how to use them all. The screenshot and direct write on it though is great and saves me lots of the fannying about I had to do with N2 to achieve the same thing. Still, only thing I use for is writing on photos (travelling so much requires frequent selfies to home/family) and making very short notes. I haven’t been able to figure out if I can make a note remind me. If it’s possible it’s not easy. For example, would love to be able to write “call Frank” and then save it to pop up at a certain time to remind me. Of course I could somehow do this in the calendar, but would be nice to do it straight from the note. Again, this is Touchwiz so maybe it is possible, just not obvious.

Screen - Glorious. People may whine about saturation or hue imbalance, but for me it’s big, bright and beautiful.

Call quality - So far it seems like I get slightly better connections than with Note 2 and people on the other end seem to understand me better. This is pretty subjective at the moment though and may also be country influenced.

Speed - No problems, but then, other than occasional photo/gallery processing glitches, N2 didn’t have any problems either.

Battery - Seems about the same as the N2.

One other complaint I have is that there is no dual sim version, or rather there is no international dual sim version. As far as I can tell the only dual sim will be in China, and therefore locked out of playstore, English, etc (you can apparently buy it and somehow root it, but I just want a phone not a hobby...