Methos1979
Android Enthusiast
Yep, I went with the white one. (See my post, 'God help me, I think I want the white one')
I was at Verizon yesterday morning to hook up with my sales gal (I buty all my phones from the same woman) and pulled the trigger. Here is a relatively short review of the short time I've had this phone. I will add more as I learn about it. Any comparisons to my previous phone are to a Motorola Razr Maxx HD.
First up: Build and looks - I love the white. I like the front more than the back. The front is more of a... piano white - a little off-white, if you will. Look close and there is a little diamond and triangle pattern to the surface under the glass that is very attractive. It looks... elegant, for want of a better term. The back faux leather plastic back is pretty good looking but also much whiter than the front. I would have preferred the same piano white tone to match but it still looks pretty good and doesn't matter because there's a Spigen case on it's way anyway.
I've decided to NOT go naked after seeing some reports of drops. I put the stock cheapo plastic cover on the front to give it at least a little bit of protection in case of a drop. The Spigen case for the back is more about protection of the sides in case of a drop. I dropped my last phone at least three times in a year and impact was always to the sides. The chrome ring around the border of the Note 3 is plastic and will look pretty crappy after a hit. The Spigen case I'm going with is the Neo Hybrid, a black back with a satin gold trim that looks pretty sharp in the photos. It would probably look better with the black phone but should look okay with the white. I'm sure it won't be my last case anyway. Here's a link to this case:
Galaxy Note 3 | Cases and Screen Protectors for Galaxy Note 3 by SPIGEN SGP | SPIGEN SGP
On to the button! Yes, the button that has caused so much heartache and rending of distraught owners. Yes, my button moves too. It pretty much stays centered, but it does move. Both the black and white demos moved as well. While I do have OCD, it's relatively mild OCD so it really doesn't bother me. But I can see where those with CDO (OCD in it's correct, alphabetical order!) would be really bothered. So be aware of this. All that said, the button does not look cheap, it's very nicely built with a small chrome ring around it and the 'action' feels very well made, even despite the moving.
The ear speaker bar that protrudes from the top of the phone is at ever so slight a angle. Not enough to be noticeable to a 'normal' person. But I'm a material quality expert by trade and I look at everything under magnification so it's there. Like the button, it does not bother me.
On to the phone itself! The screen is just beautiful. Large but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The phone fits in my shirt pockets well, at least a few of them. I'll have to add a few more though. Holding the phone in my hand is not too bad. I have medium size hands. The phone is a little slippery as compared to my last phone. It's not as bad as the stock Note 2 but I would prefer a little more grip. With such a big phone and it being so new I'm paranoid about dropping it, especially with one handed operation.
Speaking of one handed operation, I tried that function with the Samsung gesture-keyboard and it works fairly well (you can move the board from side to side) but after trying all my keyboards (Samsung, Swype, Kii, Swiftkey Flow) I've settled on Swype for now. Yes, it makes me use two hands but I'm less likely to drop the phone! I also find Swyping with a finger to be more accurate than with my thumb anyway.
The phone is FAST. No lag, or at least very little lag. I have not tested the stock gallery because I use Quick Pic anyway. Besides, I don't have many photos on it yet. I've only transferred a few that I need for Contact photos. I'm waiting until I get the 64 GB card I ordered before I load it up with photos, videos and music.
The screen is gorgeous, as we all knew it would be. I went back and forth between the stock launcher and Nova Prime and quickly just stuck with Nova. It's what I'm used to and I'm building it to be very similar to my last phone. I run HD Widgets and also use a battery widget and a display widget called Brightness Disk, which I prefer to the auto setting.
I have not used the pen too much yet. I did change the setting from Air tools to S Note upon removal of the pen. I have much to learn and I've only had this phone for one day and most of that was spent getting it set up looking the way I want it to look. I use a pattern lock on my front lock screen.
I am happy to report that the volume key works as it should with my Bose SoundLink bluetooth speaker. (I had a problem with the Razr Maxx HD) So far, the battery life has been outstanding. Better than my RMHD was, which had a bigger battery. I had the screen on a whole bunch yesterday due to all the set up and still had just under 50% battery.
Now I have to go start watching the You Tube videos of tips and tricks for this phone so I can really put it through it's paces and learn. I'll post a couple screen shots of the set up so far but I wanted to get the basics down for those on the fence for this phone.
For those brave enough to have read this far, feel free to ask any questions and I'll check it out for you. I'm a Note noob, so there's a learning curve. But for me at least, I think this is going to be a great phone!
I was at Verizon yesterday morning to hook up with my sales gal (I buty all my phones from the same woman) and pulled the trigger. Here is a relatively short review of the short time I've had this phone. I will add more as I learn about it. Any comparisons to my previous phone are to a Motorola Razr Maxx HD.
First up: Build and looks - I love the white. I like the front more than the back. The front is more of a... piano white - a little off-white, if you will. Look close and there is a little diamond and triangle pattern to the surface under the glass that is very attractive. It looks... elegant, for want of a better term. The back faux leather plastic back is pretty good looking but also much whiter than the front. I would have preferred the same piano white tone to match but it still looks pretty good and doesn't matter because there's a Spigen case on it's way anyway.
I've decided to NOT go naked after seeing some reports of drops. I put the stock cheapo plastic cover on the front to give it at least a little bit of protection in case of a drop. The Spigen case for the back is more about protection of the sides in case of a drop. I dropped my last phone at least three times in a year and impact was always to the sides. The chrome ring around the border of the Note 3 is plastic and will look pretty crappy after a hit. The Spigen case I'm going with is the Neo Hybrid, a black back with a satin gold trim that looks pretty sharp in the photos. It would probably look better with the black phone but should look okay with the white. I'm sure it won't be my last case anyway. Here's a link to this case:
Galaxy Note 3 | Cases and Screen Protectors for Galaxy Note 3 by SPIGEN SGP | SPIGEN SGP
On to the button! Yes, the button that has caused so much heartache and rending of distraught owners. Yes, my button moves too. It pretty much stays centered, but it does move. Both the black and white demos moved as well. While I do have OCD, it's relatively mild OCD so it really doesn't bother me. But I can see where those with CDO (OCD in it's correct, alphabetical order!) would be really bothered. So be aware of this. All that said, the button does not look cheap, it's very nicely built with a small chrome ring around it and the 'action' feels very well made, even despite the moving.
The ear speaker bar that protrudes from the top of the phone is at ever so slight a angle. Not enough to be noticeable to a 'normal' person. But I'm a material quality expert by trade and I look at everything under magnification so it's there. Like the button, it does not bother me.
On to the phone itself! The screen is just beautiful. Large but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The phone fits in my shirt pockets well, at least a few of them. I'll have to add a few more though. Holding the phone in my hand is not too bad. I have medium size hands. The phone is a little slippery as compared to my last phone. It's not as bad as the stock Note 2 but I would prefer a little more grip. With such a big phone and it being so new I'm paranoid about dropping it, especially with one handed operation.
Speaking of one handed operation, I tried that function with the Samsung gesture-keyboard and it works fairly well (you can move the board from side to side) but after trying all my keyboards (Samsung, Swype, Kii, Swiftkey Flow) I've settled on Swype for now. Yes, it makes me use two hands but I'm less likely to drop the phone! I also find Swyping with a finger to be more accurate than with my thumb anyway.
The phone is FAST. No lag, or at least very little lag. I have not tested the stock gallery because I use Quick Pic anyway. Besides, I don't have many photos on it yet. I've only transferred a few that I need for Contact photos. I'm waiting until I get the 64 GB card I ordered before I load it up with photos, videos and music.
The screen is gorgeous, as we all knew it would be. I went back and forth between the stock launcher and Nova Prime and quickly just stuck with Nova. It's what I'm used to and I'm building it to be very similar to my last phone. I run HD Widgets and also use a battery widget and a display widget called Brightness Disk, which I prefer to the auto setting.
I have not used the pen too much yet. I did change the setting from Air tools to S Note upon removal of the pen. I have much to learn and I've only had this phone for one day and most of that was spent getting it set up looking the way I want it to look. I use a pattern lock on my front lock screen.
I am happy to report that the volume key works as it should with my Bose SoundLink bluetooth speaker. (I had a problem with the Razr Maxx HD) So far, the battery life has been outstanding. Better than my RMHD was, which had a bigger battery. I had the screen on a whole bunch yesterday due to all the set up and still had just under 50% battery.
Now I have to go start watching the You Tube videos of tips and tricks for this phone so I can really put it through it's paces and learn. I'll post a couple screen shots of the set up so far but I wanted to get the basics down for those on the fence for this phone.
For those brave enough to have read this far, feel free to ask any questions and I'll check it out for you. I'm a Note noob, so there's a learning curve. But for me at least, I think this is going to be a great phone!
