Samsung Announces Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear & Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014)

Samsung has just announced a new batch of Galaxy devices. These include the S-Pen enabled phablet, Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and the Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) tablet.

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The Galaxy Note 3 takes cue from the current Galaxy S4 flagship. However, it has a new leather-textured, soft-touch back panel and blunt metal-finish edges. Oddly, the Galaxy Note 3 uncannily looks like the original Galaxy Note. Altogether, the phablet measures in at 151.2 mm x 79.2 mm x 8.3 mm and weighs 168 grams. The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a larger 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display. It runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, has a 13-MP primary camera, a 2-MP front-facing camera, capable of 4K UHD and 1080p Full HD video recording, has up to 64GB of internal storage space, and 3GB RAM. It has a larger 3,200 mAh battery as well. Its iconic S-Pen has also been given more functionality. Surprisingly, considering all the upgrades in specs, the Galaxy Note 3 is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor.

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Connectivity has also been improved on the Galaxy Note 3 as it now includes HSPA (up to 42Mbps) and LTE (Cat 4) with up to six different band sets to cater to different markets. There’s also WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, an infrared blaster, MHL 2.0, and GPS/GLONASS. On the bottom there’s not only USB 2.0 connectivity but also USB 3.0 for faster media transfers. Sensors include accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope, proximity, barometer, temperature, and humidity, and there is a microSD card slot.

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The major addition to the capabilities of the S-Pen is the Air Command. There are 5 commands to choose from. First is the Action Memo, which allows you to quickly take notes and jot down phone numbers. Samsung has also added handwriting recognition. Then there is the Scrapbooker app, which is a place to collect all your web snippets and more. It allows you to snip a selection of the screen, annotate, and tag it, and save it in a gallery of notes. There is also the S Finder search, which allows you to search through handwritten notes on the Galaxy Note 3, as well as local apps and other data, and trigger a search on Google, Yahoo, or Bing. There is the Pen Window as well, which improves multi-tasking. With it, you can sketch a rough window on your phone or tablet, and fill that with another app, such as the calculator or YouTube. It then floats on top, and can be dragged around the display. Split screen use has also been improved. It’s now possible to drag and drop data between apps in Multi Window view, such as URL from the browser into an IM conversation.

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In partnership with Flipboard, Samsung has also introduced My Magazine, an app which pulls in various news sources and social networking shares, and puts them into side-swiped categories. Group Play has also been improved, including turning up to five devices into a single, huge screen. Putting five Galaxy Note 3 handsets alongside each other and turning on Group Play means a single video or other content can be spread across them. A version of the S View Cover for the Galaxy Note 3 has also been launched. It has large window on the front to access the touchscreen and see notifications and even run apps and browse through the calendar. Samsung will offer that in multiple colors, as well as various interchangeable back panels, and a number of non-window cases.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will arrive in more than 140 countries starting September 25, alongside the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. In the US, the Galaxy Note 3 is expected to launch later this year on Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

Aside from the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung has also unveiled the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which takes on Sony's recently launched SmartWatch 2. Marketed as a companion to the Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Gear sports a 1.63-inch, 320 x 320 Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 1.9-MP autofocus camera with Full HD video recording and macro mode, twin microphones with noise cancellation, and a speaker built into a watch form-factor. The front panel is made of sapphire glass, for better resilience to bumps and knocks. The strap is made of plastic and is non-removable or replaceable. Samsung will offer the Galaxy Gear in six color options: Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green.

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On the hardware side, the Galaxy Gear connects via Bluetooth LE to the Galaxy Note 3 (and some other high-end Samsung smartphones) and runs a custom version of Android on an 800MHz Exynos processor with 512MB RAM. There’s 4GB of internal storage and a non-removable, 315 mAh battery which recharges by snapping the watch into an included cradle, then plugging in a regular microUSB charger. There’s no WiFi or cellular radio but you do get an accelerometer and gyroscope but not GPS. S Voice is also present on the Galaxy Gear and will support setting alarms, making calls, dictating replies to text messages, loading apps, and a few other features. The Samsung Galaxy Gear will go on sale on September 25 for $299 alongside the Galaxy Note 3 in over 140 countries.

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The last to be announced among the new Samsung devices was the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. It sports a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD, runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and features an optional LTE support. The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition also gets all of the new S-Pen's functionality. The Galaxy Note 10.1 will have soft-touch, leather-effect back panel that would make the tablet easier to hold and should be a little less slippery. Broad viewing angles, smooth text, bright colors, and strong backlighting are all onboard. The new tablet weighs in at 535g and measures 243.1 mm x 171.4 mm x 7.9 mm.

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Inside, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is powered by a 1.9GHz Exynos Octa. The LTE version, which has CAT4 support for faster downloads (network depending), has a 2.3GHz quad-core instead. Both get 3GB RAM to play with, and either 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of internal story, which can be expanded via microSD card slot. You also get Samsung’s new My Magazine app, powered by Flipboard, which shows different news sources as well as social network shares split out by category. The Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition will launch globally on Q3 2013, in white and black variants. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.