Should I do the Note 3, another phablet, or go smaller?

[snapple070]

I currently have a Note 2 and while there are things that I really like about the phone(size being one of them) there have been some issues that make me want to get away from Samsung.

The last Samsung phone I had before I got the Note 2 was a Blackjack like 8 years ago. And the reason I got that was because I kept getting defective devices of whatever the model was I had before the Blackjack. I can't even remember the name of it. Whatever it was it sucked, the Blackjack sucked too. There were tons of glitches that made it almost impossible to use. So I swore off Samsung after that, vowing never to go back.

I had a LG Xenon after that, which was OK in some ways (I actually loved the Qwerty keyboard. I still miss it.) But over all it just wasn't powerful enough. I was ready for a smartphone. My first smartphone was the Motorola Atrix 1. The 1 was a really nice phone but I bricked it, so I replaced it with the Atrix 2, the 2 was not as nice. They downgraded all the specs on the 2 which was really weird.Though the lapdock technology was a bust the Atrix 1 was still a pretty good phone. The 2 wasn't terrible either, just not as a good as the 1.

Then the Samsung Note 1 was announced. Since the lapdock idea hadn't worked out just making the phone bigger seemed to me like the next best solution. Plus one of my big issues with the Atrix was that I missed my Qwerty keyboard and I thought that a bigger screen would make texting easier for my fat fingers.

But I hadn't forgotten my vow to never again buy a Samsung. So I waited quite awhile before finally decided to say screw it and give Samsung one more shot. By this point the Note 2 had been announced so I decided to wait for that to be released.

Now to the point of this discussion after that long back story that hopefully didn't scare everyone away. I guess the the point of that was to give an idea of what phones I've had in the past. That I've used LG, Motorola, Samsung. Sometimes I wonder how many of my issues are actually more Android problems that I'm blaming on Samsung. Either way I have no interest in Iphones and though the Windows phones are tempting I'm too invested into Android at this point to be willing to take that big of a leap just yet.

OK so now to my point. I'm ready to get a new phone but I don't know if I want to commit to the Note 3. I'll get to my issues with the Note 2 in a second. What I want to know is people who own the other phablets, any of the LG ones, the HTC One Max, even the Nokia Lumia. I know I said no Windows phone but I'm curious to know what people think of it. Or is it possible to go small again? Should I take a chance on the HTC M8 or even the Galaxy S5. Right now I'm thinking that if I'm sticking with Samsung I might as well stick with the Note. But IDK, maybe the S5 is the better phone.

And for the people who have read through all that here are my biggest issues with my Note 2: The biggest issue right now is that the phone is not automatically switching from 4G back to WiFi. I have to manually shut off my 4G to get the phone to connect to WiFi, every time. My wife who also has a Note 2 is having the same problem. I brought it to the AT&T store (did I mention I'm on AT&T?) the lady tried something that didn't work and she said this has been a problem with the Note 2 and there is no solution. I have looked online but everything I've tried from there hasn't worked either. The next step is a factory reset but I also have a bunch of cracks on my screen( I've already replaced the screen once not that that is Samsung's fault but...)so I'm thinking if I'm going to erase everything why not just get a new phone. This internet issue is a pretty major problem too because it's eating away at my data and plus it's really annoying to have to remember to switch off my 4g, then turn it back on when I'm away from WiFi. I can't find a definitive answer to what is causing it so I don't know if it's a Samsung thing, or an Android thing or just a Note 2 thing or maybe it's just an app we downloaded. But since I've only heard about it from Samsung users it makes me weary of buying another Samsung phone.

Another big issue is battery life. I did have battery issues with my Atrix so I wonder if this is more of an Android thing. With the Note 2 not only can I not hold a charge for very long(even when I'm not using the phone much. Forget about it if I'm doing something like playing video) but a lot of times I can't even get a full charge. It'l stop at 97% or 85% or even 75%. Sometimes I'll have to restart the phone just to get it to start charging. Or I'll have it plugged in and it'll say it's charging but the percentage of the charge will continue to go down instead of up. I tried buying replacement batteries but they didn't make a difference. I know part of the problem is all the preloaded apps that Samsung puts on there that you can't uninstall. That's really annoying too. I don't know if the other makers have less of that but I really wish Samsung would at least allow you to uninstall that crap.

My only other real issue is that sometimes when I unlock the phone random apps just open for no reason. Not even ones I use very often. Again that may be more an Android thing but I'm not sure if Samsung phones are worse with that. I know it's a minor issue but it's still annoying. The sensitivity of the screen can also be a annoying sometimes. Just grazing the screen is all it takes to start opening apps by mistake. Also the sensitivity while texting is too high. I still miss my Qwerty keyboard.

I think that's pretty much it. Other than those few things I like the phone. I like the big screen, I like the speed of the phone, I like the stylus, even though I don't use it much I like the option of it. I like how well it hides in the phone too. I always know it's there if I want it but I don't have to worry about it falling out or of me losing it. I like that because it's a popular brand so there are more accessories available. I got a VGA cable that allows me to plug my phone into any computer monitor. Which is a really cool little device. I don't know for sure it would work with the Note 3 but since it works with other Samsung phones I don't see why not. Plus I know it definitely wouldn't work with the other brands. It's not a deal breaker or anything but it did cost $20 bucks. It's little things like that though that make it harder to change brands. But on the flip side of that, getting a Note 3 just seems like getting the same phone with just a few changes. Of course the guy at the AT&T store said the Note 3 is sooooooo much better than the 2 but they said the same thing about the 2 being better than the 1 when it came out. Sometimes it's fun to try a new phone. But sometimes it's annoying to learn everything about a phone all over again.

Based on everything I just wrote and everything I've read so far I'm leaning towards the Note 3. But you can't really trust reviews because their grading scale is different than a regular user. They're more about the blingy stuff and what it looks like. Plus they don't use them long enough to see what's going to stop working in 6 months or a year.

Alright so that was way too long. I'm sure no one is going to respond since no one is going to read that much. But if anyone does, let me know what you think.

 

[someguy01234]

I can't speak as a phablet owner, except I did own the original Note. A lot of the issues you mentioned are device specific or issues with Samsung software. I don't get any of them with a Google Nexus or Motorola Moto X running stock Android. Samsung Touchwiz interface is very heavy, it can contribute to bugs and draining of battery. If you buy a Note 3, you can expect the same heavy interface, and it also have something call Knox that run all the time, it may also contribute to battery drain.

I have never had issues with 4G auto switching to WiFi on stock Android devices. I use the quick toggle to turn on WiFi and it would shut off 4G and use WiFi.

As for the battery charging issue, it may mean you have a faulty battery. Samsung have removable battery so you can buy a replacement.

As for apps autostarting after unlock the phone, there is no such thing I've ever experienced with stock Android.

You should consider large phones from a different brands that will come out this year, preferably lighter interface than Samsung and better build quality. The Oppo Find 7 is worth looking at. HTC will probably come out with a HTC One MAX 2014. Sony may come out with the Z2 Ultra.

At this point, I can not recommend any phablet from last generation, so wait for the new ones to come out. Also, if you are tired of Samsung I wouldn't go with LG phones since they have the same bloated interface with similar plastic build. You said you swore not the buy Samsung again, even if you intend to give them a third chance, it's a good idea to try a different manufacturer this time.

I don't think going smaller should be an option if you are used to large phones, there are much more choices with large phones than small. Almost all flagship phones released today will have a 5" screen or larger. The Note 3 screen size isn't that special anymore. In fact, small flagship phones doesn't exist anymore with one or two exceptions. It look like good battery life is important to you. You don't have to worry if you get a phablet since they all have big batteries. But if you go smaller, you will have to be careful, so small phones may be out of the question. The Moto X is the only small phone I have that gets more than 5hours screen on time. So if you must go smaller, consider the upcoming Moto X successor, which will probably come Q3 this year.

I think it depend on your usage style. I personally prefer a small phone and a tablet. If you have a phablet, then you might not need a tablet on the side.

 

[Closingracer]

Skimming through what you said I never had any of these issues on my note 3 but I find the battery life the best I had on any of my phones. You can always buy the phone and you would have 14 days to return it minus the 35 dollar restocking fee.

Sent from my SM-N900T

 

[kigmatzomat]

My wife & I are both Sprint Note2 users. Our phones are now ~16 months old. I'll say that we have had none of the issues you list.

I suspect the majority are side effects from the repeated damage. Odds are the cracks on the screen are causing the weird app launches as the touch layer is damaged. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the internals are less than perfect since any impact enough to crack a gorilla glass screen had to flex the other components of the phone just as much and could have impacted the charging circuits or the radios & antennas.

As far as the bloatware, remember that the carriers are as much to blame as samsung and in some cases more. AT&T and Verizon are the worst about bloatware (in some cases replacing stock apps with their own versions), T-mobile has the least bloatware, Sprint is in between (having some added carrier-specific apps but generally leaving all the stock apps alone).

No touchscreen keyboard is as good as physical qwerty (former Palm Treo/Centro/Pre/Pre+ user here) but there's not a lot of options out there for physical keyboards. Part of it is expense but also design requirements; they are going to be thick and thick phones are out right now. I will say the Swype-based Samsung keyboard is about as good as they get. I won't say it is "the best" since that's a matter of personal preference, but it's definitely a top-tier on-screen keyboard (swype, swiftkey, iphone, etc). Remember that you can go get other keyboards and try them at will. However I suspect your screen damage is also affecting your keyboard experience.

I didn't feel the Note3 was enough of an upgrade from my Note2 but then, my Note2 has been trouble-free.

 

[snapple070]

Hey thanks. All good feedback. I didn't think about the screen damage affecting other aspects of the phone but that makes sense. I don't know if I've come any closer to making a decision but the feedback definitely helps.

One other thing, don't know if this is the right place to ask but the Note 3 has 3 gbs of ram and the S5 has only 2 gbs but people are saying that the S5 is faster. How is that possible? Wouldn't having more memory make the Note 3 faster?

 

[Evilguppy]

I don't have any of the issues you mentioned with my Note 3. The battery life is stellar, the apps come on when I want them to, it's fast and it charges from 0 to 100 at light speed.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Different chipsets. Per Wikipedia, the S5 has 2.1/1.5Ghz cores while Note3 has 1.8/1.3Ghz cores. Both have 8 cores; 4 fast & 4 slow that's why the two speeds. So the S5 has roughly 20% more CPU power and a graphics chip that is roughly 50% more powerful, which helps out a lot on animations (which is one of touchwiz's excesses).

So the S5 is going to feel smoother because of the graphics upgrade and will have more CPU power all the time. The third gig of ram on the Note3 is only useful when you need it. The multitasking of the note makes that a lot more likely than on most phones but still, that's the only time it makes an impact.

To put all that in perspective, your Note2 has ~14k DMIPS (across all 4 cores) & 18TFLOPS GPU vs. the Note 3's ~25k DMIPS/109 TFLOPS and the S5s ~29k DMiPS/142 TFLOPS.

So yeah, technology's kinda nifty. I'm waiting for the Note4 (and my 2yr upgrade). Although I may decide that trimming ~10mm off a Note2 in both directions for an S5 is worth losing about 15% of my screen real estate. Especially if the Note4 isn't IP67.

 

[Closingracer]

Different chipsets. Per Wikipedia, the S5 has 2.1/1.5Ghz cores while Note3 has 1.8/1.3Ghz cores. Both have 8 cores; 4 fast & 4 slow that's why the two speeds. So the S5 has roughly 20% more CPU power and a graphics chip that is roughly 50% more powerful, which helps out a lot on animations (which is one of touchwiz's excesses).

So the S5 is going to feel smoother because of the graphics upgrade and will have more CPU power all the time. The third gig of ram on the Note3 is only useful when you need it. The multitasking of the note makes that a lot more likely than on most phones but still, that's the only time it makes an impact.

To put all that in perspective, your Note2 has ~14k DMIPS (across all 4 cores) & 18TFLOPS GPU vs. the Note 3's ~25k DMIPS/109 TFLOPS and the S5s ~29k DMiPS/142 TFLOPS.

So yeah, technology's kinda nifty. I'm waiting for the Note4 (and my 2yr upgrade). Although I may decide that trimming ~10mm off a Note2 in both directions for an S5 is worth losing about 15% of my screen real estate. Especially if the Note4 isn't IP67.

Different GPU's they both have the Andreno 330 GPU in the 800 cpu and 801. The ones with the bumped up GPU will be the 805 and 810

 

[LightaDroid]

Different chipsets. Per Wikipedia, the S5 has 2.1/1.5Ghz cores while Note3 has 1.8/1.3Ghz cores. Both have 8 cores; 4 fast & 4 slow that's why the two speeds. So the S5 has roughly 20% more CPU power and a graphics chip that is roughly 50% more powerful, which helps out a lot on animations (which is one of touchwiz's excesses).

So the S5 is going to feel smoother because of the graphics upgrade and will have more CPU power all the time. The third gig of ram on the Note3 is only useful when you need it. The multitasking of the note makes that a lot more likely than on most phones but still, that's the only time it makes an impact.

To put all that in perspective, your Note2 has ~14k DMIPS (across all 4 cores) & 18TFLOPS GPU vs. the Note 3's ~25k DMIPS/109 TFLOPS and the S5s ~29k DMiPS/142 TFLOPS.

So yeah, technology's kinda nifty. I'm waiting for the Note4 (and my 2yr upgrade). Although I may decide that trimming ~10mm off a Note2 in both directions for an S5 is worth losing about 15% of my screen real estate. Especially if the Note4 isn't IP67.

Well put.!!

 

[Vsweety]

Different chipsets. Per Wikipedia, the S5 has 2.1/1.5Ghz cores while Note3 has 1.8/1.3Ghz cores. Both have 8 cores; 4 fast & 4 slow that's why the two speeds. So the S5 has roughly 20% more CPU power and a graphics chip that is roughly 50% more powerful, which helps out a lot on animations (which is one of touchwiz's excesses).

So the S5 is going to feel smoother because of the graphics upgrade and will have more CPU power all the time. The third gig of ram on the Note3 is only useful when you need it. The multitasking of the note makes that a lot more likely than on most phones but still, that's the only time it makes an impact.

To put all that in perspective, your Note2 has ~14k DMIPS (across all 4 cores) & 18TFLOPS GPU vs. the Note 3's ~25k DMIPS/109 TFLOPS and the S5s ~29k DMiPS/142 TFLOPS.

So yeah, technology's kinda nifty. I'm waiting for the Note4 (and my 2yr upgrade). Although I may decide that trimming ~10mm off a Note2 in both directions for an S5 is worth losing about 15% of my screen real estate. Especially if the Note4 isn't IP67.

And to maybe throw a spanner in the works:
if the Note's S-pen and multitasking aren't essential to you, you may want to consider the brandnew 5,5" phone from OnePlus, the 'One'.

Its gorgeous looks alone are enough to make you look twice!

Its gorgeous looks alone are enough to make you look twice, but also its specs

The One's specs outshine the S5's and it's almost half the price!
This may prove a tough competitor for Samsung and HTC!
(And the rest of 'm).

 

[Closingracer]

And to maybe throw a spanner in the works:
if the Note's S-pen and multitasking aren't essential to you, you may want to consider the brandnew 5,5" phone from OnePlus, the 'One'.

Its gorgeous looks alone are enough to make you look twice!

Its gorgeous looks alone are enough to make you look twice, but also its specs

The One's specs outshine the S5's and it's almost half the price!
This may prove a tough competitor for Samsung and HTC!
(And the rest of 'm).

Outshine? It's the same specs....

Sent from my SM-N900T

 

[z33dev33l]

Outshine? It's the same specs....

Sent from my SM-N900T

More RAM, better camera sensor, arguably better screen if you don't like over-saturated colors...

 

[Closingracer]

More RAM, better camera sensor, arguably better screen if you don't like over-saturated colors...

3 gb of ram on both.... Its the same

Sent from my SM-N900T

 

[z33dev33l]

3 gb of ram on both.... Its the same

Sent from my SM-N900T

Eh... GSM Arena and every other site I go to has the gs5 as 2 gigs.

 

[Closingracer]

Eh... GSM Arena and every other site I go to has the gs5 as 2 gigs.

I wasn't mentioning the gs5...the note 3

Sent from my SM-N900T

 

[z33dev33l]

I wasn't mentioning the gs5...the note 3

Sent from my SM-N900T

But the post you replied to clearly said S5...

 

[_X_]

No touchscreen keyboard is as good as physical qwerty (former Palm Treo/Centro/Pre/Pre+ user here) but there's not a lot of options out there for physical keyboards.

I disagree, heck I'll even go so far as to say they are far better.

 

[_X_]

I have a Note3 and came from a Note2. I didn't have any of the issues you mentioned the only reason i upgrade was because my wife wanted to upgrade my phone as an anniversary present.

That said I think the Note3 is worth the upgrade. It does everything the Note 1&2 didn't do right. There is no lag, not even on the pen. The hover is great and the actions on the pen rock.

The predictive text on the SNote is a major upgrade. It syncs perfectly with Evernote, handwriting to text recognition is really good.

The multitasking is improved and the mini app is ever essential. One thing I use to really hate about the note2 was when making a call where I had to read note from my phone or take notes on the call. Their was no way to make a call and read from my phone. With the mini Windows I can open the dialer in a small window make a call while reading my screen.

The phone is much faster as well.

Btw one thing i did to get the device to last all day was to buy an extended battery feom zero limon. This really removed the stress of having to worry about having my phone die mid day. The extender added some bulk but I could go two days with extremely heavy usage. I could go 4 days with light usage.

 

[Vsweety]

I disagree, heck I'll even go so far as to say they are far better.

Can't hold a candle to the convenience of a fullsize laptop or desktop keyboard, 17" or 24" screen and mouse.
Especially for chatting.
Teamviewer is awesome.

 

[_X_]

Can't hold a candle to the convenience of a fullsize laptop or desktop keyboard, 17" or 24" screen and mouse.
Especially for chatting.
Teamviewer is awesome.

The comments I was replying to, we're talking about phones.

What you're talking about is another topic all together, thumb typing vs. ten fingers.

There are some full virtual 10 1 keyboards that do a fine job.

Im a software developer by trait and i can tell you a phone is just as convenient as a laptop or desktop computer it just depends on whst you need to get done.