Re: Switched from iPhone 5 to the Note 3:
Just bought a Note 3 after several iPhones, the latest being the original 5. My last Android experience was far less than pleasant, however, I'm kind of fed up with Apple's complacency in new design and like the looks of the Note 3. Thought I'd give it a try. If I don't like it, I'll take it back and upgrade to the latest iPhone.
Early impressions are mixed. Love the size, that alone would make it tough to go back to a smaller phone. There's lots of things I really like about Android like the Widgets. Love the calendar widget on my home screen. Still too early to tell about the cell phone radio. No problems to date but the call quality is slightly less than the iPhone. Get just a bit of the "in a well" sound but not enough to make it a deal breaker. Very disappointed in that One Note won't allow me to easily write handwritten notes in it with the digital stylus. I have used One Note quite some time and it great for integrating across a lot of platforms. The S pen leaves a lot to be desired but you got to give Samsung credit for giving it a try and advancing it while the iPhone still wants to use that stupid sponge stylus that to me is essentially useless.
SMS seems a bit screwed up, I started another thread to get some help on that. Not sure why Android still hasn't worked out a seamless integration with MS Exchange Server/Office 365 to sync tasks and notes. I think Touchdown was the primary culprit for the problems I had with Android way back when, really hesitant to use it. First cut at battery life seems impressive, especially considering the size of the screen and the computing power. I'm able to use Swype again - love that! What a great app for a keyboard. Tried the voice recognition a few times, seems incredibly accurate, I was very impressed. At least as good as Siri for converting voice to text and very fast. The phone did lock up today, second day I have it! However, I've been loading different apps and screwing around with it so I can accept that as long as that isn't a frequent issue. I have to give the IOS credit in this area, it would lock up every 6 to 9 months if even that.
I'm sure there's a learning curve, I have until Jan 15. If the cellular connection capabilities are similar and lock ups aren't frequent, it's a done deal. This device has a lot to like about it for sure.