Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Review
by Brian Klug on October 1, 2013 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Android 4.3
- galaxy note 3
Battery Life
Battery life remains probably the single largest differentiator for devices lately, and of huge concern to enthusiasts and normal shoppers alike. We’ve already caught a glimpse of how well 8974 fares from a power perspective inside the LG G2, a device that posted some seriously impressive battery numbers. The Note 3 we’re looking at is also 8974 based since it’s a T-Mobile model, and thus we expect the same kind of battery life.
With this generation of Note, battery gets even larger. The Note started with a then quite large 9.25 watt hour battery, then Note 2 moved to 11.78 watt hours, and Note 3 now moves to a very large 12.16 watt hour battery with of course the newest 3.8V chemistry and all that comes along with it. Display size goes up, but those power gains are offset in other places.
After we talked about the panel self refresh features in the G2 a few people reached out and let me know that this feature has been shipping for a while in some phones, and it’s easy to check for. If we look under the display subsystem we can see that the same MIPI_CMD_PANEL type 9 is used, which refers to this type of interface.
Qualcomm HWC state: MDPVersion=500 DisplayPanel=9
define MIPI_CMD_PANEL ‘9’
Our battery life tests are unchanged and consist of a set of popular webpages that are loaded on a schedule with the display set to exactly 200 nits and repeated until the battery runs out and the device dies on both WiFi and cellular data connections. In this case that means T-Mobile LTE which is 10 MHz FDD in my market, I haven’t had a chance to run the Note 3 on HSPA+ yet, or complete the call test (which is starting to get ridiculous, and probably breaks 24 hours in the case of the Note 3).
On LTE the Note 3 does very well, coming just shy of the pack of iPhones, at just over 8 hours. Interestingly enough it’s just north of the G2s as well, which do have a smaller battery but also smaller display. The Note 3 also is the first device to ship with Qualcomm’s QFE1100 envelope tracker solution from the RF360 front end portfolio, which lowers power consumption by up to 20 percent and heat dissipation by up to 30 percent by allowing the power amplifiers to follow the desired output waveform. There’s more on that later in the cellular section.
On WiFi the Note 3 does better by 22 percent, but not the kind of huge jump I’m used to seeing between cellular and WiFi testing. This tells me the Note 3 battery life is really gated by the display, which is almost always the largest consumer of power in a device. That said the Note 3 does very well all things considered, especially in comparison to the APQ8064 (Fusion 3) phones which came before it, like SGS4. New silicon and new process inside MSM8974 definitely helps move battery life forward here with the race to sleep game.
Charging is an interesting story on the Note 3, but primarily because of what doesn’t change. The Note 3 continues to use Samsung’s tablet charging specification and charger, which has 2 amps of maximum output. The Note 3 draws 2 amps over a considerable amount of the charging curve, like other Samsung devices (in the linear part of the charge curve). USB 3.0 doesn’t change things up here quite yet with the new supported charge voltages that are coming eventually with the power delivery specification.
The Note 3 does charge faster overall compared to the SGS4 however thanks in part to the new PMIC (PM8941) which is part of the overall 8974 platform story.
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ddriver - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
No, samsung want to shun the "gray market" resellers. This is a move against them, but I doubt they will have a hard time, considering all they need to do is insert a local sim to activate the phone, so don't worry, you will most likely be able to get your note 3 from a gray market if you want it that badly.I don't think traveling abroad to get a phone is common practice, if anything, you won't save any money. Why traveling abroad to get something you can get at your local store?
Spunjji - Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - link
Squuiid doesn't like facts.TrevorH - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Did you read the article I linked to, the one that says "clear as mud" where they tested this claim about inserting a native-region sim and found that it was still impossible to use it with one from another region afterwards.ddriver - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Maybe a bug that needs fixing. Samsung made their intent perfectly clear. Plus they are not really in the position to afford such a scheme.djboxbaba - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
The guy has zero sense of objectivity, I wouldn't bother offering him any tested claims.Ph0b0s - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
I think all the people on this thread would disagree: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?s=5...These are reports from people who have brought unlocked Note 3's, used a local sim to activate and make calls for a few days and then had problems when traveling abroad.
So no the region lock still is a big issue, even with Samsung's denial. Also see the responses from Samsung that have been all over the place as to what customer should expect. They deserve the sales hit, as this is a fiasco, coming to older devices via the 4.3 update in the near future....
ddriver - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Your link is broken. At any rate, I'd abstain from spreading FUD if I were you (unless you are guided by brand loyalty to a particular rotten fruit) - the matter will become clear in a few days.bubblesmoney - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
not everyone who criticises this region block is an iOS fan. all my devices are android and several are samsung. stop accusing others of brand loyalty to a rotten fruit. Let anyone use any device that suits them, i prefer my android but i hate the new region lock feature in the note 3 which is coming to all existing note2, s3, s4, mini devices in kitkat update retroactively screwing all existing customers of samsung devices like me. I have the note and an s4 and was about to buy the note 3 till i heard about the region locking.i have posted most of the relavant links in my comments on the trusted reviews article http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/galaxy-note... so wont bother reposting them again and will instead link that article where you can see my comments which link to youtube video proof, various users spread around the world commenting about region locks on their phones on xda and some links to the mcc lists on Eu and middle east versions of the phones.
also see amazon reviews where i have posted links to the region lock photos of the usa, eu and middle east versions among many other things. please see the comments too where i have posted extracts of many users who are affected commenting on xda. http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1JZ99ICG57AY3/ref=...
ddriver - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
Not everyone, but what about one with such dedication as yours? To me it seems that you actually hope the issue is real and are eager for samsung to suffer consequences. As I said, the issue will be cleared the following days, don't forget the note 3 is a brand new product, and as such might come with immature software and potential bugs. It's not like the 5s software was perfect at launch too, there was the lock bypass bug, which is pretty serious flaw, easily eclipsing a regional lock bug in some cases. Software updates fix this, the same applies to an eventual regional lock bug.Maybe the issue is real, I am not claiming it is not, if you were under similar impression. If so, I guess people who do a lot of travel and talk won't be getting that particular phone. But again, I don't think samsung is in the position to make such moves.
bubblesmoney - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
they are the biggest seller of android phones by a large margin and have a commanding presence to be able to make deals with networks as to who gets on the mcc blacklist and who does not, guess based on how much back handers they get from the networks for forcings its users to use that networks roaming charges instead of local sims. its only a matter of time samsung gets screwed by the regulators everywhere for colluding in managing the roaming preferences in this manner. even more irritating as i cant get kitkat update unless i accept the region lock applied by samsung. see pocketnow report about that. yes i am pissed off that my present s4 and note will get region lock reducing its resale value. I was planning on selling one of them to get the note3. hence me being pissed off as i am directly affected. I would like all my sim free fully paid for phones to work anywhere in the world when i visit my family in the usa, asia and not be gimped by samsung. yes the issue is real and i just want more publicity so that samsung is forced to retract from this anti consumer policy of region locking new phones and also region locking old phones already sold with new software updates. read the T&C of any new software update from samsung carefully from now on