When the Samsung Galaxy Note
phone and tablet hybrid - or 'phablet' as it's most commonly known -
was launched, there was initially some scepticism as to who would want
such a device. However, Samsung proved everyone wrong and the Note was a
success. Its successor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, received a warm welcome when it was unveiled at at the IFA show in August 2012.
While its flagship sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S3,
continues to sell in droves, the Note 2 hasn’t performed too badly,
either, shifting 2m units in November alone, proving demand for
so-called phablet devices is growing. No wonder, then, that just months
after its release, attention is turning to its suspected successor, the
Galaxy Note 3. We round up all the latest news and rumours to find out
what to expect.
SAMSUNG GALAXY MEGA
There were rumours that the Galaxy Note 3 would be called the Galaxy Mega, but these have now been debunked. Instead of being the new Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Mega name will belong to two large smartphones with 5.8in and 6.3in screens, which will fill the gap between the Galaxy S4 and the stylus-equipped Galaxy Note 3.
According to rumours, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 will be available
around the 27th May 2013, while the Galaxy Mega 6.3 will be available
earlier than expected - around 17th June 2013.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 RELEASE DATE
Samsung is currently working on a developing a line of flexible OLED
displays for its 2013 smartphone range, which could hit shelves in the
next few months, according to The Sun.
The paper claims Samsung is looking to reduce investment in its
liquid crystal display (LCD) division to focus on organic light-emitting
diode (OLED) and plastic-based flexible displays, which can be bent and
twisted, which are rumoured to be unveiled in early 2013.
This means we could expect to see the Note 3 emerge before the Note 2
reaches its first birthday, although official release date rumours have
been thin on the ground so far.
There are also rumours
that the Note 3 will be unveiled at this year's IFA show in Berlin in
September - this would make sense, seeing as the Note 2 was unveiled at
last year's show.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 SCREEN
While most manufacturers are focussing on making their devices
smaller and slimmer, Samsung is reportedly going in a different
direction with the next-generation Note.
Some sources claim it could have an even bigger 6.3in screen. If
true, this could take it up to near-tablet status, as several leading
technology companies already have 7-inch tablets available, including
Google (Nexus 7) and Apple (iPad Mini). The oversized screen will
apparently also have a 1080p (1,920x1,080) resolution, the Korea Times
reports.
However, another source speaking to the same paper claimed that
the Note 3 will instead have a smaller 5.9in screen, which puts it
firmly in phablet rather than tablet territory. However, this is still
significantly larger than the 5.5in display on the Galaxy Note 2.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 S ORB
The Note 3 is rumoured to be the first Samsung phone to have the S Orb
panoramic photo feature. This is Samsung's version of Google's new
Photo Sphere feature, which lets you take multiple photos in a
360-degree arc around you, and stitch the results up into a Google
Street View-style collage to upload to Google+.
The key difference between S Orb and Photo Sphere is that Samsung's
version will integrate with Facebook - a far more popular social network
than Google+.
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 3 PROCESSOR
Samsung has unveiled its octa-core Exynos 5 chip, with eight
processor cores. Designed as a replacement for the Eyxnos 4 quad-core
chip powering the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 devices, and an
upgrade to the Exynos 5 Dual found in the Samsung-manufactured but
Google-branded Nexus 10 tablet, the Exynos 5 Octa promises significant
gains in performance and power usage.
The Exynos 5 Octa combines a quad-core next-generation 28nm 1.8GHz
ARM Cortex-A15 processor - an upgrade to the 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 chip found
in the Galaxy S3 and the 1.7GHz dual-core Cortex-A15 chip in the Nexus
10 - with a secondary quad-core Cortex-A9 processor running at 1.2GHz.
The idea, Samsung explains, is that when the phone or tablet is doing
lightweight work such as playing music, making a phone call or browsing
the internet, the more powerful Cortex-A15 cores can be completely
disabled and the Cortex-A9 cores used instead. The result, Samsung
claims, is an improvement in power efficiency of around 70 per cent
compared to the Exynos 4 Quad in the Galaxy S3.
Samsung has yet to confirm which devices will get the Exynos 5 Octa -
but with the Exynos 4 Quad appearing in the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note
2, it seems more than likely that the Octa will launch in the Galaxy S4
and Galaxy Note 3.
PRICE
When the Note 2 launched last year, it cemented itself as a device for technophiles, with its £550 price.
We would usually expect the next iteration to cost around the same
amount (and the Note 2 getting a price drop after the Note 3 lands). A
larger screen could mean that the new phone ends up being more
expensive, which could push the price up beyond £600, though.
