Galaxy Note 3 review: Samsung's digital notepad

Samsung may be famous for making the only mobile phones that have
successfully challenged the smartphone dominance of Apple, but it’s in new
categories of smartwatches and digital ‘Note’ tablets that it’s really trying to
make its mark.

And with the Galaxy Note 3 it’s on, as the name implies, its third generation of
a product that attempts to make pen and paper redundant – I really liked the
Note 2, and the Note 3 is even better.

It continues to do all the things that many users would expect from modern
handwriting recognition – even with fairly terrible handwriting, it will
recognise most of what you put into the device via a stylus or via your
finger’s scribbling on the screen. It’s really useful, albeit not reliably perfect.
And it offers a huge, 5.7” full HD screen that looks lovely for movies and TV.

Interestingly, more and more people are using these devices as mobile phones,
the concerns of looking ridiculous with a tablet held up to your head
apparently somewhat diminished. I find it unfamiliar but imagine I could get
used to it. In Asian markets, increasing numbers of women are adopting larger
form-factors such as the Note 3, because (marketers believe) they can store
them in a handbag, while men dislike having such a bulky ‘phablet’ in a
pocket.

For users familiar with such devices, the Note 3’s features will largely be
familiar, but for new people considering whether they could use a small tablet
as both a phone, a notebook and a small portable cinema, the Note 3 should
be a welcome revelation.