Tag: note 3

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Review

With a lot of silence, expectations go down, and that is just about what the Chinese company “Xiaomi” needed to get their head back into the game. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was launched in India with a lot of fanfare by a CEO resembling nothing less than a movie star riding in on the Ninebot hoverboard announced last year.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is a sequel to the popular Redmi Note series and does just about justice to the name of the product line and the company that is known for low-cost smartphones. Launched at a price of Rs. 9999 for the 2G RAM and 16 GB Storage variant and 11,999 for the 3GB RAM and 32 GB Storage option, the smartphone will be sold exclusively on the company’s website and e-commerce retailer Amazon till it becomes more readily available in offline channels.
Redmi Note 3 on Amazon

So should you be getting in line for the Redmi Note 3, or is it all the Hype all over again, for a mediocre product? Let’s Find out.

Overview

The Redmi Note 3 has all the makings of a powerful budget smartphone. An all metal build, excellent specs, improved battery, good cameras and a new processor which impresses on benchmarks. The company continues its per-registration flash sale model which come 2016 seems unwanted. The phone impresses on many fronts and may turn out to the be the current choice of the masses just as the original Redmi Note did.

Build Quality and Design

With an all-metal build, the Chinese origin smartphone has outdone its previous visions. Anodised and sandblasted aluminum make up for most of its outer covering along with a protection glass which has not been named.

Design wise the phone follows the legacy of Xiaomi, the front is flat with no buttons, and the fingerprint sensor is placed at the back, identical in size and just below the camera module, giving the whole design a sense of completion. The form factor of the smartphone is great and thanks to the rounded back edges it fits ever so nicely in the hand. The speaker sits at the back, a not so prime position for sound. However, a small wedge on the back of the smartphone allows for the phone to sit slightly higher on the table, allowing sound to escape, albeit still not perfectly but better than if it were laying flat on the table.

Hardware

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has all the makings of a Rs. 10000 smartphone. A new Snapdragon 650 chipset, 2/3 GB RAM options, expandable storage via MicroSD and a good set of cameras with wide lenses and an f2.0 aperture.

Specs	Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Display	5.5 inches Full HD Display
Resolution	1920 x 1080
Dimensions	150 x 76 x 8.7 mm
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC
GPU	Adreno 510
RAM	2GB / 3GB LPDDR4
Storage	16GB / 32GB flash storage
Rear Camera	16 MP, f/2.0, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED
Front Camera	5 MP, f/2.0, 1080p
Expandability	128GB via microSD
Battery	4050mAh
Connectivity	4G+, Wi-Fi 802.11ad, VoLTE, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth v4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, VoLTE
OS	Android 5.1.1 Lolipop with MIUI 7
Price	<br /> <br />

Display and Multimedia

Thanks to the new chipset and price drop in tech, the 1920 x1080p display is great and lag free. You also get a good enough chipset to run all your multimedia, which looks great on this display. The display has good viewing angles and a great outdoor visibility thanks to various display modes.

You will also get a reading mode which sort of, like Apple’s “Time Shift” mode, kills the blue in your screen to help you read better.

Video playback is buttery smooth, and the speaker does a decent enough job. However, external audio devices will do you better as with most smartphones.

Camera

The camera on the Redmi Note 3 is brilliant for the class of smartphone, and you will get an excellent depth of field and great bokeh. The camera focuses quickly and has great light detection. You will also get decent low light pictures thanks to the wide aperture on the lens of the camera.

The front camera is perfect for pictures, and you will almost always get good results. The video, on the other hand, is not all that great, the lack of any stabilization will make the video shaky. Also, the phone’s camera app does not natively record 4k video even though the likes of the LeEco 1s do. There are workarounds if you want 4k video. But, they are not recommended for the chipset.

Performance

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, offers excellent performance in its class of smartphones. With Antutu crossing 70k easily on benchmark scores the device keeps its own in this highly competitive price bracket.

The overall UI is fast and responsive and offers a good day to day usage scenario. Multitasking works great and app optimization, as well as RAM optimization, works well on the Redmi Note 3.

Gaming is good too, with most games working flawlessly on the 3GB variant, which is recommended if you intend to do gaming a lot.

The fingerprint scanner which sits right under the camera is extremely fast and quick to unlock the device. The scanner rarely ever fails and will almost always get an unlock or help you click a picture. The MiUi software also allows you to encrypt folders using the rear fingerprint scanner, which can come in handy for those “A” rated apps and of course sensitive information.

Phone and Battery

With support for two SIM cards, the Redmi Note 3 offers LTE across India, on both the cards, while you can also pop in a MicroSD card in case you choose to do that.

The phone call capability is good, and overall network performance is at par within the category. You will also get good audio during calls whether incoming or outgoing.

Battery life is longer than expected, with a massive 4050 mAh battery you will get true to work one day of use without any compromises. Despite the battery being large, the chipset is designed to handle battery management well.

Talk Time: 6 Hours

Wireless Usage: 8 Hours

Music: 19 Hours

Gaming and Video: 10 Hours

Conclusion

Xiaomi is back with a vengeance. The company wants to earn back the goodwill of the market and no better device than the Redmi Note 3 to do that. At the launch the company promised timely updates and the Mi 5 launch in April, making the Mi fans jump up with joy.

As far as the phone is concerned, the Redmi Note 3 has excellent advantages over the competition, especially the LeEco Le1s. However, it also has drawbacks. The community that Xiaomi offers is unparalleled and large, and the overall support that you will get is appreciable. With both handsets offering their clout, it will come down to long term use and software support frequency to help decide the primary winner. However with the way things are going the Redmi Note 3 seems to be coming out on top.
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March 27, 2016

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 to Launch in India Next Week

Xiaomi today has announced that the Chinese smartphone maker will bring the Redmi Note 3 to India sooner than expected. The company through its official forum has invited fans to the launch event of the phablet at the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi on 3rd March 2016.

This device which has already been launched in China has been highly awaited in India for some time now. The Redmi Note 3 comes with a full-metal unibody design, as well as a fingerprint scanner, and sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display which is going to be powered by a Snapdragon 650 SoC.

The phablet is expected in two variants of 16GB storage with 2GB of RAM, and 32GB storage with 3GB of RAM. Both variants come with 4,050mAh battery packs.The camera on the two variants of the phablet will be a 16MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 will run Android 5.0.2 Lolipop out of the box. Pricing details are still awaited.

Users who want to register for the event can find the link here.

February 22, 2016
Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Dot, Circle and Square in Daily Life

Samsung has recently announced its flagship and the latest addition to the Note series, the Galaxy Note 3 is available in the market for around 46,000 INR. The device is undoubtedly packed with some great features but what we are going to talk about is the latest S-Pen features which Samsung proudly likes to talk about as the Dot, Circle and Square.

Simply pull out the S-Pen and place it over the screen and tap the button on the pen, you will get a air command window which will have five options:

Action Memo – The Dot feature is useful for taking quick notes, easily to jot down numbers and email addresses, but the great thing is that this feature can help you to link things down, you just type an address and you can directly open maps for navigation for that address or simply jot down a number link it and call directly. Watch our video to get an idea of how this can be beneficial in your daily life.

Scrapbook – Basically a mobile Evernote Web Clipper, this allows you to grab pieces of web page — text or photo — and save it in various notebooks. It can be of great use in our daily life, if your are surfing the internet and you find something interesting that your friends should know about you can simply take out the S-Pen and make a circle around the stuff you want to share and the Note 3 will do rest of the magic for you. The Circle will link the page with what you selected and once the person receives it at the other end they will be able to land to the page you selected. You can check out our video above to see how is this helpful in the daily routine.

Screen Write – Full screen memos with annotations anywhere during any app.

S Finder – Finds content that you have saved with scrapbooker or with S Note, also searches online.

Pen Window – The Square feature allows users to open a separate app in a window size of your choosing, overlaid on top of another app. This feature can be your best friend at times, it is fairly simple to make calculation no matter what you are doing on the phone. You just have to take the S-Pen out and make square of your desired size, you will get a window of the same size giving you some option like Calculator, YouTube, Phone, Whatapp and alot more. Check out our video for a daily life demonstration on this feature.

October 28, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Benchmarks and Hardware

Samsung’s latest flagship the Galaxy Note 3 is now available across major cities in India, priced at 49,900 INR (you might get it cheaper) the Indian edition of the Galaxy Note 3 comes with an Exynos 5 chipset (1.9GHz Quad core + 1.3 GHz Quad core) along with 32 GB of storage and 3 GB of RAM.

Coming to our benchmark tests, we started by running Quadrant Standard on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the device performed well up to it’s hype and broke all the previous records in Quadrant Standard. We got a score of 20599 for Galaxy Note 3 in Quadrant Standard.

The Galaxy Note 3 managed to beat the HTC One and Samsung S4, which scored 11972 and 13001 respectively in Quadrant Standard.

Next up, we ran AnTuTu Benchmarks on the Galaxy S4 and the smartphone managed to better it’s competitors here as well, as it scored 34546 points, which is better than HTC One’s score of 25064 points.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Samsung Galaxy S4 HTC One

QUADRANT 20599 13001 11972

NENAMARK 60.4 59.9 61

ANTUTU 34546 28431 25064

Now, it was time to test the graphic performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the smartphone scored 60.4 fps, where as the HTC One scores 61 fps and the S4 is real close with 59.9 fps in our benchmark tests.

[youtube id=”javriNIIvGk” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 did come up to our expectations and performed great, you can also check out are unboxing video here. Gaming video coming soon!

September 26, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Unboxing and Hands-On
Samsung’s latest flagship the Galaxy Note 3 goes on Sale starting today across major cities in India. Priced at Rs. 49,900 the Indian edition of the Galaxy Note 3 comes with an Exynos 5 chipset (1.9GHz Quad core + 1.3 GHz Quad core) along with 32 GB of storage and 3 GB of RAM. The new Galaxy Note 3 adds a whole new set of features and software enhancements to their existing lineup of Galaxy devices. To start off the Galaxy Note 3 comes with Android 4.3 out of the box, a completely new layer of Touchwiz and a whole new set of actions for the S PEN.

In The Galaxy Note 3 BOX.
Initial Hands on Impressions

[pullquote_left]A new Feel of Galaxy[/pullquote_left]

The Galaxy Note 3 feels much better than the Note 2 did – out of the box, however this is mainly because of the aesthetic appeal added by the new design and back panel. The back cover not only looks good, it adds a comfortable holding place providing grip and a warm to touch feel to the usually cold plastic back of Galaxy devices. The Interface is fast and responsive , in fact its almost lag free. Setup for the device is easy and overall without problems, you get 50 GB of free dropbox storage for two years and a few other accounts that you can setup up in the initial process.

Samsung’s included earphones have been slightly improved adding flat cables, and volume controls along with a new USB 3 cable that should help sync up and charge the device faster. The included tips for the SPEN are great too, they let you change to a new smooth tip when the old one dies out, but in our experience the pen has been usually long lasting.

Buy Now

Check out our images below.
September 25, 2013
Exclusive : Samsung to Launch Galaxy Note 3 and Gear on 17th September

We’ve got exclusive news about the launch of the next generation Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 3. The Note 3 was announced on 4th of September during IFA 2013 in Berlin, and was expected to hit markets by September 25th.

Exclusive sources at Samsung close to iGyaan have told us, that the company will launch the handset on September 17th and the 16GB variant will be priced under Rs. 50,000. This week a rumor pointed out that the Galaxy Note 3 will be launched for a price of Rs. 47990, and if we tie it up with the information we received from our source, it sounds about right.

India is one of the biggest markets for Samsung, and has been constantly the first tier to receive our products in the mobile division, this time it will be no different.

S View Case for Note 3

Samsung will launch the new Galaxy Note 3 at an event in New Delhi on the 17th of September and will have the phone available in the market by September 25th. Samsung is also expected to launch all the new accessories including the new S-View cases for the Note 3, the Leather back case options and the glam cases, alongside the Note 3.

The biggest disappointment to buyers in India will be the chipset option for the Galaxy Note 3. With LTE a far away dream for Indians, the company will presently launch the Galaxy Note 3 with the Exynos 5 Octa chipset, also limiting Video Capture to 1080p and not the 4k offered in the Snapdragon 800. Samsung will however launch all three colors the black, white and pink , where the company expects a lot of female buyers for the Pink option, opening a new market of consumers.

Samsung will also launch the Galaxy Gear watch alongside the Galaxy Note 3, with an expected price of Rs. 18000. also to be available by the 25th of September.

It is also expected that Samsung will initiate a pre-order option with some bundles to offer for early buyers. If Samsung launches the Galaxy Note 3 at Rs. 47,990 with a bundled flip case, would you buy it, and in what color ? Let us know below.

Update : Although the 32GB variant was the smallest version announced at IFA, we have heard that Samsung may launch a 16 GB variant to keep the price low in markets like India.

September 8, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart-watch Launched At IFA

Samsung today unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Gear, an accessory for the Galaxy phones. The device connects easily with the Note 3, Note 10.1 2014 and the S4, while updates for other devices like Note 2 and S3 would come in October.

The Galaxy Gear has a 1.63-inch AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 320-pixel. There’s a speaker and a pair of mics for recording, playing back video content and communicating with a caller with the help of the built-in dialer, which works with the default phone app in your connected Galaxy device. The Galaxy Gear includes a 800MHz processor and is powered by a 315 mAh battery which is said to last 25+ hours.

The gear has a BSI sensor and autofocus lens mounted on the wrist strap, with 1.9-megapixel stills and 10-second video clips at 720p, with VGA resolution and sound. The image quality might not be the best, but keep in mind the camera is meant for on the go photography. You just have to simply swipe down and an image will be captured. The gear has built in S-voice support, that can be useful to do a quick voice search and to call anyone on your contact list.

The gear has a 4 GB of inbuilt storage and can support upto 10 apps at a time. The device is available in 6 colors, pricing has not been disclosed, however the Gear will be available from 25th of September. The Samsung Galaxy Gear seems to be a true innovation, what do you think ?

September 5, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Pre Release Leaks,Rumors and Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the next big daddy smartphone for the company after the big Note 2 launched last year at IFA Berlin. In a similar fashion at IFA 2013, Samsung will hold their Unpacked event where they plan to unveil a few of the goodies intended for the next generation of technology. The Galaxy Note 3 is the most prominent upcoming Smartphone and the world has a lot of expectations from Samsung when it comes to the Note 3, and it mostly has to do with the build quality.

Lets start off with things we know for sure, The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will launch on September 4th at the Unpacked event in Berlin, Germany. The design of the Note 3, is going to be a mix of the Galaxy S4 and the original Note and Note 2. The new Note will still carry an S Pen with more enhanced features. The new Galaxy Note 3 is expected to be slimmer and slightly lighter than the last edition.

Press render

Hardware and Specs

According to Rumors, the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will have a 1920 x 1080p 5.7-inch display of the super Amoled Variety, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor or an eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset depending on region, 3GB of RAM and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The display here will get an increase from the 5.5 inch we saw last year, but the size of the Note 3 may not be that much more thanks to the “less bezel” design implemented in the new S4 which is expected to be incorporated in the Galaxy Note 3. A 13-megapixel camera setup with optical image stabilization along side a 5 MP front camera with autofocus and HD video calling.

Although a lot of sources claim that the Note 3 will come in 32 Gb and 64 GB variants, a 16GB variant will help reduce costs, especially in countries like India where the Dollar prices are skyrocketing. The Battery is expected to be bumped up to a 3200 mAh battery providing a considerable increase in battery life.

Features and UI

If the new Note 3 does get Android 4.3, you can expect a newer version of Touchwiz UI along side some of the features carried over from the Galaxy S4 including gestures and Air View among many other new features that Samsung will design to make this flagship more popular. You can also expect the camera features like dual shot and capture, sound and shot and animated photo.

Reports suggest that a host of new features are being designed for the new S-Pen that may also feature smart calling thanks to a secondary button on the Pen hardware.

What To / Not To Expected

The Galaxy Note 3 is not expected to be a unibody smartphone, with metal chassis, despite many claims. Although, a move in this direction could possibly put all questions about build quality to rest.

The Global version of the Note 3 may not come with LTE, while those tied to carriers can expect an LTE variant, those who buy the Exynos based Note 3 will be greeted with 3G only speeds. The Galaxy Note 3 may be launched in a dual sim variant for markets like Korea, China and India. The Galaxy Note 3 may also be launched in a Google edition, however the S Pen would then become redundant, unless they make a suite of apps available for the hardware.

Expect the Galaxy Note 3 in India as early as October for prices upwards of Rs. 45000 for the basic variant which we expect will be 16 GB.

Samsung is also planning to pair up the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 launch with several new cases and accessories along with a new smart watch dubbed “Galaxy Gear”.

August 22, 2013