Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo Mobile Review

Samsung is credited with the coining of concept, phablet when it introduced the Galaxy Note series couple of years back. Fast-forwarding to 2014, you have the Note 3 which is bigger, powerful and meaner in every aspect but all this comes at the price. So, the company decided to cut-down on some things (hardware mostly) to make the Note 3 slightly cheaper from Rs 47,900 and voila you have the Note 3 Neo. Even at this price, the Note 3 Neo competes with heavyweight flagship devices of some companies. What's the difference? Let's find out

Same size but less powerful

The Note 3 Neo sports a 5.7 inch HD display which is a level down on the full HD display of the original Note 3. That said, the HD display is of Super AMOLED quality and it's hard to make out the difference in first instance. Crisp, high-level color reproduction and good viewing angles compliment the bright display. Sadly, there is no Corning Glass coating for sturdiness. Same faux-pas leather coating cover on plastic completes the Note 3 Neo design. This device is packed with an Exynos 5260 hexa-core i.e. six core chipset clubbed with 2 GB RAM for top quality and smooth performance. Unlike the octa-core, the all the six cores function simultaneously, aiding its output.

The Note 3 Neo weighs 163 grams and sports 8.6 mm in thickness which does tend to feel bulky at times but mostly owing to its size and not handling. Just like the Note 3, the Neo variant comes with S Pen stylus support that works exactly the same via Air Command. For this size, a stylus makes perfect sense, adding the aspect of productivity to its repertoire. It offers good, stable gaming performance with slight heating and lag issues here and there. Below mentioned table, highlights the difference in gulf between three high-end devices (fig). The inbuilt speaker at the bottom right next to S Pen slot offer decent output but nothing exceptional.

The camera has been downgraded to 8 MP on the Note 3 Neo and its imaging quality is not up to the mark for a high-priced device. In this price, you get some decent camera phone options like Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, HTC One and even Samsung's Galaxy S4 for that matter. That said, the images are sharp and well detailed when clicked outdoors but low-light capability leaves us wanting. In terms of battery life, the Note 3 Neo will easily run the mile and come through one day or even more without any hiccups. It lasted us for more than 15 hours on normal usage.