Comparision:Galaxy Note Vs Samsung Galaxy SIII

We pitch Samsung's latest, the Galaxy S3, against the company's oversized ‘phablet', the Galaxy Note.

Form

Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g
Samsung Galaxy Note - 146.9x83x9.7mm, 178g
The form factor of the Galaxy Note is as divisive as it is large, for some, the bigger size isn't such an issue, while for others the fact that it's approaching the scale of a small tablet is just too much
On the one hand, we think it is too big for phone duties - holding it to the side of your head to talk feels weird and means the only way calls are viable is with a hands-free kit.
However, the flip side of this is that it does make a handy tablet and PDA-like device, particularly with the S-Pen stylus, and the large real estate makes it ideal for browsing, watching videos and other multimedia applications.
Visually, the design is rather like an up-scaled Galaxy S2 with an overall rectangular slate format with slightly rounded corners. There are chrome accents on the edges but otherwise the device is quite minimalist.
The phone features a textured back panel and although made from plastic has a good build quality which feels sturdy.
Samsung's Galaxy S3 is quite a far cry from the Galaxy S2 and its larger cousin, the Galaxy Note.
In terms of aesthetics the shape is more reminiscent of the Galaxy Nexus and HTC One handsets with plenty of softened edges and curvature.
The lines of the device do give it an odd appearance, however, it ends up looking bulkier at the bottom than the top which lends a strange sense of it being off-balance. Aside from this it's very clean in terms of styling, Samsung said the design was inspired by pebbles so it's appropriately minimalist.
We have to commend Samsung for choosing some interesting colour choices with either white or blue, but sadly it's not enough to draw our attention from one of the most glaring problems with the phone - its shocking build quality.
The plastic Samsung has used here is not good at all and certainly not what we've come to expect from a premium handset.
We have to say Samsung's Galaxy Note comes out better on form factor.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy Note

Display

Both of these smartphones have enormous touchscreens. The Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD capacitive display with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 206 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Corning Gorilla Glass has been used to protect from scratches and the screen supports multi-touch input.
The Galaxy Note's display is very similar, except it's a bit larger at 5.3-inches and has a slightly higher resolution of 1280x800 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 285ppi. The actual difference in clarity should be fairly minimal.
We're calling this one a draw.

Winner - Draw

Storage

On the whole, both phones share similar storage setups with each having both 16GB and 32GB internal storage variants available with 1GB of RAM and micro SD capability for cards up to 32GB. However, the Galaxy S3 also has a model with 64GB onboard. This factor puts the Galaxy S3 ahead of the Galaxy Note.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Processor

Samsung's Galaxy Note is fitted with a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor running the company's own Exynos 4210 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz with a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU).
This is pretty much the same setup found in the Samsung Galaxy S2, although clocked at 200MHz faster. Surprisingly, however, although the Galaxy Note delivers fairly good performance the majority of the time, it isn't without the occasional hiccup - something you don't get on the Galaxy S2.
Considering the difference in performance between the Note and the S2 on much the same hardware we can't help but conclude it's a problem with the added S-Pen functionality putting strain on the Galaxy Note's power plant.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 is on a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 on the new Exynos 4212 chip, again clocked at 1.4GHz and carrying the same Mali-300MP GPU. Admittedly we've only had limited exposure to this handset, but from what we've seen so far it is blindingly rapid and we certainly didn't see any slowdown whatsoever.
We have to side with the Galaxy S3 here.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Operating System

These are both Android devices, but where the Galaxy Note uses version 2.3 Gingerbread, the Galaxy S3 is much more up-to-date on 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).
Because both handsets use Samsung's TouchWiz user interface (UI) on the surface they look very similar. However, Ice Cream Sandwich should offer a much faster and more stable Android experience and has a number of tweaks which make it better, in our view.
Amongst these is the fast app switcher from Android 3.2 Honeycomb, which allows users to jump between active apps easily. It's been updated for ICS, however, and now features a useful ‘swipe to close' functionality. Other changes include a re-jigged menu layout which is far easier to navigate.
The Galaxy Note has additional S-Pen functionality on top of Gingerbread 2.3, which means you can do clever things like double tapping the screen to bring up an ‘S-Memo' to make notes on. A hold press outside the S-Memo takes you back to whatever you were viewing, for example the web browser, and releasing the hold press brings the memo up again.
The Galaxy S3 also has added ‘intelligence' features which include ‘Smart Stay', a system where the phone's front camera watches your eye movement and toggles the screen on or off depending on whether you're looking at the device or not.
Between the two we think the most important factor is the added speed, stability and basic functionality added by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. All the other stuff is simply frilly extras, some of which are very nice, but not as important as the basics.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Camera

Both handsets sport 8-megapixel primary cameras with a 3264x2448 pixel resolution, LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, image stablisation, face and smile detection, panoramic mode and multi-shot.
The Galaxy S3's camera setup uses a back-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor for allowing in more light, this should give better quality photos.
It has a particularly rapid multi-shot capable of taking 3.3 photos per second and a ‘best picture' picker. Other features include the ability to capture still images and 1080p HD video simultaneously, video stabilisation, exposure control, white balance, ISO control and HDR mode.
Each phone has a 2-megapixel secondary camera capable of video calling, the Galaxy S3's records in 720p.
Both are excellent camera offerings capable of capturing high quality pictures, however, the Galaxy S3 has the edge here with a more comprehensive suite of features.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3

Final Thoughts

On positive points, the Galaxy S3 has more storage capability, a faster processor, a more up-to-date operating system, better overall performance and a more tricked out camera.
The Galaxy Note has a nicer feel to the build quality, performance is reasonable but there are some issues, storage space is ample even if the top end is lower than its opponents, the camera is still excellent but doesn't have as many features as the Galaxy S3's.
We don't have a definitive conclusion here. On the one hand we find the Galaxy S3's build quality immensely off-putting, but on the other it has Android Ice Cream Sandwich and overall faster performance. The thing is, the Galaxy Note is a very good phone and we can't write it off as inferior.

Posted in: Comparisions,Samsung,Samsung Galaxy Note,Samsung Galaxy S III