Samsung held its Unpacked 2013 press event Wednesday where the company unveiled its latest in the Galaxy lineup of smartphones, the highly anticipated Galaxy Note 3 phablet.
The company took special pains to make everyone viewing in the crowd, as well as those live streaming the event from around the world, that the phablet idea was originated by the company years ago with the very first Galaxy Note. In that spirit, the third installment of the device seeks to truly capture the spirit of a notebook, allowing for quick access and ease of use. In fact, the back of the Galaxy Note 3 is leather bound to invoke thoughts of a personal journal or diary for users to scribble in while maintaining a sleeker, more elegant design of a Galaxy Note device. The device comes in three unique colors: Jet Black, Classic White and Plush Pink.
The real star of the Note 3's presentation was the S Pen, a stylus device that slides into the phone itself and can be used to write and navigate its way around the device. Now, the S Pen has been updated to make everything from jotting quick notes to multitasking easier on the Note 3's 5.7-inch display.
The mantra from presenter David Park was dot, circle box. By tapping the dot on the screen that appears when the S Pen is held over the device a menu opens up with options for an action memo pad for jotting quick notes among a bevy of other quick to use functions.
The scrapbook function allows users to simply draw a circle on a webpage they want to save for later or an image they don't want to lose and it will save directly to the users' scrapbook, an easy to organize amalgam of personal information collected on the device.
Finally, the by drawing a box of whatever size he or she needs, users can open up an app in that box. For example, Park showed a situation in which he was calculating expenses via a text message thread with a friend of his. He drew a box on the side of the conversation where there was nothing but blank space and opened up a calculator app. He was then able to run both apps on the same screen simultaneously. This goes along with the Galaxy Note 3's other multitasking features including putting two text conversations side-by-side in order to drag and drop information from one to another.
The device will be available on September 25 in 140 countries. The U.S. and Japan will have to wait for the phone to be available, along with the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch that was also unveiled Wednesday in Berlin, in October. It will sell with U.S. carriers AT&T, Spring, Verizon, US Cellular and T-Mobile.
