Galaxy Note 3 review: The 2013 Note — a faux-leather back and a refined S Pen.
A strong 2013 Note — fast, with the practical removable battery.
The Note 3 paired a fast Snapdragon 800 with a refined S Pen and removable battery. The faux-leather back aside, it was excellent in 2013 — now history.
01Display
56/10056/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2013 — 12 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
02Camera
40/10040/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2013 — 21 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
26/10026/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2013 — 30 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
54/10054/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2013 — 8 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
46/10046/100 is one of the weaker build results among flagship phones of 2013 — 18 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
06Value
36/10036/100 is one of the weaker value results among flagship phones of 2013 — 15 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
- Fast Snapdragon 800 with 3 GB RAM — strong for 2013.
- Refined S Pen with Air Command.
- Removable battery and microSD.
- Early 4K video capture.
- Faux-leather plastic back divided opinion.
- Fiddly microUSB 3.0 port.
- Software ended at Android 5.
- Discontinued — a vintage device.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 87-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .