Samsung had announced the Galaxy Note III Neo for India in February as an alternate for those who found the Galaxy Note III a bit too pricey. The device has done away with some of the big hardware specs of the Note III yet retains most of the software features including the full support for the included S-Pen. The device recently went on sale in India and we got ourselves a review unit from folks at Samsung.
We have spent good two weeks with the device now and recently put it through the Benchmark Tests. Although we thought about doing a post showing the device off in a gallery post, but thought why cover things when they are shiny and new as eventually we all want to know how the device will stand the test of time. So for these two weeks we used the phone as our primary device and took no special protective measures. There was no screen guard used on the phone nor any cases. We simply wiped the screen with a lint cloth for cleaning it, and must admit we are really impressed how well the Samsung Galaxy Note III Neo has stood the test of time. You can check out the device from various angles in the special photo gallery of the same here.
The screen has resisted any major scratches in our moderate usage of the phone. However, the screen is an absolute finger print magnet which show up very clearly when seen under direct light source. There have been no creaks or loose plastic sounds. The buttons, including the Home button continue to have great tactile feedback. The accessories are durable enough too and we have not had any issue at all.
Just to run through the profile of the phone quickly now. The front of the device is dominated by the 5.5 inch display with speaker grille on top with a 2 MP front facing camera and ambient light sensor with Home button flanked by capacitive buttons. The phone is surrounded by a shiny steel like plastic rim. On the left flank you have the Volume rockers while the right flank houses the Power button. The top of the phone has a secondary mic for noise cancellation and 3.5 mm headset jack. There is also an IR blaster on top of the phone. The bottom of the device has a speaker grille and main microphone alongside 2.0 Micro USB port. The back of the phone is relatively plain just housing the Samsung branding with the 8 MP A/F Camera and an LED flash.
