[Q] Note 2 Custom ROM vs Note 3 rooted - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

[Q] Note 2 Custom ROM vs Note 3 rooted - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Does anyone have experience running Note 2 Custom ROMS and can provide comparisons to running Note 3 rooted after pruning all the bloat?
Trying to decide between the two and was looking for some straight comparisons, such as snappiness, visual quality in graphical programs/games, and possibly s-pen recognition/accuracy.
One particular thing I'm interested to know is how hooking up to a smart dock compares between the two, what resolutions they output and any interesting performance comparisons with that specifically.
I asked some similar questions at this post, but this is much less AT&T specific.

amsky145 said:
Does anyone have experience running Note 2 Custom ROMS and can provide comparisons to running Note 3 rooted after pruning all the bloat?
Trying to decide between the two and was looking for some straight comparisons, such as snappiness, visual quality in graphical programs/games, and possibly s-pen recognition/accuracy.
One particular thing I'm interested to know is how hooking up to a smart dock compares between the two, what resolutions they output and any interesting performance comparisons with that specifically.
I asked some similar questions at this post, but this is much less AT&T specific.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i say its best you try out both and decide which one u prefer.
when i got my first fone(the glorious htc HD2) i played around with their original/modded roms vs cm/aosp and i found i prefer CM6(latest back then) because of its ease of use and minimalistic looks.
it took a bit of getting use to but once i did,i found i love CM more as the days went by.
I have the note 2 and note 3 and had them since their early launch.used both TW and CM.i still prefer the simplistic nature of CM.and TW cannot even come close to it.
Plus,with a customised rom,u get rid of all that samsung bloatware and free your ram & memory so the phone can perform better and have more space to store things.
that being said,there are pros and cons between the 2,the best is you give each one a go.
My opinion,even though i have the note 3 now,i still use my note 2 with CM 10.1.3 because its rock stable and minimalistic.if i cannot put cm in my note 3,i'd probably sell it off since its practically worthless with all its hardware glory but useless TW rom.

Thanks for the response. So even though the note 3 is supposed to be blazing fast at everything compared to the note 2 in terms of specs, you find yourself using the note 2 more often because of the custom ROM making it that much more easy to use, familiar, snappy etc.? The more you can elaborate on a comparison the better, especially with custom ROM + note2 vs note3.
I'm really looking for like you responded, tons of opinions on performance considerations between the two. I've tried tons of custom ROMs on the android phones i've used in the past, and I'm hesitant to try one on the note 2 that I got at best buy recently because I'm seriously considering just getting a note 3 for the performance alone and being done with it. I really like the size of the notes and the s-pen functionality in particular so all it comes down to at this point is whether giving up custom ROMs for the note3 is worth it.

amsky145 said:
Thanks for the response. So even though the note 3 is supposed to be blazing fast at everything compared to the note 2 in terms of specs, you find yourself using the note 2 more often because of the custom ROM making it that much more easy to use, familiar, snappy etc.? The more you can elaborate on a comparison the better, especially with custom ROM + note2 vs note3.
I'm really looking for like you responded, tons of opinions on performance considerations between the two. I've tried tons of custom ROMs on the android phones i've used in the past, and I'm hesitant to try one on the note 2 that I got at best buy recently because I'm seriously considering just getting a note 3 for the performance alone and being done with it. I really like the size of the notes and the s-pen functionality in particular so all it comes down to at this point is whether giving up custom ROMs for the note3 is worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use note 2 more becoz i like CM and not TW.Stock TW runs alot of useless apps on the background.eating up my ram,cpu and battery.not only does that affect performance(battery life,snappiness etc),its irritates the hell out of me when i see apps i dun use running in the background.and the interface on TW is pretty bloated,i usually change CM launcher to Nemus launcher for minimalistic look and performance...again customisability.
if you want a detailed comparison,i can't give you. but what i can let you know is the following:
-note 3 specs are better note 2 obviously.
-note 3 on TW performs abt the same as note 2 on CM.its snappy,no lag issues.spen fuctionality is limited on CM and full on TW(for obvious reason).so imagine if you put CM on note 3,it will be the ****z.
-note 3's battery life is on par with note 2 on CM.this is due mainly with kernel and rom issues since CM in minimalistic and running minimal apps in the background as compared to stock,unmodded TW on note 3.put CM or a modded TW in,note 3 will beat note 2 hands down.
-note 2 does not have knox,while note 3 has,that is a major crap every note 3 users are facing.this means,flashing customised rom or recovery will trip knox counter and will limit your note 3 to pretty much paper weight.
(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47865015#post47865015)
-note 3 uses usb 3,that means faster charging and data transfer rate and its backward compatible with usb 2.a major improvement in my opinion and its not using some proprietary cables like crapple.
in all,i find the improvements on note 3 and note 2 are about 30-35%. except for a higher resolution,a slighty faster 4 core cpu,a slight better gpu, abt 1 gb more ram, and a bigger battery/screen.
compared that with a note to a note 2,the improvements are like almost 60% imo.
but its best to get new phones than old imo.coz when every one starts moving to newer model of phone,development for old ones will start to die.unless its the HD2..where it never dies.....lol.

Related

You happy with your N4 Over a Note 2 too ?

Has anyone here, had both the Galaxy Note 2 and Nexus 4 ? Curious your opinion if you have tried both, and which you like best, and would keep ?
I like the Note 2's screen colors, I know AMOLED looks cartoony, and over vibrant, but with a good CM10.1 ROM and inverted apps, and dark wallpaper, looks pretty snazzy and great. But the Note 2 is a huge beast, hard to one hand operate. Where as the nexus 4 should be easily one handled, and easier to use day in day out ?
Note 2 has killer battery life, how is the Nexus 4's battery ?
Speed wise, I believe both phones are somewhat similar ? Quad Core + 2GB RAM, I know different types of processors course, but performance on both running CM10.1, are they close ?
If you were on Straight Talk, or same service, which you would get and keep, lets say they were the same price, the N4 or N2 ?

Note 2 has much better battery life because the battery is so much bigger.

There's a couple of threads on this + a general comparison thread as well. For next time..

Please use General threads for this.
Thread closed.

Note 2 vs Note 3 - real world performance

I bought the note 3 to replace the note 2.
I have not yet sold the note 2 and have been testing both phones simultaneously to determine for myself if the upgrade is worth it.
Note 2 setup: stock ( leaked android 4.3) , a few apps installed
Note 3 setup: stock (Android 4.3), same apps as installed on note 2
Benchmarks Apps:
Note 3 beats Note 2 in all I have tried.
Real world use/Apps:
I have run several applications (multiple times ). Some are .....
Browers: chrome, default browser,
Snote
Gmail
Youtube
Speedtest
maps
Camera
Google now
etc...
In several cases, the note 2 is slightly faster than note 3 ( yes, this is not a typo)
Not by much...... but note 2 in "real world use/applications" seems ever so slightly faster than note 3.
In multi-tasking/split window, I run CPU-Z side by side with the chrome browser.
This was to monitor the 4 cpu cores during browser benchmarks.
I tried the following browser benchmark tests....
1. browsermark - rightware.com
2. sunspider
In both tests, the note 2 out-performed the note 3. -----------update: {may have been due to thermal throtling}
I have searched the net and surprisingly, no one else seems to have noticed/reported this.
Can someone else with both phones verify this?
note 3: SM-N900 ( 1.9Ghz) - Octa-core
note 2: GT-N7100 (1.6Ghz) - Quad-core
Update:
I've run the online browser benchmarks a couple more times after some hours of rest.
Sunspider 1.0 scores {firefox}:
note 2: [ 664.4ms]........note 3: [ 414.8ms]
Benchmarks are consistently showing note 3 as faster than note 2.
Real world use shows little to no difference.

I don't think that a few seconds make a difference between two smartphones as daily driver. So I don't think the note 3 is worth the upgrade at least for what I heard. Thanks for sharing!
Sent from my Note 2 using xda-developers app
ProBam v4.4.7
Stock Kernel

I dont have the Note 3, but I have just seen a video of the "famous" LG G2, with the S800, running some top games with FPS meter enabled, and I'm proud to say than my "old" Note 2 has the same performance, and in some games is even better! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16TAbUkAHlU
Benchmarks are the most useless thing that happened to mobile phones. And you can prove it with your own Note 2. Flash an AOSP rom and run a benchmark like 3DMark, you'll get a better result than in stock TouchWiz. So, this means that games should run better on AOSP, right? Then run some game. They will lag WAY more on AOSP roms than in stock roms. Benchmarks aren't a good indicator of anything.
In conclusion, I think phone specs are evolving, that's for sure, but the improvement between generations, like Note 2 -> Note 3, are little in terms of performance, it's not worth the huge amount of money they cost.

Maybe most apps are optimized for 720p rather than 1080p.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

Very interesting. I wonder how long it will take for the rest of the world to catch on to this... or if they ever will?

Thats so interesting. .I wouldnt ever expect that and first time hearing it. No i feel a sense to apprach note 3 performance suspected.
If you proove this with a video screenshots and some benchmark test you would do a revolution i guess..
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

More and more I believe that with top of the line smartphones like these, upgrading is necessary only every two years. I had the S2 before this and it's really when I began to feel the slouch in newer games that I decided to upgrade.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4

cdlq456 said:
I dont have the Note 3, but I have just seen a video of the "famous" LG G2, with the S800, running some top games with FPS meter enabled, and I'm proud to say than my "old" Note 2 has the same performance, and in some games is even better! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16TAbUkAHlU
Benchmarks are the most useless thing that happened to mobile phones. And you can prove it with your own Note 2. Flash an AOSP rom and run a benchmark like 3DMark, you'll get a better result than in stock TouchWiz. So, this means that games should run better on AOSP, right? Then run some game. They will lag WAY more on AOSP roms than in stock roms. Benchmarks aren't a good indicator of anything.
In conclusion, I think phone specs are evolving, that's for sure, but the improvement between generations, like Note 2 -> Note 3, are little in terms of performance, it's not worth the huge amount of money they cost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have stored worrying about benchmarks because all people say is the phones cheat the score. I would rather see just see real world performance. And like a PC a higher clock speed and more cores does not mean better performance.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app

note 2 to 3 not compelling upgrade
very useful, thanks.
I was considering upgrading when Note 3 prices fall, maybe early 2014. But now I am far from sure especially with Samsung's stupid region locking.
Reasons to upgrade:
IR emitter for TV remote control. Vaguely useful, perhaps in bars and restaurants when their TVs are turned up too loud so's I can turn them off or down!
USB3. Possible good for faster charging off computer and occasionally dumping in a load of music files.
802.11ac. Maybe I'll upgrade one day at home?
Display. Reports suggest it's easier to read outdoors.
Reasons I was considering not upgrading:
Note2 can support all the note3 software. We just have to wait for Samsung to release it. Or androiders to kang the note3 rom.
Am happy with 720p display. I have quite good eyesight, with corrected vision (short sighted) and I never feel my Note2 needs more pixels on the screen. A better sensor in the camera for low light would be nice but the camera is good for casual shots.
Camera already good enough.
NFC antenna. I like the NFC antenna not being part of the battery so I can use Anker third party battery which gives as good as OEM battery.
S-Pen already good enough fine. I got used to the only minor nuisance that the off-screen capacitive buttons couldn't sense the pen.
CPU already fast enough.
802.11ac wifi. I don't have anything which supports super high speed wifi. I'd end up buying an 11ac access point, then would want to upgrade my laptop wifi card too.
Besides, 802.11a/n is faster than my broadband at home. And at work we don't even have 802.11a.

I too have the Note 2 (international) and the AT&T Note 3... I can say that if you don't have an upgrade available it definitely IS NOT worth paying full retail price for the phone. I signed a new 2 year agreement to get it for $288.88 and I can turn around and sell my Note 2 for $350-400 easily making my money back...
The pros with the Note 3 are that the screen is absolutely beautiful! Besides the S4 this is the most amazing screen I have ever seen with my own eyes. Next, comes the software. There's a lot of new small changes that make things easier to use, however most of these things will be coming to a Note 2 via an update. If you're into aesthetics then this device looks more "premium" over a Note 2 and I almost don't want to cover it with a case.
As far as performance goes, you can notice it slightly. Apps open faster, but it could be due to the increase in screen sensitivity also. TouchWiz eats up over 1 gig of ram leaving a little more than 1 gig free for user apps. On my note 2 with my custom rom I would use about 600mb of ram leaving a litle more than 1 gig free also. No improvements here.
Some buggy things I've noticed so far is that my text vibration is very weak compared to others such as email. Also every app gives me a vibration alert even if I turned it off.
There's a lot of bloat on here even for a carrier phone. Most of it is from Samsung it seems.
Besides the few "pros" I see with the Note 3, I would not recommend anyone to purchase it over a Note 2 unless you have an upgrade you can use. Especially an AT&T one with a locked bootloader, which forces you to keep all these useless apps running on your phone.

LDDR3 and USB3 better than note2
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

pageniao said:
LDDR3 and USB3 better than note2
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is it real world performance?

i dont know what is real world performance.but
when i playing flac music and browsing pictures,note2 get lags.
with leaked 4.3
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Leaked 4.3 is not final. Also I hope you flashed Wanam or such 4.3 based ROMs, not just 4.3 as it is. Either way pretty sure it's Touchwizlag.

mazdamiata210 said:
I too have the Note 2 (international) and the AT&T Note 3... I can say that if you don't have an upgrade available it definitely IS NOT worth paying full retail price for the phone. I signed a new 2 year agreement to get it for $288.88 and I can turn around and sell my Note 2 for $350-400 easily making my money back...
The pros with the Note 3 are that the screen is absolutely beautiful! Besides the S4 this is the most amazing screen I have ever seen with my own eyes. Next, comes the software. There's a lot of new small changes that make things easier to use, however most of these things will be coming to a Note 2 via an update. If you're into aesthetics then this device looks more "premium" over a Note 2 and I almost don't want to cover it with a case.
As far as performance goes, you can notice it slightly. Apps open faster, but it could be due to the increase in screen sensitivity also. TouchWiz eats up over 1 gig of ram leaving a little more than 1 gig free for user apps. On my note 2 with my custom rom I would use about 600mb of ram leaving a litle more than 1 gig free also. No improvements here.
Some buggy things I've noticed so far is that my text vibration is very weak compared to others such as email. Also every app gives me a vibration alert even if I turned it off.
There's a lot of bloat on here even for a carrier phone. Most of it is from Samsung it seems.
Besides the few "pros" I see with the Note 3, I would not recommend anyone to purchase it over a Note 2 unless you have an upgrade you can use. Especially an AT&T one with a locked bootloader, which forces you to keep all these useless apps running on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this very well note 3, but I see exorbitant price

There is nothing worth here to give up $450 to trade in my Note II ($850-$400), mine is so fast and so optimised for my needs that will skip the Note 3 for the next one, for me that's the end of the story.

pageniao said:
i dont know what is real world performance.but
when i playing flac music and browsing pictures,note2 get lags.
with leaked 4.3
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 3 lags too (stutters ) when ......
playing flac: (44khz, 16bit, 23.35mb) and browsing pictures ( gallery, slideshow )

After 4.3 leak install, my note 2 doesn't have any microlag.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

fixfox2 said:
Note 3 lags too (stutters ) when ......
playing flac: (44khz, 16bit, 23.35mb) and browsing pictures ( gallery, slideshow )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what player are you using for playing flac?
if i may ask

spiderio said:
what player are you using for playing flac?
if i may ask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the default music player

[Q] Hard to decide between Note 3 and Nexus 5

Hi guys,
I am having some serious thoughts on what to get... Basically I am a software developer and I have a Galaxy Nexus, a Galaxy S1 some ond Xperia and a Nexus 7. It is time for me to switch to a new device as my daily driver. The options I have are Galaxy Nexus 5 and the Note 3. The Note 3 is more expensive with around 150$ in my country, considering the type of contract I am getting. The phone will be used for at least one year.
Nexus 5: well, no review yet. Price is reasonable in my country and has the new 4.4. The new android version doesn't impress me. To be honest I find the google experience pretty boring but I have to admit I liked receiving fast updates on my Nexus.
Note 3: I have been reading around the forum for the last days. I saw that many have problems with the home button, the battery life, the screen issues. I like the s-pen features but I am not sure how much I'll use them.
What advice do you give me ? What should I get ?

alinescoo said:
Hi guys,
I am having some serious thoughts on what to get... Basically I am a software developer and I have a Galaxy Nexus, a Galaxy S1 some ond Xperia and a Nexus 7. It is time for me to switch to a new device as my daily driver. The options I have are Galaxy Nexus 5 and the Note 3. The Note 3 is more expensive with around 150$ in my country, considering the type of contract I am getting. The phone will be used for at least one year.
Nexus 5: well, no review yet. Price is reasonable in my country and has the new 4.4. The new android version doesn't impress me. To be honest I find the google experience pretty boring but I have to admit I liked receiving fast updates on my Nexus.
Note 3: I have been reading around the forum for the last days. I saw that many have problems with the home button, the battery life, the screen issues. I like the s-pen features but I am not sure how much I'll use them.
What advice do you give me ? What should I get ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have galaxy note 3 but if i time returns i will choose nexus 5

Please mention your reasons. It would help me a lot. Thanks

I'm using note 3 at the moment and my nexus 5 is on its way to me, will give more accurate impression once received.
Features I prefer nexus 5 over note 3
Design look and feel (massive improvement)
No TW bloatware (another massive factor)
Easier to carry around
More regular software updates kat 4.4
No lag freezing (hopefully)
Features I will miss coming from note 3
camera not impressed at all (will miss that the most)
4k video recording
Battery life
S-pen (just a little)
Multi screens (what a feature)
Large screen
Ext memory

Have you encountered any problems with the Note 3 ? Does it lag ? Do you have that effect on low brightness for dark borders ? How does TW bloatware affect you ?

Battery wise note has 50%more juice. Home button issues - do you mean the button moving around? It is not a problem, people are too much complaining about tiny tiny things they should never find unless they read about it.
Camera - i think nexus5 is way better than n3. Its not the pixels that matter, or software options. Nexus 5 camera is next level, focus is about 10 times faster.
Bloatware yes, samsung puts 700mb of bloatware that you dont receive on nexus. Not sure if anything of that is usable. But cyanogenmod should arrive soon!
I wish note3 had the new camera and with optical stabilization, then it would be perfect!
As for 4.4 - its just a number. There will definitely arrive new android versions fast on the n3, just that you have to flash it yourself and void the warranty.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app

I like Nexus because:
- The design of the device and the appearance of the UI is more appealing to me. I like to keep things on my phone looking pretty "minimalistic" with few colors and lots and lots of black. I absolutely hate the Touchwiz cartoony look and I always change everything about it, the process starts immediately on first boot of the phone. Everything about Touchwiz looks awful - the icons, the menus, the choices in colors, those horrible big green quick settings toggles in the notification bar. Stock Android is much much better when it comes to looks. The Nexus 5 and its software looks like it's been designed by a design team made up of adults who actually make cohesive decisions together. Touchwiz looks to me like the school project of a pre-school class where everyone can add their favorite color and everyone gets to participate and add their touch to the design. Little Johnny wants a big blue, round icon there - OK let's put it right next to Jenny's rectangular pink icon there and add Lisa's green toggles! Fun for everybody.
I like Note 2/3 because:
- The battery is bigger. I've never been this satisfied with battery life.
- The screen is bigger. Honestly after using the Note 2, I cringe every time I use my iPhone 4 (I keep it as my spare phone) or my wife's Galaxy S III. The displays are so tiny, I don't think I could go back. Not even to a 5" display.
- I don't like the on screen nav buttons of stock Android. I want the physical menu, home and back buttons.
- The S-Pen. I'm not a heavy S-Pen user but it has really nice features on the Note 3. I use it much more with my Note 3 than I did with my Note 2.
- Memory card slot. Seriously. I could not live without one.
- Removable battery - not a big reason but nonetheless it is nice.
I hate the Note 2/3 because:
- I get to a point where I'm never satisfied with the ROM I use. New stuff is released on XDA and I feel this pressing need to try other ROMs. All the time. Sometimes it seems all I do with my phone is restoring backups. With the Nexus I think that I would be more easily able to just stick with one ROM.. Maybe even the stock ROM, just rooting it.

Don't listen to them
I just bought Note 3 after using Note 2 for couple of months
And go for Note 3 believe me this is the beast .. Note 3 Snap dragon

I am in the same boat as op.
I have a s2 now for 3 years and looking for an upgrade.
Minimum 5 inch screen, preferably a tad bigger.
Key feature should be office workability, due to a upcoming promotion as a project manager.
So I need info from all sorts of documents on the fly. Including excel.
Does the note provide this?
For free time I love playing games and viewing movies.
Help appreciated.
EJ
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

U may have to wait for few weeks to get the full hands on review about this. Nexus 5. The specs r good. But we don't know about battery life, camera performance, and heating issues. Note 3 is good in these areas.
Sent from my SM-N9005

I am planning on using the Note 3 with stock firmware from Samsung... because of warranty issues of knox trigger. This would also help on trying to reproduce bugs that appear on TouchWiz platform easier. So, having stock on Note3 sucks performance wise ?

efjbdejong said:
I am in the same boat as op.
I have a s2 now for 3 years and looking for an upgrade.
Minimum 5 inch screen, preferably a tad bigger.
Key feature should be office workability, due to a upcoming promotion as a project manager.
So I need info from all sorts of documents on the fly. Including excel.
Does the note provide this?
For free time I love playing games and viewing movies.
Help appreciated.
EJ
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps wait for nokia lumia 1520.
That's ideal for such mundane tasks. Lol
---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------
alleshi said:
Don't listen to them
I just bought Note 3 after using Note 2 for couple of months
And go for Note 3 believe me this is the beast .. Note 3 Snap dragon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 3 is far better then note 2 for sure but is it the best ow no. It's a beast but not the best.

If i didn't have the Note 3 already i would be pretty tempted to buy the Nexus 5. It's half the price, here, with great hardware, Kit Kat, Google updates, etc. But those touch buttons (why?) on the screen are a no no for me.

Thank you all for replies. After doing a lot of reading on the Buyers remorse thread I see that most of note3 users are happy. The only notable problems are: very weak audio output because of the small speaker, the pink effect around black edges on low brightness settings and the wobbly home button. Also I see that the battery isn't so great.
I am really thinking what to get, as I said, the difference would be around 150$ in price.

If I didn't have N3 already I would have the N5. I had N4 previously.
N3 has plus and minus points.
+ points
Battery Life - best I ever had
SD Card - installed 64GB,some users have install 128GB.
Big Screen - I like the screen some don't like AMOLED colors.
Fastest CPU & 3GB RAM
Multi Window & Pen Window
IrDA port - can control devices from my phone.
- points
Design - not very stylish
Build quality - my back cover already creaks only 1 month old. Others have experienced Home button and screen/multi touch issues
External Speakers - embarrassing from Samsung.
Samsung bloatware - unnecessary
Wireless Charging - not built in but @ extra cost
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Costum ROM
why wouldn't you just wait on xda to get pure 4.4 android and install that ROM on your note 3 ?

Hi,
the Google Nexus 5 is indeed a very good phone. Having switched from Nexus 4 to Galaxy Note 3 I can basically give you good explanations.
The Galaxy Note 3 has plenty more features than the Google Nexus 4 abd 5 which is great.
I would say the Note 3 wins everywhere against the Nexus unless you tell me you prefer smaller screen. In my case, the screen size was the reasob why I moved.
On the otherside, yes there are a lot of Samsung apps and that sucks to me. The Galaxy Note 3 can be rooted easily, so you can easy remove those bloatwares which make me feel more confortable that way.
On the other hand, I do prefer the PURE Androis that the Google Nexus has to the TouchWiz by Samsung because it uses way less resources.
The perfect phone for me would be a Note 3 with a AOSP Rom. (CyanogenMod or Android Open Kang Project (AOKP) because it would give the pure android feeling which means higher battery life, no bloatwares, faster updates.

Ok guys, some N5 reviews have appeared and to be honest, things don't look that good in battery and camera departments. Actually that was kinda expected considering the 2300 mAh battery and 1080p screen.
Now back to note 3, all the small things that bothered me (wobbly home button, pinkish black borders, bloatware) are not important anymore. The things that worries me most is the screen burn in. I saw some reviews where this is mentioned (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3mbkoXCMhs&feature=em-uploademail from 19 minute). I have own so far a Galaxy S1 and a Galaxy Nexus both having amoled screens. On my GNex sometimes I can see the keyboard shadow after using it, but I haven't really noticed any permanent retention as it goes off after a few seconds. I just did a quick check with blue color all over the screen and I can see a very faint shadow of the top bar, but nothing really noticeable. BUT, I use the phone on auto brightness and considering that Note 3 has the most bright amoled display built, I am afraid that it will suffer from permanent burn in because of blue pixels. Could anyone tell me if they have burn in ? This is a major drawback for me and might be the point which may convince me to give up on note3 in favor of N5.
Thanks all for your help. I really appreciate it.

For me it's so simple. They don't even belong to the same category.
Do you need/like the S-Pen features (and do you actually use them)? Do you need the bigger screen and the amazing Full HD @60fps video (let alone the 4K)?
If not then the Nexus 5 is a no brainer at this price point. Plain and simple.
Apps and bloatware are of no importance to me. I always remove them to my preference, to me flashing ROMs is an integral part of a smartphone like Note 3.

I agree with you, but if the screen has issues than all the other features are pointless, considering that the screen is the thing we see most.
It would be really great if owners could do some screen tests and return with the result.

[Q] Samsung Rom differences between devices

Hi
I am considering buying a new phone - Note4 (I have Note2 right now) and I went to a shop with most modern phones to compare. I was focusing mainly on Samsung's phones and I noticed there are huge differences between ROMs even when the android version is the same.
Galaxy Alpha's ROM has a different theme and in general the phone works definitely faster than Note 4 or Galaxy S4 or Galaxy S5. I noticed f.e. that finally there is no delay when switching between the phone tab and the contact tab (previously looked like separate apps on Samsung's ROMs). It was not the case in the Note4! Alpha has android 4.4.4 ROM and so the Galaxy S4/Note4 which is slower than the Alpha. Galaxy S5 UI is faster than Note4's but it has 4.4.2 preinstalled. I tried two different Note4 phones and the same results. I don't even mention the design because Note4's touchwiz looks almost the same as the one delivered for Note2 with the latest update. Alpha's ROM looks much better.
Do you know what may be a reason?

Maybe thay platformed their products to some lines: Note, S ...
With a ton of Spem features they would not want rebuild bases on latest UI like Alpha. I think they based on Note series to dev more features, tweak more to match demand, business plan or something else...
My wife is using Note 2 and I can say that you will enjoy Note 4 which has many things upgraded from Note 2. A big step.
We will have another big step by next Lollipop update

Yes that's correct that there are improvements comparing the original Note2's ROM version to Note4. The problem is that I am completely not satisfied with the Note2. It's so slow it is generally not usable without flashing with the cyanogenmod or something else. I want to buy a device I can use without rooting it at the first day and loosing a warranty. I was quite happy with the speed of the Alpha but completely not happy with what I saw in the Note 4. The problem is that it seems that the Alpha is the only Samsung's device right now which works without any jitters but it has so weak battery it won't last a full day when using more intensively. Maybe as I work in the IT I am less patient with the hardware but I could imagine the original Note4 hardware with a stock ROM would be probably much better.

New Tablet

Just got my Note Pro and this thing is huge. Formerly, I have owned the Note 10.1 and Note 10.1 2014 edition. I also use a Note 4. I have looked at other tablet, but I'm kinda hooked on the multiwindow and and s-pan handwriting. It is a fast way for me to take notes. I'm a preacher and use my tablet for sermon prep and during sermons, so the additional screen real estate is a boost for me. Look forward to playing with this things. I have already rooted and installed a custom ROM (better speed and battery life). Look forward to everything I can learn on this forum.

Got mine on Friday. Rooted and attempted to debloat myself.
Loving the tablet even though it's not up to date (not even 4.4.4 lol). Nova launcher plus a few xposed mods filled the void though.
Kinda sucks the community isn't as active due to slow update rollout but I look forward to trying out some of the active developed ROMs for the P900.

I don't know if I'm allowed to mention the ROM, but a well-known and respected developer has a customer ROM for the Note Pro that I'm running now and finding that I gained some performance and battery life, as well as what seems like unlimited customization (especially when combined with xposed).

I love mine too. Give inkredible a try, I think its great. Also lecture notes might be useful for you.

Right now I"m using LOGOS Bible software (which I really like). I have the very basic package, but that includes a lot. While I was waiting for mine to arrive, I used a paper Bible at church and got laughed at because for years no one has seen me use one! All of my sermons and teaching notes are on my tablet. I don't use a keyboard. I have gotten very good using the handwriting (I use an app called Stylus Beta because it takes up less screen real estate than the Samsung keyboard). I also use a full sized stylus for comfort.

Illusive Man said:
Just got my Note Pro and this thing is huge. Formerly, I have owned the Note 10.1 and Note 10.1 2014 edition. I also use a Note 4. I have looked at other tablet, but I'm kinda hooked on the multi-window and and s-pan handwriting. It is a fast way for me to take notes. I'm a preacher and use my tablet for sermon prep and during sermons, so the additional screen real estate is a boost for me. Look forward to playing with this things. I have already rooted and installed a custom ROM (better speed and battery life). Look forward to everything I can learn on this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been a fan of the note series from the original, the s-pen and multi-windows have always added the functionality I've needed. I upgraded from the Note 10.1 about a year ago, and I've gotta say the increased pixel density and screen size make this the perfect tab for me. It is big, it is heavy, but that screen real estate makes it the perfect tab for professionals, or those wanting to get maximum productivity from their tab. I also have a Tab S 8.4, it's perfect for reading books or light gaming, but for anything else I find myself reaching for my Note Pro. I've never had a issue with performance, be it on a stock ROM or custom, the octa-core CPU and 3 GB of RAM still power through all the task I throw at it, the GPU is getting a little dated compared to some newer offerings, but runs everything I need it to at a smooth frame rate. Overall, best tab I've ever owned, keep it up Samsung! (and please give us some stock theme options, touchwiz is still damn ugly! albeit slightly improved in Lollipop)
Illusive Man said:
I don't know if I'm allowed to mention the ROM, but a well-known and respected developer has a customer ROM for the Note Pro that I'm running now and finding that I gained some performance and battery life, as well as what seems like unlimited customization (especially when combined with xposed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem you mentioning the ROM you run, especially if you point out the benefits and or bugs. I was running hyperdrive from the get-go, nice ROM, lots of customization options and performance tweaks. Could not help flashing a stock Lollipop ROM a month or so ago, very happy with it. Some have experienced battery drain issues, but I've not had this problem. Now if we could get a port of Remix OS, I could see great potential for the Note Pro as a surface replacement, especially now Microsoft have released Office for Android:good:

Hey... I have had my note pro stolen this evening from my car..... I really loved the tablet after having it for a year, I used it a massive amount... It is not insured I am afraid, I am replacing it with a pixel c but do feel I will be making the wrong choice.. The note series hasn't been improved upon over the last 18 months.. I never updated to 5.1.1 as the update on my note 3 did break things..
Any thoughts on my choices??
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Tricky103 said:
Hey... I have had my note pro stolen this evening from my car..... I really loved the tablet after having it for a year, I used it a massive amount... It is not insured I am afraid, I am replacing it with a pixel c but do feel I will be making the wrong choice.. The note series hasn't been improved upon over the last 18 months.. I never updated to 5.1.1 as the update on my note 3 did break things..
Any thoughts on my choices??
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't get a pixel C until multiwindow or split window shows up, and then still I am not sure I could scale down to a 10 inch device. I have seen the LTE models of the Note on Ebay for as low as 300.
Also hopefully you went into your google account under Sign-in and Security, then recently used devices and remove your account from the Note Pro you had stolen. That won't stop them from getting whats on the device but better than nothing. Bummer about the theft.

Tricky103 said:
Hey... I have had my note pro stolen this evening from my car..... I really loved the tablet after having it for a year, I used it a massive amount... It is not insured I am afraid, I am replacing it with a pixel c but do feel I will be making the wrong choice.. The note series hasn't been improved upon over the last 18 months.. I never updated to 5.1.1 as the update on my note 3 did break things..
Any thoughts on my choices??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not suggest purchasing the Pixel C if your original Note's use case was for productivity. Considering the C lacks multi-window support and a native stylus

Also the Pixel-C has *no* micro-sd slot. Deal breaker for me. Nifty machine looks-wise, though. 2 to 3 times as expensive as buying another Samsung 12.2 Note from ebay or amazon....
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

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