Samsung Unveils Galaxy Note 3 Neo and Debuts First Hexa-Core Exynos Processor

Samsung Poland has just unveiled the long rumoured budget variant of Note 3, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo, which is expected to provide an S Pen experience reminiscent of Note 3 at a lower price tag. The handset will be available in two variants: Galaxy Note 3 Neo 3G and Note 3 Neo LTE+, from February.

According to a press release, the handset is expected to go global starting February, in three colour variants: black, white and green. The Note 3 Neo has the same weight, thickness and battery capacity as its predecessor, the Note 3.

Design-wise, the Neo variant is an exact copy of the original Note 3 with a faux-leather plastic back. However, the former ships with a slightly smaller 5.5in screen in contrast to Note 3's 5.7in screen.

Among other key feature changes, the Neo supports 720p display resolution in contrast to 1080p and 8MP camera with 1080p video recording in comparison to 13MP camera with 4K video recording on the original Note 3.

The LTE+ model of Note 3 Neo ships with Samsung's first hexa-core Exynos processor, comprising two A15 cores clocked at 1.7GHz and four A7 cores clocked at 1.3GHz. The bigger A15 cores are meant for processor-intensive tasks such as gaming and HD video playback, while the slower A7 cores take over lightweight tasks such as browsing the web and e-mail surfing. The 3G model of the handset employs a quad-core 1.6GHz processor whose make or model is unknown.

Apart from minor differences in connectivity options and processor configurations, both the Note 3 Neo 3G and the Note 3 Neo LTE+ feature the same specifications. Both the handsets run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box with regular TouchWiz tweaks and UI customisations.

Both versions of Note 3 Neo offer 5.5in 720p Super AMOLED display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot for memory expansion. The primary camera features an 8MP BSI sensor with 1080p video recording capability, while a 2MP front-facing camera supports video calls and stills.

On the connectivity front, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo supports LTE+ (up to 150Mbps) or HSPA+ (up to 42Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) , NFC, GPS/GLONASS and IR Blaster.

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo weighs 162.5g and measures about 8.6mm in thickness. Though there is still no word on price details for the handset from Samsung, the LTE variant will reportedly be more expensive than the 3G model.

[Source: Samsung Poland via Sammy Today]