Price of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3: $699

Major carriers in the US require you to cough up between $199 to $299 depending on the contract y are signed for.

But what we are more interested here is the retail price without contract as many of us may just want the phone set and hunt for the best plan or package out there ourselves.

Want to squeeze Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 into your pockets? That'd be....

According to Engadget, the Note 3 is peg at $699 without contract, although no official announcement from Samsung yet. This was reportedly seen on Verizon's website.

That would be an equivalent of RM2,399 in Malaysia but there's no surprise here as the Note 2 was priced around the same figure previously.

This sounds ridiculous but remember this is Samsung's flagship phablet and people are expected to pay ridiculous price.

Source: Engadget

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 officially announced in Berlin

Apple is expected to announce the latest iPhone next week, but just before that, Samsung sneaked in to announce two new devices on Wednesday - the Galaxy Note 3, the latest iteration of the Note family and the Galaxy Gear, a smart watch.

The latest entry to Samsung's popular phablet line is equipped with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display and its signature S Pen stylus, and is scheduled to launch later this month. September is poised to be a shopping month for the latest gadget!

The Galaxy Note 3 is equipped with a useful S Pen

Physical difference from the older Note 2

The Note 3 sports a 5.7-inch, full high-definition screen, a slight bigger than the Note 2's 5.5-inch display. But despite the bigger screen, the Note 3 is thinner and lighter, measuring 8.3mm and weighing just 168g.

The screen sizes have been creeping up slightly since the introduction of the first Note:

Galaxy Note 1 : 5.3 inches
Galaxy Note 2 : 5.5 inches
Galaxy Note 3 : 5.7 inches

Don't be surprised if the future Note's screen size overtake the Galaxy Mega's current 6.3 inches.

Thinner and lighter. With screen size bigger than Note 2's, the Note 3 is still lighter by a few grams

Specification of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Chipset	:	Quad Core Processor
CPU Speed	:	2.3 GHz (LTE) and 1.9 GHz octa-core (3G)
Memory	:	32 GB or 64 GB and 3GB RAM
Connectivity	:	3G, 4G LTE
Other wireless	:	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Operating System	:	Android Jelly Bean 4.3
Display Technology	:	Super AMOLED
Display Size	:	5.7 inches
Resolution	:	1920 x 1080 pixels, 386.5ppi
Camera Resolution(Rear)	:	13 M
Camera Resolution(Front)	:	2.1 MP
Flash	:	LED flash
Dimension (HxWxD)	:	6 x 3.1 x 0.33 (inch), thickness 8.3mm
Weight	:	168 g
External Memory Slot	:	MicroSD up to 64 GB
Capacity	:	3,200 mAh
Video Resolution	:	4K or Ultra HD

As phones get bigger and tablets get more ubiquitous, it's good to see that the Galaxy Note 3 does something different that actually justifies the increased size. It multitasks!

I don't fancy big phablet as I tend to go for bigger tablet and smaller smartphone for the obvious reason, but this will be an interesting preposition for the big-phone lovers.