Samsung Unveils Galaxy Note 3 Smartphone

Samsung unveiled the third generation of its big-screen Note smartphone line, the Galaxy Note 3, at events in New York City's Times Square and Berlin on Wednesday.

In evolving the Note line, Samsung says it's attempted to make the phone "slimmer, lighter, faster, larger and better." In addition to a larger screen with a "warm, textured" design, the Note 3 includes a new security system called Knox, which lets sensitive apps and data run in a protected environment called the “container.”

At 5.7 inches, the Note's AMOLED display is bigger than previous generations, but its width isn't any larger than the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Samsung says. It weighs 5.9 ounces. It has a soft, leather-like exterior with "premium look and feel." It comes in three colors: jet black, classic white and blush pink. Customers can also buy optional covers in up to 10 colors. Samsung is also offering a folding cover with a "window" in front that leaves part of the screen visible.

The Note's signature feature, the S Pen stylus, gets an upgrade as well. When the user hovers the S Pen over the screen, a circle appears: Tapping on the screen and clicking the pen's button will reveal a semi-circular menu Samsung calls Air Command. The menu has several functions, including Scrapbook, which lets users save any content onscreen by marking it with a circle via the S Pen. S Finder lets users search for content on their device, taking written symbols into account.

S Note, the companion note-taking app of the Note line, gets a makeover, too. Everything is organized into "notebooks," Samsung is also integrating the app with Evernote, and buyers will get 12 months of Evernote's premium service when they buy the Note 3.

Multi-window, which allows the running of two different apps onscreen simultaneously, can now run two windows from the same app. Pen Window extends multi-window to the S Pen, enabling the user to do things like call up a simple calculator app without closing any onscreen apps.

A new feature called Multi Vision lets multiple users of the Galaxy Note 3 actually combine their displays to display one image. It's not clear yet if the ability will extend to other Galaxy devices.

Samsung will launch the Galaxy Note 3 on Sept. 25 in 149 countries, along with the Galaxy Gear smartwatch and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014-edition tablet. No word on U.S. carrier information yet.

Gregory Lee, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, showed the phone to the press along with the company's new Galaxy Gear smart watch about a half hour before the company' IFA event in Berlin — the formal introduction of the products — was due to begin. Lee didn't reveal any details about either product, although the Note 3 was in a special windowed case for the phone.

The Galaxy Note 3 follows in the footsteps of the Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note phones. The original Galaxy Note, though mocked when first revealed, paved the way for big-screen phones when it proved unexpectedly popular. Most Android flagship phones today sport screens either 4.7 inches or larger. The Galaxy Note II was also a hit for the Korea-based company.