Note 3 kind of crappy as a phone, but a great tablet

[spinedoc77]

I just switched to the Note 3 full time from a 5s. Previously the 5s was my main phone and the Note 3 was my "tablet". I must say the Note 3 is really sucking as a phone, I'm quite disappointed.

My main issues are phone use. The proximity sensor is terrible, half the time it doesn't register when I put it to my ear and the screen stays on, also if the screen does turn off when I put the phone down either it takes several seconds for it to turn on again, or it won't turn on. That's unacceptable as I need to put people on speaker phone and look things up on the phone often. The phone app also seems quite laggy, opening contacts up for example sometimes takes 2-3 seconds versus being instant on any other phone I've had. Of course I still have the same complaints I had with my previous android phones that Google Now is too internet centric and doesn't work well as a personal assistant, and S-voice is utter garbage which I refuse to use.

The last issue is reception, it's not as good as my 5s looking at them side by side. It's not terrible, but I have lost signal in places where my 5s would hang on to one bar. Also LTE seems spotty, in areas where my 5s has LTE the Note 3 does not. Sucked to drive to work today and have Waze lose the network intermittently while I had reception, don't know what that's about, maybe the gps?

I'm on an unrooted 4.4.2 AT&T Note 3. I have run a couple of system cleaners and in general use the phone seems snappy enough. Am I doing something wrong, or is this how it works?

 

[pdqgp]

My main issues are phone use. The proximity sensor is terrible, half the time it doesn't register when I put it to my ear and the screen stays on, also if the screen does turn off when I put the phone down either it takes several seconds for it to turn on again, or it won't turn on. That's unacceptable as I need to put people on speaker phone and look things up on the phone often. The phone app also seems quite laggy, opening contacts up for example sometimes takes 2-3 seconds versus being instant on any other phone I've had. Of course I still have the same complaints I had with my previous android phones that Google Now is too internet centric and doesn't work well as a personal assistant, and S-voice is utter garbage which I refuse to use.

I can't say my AT&T Note 3 has any proximity issues. Turns on/off just fine when I'm using it. I have mine in a Spigen case that Essencially makes it look like a giant iPhone In terms of turning on/off, mine is quite snappy too. I have my screen turn off after 3 mins IIRC. One I push the home or on button it's on instantly. No delay.

Phone wise, I have about 6000 contacts and yes, it can take 1-3 seconds to search and pull up a name. Not all the time though. Most contacts of mine it pulls up quickly. Google wise, I love Google Now. There's rarely if ever a place I don't have signal thus to me combined with the speed of LTE, I love it. Blows Siri away IMO. S-Voice....I really only use it to set appointments or alarms for quick reminders. I LOL thought at the "sultry" style of the voice on mine. Perhaps it can be changed but I kinda like it

The last issue is reception, it's not as good as my 5s looking at them side by side. It's not terrible, but I have lost signal in places where my 5s would hang on to one bar. Also LTE seems spotty, in areas where my 5s has LTE the Note 3 does not. Sucked to drive to work today and have Waze lose the network intermittently while I had reception, don't know what that's about, maybe the gps?

Signal wise, mine is better than my old 4s. YMWV depending on location of country but overall I'm pleased and only comparing it to my 4s. I do know that here in my office it does way better. My 4s wouldn't get signal or allow me to do anything other than text. Here I'm able to make calls and email and even tether to my iPad which is what I'm doing now.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this how it works?

I can't say you're doing anything wrong. LIkely just change management issues.

 

[Fanaticalism]

For one reason or another, the dialer has issues for the first week or two of use. It force closes and gives and error of " Com.Android.Phone". It'll then mysteriously just go away and never return, but I do recommend turning off and wiping cache from recovery. I assure you, it will fly right through and may solve it then and there.

As far as the proximity sensor, it is rather annoying, but I can't say it is due latency but placement. There are times I go to put the phone in speaker or anything else and it will register my hand as being over the sensor and black out the screen.

+1 on Google now. I use the GNL and use the hands free all the time.

 

[spinedoc77]

For one reason or another, the dialer has issues for the first week or two of use. It force closes and gives and error of " Com.Android.Phone". It'll then mysteriously just go away and never return, but I do recommend turning off and wiping cache from recovery. I assure you, it will fly right through and may solve it then and there.

As far as the proximity sensor, it is rather annoying, but I can't say it is due latency but placement. There are times I go to put the phone in speaker or anything else and it will register my hand as being over the sensor and black out the screen.

+1 on Google now. I use the GNL and use the hands free all the time.

Do you mean to actually boot into recovery and clear the cache? I will give that a try, I forget the key combination to boot into recovery, it's an unrooted phone with the stock recovery.

Google now is nice here and there, I really liked that this morning I had a little icon of an accident and when I clicked on the notification it showed me an accident on my work route, very neat. My best example of why it isn't as nice as siri is when I say "call Mario" it does an internet search of super mario bros. Although I know it's not meant as a personal assistant, I just can't bring myself to use S-voice.

 

[Fanaticalism]

Yup.

You need to have your contacts backed up to Google and it will prompt you to enable a feature to improve accuracy after your first couple of attempts of using it to dial.

I have found GN to be incredibly accurate. As an example if you have a contact with multiple numbers it will ask you which one you would like to use and you can just say "the second one".

S voice sucks. I have it completely disabled.

 

[soulreaver99]

You're holding it wrong

 

[spinedoc77]

Yup.

You need to have your contacts backed up to Google and it will prompt you to enable a feature to improve accuracy after your first couple of attempts of using it to dial.

I have found GN to be incredibly accurate. As an example if you have a contact with multiple numbers it will ask you which one you would like to use and you can just say "the second one".

S voice sucks. I have it completely disabled.

what's the key combo to root into recovery? Is the only thing deleted my contacts, or do I have to set everything up again like accounts, etc?

I've never had that prompt to improve accuracy in the dialer come up, any way I can trigger it?

GN is very accurate, in doing internet searches. If I want to search for an app it does an internet search first, then after scrolling to the bottom it may have some hits for an installed app. If I "call Mario" it does an internet search for super mario bros. It's this kind of stuff which will never let me fall in love with GN as a personal assistant, although I do use and love GN for other things like news and traffic alerts.

 

[Fanaticalism]

De

what's the key combo to root into recovery? Is the only thing deleted my contacts, or do I have to set everything up again like accounts, etc?

I've never had that prompt to improve accuracy in the dialer come up, any way I can trigger it?

GN is very accurate, in doing internet searches. If I want to search for an app it does an internet search first, then after scrolling to the bottom it may have some hits for an installed app. If I "call Mario" it does an internet search for super mario bros. It's this kind of stuff which will never let me fall in love with GN as a personal assistant, although I do use and love GN for other things like news and traffic alerts.

Volume up, power and home button.

You won't be resetting to factory, only wiping cache. You'll see the option. Use the volume down and power to select.

It should not do a search for a contact if the contact is backed up to your Google. Make sure it isn't stored to another resource. If it's on the phones memory, it won't work correctly.

Go to your Google settings account and privacy check contacts

 

[spinedoc77]

De

Volume up, power and home button.

You won't be resetting to factory, only wiping cache. You'll see the option. Use the volume down and power to select.

It should not do a search for a contact if the contact is backed up to your Google. Make sure it isn't stored to another resource. If it's on the phones memory, it won't work correctly.

Go to your Google settings account and privacy check contacts

Crap, I specifically avoid backing up contacts to Google. I manually back them up using an app. I don't mind losing them as I have them all backed up in a vcf file. When I back them up to google all hell breaks loose in trying to keep them synced with my iphone.

 

[Fanaticalism]

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Crap, I specifically avoid backing up contacts to Google. I manually back them up using an app. I don't mind losing them as I have them all backed up in a vcf file. When I back them up to google all hell breaks loose in trying to keep them synced with my iphone.

Why would it wreak havoc?

 

[spinedoc77]

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Why would it wreak havoc?

I have that setting turned on. I've always had Google Now force an internet search with certain names even with that setting on.

The contacts backed up wreaks havoc because iOS and android seem to randomly not work together, I get double backups, my *31# prefixes get messed up, etc. It's easier to just back them up manually every time I switch phones.

I wiped the cache, where is the setting to turn it off? Thanks for the help, hopefully it smooths it out.

 

[Fanaticalism]

I have that setting turned on. I've always had Google Now force an internet search with certain names even with that setting on.

The contacts backed up wreaks havoc because iOS and android seem to randomly not work together, I get double backups, my *31# prefixes get messed up, etc. It's easier to just back them up manually every time I switch phones.

Just go to your email settings on your ios devices and disable contact sync for Gmail.

Select reboot.

But yeah, they have to be backed up to work. Google doesn't see the contact which is why it searches the web instead.

 

[spinedoc77]

Thanks, it's definitely snappier now. I still have the proximity sensor issue, I'm wondering if it's hardware. I wonder if I still have a warranty if I bought the phone off of Swappa.

 

[The Game 161]

Weird first time I've ever seen anybody saying it's bad as a phone. Best pure phone I've ever had

 

[Liquorpuki]

If MS enabled OneNote inking on Android, this would be my phone of choice

 

[spinedoc77]

My note 3 was freaking horrible today. GPS kept dropping so I couldn't navigate, and reception is definitely not super great. I got a replacement one under warranty, ATT is great as they didn't care I bought it off Swappa. So now my proximity sensor works, hopefully the GPS works now as well.

 

[Fanaticalism]

My note 3 was freaking horrible today. GPS kept dropping so I couldn't navigate, and reception is definitely not super great. I got a replacement one under warranty, ATT is great as they didn't care I bought it off Swappa. So now my proximity sensor works, hopefully the GPS works now as well.

The GPS issue is a known issue and exclusive to the ATT model. There was even a petition for it. With the update to KK, ATT announced that there was a patch for it. For some reason, when you're traveling in and out of LTE, the phone drops signal. After the update, I haven't had any problems.

 

[spinedoc77]

My GPS and proximity issues seem fixed with the replacement so that's a huge plus. I'm still struggling with the battery life and reception, they aren't terrible but not at good as my 5s. The 5s charged up so quickly that the battery wasn't so much of an issue as well, and never dropped reception some of the places my Note 3 is dropping.

I'm loving the note though, I don't know if I can ever go back to a small screen. The best compromise I think was the LG G2, incredible screen and ridiculous battery life. I just could never get used to the rear buttons, and it had no stylus.

 

[Fanaticalism]

My GPS and proximity issues seem fixed with the replacement so that's a huge plus. I'm still struggling with the battery life and reception, they aren't terrible but not at good as my 5s. The 5s charged up so quickly that the battery wasn't so much of an issue as well, and never dropped reception some of the places my Note 3 is dropping.

I'm loving the note though, I don't know if I can ever go back to a small screen. The best compromise I think was the LG G2, incredible screen and ridiculous battery life. I just could never get used to the rear buttons, and it had no stylus.

I will say that battery life on mine doesn't seem as good as before all the updates to google play services and the like. Problem is, apps like wake lock detector don't work with KK unless you're rooted. Battery usage doesn't show anything out of the ordinary but I can see that my phone is constantly accessing the network.

My wife just switched to an S5 from a 5S and there were parts of the house where the 5s would break up. I personally haven't had any issues but after the switch for her, things have been fine.

 

[jcagara08]

Same convert here been using the same since 2 months now definitely worth the upgrade (hey just swapped my mint iphone 5s with a brand new note 3) GPS and reception was an issue since the galaxy s1 (long time android user here) now I am satisfied with the most powerful android phone as of the moment

 

[sixrom]

I just switched to the Note 3 full time from a 5s. Previously the 5s was my main phone and the Note 3 was my "tablet". I must say the Note 3 is really sucking as a phone, I'm quite disappointed.

My main issues are phone use. The proximity sensor is terrible, half the time it doesn't register when I put it to my ear and the screen stays on, also if the screen does turn off when I put the phone down either it takes several seconds for it to turn on again, or it won't turn on. That's unacceptable as I need to put people on speaker phone and look things up on the phone often. The phone app also seems quite laggy, opening contacts up for example sometimes takes 2-3 seconds versus being instant on any other phone I've had. Of course I still have the same complaints I had with my previous android phones that Google Now is too internet centric and doesn't work well as a personal assistant, and S-voice is utter garbage which I refuse to use.

The last issue is reception, it's not as good as my 5s looking at them side by side. It's not terrible, but I have lost signal in places where my 5s would hang on to one bar. Also LTE seems spotty, in areas where my 5s has LTE the Note 3 does not. Sucked to drive to work today and have Waze lose the network intermittently while I had reception, don't know what that's about, maybe the gps?

I'm on an unrooted 4.4.2 AT&T Note 3. I have run a couple of system cleaners and in general use the phone seems snappy enough. Am I doing something wrong, or is this how it works?

You obviously failed to do your research before buying.

 

[spinedoc77]

You obviously failed to do your research before buying.

I think you failed as a forum user. All the research I did no one looked into their crystal ball and told me I would have hardware issues such as the proximity sensor and GPS, I was also quite surprised that the "interweb" was not able to predict these issues in my "research". Thank you for your quite intelligent, well thought and and very useful comment. I will let you get back to that bridge you are living under.

 

[maflynn]

Actually I easily found the GPS issue googling the note 3. I was debating between the Note 3 and the Nokia and the GPS issue spooked me.

 

[mib1800]

I think you failed as a forum user. All the research I did no one looked into their crystal ball and told me I would have hardware issues such as the proximity sensor and GPS, I was also quite surprised that the "interweb" was not able to predict these issues in my "research". Thank you for your quite intelligent, well thought and and very useful comment. I will let you get back to that bridge you are living under.

Not sure why you are making such big huh hah? Obviously you were unlucky and got dud. one defective phone doesn't represent the norm isn't it? Not sure whether it is you or just iPhone users in general like to make a big fuss over anything whether reasonable or not when they use an android.

My note3 has no issue with Gps or proximity sensor. I haven't read any widespread reporting of the issues you faced either.

 

[spinedoc77]

Not sure why you are making such big huh hah? Obviously you were unlucky and got dud. one defective phone doesn't represent the norm isn't it? Not sure whether it is you or just iPhone users in general like to make a big fuss over anything whether reasonable or not when they use an android.

My note3 has no issue with Gps or proximity sensor. I haven't read any widespread reporting of the issues you faced either.

If you read thru the thread you will see my opinion is shaping throughout the entire process. The GPS issue was bad hardware, not the software, so no amount of research would have revealed that, if anything it would have given me a false positive. The proximity sensor was once again a hardware issue, research would not help, only a replacement fixed that issue. Reception and battery life I did research and the responses varied greatly between users, software versions, use scenarios, etc etc.

It's not that I'm making a big deal, I just hate when troll forum nazi's come into a thread and make completely useless statements that help no one.