We know that Verizon Wireless got the first slot for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 release date, but AT&T is following up right behind with its own.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will begin shipping at AT&T around October 1, but you can pre-order the device already, as pre-orders started on Friday September 6. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on AT&T will cost you about $300.00 with a two-year contract. However, you can also pick up the new phablet for AT&T for $35 per month, if you are signed up for the AT&T Next program, which is basically like leasing the phone for a year, so that you can pick up the next newest device when it drops in 2014.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was unveiled last week at the "Samsung Unpacked 2013: Episode 2" event, right before the IFA Berlin consumer electronics trade show began. After much anticipation, we now know what the Galaxy Note 3 (and its Galaxy Gear smartwatch counterpart, which AT&T is also going to carry sometime in October) has in store for Samsung fans.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 comes with a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, capable of a resolution of up to 1920 x 1080p. The phablet-sized device runs on a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, clocked at 2.3GHz. Other markets will get the octa core Samsung Exynos 5420 processor, clocked at 1.9GHz. The Galaxy Note 3's system on a chip is assisted by 3GB of RAM, which makes the phablet the first mobile device in its class to pack that much RAM.
Along with these maxed-out speed and display specs, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 comes with a 13-megapixel main camera, which features a High CRI LED flash and Smart Stabilization with zero shutter lag and auto focus (though it doesn't come with Optical Image Stabilization, which was rumored for the device). The front-facing camera is a 2-megapixel sensor with full HD recording at 30 frames per second. While Acer's Liquid S2 phablet beat the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to the punch with 4K video recording (by a day or so), the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is one of the first handsets to offer that capability. The Galaxy Note 3 can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second with its main camera, or it can shoot full 1080p HD at 60 frames per second. In either case, it's quite obvious that this phablet has a beast of a camera.
Samsung also unveiled the Galaxy Note 3's new S Pen, which has new functionality and makes the phablet even more of a multitasking machine. With S Pen's "Air Command" menu, which pops up when you click a button while tapping the screen, you can make an Action Memo, copy to your Scrapbook, use Screen Write, and operate several apps (or chats) with multi-window, from any app or screen. And the Samsung Galaxy Note 3's software intelligently analyzes your S Pen input (or copy/paste data) to figure out where that information should go, so, for one example, if you're copying contact information from an email, it will automatically create a contact and input that data for you.
Finally, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will ship with Android 4.3 and TouchWiz (with all of the software goodies you've come to expect from Samsung) installed, and if you're really in an experimental mood (and ready to splurge some big bucks), you can soon get the Galaxy Gear smartwatch accessory along with the Galaxy Note 3 on AT&T and other major carriers. The Galaxy Gear, however, is likely to cost just as much as an on-contract Samsung Galaxy Note 3, at $300.