What You Need To Know Before Purchasing A Galaxy Note 3

The international version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was released six days ago, on September 25th in over 140 countries. However, if you live in the United States or in Japan, you will have to wait a few more days until being able to buy the third Galaxy Note phablet. Carriers from the United States will soon start shipping the phablet: AT&T starts shipping the Galaxy Note 3 today, T-Mobile tomorrow, October 2nd, Sprint on October 4th while Verizon will be the last of the big four US carriers to ship the Galaxy Note 3, on October 10th. U.S. Cellular claims that it will offer the third generation Galaxy Note too, and while it did not mention a specific date it did mention that it will release the phablet this month. If you intend to buy the Samsung galaxy Note 3 in the United States, in this article we will tell you all you need to know about the third generation Galaxy Note’s release.

Pre Orders and In Store Availability

If you already pre ordered the Samsung Galaxy Not3 3, you can expect your phablet to ship on the exact release dates that we mentioned in the above paragraph; if you are lucky, your pre ordered phablet could ship even one or two days before the official release dates. Many carriers have shipped Samsung devices (such as the Samsung Galaxy S4) early so that customers could get their hands on the device earlier or at the same time as the official release date. So if you pre ordered, you should expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to be delivered in maximum ti days after the shipping date.

If you did not pre ordered the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, you don’t have to worry about the phablet’s availability in stores. The Galaxy Note series is part of a niche (that of phablets) and usually does not sell in as large quantities as Samsung’s flagship series, the Galaxy S. For this reason, customers will probably have no trouble finding the Galaxy Note 3 in stores. T-Mobile will have the Galaxy Note 3 available in stores tomorrow, while Sprint and AT&T will have the phablet in stores two days later, on October 4th. Verizon did not say when it will have the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 available in its store, but we believe it will probably be available around the same time as pre orders ship, on October 10th.

Preparing for In Store Purchase

If you plan to buy the third generation galaxy Note in a store, make sure you know everything there is to know about your purchase; the advice applies if you intend to buy the phablet online too.
The firs thing you need to do is research your network’s talk, text and data options and decide on what plan you want for your phablet.
You will need to make a decision and know for sure whether you will opt for a two year contract with a subsidized cost of the Galaxy Note 3, or a monthly plan that means you will have to pay the full retail price of the Galaxy Note 3 plus services fees. There is also a third option, offered by most carriers, and that is a non contract plan. This option lets you buy the Galaxy Note 3 with a down payment and allows you to pay the rest of the device’s price in 24 month increments.

You should also decide before making the purchase if you want to opt for the phablet’s protection plan offered by your carrier. The majority of carriers offer Asurion handset insurance,  but that is not the only type of handset insurance plan available. There are many other types of insurance plans to choose from. One thing you should be aware of is that if you decide to opt out of your carrier supported handset insurance plan, you may not choose it in the future.

In Store Purchase Advantages And Disadvantages

Being a niche device, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will probably not attract lines of customers in front of the stores. However you may have to endure a sales pitch for accessories and the protection plan mentioned in the above paragraph (again we stress that you should know exactly what you want before heading for the store). It will also be a good idea to have some extra cash on you. Besides the price of accessories (that you may purchase or not) there are additional fees and taxes, such as the activation fees that will increase the total price.

Keep an eye out for deals

Considering the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is just about to be released you may be tempted to get it as soon as possible; however, it may be better (from a financial point of view) to wait until retailers start to offer deals on Samsung’s new phablet. Retailers like Walmart, but also online stores such as Amazon, Dell and Wirefly will soon start offering discounts on the third generation Galaxy Note. You can expect these discounts to appear soon after the phablet will be in stores. Such discounts could save you twenty bucks and they may even include free accessories.

What accessories to get

If you own a smartphone, you know there are a lot of ‘must have’ accessories available. The first accessory that a smartphone owner should buy is either a screen protector or a case and if you plan on buying the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, that should be the first accessory you should get with it. Samsung’s latest phablet is a high end device, but (as drop tests proved) that doesn’t mean it will survive a fall from a high distance, so investing in a case or screen protector is a pretty good idea. The case will protect your phablet’s edges from scratches and nicks, while the screen protector will protect its display from breaking.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be released in two internal storage versions; a 32 GB model and a 64 GB model, a welcomed upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy S4 that began at 16 GB. If you do buy a Galaxy Note 3 with 32 GB of internal storage, you should take advantage of the microSD card support that allows you to expand your phablet’s internal memory up to 64 GB. While 32 GB is better than the 16 GB offered by the Galaxy S4, it may still not be enough considering most users have music files, videos, pictures, ebooks and apps on their device.

As is the case with all Samsung devices, the Galaxy Note 3 comes with a removable battery that offers an extra battery support via in extended battery. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a 3,200 mAh battery that is very powerful; however, an extended battery will not only offer extra power for your Galaxy Note 3, but it will also maintain such functions as NFC (Near Field Communications) abilities. You can get a Samsung branded extended battery or a third party branded one.

Other Things To Keep In Mind

• In the United States, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet will probably only be available in black and white options, without the pink options. It is very likely that several color options will be available in a couple of months, but they will probably be locked to various carriers.
• It is very unlikely that smaller, regional carrier, will offer the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
• If you intend to buy just the companion Samsung Galaxy gear smartwatch, keep in mind that you do not need to also buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet. The Galaxy Gear smartwatch can be purchased separately and it is also compatible with the second generation Galaxy Note, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Samsung Galaxy S4.
• The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablet has a unique feature – the S-Pen stylus. If you are not interested in a phablet that comes with a stylus, then the third generation Galaxy Note may not be the best option for you. In that case, you should consider other options such as the second generation Galaxy Note or the Samsung Galaxy Mega or even the Samsung Galaxy S4. there are many other large screen smartphone that you could purchase at a cheaper price than the Galaxy Note 3, if you are not interested in a stylus based phablet.

We hope this article will help you be prepared for purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from the United States.