Samsung Galaxy Note 3, 10.1 Tablets Improve Features, User Joy

Samsung may have followed Apple, and even Dell, into the tablet market, but it continues to be an innovator in the space. While Dell bombed with the Streak, a device people complained was too big to be a phone and too small to be a tablet, Samsung has had tremendous success with "phablets," shaving off ounces and millimeters while growing screen sizes ever larger, packing in pixels and refining the ways in which the devices are used. On Sept. 4 Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 (2014 Edition), devices that should put an end to the talk of tablets as pure content-consumption devices. The Notes come with an updated S Pen and software that makes the pens more useful; the ability to interact with multiple applications at once; and enterprise-grade security via Samsung's Knox. They have magazine-style interfaces, multiple connectivity options, new design materials and never-before-seen features, such as the ability to draw a box with the S Pen and then make an app—the calculator, say, or YouTube—appear in it. The Note 3 will be the particular star of the two, as it's a companion to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch that was launched alongside them. Samsung, never one to shy away from purple prose, expects the Notes to do nothing short of bringing "passions to life."