Samsung’s rose gold Galaxy Note 3 is headed to Verizon

If you view the world through rose-colored glasses, you won’t need to put them on to look at the rose gold Galaxy Note 3. Samsung announced the new color back in December, saying that it would become available in certain areas according to “each market’s preference.” Now, according to Samsung’s Mobile U.S. press site, it looks like the rose gold variant will be launching soon on Verizon Wireless.

So far there’s been no official announcement about this from either Samsung or Verizon. But the product page on Samsung’s site shows images of the phone with Verizon branding on the back, and notes the phone is “Available exclusively on Verizon Wireless.” Aside from the color, it’s the same exact Galaxy Note 3. And judging from the press images, even the rose gold itself doesn’t make for a radical change in the look of the device. It only appears on the band around the middle of the phone, on the S Pen, and on some other minor detailing on the front and back.

There’s no pricing information, but I’m pretty certain it’ll sell for the same price as the black and white models. A Verizon spokesman verified the phone will be a carrier exclusive and will be available by the end of the month.

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Third-party Note 3 smart covers no longer work following KitKat update

Buyers of Samsung Note 3 at Celluloco.com & Amazon report that their non-Samsung smart covers have stopped working after they updated their Note 3 units to Android 4.4.  Celluloco.com has reached out to their customers letting them know not to buy third party accessories anymore for Note 3.

Back in October, Korean media reported that Samsung was planning to fit some of its accessories with authentication chips that would prevent non-authorized accessories from working. These accessories included smart covers and wireless chargers, and the Note 3 was said to be the first device with this security measure in place. Ostensibly, Samsung’s justification for the move was to reduce the usage of shoddy accessories and cut down on the number of accidents involving unauthorized chargers. But, as ETNews reported at the time, such a move would let Samsung milk more profits from its accessory business, at a time when smartphone growth is tapering off.

We haven’t heard anything about the issue since then, but now that Samsung began to update the Note 3 to Android 4.4 KitKat, some users are reporting problems with their Note 3 covers. Non-Samsung smart covers no longer work since the update, including covers from brands like Spigen. People on several XDA threads posted about the issue: 1, 2, 3, 4

People are understandably spiffed, especially since these covers can be quite costly and their S-View “smart” feature is the main selling point. For instance, this Galaxy Note 3 Case Slim Armor View from Spigen currently goes for $60. It’s not clear yet if other types of accessories are affected.

There are ways around the limitation: one user simply hacked a chip from an original S View cover and replaced the chip found on his Spigen case. There’s also a software-based workaround that involves installing Xposed Framework and a special module. But users should not have to hack their devices to make them work.

This is a pretty serious issue and the fact that neither Samsung nor Spigen were transparent about the issue doesn’t help. We have contacted Samsung to confirm the story and we’ll update the post if we hear anything back. We’ve also contacted Spigen, as well as Otterbox and some other major accessory makers for their views on the issue.

Have you encountered any problems with accessories on your Note 3?

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Samsung releases Android 4.4 KitKat kernel source for Galaxy Note 3

It’s been a few days since the Android 4.4 KitKat update started rolling out to the Galaxy Note 3 to a few users (in Poland), and now Samsung has released the related kernel sources for KitKat on its Open Source Release Center, a move that should help developers start their hacking on the newer version of Android in earnest. The kernel source is also a hint that the update will soon begin rolling out to other countries and regions, though as usual, it will be a few weeks before it reaches everyone once the rollout begins.

Hit the link below to download the kernel source for the KitKat firmware (N9005XXUENA6.)

Galaxy Note 3 KitKat Kernel Source

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Galaxy Note 3 Neo LTE (SM-N7505) reaches the FCC

 

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo has been leaked rather extensively in the last couple of weeks, but Samsung still hasn’t made it official, despite having things like the promotional material all ready to go. However, it looks that could change very soon, as the LTE variant of the Note 3 Neo has just hit the FCC, indicating that its launch is imminent, at least in the US (though knowing Samsung, it will be a simultaneous launch worldwide), matching the rumors of the device launching in the first quarter of the year.

The Galaxy Note 3 Neo is a cheaper variant of Samsung’s flagship phablet and sits between the Galaxy Note II and Note 3, with most of the specs of the former and a design similar to that of the latter (including the faux leather material on the back.) It’s unique in that it will be the first smartphone to sport a hexa-core processor (with two cores clocked at 1.7GHz, four at 1.3GHz) that will be able to run all six cores at the same time, unlike Samsung’s current octa-core offerings.

Other specs, as mentioned, are pretty similar to the Note II, including a 5.55″ 720p Super AMOLED display, 8-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB storage and a microSD slot, a 3,100 mAh battery, and Android 4.3, with S Pen features from the Note 3 such as Air Command Action Memo, Scrapbook, Screen Write, S Finder, Pen Window, S Note, Multi Window, new Easy Clip, and Direct Pen Input.

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Galaxy Note 3 Android 4.4.2 KitKat ROM available for download (test build N9005XXUENA6)

After the first leaked KitKat build for the Galaxy S4 was posted online a few days ago, it’s now time to see an Android 4.4.2 test firmware for the Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005 model) become unofficially available.

The same Celluloco.com  has posted up build N9005XXUENA6 up for this Galaxy Note 3 version (seeSource link below,) describing it as “one of the ‘final’ Android 4.4.2 KitKat test builds” for the handset, which means “nothing will be included or excluded in future builds of Android 4.4 for the giant phablet, except a few bug fixes and improvements here and there.”

The publication says Samsung may roll out the official update for the device in one or two weeks, although nothing is official just yet.

Galaxy Note 3’s unofficial KitKat update brings over the same kind of changes we have already seen in the Galaxy S4’s build, alongside the expected performance improvements that are reflected by “off the charts” benchmark scores.

For what it’s worth, we’ll remind you that the Galaxy S4 KitKat build from the other day temporarily broke SuperSU functionality, so don’t be surprised to see the same thing happen on the Galaxy Note 3 following the update.

As always with unofficial builds, we’ll remind you that it’s up to you to decide whether to go down this route, or whether to wait for the official software – we’re not going to advise you to install unofficial ROMs on your devices, and you’ll be the only person responsible for whatever happens during these procedures.

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