Samsung Galaxy Note III , Note 3 : coming soon

Screen

Conflicting reports have put the Samsung Galaxy Note 3's screen size at everything between 5.9 and 6.3-inches, with the former suggested by Samsung's J.K. Shin back in May. With the recent launch of the 6.3 inch Samsung Galaxy Mega, it's unlikely that Samsung will pop the same screen size into both devices - though their love of shared branding (see the mountains of Galaxy S4-branded handsets) across their range suggests they're not fearful of confusing their customer base with multiple similar handsets.

S-Pen

Being the Note's key defining feature over the Galaxy S series, the Note 3 is all-but guaranteed to again ship with the S-Pen accessory. Will we see any innovations in this year's model? The launch of Sony's Xperia Ultra Z will certainly provide and impetus for Samsung to do so - Sony's phablet device includes screen technology that will allow any sort of standard pencil or dry-ink pen to work on its screen without damaging it, whereas the Note line has traditionally only worked with Samsung's proprietary S-Pen. With snappy scribblers likely to favour Sony's system in this regard over the Note's current set-up, we'd expect to see some similar innovation from Samsung on this front.

Specs

Running all that S-Pen software for one-to-one stylus input is demanding, so the Note 3 is likely to be a pretty powerful device. With the top spec Samsung Galaxy S4 sporting an eight-core Exynos Octa-core, we'd expect to see the Note 3 match it at the very least. 3GB of RAM is also tipped for inclusion, again helping deliver a smooth multitasking and pen-input system.

Camera

Many had expected Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4 device to come with the company's newly-developed Orb Camera system, which would allow for 360-degree panorama shots, optical image stabilisation and include far deeper (and simpler) Facebook integration and social network sharing. Not present in the Galaxy S4, it's now being tipped for inclusion in the Note 3. In terms of megapixel count, a 13MP sensor is likely to feature.

Design and build

Looking to keep profit margins high, Samsung have traditionally built their handsets using plastic materials. However, the superb response to the aluminium build of the HTC One Android handset issaid to have shaken Samsung, who are said to be considering a new metallic build for the Note 3 that could shake up the entire design language for the Galaxy line. This leaked image from @evleaks supports such claims: