The Galaxy Note series of smart devices has proven to be extremely popular with the masses, with Samsung finding a great mix of features, usability and device size. The Note is a nifty cross between a phone and a tablet, which offers users all smartphone functionalities but almost with the feel of a tablet device, with its large display and features, which includes the ability to run two applications simultaneously in a split screen, and features a hardware stylus which can be used on the capacitive display for a variety of functions.

Both the Note and the Note 2 have proved to be very popular devices on the market, and are currently used by a large number of people around the world. People are eagerly waiting for the impending release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which is due for release in a couple of months and is rumored to have better and more features than its predecessors.

The Galaxy Note 3

There have been a lot of rumours floating around about the feature set that Samsung is going to include with their new Note device. After the success of the previous two iterations of the Note device, other manufacturers are waking up to the prospects of phablet devices, and a number of other manufacturers are also slated to release their own take on the form factor later this year.

According to reports received, the new Note device will sport a 5.7 inch high-definition display with a native resolution of 1920 * 1080 pixels. It will be featuring Qualcomm’s newly designed processor, the 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800. The device will be running the latest release of Google’s Android Operating system, Jelly Bean 4.3. Other features that users can expect in the new Note 3 are 3 GB of RAM and a 4G enabled radio which will allow data transfer with speeds up to 180 MBPS.

The Fingerprint Reader

For a long time, it has been rumoured that Samsung will include a fingerprint reader feature with the new version of its Note device. Competing manufacturer, Apple has already announced that the new device which is due for release will have a biometric scanner integrated onto the smartphone, which enables users to use their fingers to unlock the phone and for other purposes. In the light of this competition, recent reports have indicated that Samsung was considering placing a fingerprint reader on the home button of the new device.

Although information has been received that they ran into technical glitches and problems while testing out this new technology, they ultimately cancelled their plans to include a biometric fingerprint reader in the new Note 3.

A fingerprint reader is basically a security measure which can be used to ensure that only the designated owner of a smartphone uses the device. On a mobile smartphone, it would add another way to unlock the device based on the user’s fingerprint which would be pre-registered in the device memory.

This would have been an extremely attractive proposition for smart device users and a major selling point for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It would have been a particularly important feature, since competing manufacturer Apple seem well on their way to include the feature in their new device, which is slated for launch about the same time as the new Note. It would also hold Samsung in good stead in the middle of fierce competition in the phablet market, with smartphone giants Sony and HTC both likely to release the own devices in the same form factor by the end of this year.

In conclusion, it can almost be said with certainty that the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is going to be released without the much talked about biometric fingerprint reader feature. Due to problems Samsung faced with the technology, it seems like an almost impossible proposition that they would find viable solutions in such a short span of time, as the device is scheduled to release in a couple of months time. However, smartphone users need to wait for the official word from Samsung to know the status of the fingerprint reader feature for sure.

I’m Maria Lynette, author of this article. I’m a passionate blogger interested in writing articles related to mobile aspects especially on mobile application development.Follow me on Google+, twitter, Linked In.