Looking to update from my existing 5 year phone.

I have a Samsung tablet and love it.

So looking at buying either a Samsung S5 or a Note 3.

I am an avid note taker (as I have a poor memory) and love to take pictures daytime and nigh time when out and about.

Also love to listen to music often during the day and at night. So would like a good and preferably loud sound from the phone.

Given this criteria can any board members that have either or both of these handsets please give me their opinions please.

I have read many online reviews but am looking for personal trustworty experience now.

And current pricing in Thailand for these units would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Just bought a Note 3 and for me it was a no-brainer. Performance between the two is virtually identical but Note 3's stylus, 3GB ram, larger screen, longer battery life and cheaper price made it an easy choice. The only advantage of the S5 you might consider is that it takes better low light pictures. Size wise the Note 3 is manageable. It fits in dress pants no problem but can be a bit iffy in some of my shorts. Single-handed use is not as comfortable of course, but a keyboard like Swype makes things slightly better.

I paid 18.4k for a Note 3 Snapdragon quadcore LTE version with full Thai warranty (and a 'blue light' screen protector thrown in). That was 5 days ago and it was the best price I could find at MBK. Before I paid I checked the serial# wtih the Samsung service centre upstairs to make sure it was legit (click my name to find my post with more info on that). An import with no warranty will set you back about 1k less, but be sure you get the Snapdragon quadcore LTE version for that price. The Exynos octa core sounds sexy but is lower performing and less power efficient at the same time (and lacks LTE). It's Samsung's way of passing off a cheaper part while marketing it as something it's clearly not.

I have both Note 3 and S5. Unfortunately I got the Note 3 right after it came out... when the LTE version was not yet on sale in Thailand.

As a photographer I wanted the 4K video so got the S5 which also has some other points I like such as the waterproofing.

Get the Note 3 with snapdragon processor and you still have 4K video.