Ahhhhh Relief. I FINALLY have a case for my note 3. I was dreading every day knowing I had no case yet for my baby 
not it has some armor and I feel much better.
Bonus? this armor is amazing. I have to say kudo's to UAG they keep improving the cases. they take the customer issues and feedback and they incorporate it into future designs.
lets have a look at this beauty before we continue.
On my screen this is a very good representation of the actual color of the case. Some of my other pictures come out a little "more" orange (which I would have liked) but its still orange enough to keep me happy (I prefer Retina Burning colors
They selected a very good orange for this case. not too "outlandish" but still pleasingly bright and orange.
They have improved several key area's of the case. More ribbing inside to more firmly meld with the shape of the phone. The buttons tended to be a little mushy. We the customer learned if we "sliced" it a little along each button it freed them up nicely. they have fully incorporated this concept in the new case and the buttons are now like "butter"
I am not joking when I say the buttons feel "better" with the UAG case on than they do naked" its easier to find them and they for some strange reason seem to "press" better. its very strange. I have never had a case "improve" on the function of the phone this way before. My guess is samsung just make them too small and slipper and the case design of the UAG corrects this.
if button depression is a sticking point for you then you will NOT be displeased with the UAG.
I also love that they went back to the original design. I did NOT like the new design for the Note II case. it was ugly enough to me that I never even bought one for my Note II so very happy to see the return of this design.
Some more interior shots of the cut outs and buttons and patterning.
The UAG is a medium duty design case with some features that push it upwards to inbetween medium duty and heavy duty.
Some of these are the ridges on the backside which also act to protect the case itself from marring when you set it down.
its a two part "melded" construction. the black is TPU which is a "stiff" rubber like compound (thermo plastic) this provides your "shock" protection (dropping it) and then it has a Poly Carbonate component (the orange part) that gives you rigidity and IMPACT/Penetration protection. (something hitting the phone)
the phone has as much impact protection as a "heavy duty" case but not as much "shock" protection (rubber thickness) as a heavy duty case like for example a caseology hybrid rugged or a AMS Kraken from trident or a zero shock from zero lemon. its a trade off of amount of protection and how "LARGE" you want the phone to become.
a full on HD Ruggedized case will DOUBLE the size of your phone. minimum. when your out in the woods you might need that kind of protection. if your more careful around home you don't really need that kind of protection.
there are 2 methods of typical damage to a phone. something hits the screen directly or the corner is impacted.
this is where the UAG moves to inbetween medium duty and heavy duty.
the corners on the UAG case are not form fitting. they are "larger" than the stock corners to provide extra shock protection at this critical point of impact. I have no doubt you could drop this phone from 6ft onto a corner and not worry about any damage to the phone. (No I won't be testing that on my $550 phone
Last Interior shot
Another welcome improvement is more frontal encasement. its quite difficult to install and even more difficult to remove the phone from this case.
Mind you this is a good thing. the harder it is to install and remove is a very good indicator of how well designed the case is to retain the phone.
the front opening is smaller now. so the phone does not FIT through the front. you need to distort the case quite a bit to shoe horn the phone into it. VERY welcome upgrade! this case will NOT release this phone easily on its own.
the phone is also more recessed into the case! big big improvement. this is important for when you set the phone down on its face (to protect the face) if its too close to the surface you set it down onto things can scratch or impact the screen.
they have thickened this up so you now have a bit over 2mm of screen depression distance. In this picture you can see its thicker than a nickle which is 1.95mm
Of course same as before and one of the larger benefits of a case is it depresses the camera lens nicely. preventing it from touch anything when the phone is set down or put inside anything and also reducing the chances if you putting your finger on it when you grab/extract/slide the phone putting finger prints on it marring your videos.
this portion of the case is around 3mm thick and you end up with a bit over 2mm of depth protection (the camera lens led unit of the Note 3 protrudes out of the phone about 1 mm)
Lets do a walk around of the outside of the case.
At the bottom you have very nice clean cutouts for the Speaker and Microphone access holes. excellent precision cuts here.
The Stylus cut out is also precise and nicely spacious giving you easy unrestricted access to remove the stylus.
The USB jack cut out is also very nice and more spacious than before! this is fantastic so if you have a "larger" than typical plug you won't have a problem with the case cut out interfering with insertion of the plug.
My skinny mSD OTG adapter fits fine. I don't have my Meenova adapter handy I will update this review once I have it although I do not anticipate a fitment issue.
at the top we have headphone and microphone cut outs. the headphone jack looks to be large enough to encompass "big head" plugs without a problem and the other cut out is your IR Emitter.
On the sides we have the volume rocker
and opposite the power button
I like the new hex pattern sides. while I did not have a grip problem with the old design IT WAS a wee slippery feeling. Now it feels very nice. no slip concerns.
Close up of the back of the phone with design and UAG logo details
They even thought to increase the spacing for the proximity and light sensors to prevent interference and false readings
And how it fits in the hand (of note I have VERY large hands) I can completely cover the phone with my hand.
This case is more difficult to install and remove than the original. this is a good thing. more secure. its quite easy once you know how
Start by inserting one long side of the phone
than using your thumb push the bottom opposing corner of the phone into the case pulling the case down and pushing the phone "up" at the same time till it snaps into place
work UP the remaining side snapping it into place until its all in. You can do this one handed (see video below)
Removal is a little trickier. Push one corner off then work your way down to the other corner and pull the phone out. (again see video you can do this one handed)
Some video's of the case and a video of installation and removal of the case
Install and Remove the UAG Note III Case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOy1pGHiIs
Walk around of the case in 4k!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcCRp0vN1w4
not it has some armor and I feel much better.Bonus? this armor is amazing. I have to say kudo's to UAG they keep improving the cases. they take the customer issues and feedback and they incorporate it into future designs.
lets have a look at this beauty before we continue.
On my screen this is a very good representation of the actual color of the case. Some of my other pictures come out a little "more" orange (which I would have liked) but its still orange enough to keep me happy (I prefer Retina Burning colors
They selected a very good orange for this case. not too "outlandish" but still pleasingly bright and orange.
They have improved several key area's of the case. More ribbing inside to more firmly meld with the shape of the phone. The buttons tended to be a little mushy. We the customer learned if we "sliced" it a little along each button it freed them up nicely. they have fully incorporated this concept in the new case and the buttons are now like "butter"
I am not joking when I say the buttons feel "better" with the UAG case on than they do naked" its easier to find them and they for some strange reason seem to "press" better. its very strange. I have never had a case "improve" on the function of the phone this way before. My guess is samsung just make them too small and slipper and the case design of the UAG corrects this.
if button depression is a sticking point for you then you will NOT be displeased with the UAG.
I also love that they went back to the original design. I did NOT like the new design for the Note II case. it was ugly enough to me that I never even bought one for my Note II so very happy to see the return of this design.
Some more interior shots of the cut outs and buttons and patterning.
The UAG is a medium duty design case with some features that push it upwards to inbetween medium duty and heavy duty.
Some of these are the ridges on the backside which also act to protect the case itself from marring when you set it down.
its a two part "melded" construction. the black is TPU which is a "stiff" rubber like compound (thermo plastic) this provides your "shock" protection (dropping it) and then it has a Poly Carbonate component (the orange part) that gives you rigidity and IMPACT/Penetration protection. (something hitting the phone)
the phone has as much impact protection as a "heavy duty" case but not as much "shock" protection (rubber thickness) as a heavy duty case like for example a caseology hybrid rugged or a AMS Kraken from trident or a zero shock from zero lemon. its a trade off of amount of protection and how "LARGE" you want the phone to become.
a full on HD Ruggedized case will DOUBLE the size of your phone. minimum. when your out in the woods you might need that kind of protection. if your more careful around home you don't really need that kind of protection.
there are 2 methods of typical damage to a phone. something hits the screen directly or the corner is impacted.
this is where the UAG moves to inbetween medium duty and heavy duty.
the corners on the UAG case are not form fitting. they are "larger" than the stock corners to provide extra shock protection at this critical point of impact. I have no doubt you could drop this phone from 6ft onto a corner and not worry about any damage to the phone. (No I won't be testing that on my $550 phone
Last Interior shot
Another welcome improvement is more frontal encasement. its quite difficult to install and even more difficult to remove the phone from this case.
Mind you this is a good thing. the harder it is to install and remove is a very good indicator of how well designed the case is to retain the phone.
the front opening is smaller now. so the phone does not FIT through the front. you need to distort the case quite a bit to shoe horn the phone into it. VERY welcome upgrade! this case will NOT release this phone easily on its own.
the phone is also more recessed into the case! big big improvement. this is important for when you set the phone down on its face (to protect the face) if its too close to the surface you set it down onto things can scratch or impact the screen.
they have thickened this up so you now have a bit over 2mm of screen depression distance. In this picture you can see its thicker than a nickle which is 1.95mm
Of course same as before and one of the larger benefits of a case is it depresses the camera lens nicely. preventing it from touch anything when the phone is set down or put inside anything and also reducing the chances if you putting your finger on it when you grab/extract/slide the phone putting finger prints on it marring your videos.
this portion of the case is around 3mm thick and you end up with a bit over 2mm of depth protection (the camera lens led unit of the Note 3 protrudes out of the phone about 1 mm)
Lets do a walk around of the outside of the case.
At the bottom you have very nice clean cutouts for the Speaker and Microphone access holes. excellent precision cuts here.
The Stylus cut out is also precise and nicely spacious giving you easy unrestricted access to remove the stylus.
The USB jack cut out is also very nice and more spacious than before! this is fantastic so if you have a "larger" than typical plug you won't have a problem with the case cut out interfering with insertion of the plug.
My skinny mSD OTG adapter fits fine. I don't have my Meenova adapter handy I will update this review once I have it although I do not anticipate a fitment issue.
at the top we have headphone and microphone cut outs. the headphone jack looks to be large enough to encompass "big head" plugs without a problem and the other cut out is your IR Emitter.
On the sides we have the volume rocker
and opposite the power button
I like the new hex pattern sides. while I did not have a grip problem with the old design IT WAS a wee slippery feeling. Now it feels very nice. no slip concerns.
Close up of the back of the phone with design and UAG logo details
They even thought to increase the spacing for the proximity and light sensors to prevent interference and false readings
And how it fits in the hand (of note I have VERY large hands) I can completely cover the phone with my hand.
This case is more difficult to install and remove than the original. this is a good thing. more secure. its quite easy once you know how
Start by inserting one long side of the phone
than using your thumb push the bottom opposing corner of the phone into the case pulling the case down and pushing the phone "up" at the same time till it snaps into place
work UP the remaining side snapping it into place until its all in. You can do this one handed (see video below)
Removal is a little trickier. Push one corner off then work your way down to the other corner and pull the phone out. (again see video you can do this one handed)
Some video's of the case and a video of installation and removal of the case
Install and Remove the UAG Note III Case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOy1pGHiIs
Walk around of the case in 4k!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcCRp0vN1w4
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