Samsung Galaxy Note III vs Galaxy Note II specifications war: very unofficial

While the final specifications for the Galaxy Note III – and indeed confirmation in kind that the device itself exists – must still come from Samsung, today we're taking the time to run down the numbers on boosts the Galaxy Note has likely received since last year. In the Samsung Galaxy Note II, we saw a change-over into the Samsung Galaxy S III universe of Nature-themed hardware and software along with a significantly improved bit of S Pen technology. Here we'll likely see less of a paradigm shift and more of an incremental update, much like the Galaxy S III vs the Galaxy S 4.

There've been quite a few drops of information surrounding the full specifications of the inevitable Samsung Galaxy Note III, perhaps the most complete (and trusted) list of these coming this week from SamMobile. While they've got a handle on two different iterations of the device, both with blanks in the list – likely one international, the other headed for the USA – we can assume the parts not filled-in.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II works with a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with 720 x 1280 pixels across it, this above a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core Cortex A-9 processor with Mali-400MP GPU. The Galaxy Note III is tipped to bring on a 5.68-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution, this running atop a Samsung Exynos (Octa) 5420 processor with Mali-T628 MP6 GPU.

The USA-based Samsung Galaxy Note III will more than likely be carrying the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, complete with multi-carrier 4G LTE connectivity provided by the RF360 global radio, also made by Qualcomm.

""Virtually every global OEM with a premium tier smartphone is designing with a Snapdragon 800 in the coming months." – Murthy Renduchintala, EVP of Qualcomm Technologies

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 LTE-A works with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 already, but this machine was released before the above statement was made. As the LG G2 already carries this SoC and it's been tipped that the HTC One Max, 2013 Kindle Fire, and Nokia Lumia 1080 are all set to roll with it, it would follow that Samsung's device to join the party would be the similarly-massive Galaxy Note III.

It's also suggested by the source of the Galaxy Note III specs above that the second of two iterations of the device (the one we're calling USA-based at the moment) will indeed have LTE connectivity. Inside the Galaxy Note II and III have the same storage capabilities: 16, 32, or 64GB storage with a microSD card slot for up to 64GB more. The Galaxy Note III will carry with it Android 4.3 Jelly Bean at launch.

Cameras on the Galaxy Note III are suggested to have been given a kick to 13 megapixels and 2 megapixels, the same units as delivered on the Galaxy S 4. The Note II works with an 8 megapixel camera at its back and a 1.9 megapixel camera up front.

Perhaps the most compelling upgrade between the two devices is the notion that the Galaxy Note III will bring the same show to the party that the Galaxy S 4 did in terms of size. This means, in effect, that the Note III will be the same physical size as the Note II while the display takes up more of the face of the machine. This edition isn't tipped to be thinner than its predecessor at the moment, but we can dream!

The Samsung Galaxy Note III's arrival was originally teased for the 4th of September. This is immediately before IFA 2013 – amongst it, if you will – and you can bet your lunch that SlashGear will be front and center for the main event, day of.