the problems you mentioned, i have not experianced nor have seen written up in this forum. but there will always be some problems as its an imperfect world

 

I never had the note 1, don't know about it.

I had problems with call quality. Traded in a couple of phones over it. Finally turned out that it was fixed by a software update.

The good thing here is that i did have the option to replace or return the phone for a period of time after I first bought it. If you have the same option there, perhaps that would give you time to evaluate for yourself if it is better now?

I haven't had any of the problems you describe on mine. My wife absolutely loves her's.

 

I have to admit that the Note 2 and 3 are considerable improvements over the original Note. I upgraded to the Note 2, but will pass on the Note 3 (going from 2 to 3 is not a huge improvement to me).

I found the S Pen and interactions have improved significantly over the original Note. The only real problem I currently have is the new 4.3 OS. I don't like it as much as 4.1.2.

The Note 3 definitely gives a much more better experience than the original Note. The original Note was plagued with issues (which was expected being the first in its class), but Samsung did clean it up quite a bit. It is definitely much more better than before.

 

I never owned the Galaxy Note 1- was not willing to switch carriers for it. The Note 2 I had since launch day & it performed without a hiccup. The Note 3 I just got so I cannot weigh in on anything other than to say I think it's a pretty decent phone.
From everything I've read it's a HUGE step up from the Note 1.

 

I didn't have the Note 1, so I can't comment on that. I can say, my phone has been bug free from day one. I've had it for 2 months and I love it more, every day.

 

My only problem with the N3 was a battery dying during OTA (and someone writing a terrible OTA, because it soft-bricked the phone).

What I don't like about it is the "security". They lock it down as if looking at too hard will damage it, but the security software they package it with has a security hole.

But it's fast, it has a lot of storage, it does everything it's supposed to and, if you don't mind Knox, there's no problem. It IS large, and it IS expensive, but with my eyes I need a large screen, so I'm willing to pay for it.