So,
how do you move stuff between your phone and your computer, or vice
versa? While there's more than one way of transferring content between
these devices wirelessly, a significant fraction of users still rely on a
cable and the old, trusty USB standard to handle the task. After all,
the process is quick, easy, and does not rely on a Wi-Fi or a cellular
network in order to work. But with the pace at which technology is
evolving, the day when USB 2.0 just won't be fast enough is closer than
ever. Thankfully, the speedier USB 3.0 is already a fact and it is now
making its way into smartphone territory. Samsung was the first to
announce and launch a USB 3.0 capable smartphone, namely the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
.
What are the benefits?
Speed.
It is all about speed. The USB 3.0 standard is, theoretically, about 10
times faster than its predecessor, so moving files back and forth
should be much, much less time consuming. Sure enough, we tested the USB
3.0 transfer rates using a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the results we got
were positive, at least for the most part.
The
most significant speed bump is observed when large files are being
transferred – movies or videos recorded with the device itself. Copying
such files from a PC to a Galaxy Note 3 is about 2.4 times faster when
USB 3.0 mode is enabled. When a lot of smaller files are being copied or
written, however – files like music or photos, which are usually around
a few megabytes in size – then the benefit is not as profound. As a
matter of fact, files of under 1MB in size take longer to copy when USB
3.0 mode is being used. Thankfully, most users are not likely to ever
find themselves in the latter situation.
Now,
you're probably wondering why we could not achieve the aforementioned
10-fold data speed increase. Well, that's because this rate depends on a
number of other factors. One of them is the storage medium which data
is being read from and written onto – our computer's SSD drive and the
smartphone's internal memory, in this case. Obviously, file size has an
effect on data speeds as well – the smaller the file, the longer it
takes for it to get transferred.
And now, the downsides
Surprisingly,
there seem to be a few downsides to having USB 3.0 on the Galaxy Note
3. You see, there's a reason why USB 3.0 is not enabled by default on
the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – "it may sometimes interfere with calls or data when it is in use",
as a notification message informed us when we tried to turn the mode
on. This, hopefully, will not be an issue observed on future USB
3.0-enabled handsets.
Another thing we're
bothered by is the new connector. You see, USB 3.0 can be enabled only
when a USB 3.0 cable is in use. Sure, one does come out of the box with
the Note 3, but still, we don't like it that we'll have to buy a new
cable in case we need a spare, instead of just using a USB 2.0 cable,
the kind of which we have a few laying around already. Besides, the
thing is downright ugly. Thankfully, the new Micro USB 3.0 port is
compatible with Micro USB 2.0 cables, as long as you're fine with USB
2.0 speeds.
Conclusion
While
the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the first smartphone compatible with the
new USB 3.0 standard, it surely won't be the last. And its adoption
makes sense now that the top handsets support a number of applications
that require the handling and transferring of large files – "studio
quality" lossless audio playback and 4K video recording, to name a few
examples. Yeah, we know that the speed boost is not exactly
groundbreaking, but it is there nonetheless and should be appreciated.
As for the USB 2.0 standard, it is still fast enough for the needs of
99% of smartphone users. Therefore, while USB 3.0 might make an
appearance on other high-end models in the future, including models by
other manufacturers, we doubt that it will land on a mid-ranger anytime
soon.
USB 3.0 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
1. The new Micro USB 3.0 connector and Micro USB 3.0 port
2. The new Micro USB 3.0 connector
3. The new Micro USB 3.0 port
4. Why USB 3.0 is not on by default on the Galaxy Note 3
5. USB 3.0, up and running
Note: For
the speed test above, our Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was connected over a USB
3.0 port to a desktop PC running Windows 7. Files were read from and
written onto a 120GB Samsung 840 SSD.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment