Galaxy Note 3 USB 3.0 file transfer benchmark

Yeah… USB 3.0 support is one of the features that I love on Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It has new micro USB 3.0 port and cable. However, still the same old charger. Is it just a marketing tactic or actually working? Based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor specification, it does support USB 3.0 for ultra-fast transfers. However, does Samsung enable it on Galaxy Note 3? Let’s find out…

Galaxy-Note-3-USB-30
Galaxy Note 3 Media device (USB 3.0) mode

USB 3.0 mode is not enabled by default when connect Galaxy Note 3 to PC on USB 3.0 port. There will be another mode coming out – Media device (USB 3.0). You need to select it from all 3 USB options yourself. Else it still be using old USB 2.0 transfer rate. I took the chance to try it on my Asus Eee PC 1215B. Err… It can’t detect Galaxy Note 3 at all while using USB 3.0 port. Only charging it. No issue on USB 2.0 port though. Look like ASMedia USB 3.0 controller is causing the issue here. Using the latest driver won’t help either. Luckily, my PC which uses Intel chipset does not have this issue. Okay, back to the benchmark. I used 1.5GB video file to transfer between PC (Intel i7 CPU and SSD 520 Series) and Galaxy Note 3 (with 64GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Card). Write it to internal storage (Phone) and external SD card (Card). Read it out to PC…

Media device (USB 3.0) Mode
Phone to PC – 69.81 MB/s
PC to Phone – 66.64 MB/s

Card to PC – 21.25 MB/s
PC to Card – 17.45 MB/s

Media device (MTP) Mode – USB 2.0
Phone to PC – 29.32 MB/s
PC to Phone – 30.54 MB/s

Card to PC – 20.94 MB/s
PC to Card – 15.76 MB/s

Yeah… Galaxy Note 3 file transfer rate is double on USB 3.0 mode. So be sure to enable Media device (USB 3.0) Mode if your PC has USB 3.0 port. However, this applies to internal storage only. External SD card can’t enjoy higher transfer rate.

1 COMMENT

  1. Thanks, very informative compared to most internet reviews. I wish I could have waited for USB3’s faster recharging but the DATA-TRANSFER speeds are STILL a very disappointing implementation of USB3. I have a Note2 which gives annoyingly long EIGHT HOURS to recharge from a 10% battery! If you forgot to plug it in the night before, it means no phone for the WHOLE next work-day…hello, Samsung, I expect more in a $700 phone!!!!! USB3 should have been added to the Note2 just for the recharge-speed alone…and Samsung & other manufacturers had promised the 2012 era/generation of phones would get USB3…it never materialized. Now that they did FINALLY add it, the data-transfer speed [though not the recharge speed] is STILL a great disappointment.

    Moore’s Law says they SHOULD have been able to get 256GB micro-SDXC capacity and at _full_ USB3 speeds by 2014-2015, and at the same price of SDHC/USB2.0, by they’re seemingly not even close to getting that by 2015.

    I won’t bother to buy another EXPENSIVE phone until Samsung wires the SD cards to send/receive at much faster rates; for the “Extreme” Sandisk to be capable of 50-80 MB/s but bottlenecked to only 20MB/s is bad design; Samsung should have foreseen that near-future SDXC cards would be even more akin to 150MB/s…and I hope to wait not to buy my next phone till they have at LEAST 200MB/s…as even that is only about HALF of the real-world potential of a full-sized (not micro) USB3 port!!!!! …might as well buy a Huawei for this dismal performance barely faster than USB2.0 or WiFi-‘n’! ;-P It’s frustrating that I bought USB3.0 accessories for my PC (so that my “next phone” would be able to transfer files faster than WiFi ‘n’ which is approx same as your USB2.0 speeds above) and I did so based on Samsung & other manufacturers’ own announcements (semi-promises) which never came true regarding “2012 phones to get USB3.0”:
    so whilst I’d have been happy to get a USB3 phone’s faster recharging, the transfers to the SDXC cards would still make me wait till they un-bottleneck the micro-USB3 ports. USB3 came out 2008-9… sad that the MAJOR usage-case for USB3 (external high-cap drives like SDXC phones are using) can’t reach USB3’s potential due to the shoddy MICRO-usb3 ports! FIVE YEARS for them to get their act together?!

    I’d expect a downgrade to USB3’s potential like your benchmarks in a Huawei, not in a Samsung (and your benchmarks are similar to what I see elsewhere, so I trust your results… you’ve just presented a fuller set of results than I’ve seen elsewhere & you used a reliable “Extreme” Sandisk card so that we know the card isn’t even close to bottlenecking it). Seeing these results even makes me feel not-so-bad that I got the Note2…because this speed to/from the SDXC card isn’t a big improvement over USB2.0 speeds (I rarely transfer to/from the hardwired flash chip, with only 16GB installed, 64BG sd-card), and because I had reached a “hard limit” of my older phone’s capabilities when the Note2 came out, I’ll need to deal with the 8-hour recharge compared to a faster USB3.

    Even USB3’s implementation into phones was delayed by a year, as manufacturers announced they’d put it in 2012 phones (Note2=2012, Note3=2013), so I had delayed getting a new phone in 2011 based on that announcement and I had to break-down-and-buy the Note2 in 2012, because by 2012 I reeeally needed a new phone as I had already put up with using my not-so-fit-for-my-needs older phone for an extra year based on this semi-promise that they’d put USB3 into the Note2’s era/generation. Now that USB3 came out FINALLY after many delays…but even now its implementation in Samsung (the transfer speeds, but not recharging speed) is a disappointment.

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