Why the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is worth the upgrade
After the launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, Samsung has come out with its third flagship of the year, the Galaxy Note 9. Launched at a glittering event in New York, Samsung's latest device in the Note lineup has a lot riding on its sleek shoulders.
In many ways, the Galaxy Note 9 is Samsung's attempt at righting the wrongs of the Note 7 and to an extent, the Note 8. This new phablet with its iconic stylus will also attempt to win back some of the ground that Samsung lost due to the below par sales of the previous flagships – the Galaxy S9 and S9+.
The expectations are quite high, but will the device be able to live up to them? Only time will tell. For now, let's take a look at what it brings to the table and see how it compares to the Note 8 and the S9 line-up.
Design and display
In terms of core design, it's pretty much the same script that we saw with the Note 8. The Galaxy Note 9 follows a design scheme that features curved glass sheets at the back and front that sandwich a metal frame in-between them. Staying true to the design scheme that the Note series followed for the past couple of years, the curves on the Note 9 aren't as pronounced as on the S9 line-up.
The display on the device is bigger than last year, as Samsung has equipped the Note 9 with a QuadHD+ 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity Display. However, because of the constantly shrinking bezels, Samsung has managed to keep the footprint of the device largely the same as last year.
If anything, the only easily discernable change that the Note 9 sees is the placement of the fingerprint scanner that has now been moved to just below the rear camera module. Though this move would not really affect the aesthetics of the phone, it should make the Note 9 far easier to use with a single hand.
Flagship specs
Coming to what powers the phone, the Note 9's spec sheet doesn't have much over Samsung's first two flagships of the year – Galaxy S9 and S9+. But it definitely is an upgrade on the Note 8.
The device has been announced in two variants, with the more affordable 128GB storage one sporting 6GB of RAM, while the expensive 512GB one sporting an extra 2GB of memory. Interestingly, both these variants will support MicroSD cards up to 512GB, thus taking the storage on the more expensive variant to a massive 1TB.
The biggest upgrade that the Note 9 is bringing under the hood is the battery.
Two years after the Note 7 battery fiasco, which forced Samsung to recall millions of units and face major economic damages, the South Korean smartphone maker is now equipping the Note 9 with a large 4,000mAh battery. As opposed to the 3300mAh pack found on last year's phone, this larger battery pack paired with a more energy efficient SoC should give the Note 9 anything between a 20-30 per cent boost in battery life.
Another interesting upgrade, one that should definitely help stablise the performance of the device, is the switch to a "water carbon" cooling system. The particular system should prevent overheating and deliver sustained high performance.
All about the optics
Though the Note 9 comes with similar exteriors and serves only as an incremental upgrade over the Note 8 in terms of core specs, it does bring with it a hugely improved camera setup. The Note 9 sees Samsung equipping the device with the camera module that has previously been seen on the S9+.
The setup – 12-Megapixel adjustable aperture lens paired alongside a telephoto lens for better shots – also brings with it the ability to use variable aperture and switch between f/2.4 and smallest-in-class f/1.5 aperture mechanically.
Additionally, Samsung is also bringing in some AI-backed enhancements coded into the phone's software that it claims will help the Note 9 click even better pictures than the S9+.
S-Pen and DexMode
In terms of software and features, the Note 9 is bringing with it quite a few cool things.
Running Android 8.1, the Note 9 will bring with it an upgraded stylus that will allow for new functions. Though in terms of drawing functionality and sensitivity, nothing has changed, but in terms of hardware, the S-Pen now comes with Bluetooth connectivity. This particular upgrade allows the S-Pen to be used as a remote for the camera, a slide clicker during presentations or even play/pause music.
The Note 9 will also bring with it an improved DeX mode that does away with the need to use a dock to turn your Note device into a full-fledged desktop system. The improved DeX mode would now simply turn on when you connect a monitor or a TV with the phone using an HDMI to USB-C cable. This new DeX mode thus will be able to bring with it a more traditional PC-like experience on the bigger screen once you connect a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.