When the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was first released, Samsung fans went crazy since it was among the best handset of that time – bigger, colourful, powerful, and it came with S-Pen! While Samsung has released Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10 Plus since then, Note 9 remains a pretty great option if you cannot afford the latest ones. The Galaxy Note 9 features a massive 4,000mAh battery, 8GB RAM, 6.4-inch AMOLED display, and up to 512GB of internal storage. While the S10 Plus has all this and more, Note 9 is by no means a poor option. It is still better than most others in the market and relatively, cheaper as well.
You can add a 512GB microSD card and voila, there you have a 1TB phone with you. You can now save games, photos, music, videos, and anything else your heart desires. This is more space than in most laptops in the market right now.
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 features an expansive 6.4-inch display and comes with a MicroSD slot, fingerprint sensor, and headphone jack. The Super AMOLED display used here is pretty great and doesn’t really need any improvement. It provides one of the most consistent experiences among all devices. The bezel-less Infinity Display is crisp and bright and is 27% brighter and with 32% more contrast ratio compared to its predecessor, Note 8.
The 18:9 aspect ratio is not anything new, but the curved edges offer a truly unforgettable experience. Despite being quite a large phone, it doesn’t have any trouble fitting neatly into the pockets of jeans. Thanks to its slim, thin design, it is far easier to carry it and keep it than the S9 Plus with its boxy design.
Design
The two priceless features included in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 model is the headphone jack and a microSD card slot for expandable storage. With most companies doing away with these options, it is a relief to see these in Note 9. The fingerprint sensor placed at the rear could be bigger to make it more comfortable while the Bixby button doesn’t need to be quite that large. The Note 9 features IP68 rating making it both resistant to water and dust. The resistance rating remains the same regardless of the S-Pen is embedded or not. Note 9 also features stereo speakers – something that was missing in Note 8 but is present in both S9 and S9 Plus.
This fingerprint sensor is designed to work as an alternative to Samsung’s Face Unlock feature and its iris scanner option. Apple doesn’t offer it as an alternative although you can enable both of them. However, it just doesn’t work as smoothly as on Note 9. The Note 8’s off-centre rear fingerprint sensor led to many user complaints of bad design. It looks like the developers have taken note of the same and the latest Note 9 features the sensor at the centre, making it easy to access and use it.
Specs And Performance
Coming to Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s features, we see that it uses the same chipset as that of S9 and S9 Plus. It uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 for the US and China and Samsung Exynos 9810 for other places. Since it is country-specific, you have no choice. This chip offers great performance, even for heavy-duty games like Fortnite on Android. While the speed is not the fastest, it still offers decent enough speed. While it looks like the UK and other places have gotten better performance thanks to the Exynos 9810, the US is not faring very behind either.
The 4,000mAh battery
The Galaxy S9 has a massive 4,000mAh, larger than even S9 and S9 Plus models. The phone supports both fast charging and fast wireless charging. Among all the Samsung phones, Note 9 features one of the best battery life. After the Note 7 recall, the company has certainly been cautious of increasing its battery capacity. However, they do mention that their batteries will undergo the eight-point safety check, post which the risks of any fires or similar occurrences drastically reduce. For average users, Note 9 will easily last more than a day.
Android and Interface
This Note 9 by Samsung comes with Android Orea, missing Android Pie by a very tiny margin of time. However, Samsung did say that they will roll out an upgrade for Android Pie. Meanwhile, Samsung started refining their Samsung Experience software, which has improved in leaps and bounds. It is no longer the bloated, slow thing we saw a few years ago as Samsung TouchWiz firmware. Certain devices starting from Galaxy S7 and higher devices received first access to free-to-play hit game Fortnite: Battle Royale for 48 hours.
You will find Samsung Pay, Bixby AI, and AR Emoji here. Samsung Pay allows users to make contactless payments, even at machines that don’t usually accept Android Pay or Apple Pay. You will find both Google Assistant and Samsung’s Bixby AI assistant. Although Google is smarter than Bixby at the moment, Samsung said that they are working on improving their assistant.
S-Pen Features
S-Pen is Samsung’s Bluetooth stylus which helps in remotely taking pictures. It can work about 30 feet away. The latest model allows users to set up custom shortcuts. Note-taking capabilities don’t take a hit even if it is uncharged. However, charging is no trouble either since it charges super quick.
Camera Quality
The Samsung Galaxy S9 boasts of a dual 12MP rear camera that allows you to transit between an f/1.5 aperture for low-light photography and an f/2.4 aperture for use in normal lighting conditions. Its low-light defeating and telephoto-zooming camera lenses on the back make it one of the best camera phones in the market. The second rear camera lens is designed for optical zoom.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is one of the best smartphones in the market, with regards to both price and features. The phone features more options than ever. With a large 6.4-inch curved screen, a stunning camera, and a huge battery, this model is good enough for all of us. The S-Pen is a great addition and users can have tons of fun working around with it.
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