The release of Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has started the roll-out of the fall smartphone season. Last year, the Note 8 was one of the best Android flagships and it was shockingly successful after the Note 7 disaster.
The Design
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is not Samsung’s most original looking device to date. It is still beautiful but looks a lot like the previous generation like the Galaxy S9 series. The bezels are slightly slimmer on the newer device but if you compare the note 8 and note 9, it is extremely hard to tell them apart. On the rear side, things are slightly different. There is a heart rate sensor on the right of the camera. The fingerprint reader is moved below the horizontal cameras. The fingerprint sensor is easier to find without looking but it is still situated higher than we would like for convenience. It is still a little slower than what we have seen from OnePlus and Huawei devices. The face unlock still works but you need to hold the phone a little close to your face for it to work. After setting up your unlock method, you can change the display options for notifications on the lock screen. Overtime, you can also customize the notification settings for each application. From disabling them entirely to deciding what sounds you might prefer. Given its size, the Galaxy Note 9 is a device for two handed use as it is large, slippery, and a little top heavy. The shiny glass makes it look luxurious. The Note 9 still has the IP68 dust and waterproof protection. However, if you drop it in chlorinated salt water, you should wipe if off right away. If you crack your screen, try to have it replaced at Samsung service center because you risk not having the seals properly replaced by a third party vendor, who might just glue it on and you will end up losing that very useful IP68 protection. Also, repairing the screen might cost around the third of the cost of the Note 9, so just don’t drop it. On the bottom of the device, there is still a headphone jack and a USB C port.
We also have the S Pen, which comes in black color with black model but comes with a vibrant yellow color with the blue variant of the Note 9. What makes the Note 9 unique is the Bluetooth capable S Pen. You can unlock the phone, activate the camera app and take a picture all from across the room. You can also browse the photos or change slides in power point app. As before, you draw notes on the screen and they get automatically get saved in the Samsung Notes app. For now, we haven’t found a way to save the notes to alternate note app (e.g. Google Keep) but they are easy to export. The S Pen has 4097 levels of pressure sensitivity and pretty good accuracy. There is a tiny amount of lag but considering the fact that this is a phone screen you are writing on, it would be difficult to use it in a professional setting anyway. Still, it is fun to sketch on.
The Display
The Super AMOLED screen is a massive 6.4″ and has an excellent QHD resolution with 516 pixels per inch. We have also noticed that you get to experience the definition of a first world problem with QHD screens. Since the resolution is much higher, many of the wallpapers available on popular apps look fuzzy so you waste a lot more time searching for higher resolution photos because Note 9 deserves better. The colors are extremely accurate and all of the colors modes except in the default adaptive display mode, where they are little bit more vivid but still don’t get too off filter. The Note 9 screen gets very bright with peak brightness of 680 nits. You should have no issues with legibility outdoors. The device’s curved edges on the side of the screen are still there. But considering how large the phone is, it is very easy to ignore them.
The Sound
The speaker quality is excellent this year and they are substantially louder on then last year’s Note 8. This is the first Note with stereo speakers, you will find one on the bottom and one that doubles as the earpiece. When you hold the phone in portrait mode, the bottom driver covers the base and the earpiece cover treble. In landscape mode, they switch to left and right. Personally, I think the landscape version sounds better so we recommend watching videos in full screen. With headphones, there is virtually no distortion and it is the best result we have seen in a smartphone. For an even more vibrant sound, you can turn on the Dolby Atmos settings. It has been updated and it offers a list of optimizations from movie, music and voices. There is also an auto mode that chooses for you. From our experience, most things sound the best with Music option. There is also an Adapt Sound option, which will analyze your hearing and turn up the frequency that you can’t hear well, so you don’t need to pump up the music to enjoy it.
The Battery
The Note 9 received a very good rating in battery life with almost 100hr of run time. This is not surprising given that Note 9 has 4000 mAh battery, which is one of the biggest batteries that Samsung has offered in its smartphones to date. It is also 500 mAh larger than the infamous Galaxy Note 7. However, since that fiasco, Samsung has created series of safety checks to make sure that none of their phones explode again. You can get 37% battery charge in 30 minutes, which is slower than other 2018 flagships. However, for a full charger, the Note 9 takes 1 hour and 45 minutes, which closer to other phones. It can also quick charge wireless, but it also depends on which wireless charger you own.
The Performance
The Galaxy Note 9 comes with either the snapdragon 845 or the Exynos 9810, which are the same chips available on the S9. The Exynos chip is faster than the snapdragon but unfortunately it is not usually available for purchase in the United States. Both chips can handle heavy multitasking and demanding apps without a slowdown. The Note 9 runs Android Oreo 8.1 and hopefully it will soon be updated to Android Pie but it is surprising the Samsung didn’t wait for the 9th iteration of Android. Since it is Android 8.1, what you find isn’t too different from the S9 devices. There is a game launcher that is convenient for organizing games that would otherwise clutter your app drawer. The gallery has some basic editing software and offers some presets. On the left side of the phone, you can still find the Bixby button, which seems to have been upgraded or at least it now has new animations and some new options. Unfortunately, there is no way to deactivate the button and if you click it by mistake it will end up interrupting whatever you are doing.
The Camera
The Note 9 has two 12 mega pixel cameras on the back. One is a telephone that allows for optically stabilized 2x optical zoom. The other is the main camera with variable aperture. In daylight, images are virtually details, noise free with much more natural colors than previous galaxy phones. Auto HDR allows for wider dynamic range but the scene optimizer occasionally makes for a higher contrast. Speaking of which, Samsung’s image optimizer is one of the better ones we have seen. It is easier to switch off but occasionally gives photos a nice amount of pop. The live focus in portrait mode works well but on occasion it gets confused with hair. It works in bright light because the telephoto doesn’t work in dim conditions. In low light, the photos look good, there is no issues with saturation and dynamic range is improved. The Note 9 is better than the S9 when exploring sources of light. The trade off is that there is more noise and edges are not as well defined.
The front camera is an 8 MP with F1.7 aperture, which sounds familiar because it has remained unchanged with Galaxy Note 8. The photos from front camera offer plenty of details and nice colors. Portrait mode works well too. The front facing camera has no flash but the light of the screen can often be enough to illuminate your face in low light conditions. Like the S9, the Note 9 supports 4K and 1080p video recording at 60fps. The 4K videos are details and free of noise. The colors are great and so is contrast and white balance. There are no focus issues or compression artifacts and once again we were impressed by the dynamic range. The 4K on the telephoto camera is little bit less sharp and colors are less saturated. The Note 9 has both EIS and OIS, so footage is nice and stabilized but it can look artificial when you do panning shots. The 1080p videos also exhibit practically the same qualities with sharp and detailed picture. The slow motion on Note 9 has been refined and you can now capture footage at 960fps for twice as long as before. There is both manual and automatic capture option, with the latter being more accurate. Sadly for not it is still 720p.
Final Thoughts
The Galaxy Note 9 is a monster of a phone. It has so many features and options and it will literally take multiple posts to get through them all. However, it is missing two things that you need to know. It doesn’t have an IR blaster and FM radio functionality. You can’t have it all I guess. Also, there is a little bit too much overlap between this and the Galaxy Note 8, so if you already have the Note 8 then there is really not many reasons to upgrade unless you need the extra battery life. If money is no concern or you are due for an upgrade, then this is easily the best Android phone out on the market right now. We can easily recommend the Galaxy Note 9 to anyone.
Technical Specifications
| Features | Samsung Galaxy Note 9 |
|---|---|
| Screen Size | 6.4" Super AMOLED |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 px (~516 ppi) |
| Chipset | Exynos 9810 (EMEA) Snapdragon 845 (USA/LATAM) |
| CPU | Octa-core 4x2.8 GHz & 4x1.7 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G72 MP18 - EMEA Adreno 630 - USA/LATAM |
| Memory | 512 GB, 8 GB RAM or 128 GB, 6 GB RAM |
| Storage Option | microSD, up to 512 GB (dual SIM model) |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 4000 mAh |
| Rear Camera | 12 MP (f/1.5-2.4), PDAF, OIS 12 MP (f/2.4), AF, OIS |
| Video Recording | 2160p@60fps, 1080p@240fps, 720p@960fps |
| Front Camera | 8 MP (f/1.7), AF |
| Dimentions | 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm |
| Weight | 201 g (7.09 oz) |
| Security | Fingerprint (rear) |
| Wireless Charging | Yes (Qi/PMA) |
| Waterproof | IP68 dust/water proof |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 |
| Cost | $999 (USD) |
Source: Samsung
I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav