Samsung has launched the Galaxy Note 9 and it will be coming to India later this month with prices starting at Rs 67,900 for the 128GB variant.
Galaxy Note is Samsung’s way of saying we created the large-screen phone segment with the first Note device many years back. Now in its ninth generation, Samsung is hoping that the demand for its Note device continues to churn its business.
But like every year, many people are wondering if the new Note is any different or better than its predecessor. After all, you’re getting high-end features for a hefty price tag. So what’s changed with the Galaxy Note 9 and are the feature upgrades worth the hype? We give you the answer.
Design
Not much has changed with the Galaxy Note 9. The phone carries a marginally bigger form size, which ends up making it heavier and thicker than the Galaxy Note 8, but only just. The S Pen slots inside on the bottom right, with the USB Type C port for charging and data transfer right next to it.
Unlike most flagship devices, Samsung continues to offer Galaxy Note 9 with the 3.5-mm audio jack.
Compared to the Galaxy Note 8, this year’s Note gets sharper edges, making it look different from its predecessor. The size of the chin under the display is the same as on the Galaxy Note 8.
At the back, the fingerprint scanner is now placed below the camera sensor. This design change ensures that you can at least get easier access to the biometric feature, without smudging the camera lens like on the Galaxy Note 8. We would have liked to see Samsung going for the in-display fingerprint ID, but maybe they’re saving it for the Galaxy S10 next year.
Long story short, keep the Galaxy Note 8 and Note 9 together and you’ll be hard-pressed to find the difference between them, which is minimal.
Display
Galaxy Note 8 had a 6.3-inch screen with 2960x1440 pixels resolution last year and didn’t carry a notch at the top or bottom like the iPhone X. This year, Galaxy Note 9 gets a 6.4-inch screen with the same resolution 2960x1440 pixels that means the pixel per inch comes down marginally.
Even in 2018 Samsung isn’t sold on the idea of a notch on the phone, which is why they are sticking to their so-called Infinity Display which offers 83 percent screen-to-body ratio. From the front, both Note 8 and Note 9 look identical and Samsung is playing to its strengths, but unlikely to work from next year onwards.
The use of an 18:9 ratio display on the Galaxy Note 9 gives you a bigger viewing experience, ideal for multimedia users.
Quality-wise, everyone knows what you’re getting from a Samsung patented screen. It is bright, heavy on contrast that throws warm colours and extremely pleasing (sometimes jarring) to the eye.
Hardware & Software
Yearly upgrades mostly with the Galaxy Note 9, as you get to choose between the Exynos 9810 octa-core processor or Snapdragon 845, depending on where you live. The RAM options have expanded to 6GB and 8GB, with storage now starting from 128GB, going up to 512GB, which is expandable up to 1TB as claimed by Samsung.
It’s still a dual-SIM phone, with headphone jack support and for security you get iris as well as fingerprint scanner as the biometric options.
We’re glad to see Samsung bringing its Intelligent Scan option to the Galaxy Note 9, which lets you unlock the phone without needing to place your eyes in front of the scanner. It scans the features of your face and unlocks, even if the light isn’t too bright.
Samsung has chosen USB Type C for the Galaxy Note 9, which still doesn’t support the latest standard of fast charging. But at least they have bumped up the battery from 3,300mAh on the Galaxy Note 8 to 4,000mAh for the Galaxy Note 9. Samsung claims the phone will give you all-day battery life, and we’ll be putting that to test in the coming weeks.
Galaxy Note 9 is running on Android 8.1 Oreo version out of box, with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface running over it. Since last year, Samsung has gone for a clean design, keeping bloatware to a minimum.
S Pen - More Than Just Doodling
S Pen has usually been marketed for the creative and business users. After all, you can doodle and create work pages on the Note device with the accessory. This year, Samsung has changed the narrative of the S Pen, by adding Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), making it multi-purpose.
With S Pen, now people can click selfies by clicking on the button, or show presentations at work by connecting to the Note 9 to a bigger screen.
All these features imply that Samsung wants to expand its consumer base by appealing to users who aren’t looking to be creative or work-minded all the time.
The use of BLE means the S Pen now has a battery, which gets fully charged by putting it inside the slot of the Galaxy Note 9. It takes less than a minute, as claimed by Samsung.
Camera
This is another department where Samsung truly excels and competes against the best in the business. With the Galaxy Note 9, you get dual rear cameras sized at 12-megapixels each and offering aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4 respectively.
Both the sensors at the back support optical image stabilization (OIS) which is essential for high-quality shooting in all conditions. The changes, compared to the Galaxy Note 8 are incremental, but some of the software features highlighted at the launch event suggest the camera might pack more intelligence that its predecessor.
At the front you still get an 8-megapixel camera with aperture f/1.7 that’s good for quick portraits or selfies in low-light. We’ll test the camera prowess of the Galaxy Note 9 in the coming weeks, to see if it’s a big improvement on the Galaxy Note 8.
Worth the Upgrade?
If you bought the Galaxy Note 8 last year then going for the Galaxy Note 9 doesn’t make a lot of sense. Incremental bump in screen size, with same resolution, upgraded hardware with more RAM and storage means, the phone is a gaming companion.
The cameras are also getting up to date with the standards of a flagship device, something we expect to see from Google’s Pixel and Apple iPhone later this year.
For those who’re moving to a high-end phone, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a price tag of Rs 67,900 is much cheaper than the iPhone X and likely to be cheaper than this year’s iPhone variant also. If you’re really into a large-screen device, with S Pen then Note 9 is worth the consideration.
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