World’s most loved smartphone brand, Samsung unveiled its next major smartphone at a New York event on Thursday. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is the company’s largest phone to date and brings improved cameras, new stylus features to its S-Pen and a massive price tag. It also comes as the smartphone industry has largely pushed the limits on hardware. In recent years, many of the new features from Samsung and Apple have been incremental rather than revolutionary.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 overview
The phone looks a lot like the Galaxy Note 8, with an incremental upgrade much like the Galaxy S9 was to the S8. The only major change over the Note 8 is the migration of the fingerprint sensor from the side of the camera to underneath it. All of Samsung’s other hardware signatures like water resistance, fast wireless charging, expandable microSD storage, and the headphone jack are still here. An improved S-Pen on stands out and so does the even larger display and different sized dual cameras.
The Galaxy Note 9 is no different than the last year’s Note 8 which felt like a truly monstrous phone. It’s bigger than anyone can ever think of how big phones can be. On the display side, the Galaxy Note 9 boats a giant Super AMOLED Quad HD+ screen guarded by the Corning Gorilla Glass 6. The 18.5:9 ratio panel has the resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels and pixel density of 516 PPI. The Note 9 also has a matte aluminum frame with chamfered edges like that of the old Galaxy Note 5.
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Samsung pulled the Note 9’s camera system straight out of the Galaxy S9 Plus. Like the Galaxy S9, the Note 9 will also enhance the low-light photography. The dual aperture flips between f/1.5 and f/2.4, to let in more light. The camera now has scene detection modes that can choose the best shooting mode for you, these features are seen on Huawei P20 Pro and LG G7 ThinQ. The camera hardware brings the following:
- Rear: Dual Camera with Dual OIS (Optical Image Stabilization)
- Wide-angle: SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP AF, (f/1.5 & f/2.4), OIS
- Telephoto: 12MP AF, F2.4, OIS
- 2X optical zoom, up to 10X digital zoom
- Front: 8MP AF, f/1.7
Powering the new Note is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, the same chip that’s powering the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. Outside the US, the phone will be rocking the much powerful Exynos 9810 chipset underneath. Backing up the performance is 6GB or 8GB of RAM with 128GB or 512GB of onboard storage respectively.
The Galaxy Note 9 is one of the first phones from Samsung to have a 512GB storage option. The maximum storage available for any iPhones is 256GB but with no microSD card slot. The Note 9 has the option to add another 512GB, making it a phone that can have a whole terabyte of storage.
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Samsung promises ‘all day’ battery from the Note 9, though most flagship phones in 2018 can provide this. But a 4000mAh non-user removable cell is larger than most and brings to mind the Note 7 fiasco of 2016. The fingerprint sensor, an iris scanner, face recognition technology – the Note 9 comes with all of the bio-authentication options. The phone is IP68 water-resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes) and dust-proof.
The Note 9 looks nearly identical to the Note 8, but there are some changes. The headline upgrades are better cameras, more storage, bigger screen and battery and an S-Pen that now has Bluetooth. Specifically using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the S-Pen can now be used as a mini remote for the phone to trigger selfies or group shots if you place it out of reach, switch slides in a presentation or pause a video.
Just like on the S8 and S9/ Plus, the Note 9 is compatible with DeX, the software that allows you to plug your phone into a monitor and keyboard for a desktop-like experience. Samsung’s DeX software is now built right into the phone. Unlike previous Samsung phones, you don’t need a physical dock now. You can just plug it into an external display with USB-C to HDMI cable for a desktop-like experience.
The phone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with the Samsung Experience 9.5 launcher on top. As previously rumored, Fortnite Battle Royale is going to run from Samsung’s game launcher on the Galaxy Note 9. It’s also going to be available on the new Galaxy Tab S4 tablet. And it’s coming to some older Samsung Galaxy phones, too.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 specs
| Operating system | Android 8.1 Oreo Samsung Experience 9.5 |
| Display | 6.4-inch Super AMOLED, 2960x1440 (18.5:9) |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Exynos 9810 |
| Storage | 128/512GB |
| MicroSD Card Support | Yes, up to 512GB |
| RAM | 6/8GB |
| Primary rear camera | 12MP Super Speed Dual Pixel, OIS, (f/1.5 or f/2.4) |
| Secondary rear camera | 12MP, OIS, f/2.4, telephoto lens |
| Front camera | 8MP, f/1.7, auto focus |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMO, 1.2Gbps (Cat-18) LTE, Bluetooth 5.0 LE ANT+, NFC, GPS, Glonass |
| Audio | Stereo speakers Dolby Atmos 3.5mm headphone |
| Battery | 4000mAh Non-user removable |
| Security | One-touch fingerprint sensor Iris scanner Samsung KNOX |
| Dimensions | 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm |
| Colors | Ocean Blue, Lavender Purple, Midnight Black, Metallic Copper |
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Price and availability
The Galaxy Note 9 will be available in four color options, metallic copper, lavender purple, ocean blue, midnight black. The Note 9 costs £899 in the UK for the base 128GB version or a £1,099 for the 512GB model. In the US, pricing is $999.99 for 128GB and $1,249.99 for the 512GB variant. However, there is no official statement regarding its availability in Nepal.
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