The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is the successor to last year's Samsung Galaxy Note 8, packing the usual incremental upgrades in the form of processor and RAM, but what is new is the massive 4000mAh battery and the more powerful S-Pen
A few days ago, Samsung unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 at their Unpacked event in New York. This is the next big flagship from the Korean electronics giant and is set to make its way to Indian shores very soon. We managed to spend some time with the big slab of glass that is the Galaxy Note 9, using it and the upgraded S-Pen, both of which come in shiny new colours. If you’re excited about this upcoming gorgeous new flagship from Samsung, then you must read on.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Specifications and Features
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes packing more or less the same hardware as the Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Review). For India, you get the Exynos 9810 processor powering the new phone. There are two storage/RAM variants of the phone, one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage and the other with 8GB of RAM and a whopping 512GB of onboard storage. Both the phones can accommodate an additional 512GB microSD card in case the onboard storage wasn’t enough. What’s also changed from the other Galaxy flagships is the new massive 4000mAh battery. After the explosive failure of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung had become extremely cautious of large capacity batteries. After establishing their new battery safety process, we see Samsung provide a large capacity battery, which is a great thing for Note users given the smartphone’s mammoth 6.4-inch display that sports Quad HD+ resolution and HDR.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Build and Design
To be honest, from the little time we’ve spent with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, it would appear that nothing has really changed in terms of the Note 9’s physical appearance in comparison to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (review). It still possesses that tall, stalky build with sharper corners in comparison to the Samsung Galaxy S9+. The phone continues to utilise glass as its primary material of construction with Gorilla Glass 5 present on the front and back. A metal frame keeps the two sides together, in what feels like a very premium package. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has been created in four colours, but India will only be getting the Midnight Black, Metallica Copper and the Ocean Blue colours. While all the phones come with a matching S-Pen, the Ocean Blue colour comes with a bright yellow stylus. The colour mismatch may not be for everyone honestly.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes with a dual camera setup identical to the one on the Samsung Galaxy S9+. You get two 12-megapixel sensors, one with a wide angle lens and the other offering 2x optical zoom. The wide angle lens also sports the dual aperture which we noted in our Samsung Galaxy S9+ review as being of little use, but there is something new here for a change. Samsung has finally put in some “intelligence” into their camera software, though they refrain from calling it AI, like everyone else. You get a host of new software features like intelligent scene recognition which identifies up to 20 parameters in a scene and adjusts the settings accordingly. The camera software will also be able to tell if the photo you’re taking has an imperfection like someone accidentally closing their eyes when the photo was clicked. The front facing camera features an 8-megapixel sensor with autofocus and a lens with an aperture of f/1.7. We haven’t been able to test-drive any of these features yet but will give you a thorough breakdown of their performance in our in-depth review.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 First Impressions
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 feels more like a refinement of everything Samsung has done with the Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy S9/S9+. While it may not seem like too much of a step up for Samsung Galaxy S9+ users, maybe not even for those who are using the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 does warrant a closer look. We will be putting the phone through its paces to ascertain whether it’s a phone worth upgrading to or not.
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Swapnil Mathur
Swapnil was Digit's resident camera nerd, (un)official product photographer and the Reviews Editor. Swapnil has moved-on to newer challenges. For any communication related to his stories, please mail us using the email id given here. View Full Profile
