I know many of my friends has been waiting for this. Some have even asked me when will I be reviewing the new Samsung Galaxy Note9. Well here it is boys and girls. This is my personal and honest review of what I think about the new Galaxy Note9.
I have reviewed the A8, S9 and S9+ these past few months and I can say that I have fallen in love with Samsung all over again. Honestly, I was not a fan. Then in comes the S8 with the new slim modern design. That model set the bar really high for phone ergonomics and comfort. After that, the S9 came in with similar aesthetics. Who wouldn't fall in love with that?
And now the biggest and baddest of them all landed on my table from a galaxy not so far away. The Galaxy Note9 yells beauty and brains to those who seek the latest and most sophisticated hand held device.
Unboxing and First Look
The review unit that I received is said to be the most popular one. The colour Ocean Blue is very popular because you will get the yellow S-Pen with it. I love the colour and it's a good thing that I got this one.
The Ocean Blue Galaxy Note9 is a head turner. People will be able to recognise the phone easily because it appears almost everywhere like in printed advertisements, on billboards and even in webpage ads.
Why not? It's bold, it's beautiful and it's how the now should look like.
What you will get in the box is pretty similar to what you'll get in S9 and S9+ box. The same earphone tuned by AKG is in there, the same fast-charger and cable is in there, the same SIM card slot pin is in there too...pretty much the normal stuffs. Well, to be it's kinda normal because I have reviewed the rest of the flagships before this but to other people who just bought this, those things are awesome premium stuffs.
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Galaxy Note9 Specifications
- Body: Aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back; IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm, 201g. Midnight Black, Ocean Blue, Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple color schemes.
- Display: 6.4" Super AMOLED 'Infinity Display', 2,960x1440px resolution, 18.5:9 (2.06:1) aspect ratio, 516ppi; HDR10 compliant (no Dolby Vision).
- Rear camera: Primary 12MP, Type 1/2.55" sensor, f/1.5-2.4 aperture, 26mm equiv. focal length, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Secondary 12MP, Type 1/3.4" sensor, f/2.4 aperture, 52mm equiv. focal length, autofocus, OIS; 2x zoom. 2160p/60fps, 1080p/240fps slow motion, 720p/960fps super slow-motion video recording.
- Front camera: 8MP, f/1.7 aperture, autofocus; 1440p/30fps video recording.
- OS/Software: Android 8.1 Oreo; Samsung Experience 9.0; Bixby virtual assistant; Smart Connect, Smart Connect Home.
- Chipsets: Samsung Exynos 9810: octa-core CPU (4x3rd-gen Mongoose 2.7GHz + 4xCortex-A55 1.8GHz), Mali-G72 MP18 GPU.
- Memory: 6/8GB of RAM; 128/512GB of storage; microSD slot for cards up to 512GB.
- Battery: 4,000mAh Li-Po; Adaptive Fast Charging; QuickCharge 2.0 support; WPC(Qi)&PMA wireless charging.
- Connectivity: Single-SIM, Dual-SIM available in certain markets (hybrid slot); LTE-A, 4-Band/5-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.18 (1.2Gbps/150Mbps); USB Type-C (v3.1); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac MU-MIMO; GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0.
- Misc: Bluetooth-enabled S Pen stylus with 4096 pressure levels and multimedia controls; fingerprint/iris/face recognition; stereo speakers tuned by AKG; 3.5mm jack; bundled AKG headphones; DeX dock compatibility.
The unit that I got (for SEA) is based on Samsung Exynos chipset with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal space. Even with the 6GB of RAM, the phone shows no lags and it outperformed my other phones by a thousand mile. The internal space goes up to 512GB of space with the 8GB version, plus you're able to add in up to 512GB of external MicroSD card. So imagine having a total of 1TB of space in your phone.
Design & Look
I love the infinity display, full-stop. The display is clear and vibrant, like how Samsung's AMOLED has been all these while. Not a problem in that area.
The size of the phone is a little big for my liking. For the Galaxy S9+, I feel that it is just the right size for my hand but the Note9 is a tad too big. That is in-fact how the Note is intended to be since the first Note. But the slim factor of the phone made it feels comfortable. The Note9 is narrow as opposed to being wide, like the S9+, so that's great.
The location of the dual camera at the back is at the top center with the fingerprint scanner right below it. The overall look at the back is tidy and symmetrical. Scanning my fingerprint to unlock the phone feels just okay because I would sometimes miss the spot. I had to reach a little higher to hit the right spot in order to get an accurate reading. But that's fine. I can also rely on the face and retina recognition to unlock the phone which only take a few milliseconds.
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The buttons at the sides are comfortable to press. Everything is in place and nothing feels loose or odd. The SIM slot at the top fits perfectly in place while the headphone jack at the bottom is a welcome sight. I do prefer it being at the bottom rather at the top. The overall weight of the phone is not too heavy despite the 4000mAh battery.
The S-Pen is well hidden at the bottom right. You have to press it inwards before it pops out and activating the on-screen quick S-Pen menu functions. From here you can chose to create new note, write on the screen, do a selection with the smart select and many others. The responsiveness of the S-Pen is great, accuracy is excellent. Graphic illustrators or animators would love the Note9 because of this.
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It is also good to note (pun intended) that the S-Pen is Bluetooth enabled. This means you can remotely press the button on the S-Pen to take a picture from up to 9 meters away (maybe more if there's no obstructions). There's also a tiny battery inside the S-Pen as well because of the Bluetooth and will be charged when you put the S-Pen back into it's slot.
Next: Performance & Camera >
Performance
I think it's pretty easy for me to gauge on any phone's performance nowadays. Those who have been reading my phone reviews recently will know how I deem the phone worthy of receiving an excellence award for performance.
Since I'm (kinda) addicted to PUBG Mobile, I will always test the phone to its full potential by playing the game for long hours and at the highest graphic settings. So yes, I put the Note9 to hard labour by setting everything to the highest and most demanding graphic performance. Guess what? The Galaxy Note9 didn't even wince.
It churned out graphics like it's the 90's with minimal effort. Everything in the game runs smoothly, graphic renders quickly without any lag, 60fps for PUBG is just beautiful. All the graphic hard work supposed to take a toll on the phone and produce tons of heat but the Note9 is still cool to the touch. I was impressed by that plus the viewing angle is great. This is the type of phone that I won't want to give back. But I have to.
Antutu 3D benchmark is a no brainer too. If it can render graphics so well in PUBG, it certainly can perform above average in Antutu. I got a total score of 241987 on Antutu which is the 19th spot in the overall ranking. I was expecting it to be in the top 10 but most of the new phones today are playing the catch-up games by bringing in more powerful specs.
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So I'm looking at the Note9 more of a productivity phone rather than a gaming phone although it has all the bells and whistles to run any games smoothly. The battery can last me the whole day after unplugging it in the morning and still have some juice left to run a game of PUBG at night. I'm making a note that the Note9 is a perfect companion to have for young creative professionals, me included.
Camera and Imaging
As usual, this is the favourite subject. We all know that the majority of the younger generations and avid social media users love taking photos and post it online soon after. And having a phone with a good camera is essential.
So how does the Note9 performs when it comes to photography and video? We will now find out.
First, lets recap on the camera specifications.
- Rear camera: Primary 12MP, Type 1/2.55" sensor, f/1.5-2.4 aperture, 26mm equiv. focal length, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Secondary 12MP, Type 1/3.4" sensor, f/2.4 aperture, 52mm equiv. focal length, autofocus, OIS; 2x zoom. 2160p/60fps, 1080p/240fps slow motion, 720p/960fps super slow-motion video recording.
- Front camera: 8MP, f/1.7 aperture, autofocus; 1440p/30fps video recording.
The primary main camera takes a normal wider angle view photos while the secondary main camera is a 2x zoom lens. Photo quality is impressive as how Samsung targeted it to be. There is a dual tone LED flash next to the camera and also the phase detection sensor on the outer side. The camera module does not protrude that much, making it stable when placing the phone on a table.
The auto-focus is fast. I don't seem to have any problem focusing on fast moving subjects such as cars and animals. The camera also detect faces making it easy to shoot portraits. Of course the bokeh effect is one of its features. You can adjust the blur when you're in the live photo mode and also select which area to be blurred and which is to be in focus.
Now here are some sample photos.
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Like I said, the photo quality coming out from Note9's camera is way above average. In the early days, we used to get lots of annoying washed out photos and we have to edit them in Photoshop first before posting it online. But this time, most camera phones produce high quality almost true-to-life photos. I know one thing for sure, that is I don't have to make heavy edit to all my photos. And the preset modes are nice too.
I do notice the noise in the low light shots, which is normal due to the sensor size. But the in camera app manage to minimise the noise to a certain point that it is forgivable. A few edits here and there, voila...no more noise.
Overall, the camera on the Galaxy Note9 is awesome.
< Back | Next: Software, OS and Conclusion >
Software and OS
The Note9 comes with Android Oreo out-of-the-box. You will get some updates as soon as you're done with the phone's initial setup. That's okay because it will keep your phone up-to-date.
Ever since the S8 release, the bloatwares are much lesser to almost none. But this time around you are able to install the "bloatwares" as an optional feature. Some you will use, some are useless. I don't bother to install any of those unless I really need to.
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I would say that Samsung have much improved their launcher and it looks great. It no longer use too much resources that will leave you with low RAM like it used to. Everything is kept to a minimum while having user friendly functions.
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And did I mention using the S-Pen is a breeze? Jotting down any handwritten notes on the notepad is smooth and accurate. Even my complicated signature looks good here. If only I could draw, I would've drawn something nice on the Note9.
Conclusion and Final Verdict
Now the question is this. Would I buy the Note9 if I have the means to do so? Yes, if I know that I will use the S-Pen on daily basis. Like I said earlier, the Note9 is for someone who utilises the S-Pen for its functions to draw and to take notes. Using the S-Pen as a remote "trigger" for the camera is very useful too if you're a travel blogger who travels alone or someone who is into vlogs.
And for those who love taking tons of photos for social media network posts will love the camera on the Note9. Even the selfie camera is great.
For gamers (like me), the Note9 is worth it. With the huge and vibrant display, the wide angle view, it will be an awesome gaming experience. But to use the phone solely for gaming is such a waste.
The Note9 is meant to do much more than just gaming and photography. It's for those young creative professionals who wish to do more, create more and be productive. This is a device that I would call, a fully functional PC in your hand.
The Samsung Galaxy Note9 is priced at RM3,699.00 for the 128GB/6GB version and RM4,599.00 for the 512GB/8GB version.
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