Introduction
Last year, Samsung had a great comeback with the Galaxy Note8, a near-perfect smartphone of 2017. Well, time flies and we got the new Galaxy Note9 now, which looks a lot like its predecessor, but is it? This is the Samsung Galaxy Note9 review!
Unboxing
I guess we can really skip the unboxing part as everything is pretty similar, except for the facade, which now has a debossed big yellow S Pen. Duly note that the color of the S Pen actually depends on what color variant you choose. Our review unit is the Ocean Blue variant, which has a yellow S Pen.
Same Design
In terms of design, the phone has the same design as the Note8, which is already quite beautiful. You still have the same 18.5:9 Infinity Display on the front, while the iris scanner, earpiece, and front camera are on top the display. Like what we mentioned in the Note8 review, the phone looks quite balanced.
The left side of the phone has the volume rocker and Bixby button, while the right houses the power button. Thankfully, the bottom of the phone still has the 3.5mm audio jack, alongside with the USB Type-C port, a speaker, and the slot for the S Pen. Like the S9, the Note9 now also has the AKG tuned stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
Flipping over to the back of the phone, the fingerprint sensor has now been repositioned, below the dual-camera setup! To be honest, I actually prefer the back design of the Note8 more than the Note9, as the Note8 looks even more well-arranged and blend-in to the design. The special cutout for the fingerprint sensor on the Note9 looks not that premium.
6.4″ Infinity Display
Being the successor of the Note8, the Note9 has a slightly bigger 6.4-inch Infinity Display at 18.5:9 ratio. Yup, larger by just 0.1-inch. By default, the screen resolution is set at Full HD+, but you can change it to WQHD+ or HD+ in Settings. It still remains to be a top-class display with deep blacks and eye-pleasing colors. In fact, even YouTube has rated it as a Signature Device for the best-in-class YouTube experience.
Exynos 9810 Processor
For Malaysian and most Asian markets, the Galaxy Note9 is powered by a 10nm Exynos 9810 processor with two configurations — 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 512GB storage. Both variants come with MicroSD card slot for further expansion. Performance is pretty good with minimal hiccups and stutters, though the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor is still slightly better in terms of gaming.
BLE S Pen
We’ll just skip through the software part as it is pretty much similar to the Samsung Galaxy S9. Moving on, let us talk about the S Pen, the brand new one! Even though it looks quite similar to last year’s S Pen, this is actually a different one. Since it is a Bluetooth-enabled device, for sure the S Pen runs on battery. To charge the S Pen, all you need to do is sliding it back into the Galaxy Note9 to get another 30 minutes of power in just 40 seconds.
The new S Pen now supports Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) technology, which lets you use the S Pen as a remote control. You can use the S Pen for remote camera access, presentation control, and more. I found it actually quite useful, especially when you want to take a group selfie. Furthermore, the device now also supports Samsung DeX with just an HDMI cable.
The Note9 now also comes with an updated Bixby, which I still think that not as useful as Google Assistant. Yet again, you can’t remap the Bixby button.
Dual-Camera with Variable Aperture
Camera wise, the Note9 has the same dual-camera setup as the S9+ — 12MP F1.5/F2.4 wide-angle lens with OIS and Super Speed Dual Pixel + 12MP F2.4 telephoto lens with OIS. Selfie wise, there’s an 8MP AF front camera with F1.7 aperture.
The Note9’s camera remains one of the best as photos taken with this phone are pretty good with eye-pleasing colors and low noise level. However, I really wish that its manual mode can support even longer exposure time.
The 960fps Super Slow-mo video recording feature is still the same, you can add music, create GIFs, and use it as wallpaper.
Finally, Big Battery
The only thing I complained about last year’s Note8 was its battery life. This time around, Samsung has fitted in a huge 4,000mAh battery into the phone. As a result, the battery life is pretty great! Based on my usage, the phone can last through a day easily with more than 4 hours of screen-on-time. Duly note that I actually played PUBG Mobile a lot during the review period, so 4 hours of screen-on-time is actually quite reasonable.
Final Words
Retailing at RM3,699 (128GB) and RM4,599 (512GB), the Galaxy Note9 is now even a little closer to be a perfect phone, compared to last year. It basically checks all the points! You get solid build quality with nice design, top-class display, good performance, lots of storage, an S Pen with useful features, impressive camera, and good battery life. What else can you complain? This is definitely a flagship phone you should get, plus, the base model is even cheaper than last year’s Note8 launching price.
Yay
- Impressive design
- Top-class display
- S Pen with remote function
- Good battery life
Nay
- Exynos 9810 SoC slightly less powerful than Snapdragon 845 SoC
- You still can’t remap the Bixby button
- Camera no wider manual mode control