[Real Review] Galaxy Note 9 Review / 갤럭시 노트 9 리뷰

The king of the big, powerful phones is back for another generation, but is the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 still the phablet to beat?

The Note series pioneered the big-screen smartphone in 2011 and over the last seven years it has been made larger and more feature-packed with each new version. Where the Galaxy S9 series is Samsung’s top-end phone for normal people, the Note 9 is the powerhouse for those that need the answer to the question “can I do that on my phone” always to be yes.

The Note 9’s screen is big - at 6.4in it’s 0.1in bigger than the last version – but it’s only actually a smidgen larger than that fitted to the Galaxy S9+.

Place the new phone next to the Note 8 and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference, until you look a bit more closely. 

The bezels are slightly smaller and the aluminium band around the sides slightly more prominent. The dual-camera system now sits slightly proud of the glass back and the fingerprint scanner has been moved from alongside the cameras to below them. It’s a tiny change but makes a huge difference for usability.

The screen is the best you can get on a smartphone, with bright, bold colours, inky blacks and great viewing angles. The Note has always been Samsung’s showcase for its best screen technology.

The massive screen does have its downsides, though, as it makes the Note 9 fairly difficult to handle without two hands. If any phone would benefit from a ring or finger grip on the back, this is it. Samsung should have included a hand strap like the ones that came with phones in the early 2000s. It could sit next to the headphone jack.

Specifications

Screen: 6.4in quad HD+ AMOLED (516ppi)

Processor: octa-core Samsung Exynos 9810 or octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

RAM: 6 or 8GB of RAM

Storage: 128 or 512GB + microSD card

Operating system: Samsung Experience 9 (Android 8.1)

Camera: dual 12MP rear cameras with OIS and dual aperture, 8MP front-facing camera

Connectivity: LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, wireless charging, Bluetooth 5, GPS and Iris sensor

Dimensions: 162 x 76.4 x 9 mm

Weight: 205g

Long-lasting peak performance

Like the Galaxy S9, the Note 9 has a different processor, depending on where you buy it. The European model has Samsung’s own Exynos 9810 chip and was the version tested, while the North American model has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor, which is used in the OnePlus 6 and other top-end phones released in 2018. Performance should be similar between the two versions, although there may be discrepancies at the extremes.

The Note 9 is arguably the best performing Android device on the market, and is capable of maintaining that maximum performance for much longer without overheating, which was very noticeable in Shadowgun Legends compared with a Pixel 2XL or OnePlus 6.

Its performance as a desktop computer using Samsung’s DeX system, connecting the phone to a monitor via a standard USB-C to HDMI cable, was surprisingly good. Chrome viewed on a 1080p monitor handled very large and demanding web apps better than most cheap PCs.

Battery life was solid, but somewhat disappointing given the large 4,000mAh capacity battery, matching the performance of the Galaxy S9+, which has a 12.5% smaller capacity battery. With the screen set to its maximum resolution of QHD+ the battery lasted an average of 25 hours between charges or an hour longer with the screen set to FHD+ resolution.

That was while using the Note 9 as my primary device with the always-on display active, while browsing and using apps for five hours with well over a hundred notifications, reading comics in Marvel Unlimited for 60 minutes, and listening to about five hours of music via Bluetooth headphones.

For comparison, Huawei’s 6in Mate 10 Pro can last two full days between charges under similar conditions. It’s possible that the North American version of the Note 9 with the Qualcomm processor may have longer battery life.

Samsung Experience 9.5

The Note 9 runs the latest version of Samsung’s modified Android called Samsung Experience 9.5. It’s based on Android 8.1 Oreo instead of the recently released Android 9 Pie, which is disappointing but not entirely unexpected.

It looks and behaves similarly to the Note 8 or Galaxy S9+ with Samsung Experience 9. There are a few useful additions for the stylus and large screen, such as the pop-out Edge apps, advanced split-screen multitasking and the ability to pop-out apps to run as windows over others – all features present in the Note 8.

On the whole the software on the Note 9 feels like Samsung’s best optimised yet, with smoother performance all round. It’s not quite as snappy as a OnePlus 6 or Google’s Pixel 2XL, but it feels as if Samsung has done a better job of limiting lag all over the system.

S Pen

nother new addition is a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen, which uses a supercapacitor to operate the S Pen away from the phone for up to 30 minutes or so. Slide the S Pen back into the body for a full charge in 40 seconds.

Other than the usual scribbling on screen, you can now press the button to trigger actions on your phone, such as taking a picture in the camera app, pausing music or presenting the next slide in PowerPoint. Hold down the button and you can launch an app too.

I didn’t find it overly useful, but I know that the feature has been on the wish lists of Note users for some time.

Observations

The Bixby button is still there and Bixby still isn’t great – it technically hasn’t even launched in the UK yet so we just get the US version

Both the phone and S Pen are water resistant to IP68 standards

To register a fingerprint you swipe down on the sensor once, but you must do so in the orientation you hold the device normally otherwise the results aren’t good

Intelligent scan, which combines face and iris recognition, works very well, but you still have to use your fingerprint for most apps

The screen is just about big enough to be a viable replacement for a 7in tablet, but you had better have big pockets

The stereo speakers are surprisingly loud and good

Wireless charging remains great