Note 9 a real contender for serious users

Noel Campion says Samsung Galaxy Note 9 delivers great visuals and sound, but at a price that is not for everyone

Note 9 a real contender for serious users

Noel Campion says Samsung Galaxy Note 9 delivers great visuals and sound, but at a price that is not for everyone

Ever since I first reviewed the original Samsung Galaxy Note, I’ve been a fan of the series and after spending two weeks with the Note 9, I hate having to hand it back.

Most of the minor shortcomings of the Note 8 have been addressed, refined and the Note 9 is the pinnacle of the Note dynasty, but that doesn’t mean this is the perfect phone for everyone.

Aesthetically, the Note 9 is a beautiful piece of tech that combines glass and metal to create a device that looks stunning, yet feels comfortable in the hand. Not too much has changed from the Note 8 in the overall design, but the layout of the cameras on the back have been repositioned to make it easier to reach and find the fingerprint reader.

I’ve tested a lot of great phones already this year, many of which have fantastic displays, but the Note 9 is in a class of its own. Now a 6.4in OLED, almost bezel-less display that produces inky blacks, blinding brightness for incredible contrast in movies and images. The colours are vibrant and text is razor sharp. Colour accuracy is also impressive as are the viewing angles.

Build quality is what we’ve come to expect from flagship Samsung devices, and the Note 9 doesn’t disappoint with premium materials, tactile clicky buttons and tight tolerances for things like the slot that houses the S Pen.

Despite the fact that there’s very little bezel, there’s still a small forehead and chin, but significantly, no notch, something many other flagships have. However, the Note 9 is a massive phone, and slippy too, making it unwieldy at times. I’ve larger than average hands and I love big phones, but if were to own the Note 9, I’d put a non-slip case on it right away. To be fair, this is pretty much to same for most high-end phones these days.

That’s just the price you have to pay for glory when you want a massive screen as gorgeous as the Note 9s.

To go with the awesome screen — one of the few that actually supports HDR in YouTube and Netflix — you also now get good stereo sound, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a decent pair of in-ear, AKG tuned headphones in the box.

The Note 9 is blisteringly fast despite a heavy Samsung skin on top. Running on 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage with the option of upgrading this with an extra 500GB via microSD card means you won’t ever run out of space.

The Note 9 employs both fingerprint and face unlock. The placement of the fingerprint reader does make it easier to unlock than the Note 8, but it’s still not as good as the best out there. Also, Intelligent Scan, which uses your face and irises to unlock, doesn’t work all of the time for me. In the end, I used face recognition, which does work reliably and fast all of the time but isn’t as secure as Intelligent Scan.

The S Pen has always been one of my favourite things about the Note line and the Note 9 now adds additional features including being able to use it as a remote to take selfies and photos. It has a built-in battery that gets charged from the Note 9’s battery when docked and uses Bluetooth to connect to the phone.

Not only is the S Pen a better way of taking handwritten notes, but I also love to doodle and draw on it using apps like Adobe Sketch or Infinite Painter. Yes, the screen is too small for any major works of art, but the S Pen offers excellent pressure sensitivity with little lag or short drawing sessions.

The Note 9 uses the same cameras as the S9 Plus, but adds AI smarts to the camera software. This makes taking better photos easier thanks to the AI, which recognises scenes and objects and adjusts the camera settings to ensure you get the best possible result.

Like the S9 Plus, it has two lenses, one of which has a dual aperture setup that’s 12MP and f/1.5 wide open to maximise low light photography or f/2.4, which is great for landscapes and environments with good lighting. Overall, the cameras offer impressive features that result in great photos making this one of the best camera phones out there right now.

One of the tweaks that make the Note 9 even better than its predecessor is the battery. Traditionally, the Note series has always had great battery life, but the Note 8 was a tad conservative. The Note 9 makes up for this with a massive 4,000 mAh battery that’s good enough to get me easily through a heavy day of use. Of course, you still have fast charging and fast wireless charging, right out of the box.

For a new flagship, it’s a pity that the Note 9 is only running Android 8.1 Oreo. No doubt this will be updated to Android 9 Pie in the near future.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is an incredible phone that makes a lot of small refinements over the Note 8, but its the sum of all these parts that makes it so good. Not perfect, and the hefty price tag of €950 on prepay will turn many off, but you’re getting a premium device that’s top of its class and ticks all the right boxes.

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