Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Review - The Total Package!
The Galaxy Note 9: A Masterclass in Phone Design and Features
When it comes to flagship smartphones, Samsung's Galaxy Note series has always been at the forefront of innovation and design. The latest installment, the Galaxy Note 9, is no exception. This phone boasts an impressive list of features that set it apart from its competitors.
One of the standout features of the Galaxy Note 9 is its camera system. The phone's quad-camera setup, featuring a combination of a 12-megapixel primary sensor, 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and two 8-megapixel wide-angle lenses, provides an unprecedented level of flexibility and image quality. Whether you're taking portraits, landscapes, or street photography shots, the camera app on the Galaxy Note 9 is capable of delivering exceptional results.
But what's truly impressive about the Galaxy Note 9's camera system is its ability to detect and correct for errors. This feature, known as "Flaw Detection," uses advanced algorithms to identify and correct issues such as blurry photos, red eyes, or unflattering lighting conditions. This means that even if you're not paying attention while taking a photo, the phone will still be able to flag any problems and provide an opportunity for you to take another shot.
Of course, with great camera power comes great responsibility, and Samsung has certainly taken advantage of this in terms of software updates and features. The Galaxy Note 9's camera app is incredibly user-friendly, with a wide range of modes and settings to suit different shooting styles and preferences.
But the Galaxy Note 9 is more than just a great camera – it's also an incredibly powerful phone with top-of-the-line specs. The device is powered by a massive 4,000mAh battery, which provides all-day usage without needing to be recharged in between. This is particularly impressive considering the phone's large 6.4-inch display, which is both bright and vibrant.
Battery Life: A Major Leap Forward
One of the most significant upgrades over last year's Galaxy Note 8 was the increase in battery capacity. While 3,300mAh was a respectable amount just a year ago, Samsung has taken the plunge and upgraded to an impressive 4,000mAh battery. This represents a major leap forward in terms of battery life, with many users reporting that they can easily get through an entire day without needing to recharge.
Of course, this increased battery capacity comes at a price – namely, heat generation. The Galaxy Note 9's large battery and powerful processor do result in some significant heat buildup during extended use, particularly when compared to smaller-screen phones like the Galaxy S9 or S9+. However, this is a minor complaint considering the phone's overall performance.
Design and Build: A Note Above the Rest
The Galaxy Note 9's design and build are truly exceptional. The device boasts an incredible 6.4-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 3040 pixels, making it one of the sharpest screens on any smartphone. The phone's bezels are also impressively thin, providing an almost seamless viewing experience.
But what really sets the Galaxy Note 9 apart is its build quality. Samsung has used high-quality materials throughout the device, including a sturdy metal body and premium glass display. This attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the phone's design, from the precision-cut edges to the subtle texture of the back panel.
The S Pen: A Power Tool for Creative Users
One of the most iconic features of the Galaxy Note series is the S Pen stylus, which has become an integral part of Samsung's branding. The latest iteration of this feature is arguably the best yet – offering a range of new tools and capabilities that will delight both seasoned artists and novices alike.
The S Pen remote feature is particularly impressive, allowing users to take control of their phone with a simple tap on the stylus. This feature is perfect for those who want to take presentations or give talks without having to constantly reach for their phone.
However, not everyone may be enamored with the S Pen. Some users have complained about the lack of flexibility in terms of customizing the button placement and functionality – particularly when it comes to mapping the Bixby button to launch alternative apps like Google or Twitter.
A Note Above the Rest: The Verdict
In conclusion, the Galaxy Note 9 is a phone that checks every box. From its incredible camera system to its powerful performance, premium build quality, and generous storage capacity, this device truly offers something for everyone. Whether you're an artist, a business user, or simply someone who wants a great all-around smartphone, the Galaxy Note 9 is sure to meet your needs.
With prices starting at around $1,000, it's clear that Samsung has aimed high with its flagship device – but we believe that the investment will be well worth it for those willing to shell out the cash. With its unbeatable combination of features, performance, and design, the Galaxy Note 9 is truly a phone that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
But don't just take our word for it – try the Galaxy Note 9 for yourself and see what all the fuss is about!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey what is up guys mkbhd here and this is the samsung galaxy note 9 an absolute unit uh this is that android phone again that starts at a thousand bucks this year which is making headlines again it's a very expensive phone i've been using it since it came out since that impressions video so for well over a week and i gotta say i think it's worth it so last year i was talking about the five pillars of a great smartphone so if you recall some of my previous reviews i've had about five pillars of a great smartphone those five and the one that the note 8 didn't have was great battery but literally everything else about it was great and it's still one phone of the year this year the note 9 upgrades literally everything about that phone and makes the biggest improvement to the battery so it's getting a lot of flack for being just an incremental upgrade to the note 8 but i actually think that's one of the best compliments that you could give a phone right now so what are those pillars again you might be asking they are great display great build quality great performance great camera and great battery life i always say if you check every single box you got yourself a great quality smartphone if we look at galaxy note 9 now it checks every single box and then some so the display is incredible some including me would even say it's literally the best display in any phone last year's note was already the best display in any phone this year it's 0.1 inches bigger and it's magnificently bright you can read it outdoors in direct sunlight it's super vibrant and contrasty and color accurate this is an a plus display great for gaming for watching videos and also no notch in case you forgot about that the only downside to a display like this is how big it makes the phone feel i just came from the oneplus 6 as you know with a smaller display and the pixel before that and using an iphone 10 a lot so moving up to this note it's one of the few phones that really makes me work hard to use it with one hand and i prefer often to use it with two hands and i don't say that about a lot of phones so there's a lot of reaching to get up to the top of the display and then back down to the bottom and you're going to notice it but then again if you're getting a note you already know what you're getting yourself into and sometimes that's just something you got to calibrate for but all in all great display no question that gets a thumbs up and that kind of leads me into the second part which is great build quality with the infinity display the kind of bleeding of the edge of the screen over samsung still does that it's recognizable versus other phones that don't do this and i like it they don't have to reinvent the wheel here they found something that makes it feel really immersive and they just keep doing that well but really i think we just keep forgetting like the build quality the industrial design or just generally the hardware of this phone is one of the most underrated things about it it's really great you have the premium build materials right so you got metal all the way around this is the new blue one that i actually kind of like a lot tight corners like really boxy as a phone much more squared off than most but i like that they still have the rounded corners of the display but not by a whole lot and then overall it just has this chiseled dense look and feel and it checks a lot of boxes it's ip68 water resistant it has a headphone jack it has excellent clicky buttons and i'll talk more about those in a bit and one of the more underrated upgrades to the hardware is the speakers they're in the same place as they were but they're now much louder and fuller sounding and just straight up better than before i definitely appreciate that slight downside to the hardware is the glossy back that will 100 collect tons of fingerprints as you can see as good as samsung's glass looks when it's clean it can get pretty clouded up but obviously the easy fix you can drop a dbrand skin on it i may recommend a black skin specifically for this one so you can rock a super clean black and yellow look with that s pen overall this thing is built like a tank build quality is not a problem on the note 9. i'd even say it technically counts as a little bit of an upgrade because they move the fingerprint reader down just a little bit to be more reachable minor detail but makes a difference when you're using it every day but build quality is great okay so performance galaxy note 9 has been a great performer it's a fast high-end flagship so you'd expect that snapdragon 845 and six gigs of ram here etc i'm always worried about samsung's skin though because it's not light it's kind of a lot you worry about software updates with it but from my use so far it's been smooth and snappy it's what i've come to expect and it's gotten one software update so far now this is the 128 gig version with six gigs of ram i haven't yet gotten to try myself the 512 gig version with eight gigs of ram but the thing about that first of all it's 250 bucks more expensive than the baseline version so that's a lot and then i don't really see myself actually using 500 gigs of storage on a phone as amazing as it is i love that it's an option it's 2018 why not push that limit but almost all the stuff i use as far as media music photos this stuff is all cloud-based anyway if you are the type of person to have an insane amount of local media and movies and games whatever it is you're doing there can only be one phone that's offering this half a terabyte of storage right now i mean maybe two or three but that's what node is all about giving you these power user features plus an extra two gigs of ram doesn't hurt but i think pretty much anyone including me will be fine with the 128.6 and then there is also a new cooling system to mention so zack jerry rig everything he tore into his note 9 and showed the much bigger copper heat pipe inside this phone samsung calls it a water carbon cooling system all i can tell you is just from using it this phone definitely still gets a little bit warm on the back especially when gaming for a while or navigating in a warm window of your dashboard or something like that but definitely never overheated it is for sure a great gaming phone though it has the specs and more to keep up and the most incredible display and some upgraded speakers so that's still a solid combo and so then there is the camera or cameras and uh this is a this is a firmly third place camera as far as smartphones go right now which is pretty awesome i mean you got pixel 2 at the top which is amazing then you got this and iphone 10 right around second and third you can watch the blind test video if you don't believe me but this is essentially the exact same camera setup as the galaxy s9 plus from a couple months ago which makes it an upgrade from the last note so just like the s9 plus you give it a lot of light and it is an excellent camera you can get real shallow depth of field if you get close enough to your subject as they're pretty classic samsung vibrant colors and slight over processing as far as sharpening and noise reduction you've already heard this all from me before the one new addition is the ai in the settings which they call a scene optimizer that will automatically adjust certain colors when it recognizes the subject so with flowers it might boost the warmer colors or with landscapes it might boost the blue of the sky but i found this more inconsistent and annoying to me than useful so i turned it off after a while but what i do think was useful is what they called flaw detection or basically if someone blinks or the photo's blurry or it finds a red eye or something's messed up in some way it'll let you know right away so you can take another one that part's cool but overall yeah so galaxy note 8 had a great camera then galaxy s9 and s9 plus had great camera now we got note 9 still great camera so that brings us to what you were all probably wondering about from the beginning which is the battery the note 9 bumps up to a 4 000 milliamp hour battery which is a pretty big jump from last year last year they were a little conservative you know sort of following up on the heels of the problems they had so they had a 3 300 milliamp hour battery in note 8. so that's a plus 20 battery capacity size that's not iterative i know a lot of things we've said about this phone have been iterative that's not that is a massive jump but that's just on paper so as far as actual life of the phone goes it's not the best battery life of any phone that'll still go to phones with smaller screens but note 9 is now comfortably lasting all day with a little extra room to spare which it didn't do that before so i'm getting around 5 hours of screen on time with most of my days occasionally a little more never really less which with my heavy usage is pretty damn good i'm going to say a minus grade battery that i was pretty happy with obviously having a massive 6.4 inch super bright display cranked on all the time is gonna take a toll on a phone so we felt that last year with the big screen i think four thousand milliamp hours is actually the appropriate battery size for the galaxy note and i don't think anyone getting it will be disappointed this is great battery life so looks like they did it they they like i said literally upgraded everything on paper about this phone from last year which was already good so i mean you got a better bigger brighter display it's great you got great performance you got great build quality you got a great battery life and a great camera now all in one phone and like the note always does it also has a ton of extras just because samsung has tons of features to throw in for people who are into that kind of stuff those are people who are buying the note like all the different screen modes and advanced tinkering samsung throws in the settings for people who want to dial in the exact color balance and look of their displays things like that it's not it's clearly not flawless uh such a perfectly placed bixby button that can't be remapped i can't ignore that it's a damn shame i just want to remap the bixby button to launch google or twitter or something else i want to do what you can't samsung i thought you were about that and the s pen remote feature it works and it's great i i just don't see myself using it all that much i don't do powerpoints from my phone or any presentations or stuff like that so i still just use the s pen for just taking it out jotting down a note and putting it away you know the extra features are welcome and there will be people who love them and use them a lot but turns out i'm just one of those people who uses stylus the way i always have but for me at the end of the day honestly i would have no problem using this phone every single day it checks so many boxes you can't really find another phone that does an incredible high-res oled display no notch ip68 water resistance a headphone jack and then up to half a terabyte of flash storage snapdragon 845 eight gigs of ram expandable storage on top of that dual cameras both with ois and a 4 000 milliamp hour battery a thousand bucks is a lot to spend on a phone but if you're gonna spend a thousand bucks on one this is for sure the one to get you're getting your money's worth and people who are looking into buying a note already know what they're getting themselves into and they're gonna love this but if you're in the other side of that camp if you're not a note person if you're if you're already typing in the comments a thousand bucks is way too much to spend on a phone i would never do that then a phone like the galaxy s9 or s9 plus which are several hundred dollars less that's going to be the route for you to go so samsung's kind of offering the whole wealth of different budget options and you can choose and i think you'll find something you like in there it's a good phone good job samsung until the next one thanks for watching talk to you guys later peace youhey what is up guys mkbhd here and this is the samsung galaxy note 9 an absolute unit uh this is that android phone again that starts at a thousand bucks this year which is making headlines again it's a very expensive phone i've been using it since it came out since that impressions video so for well over a week and i gotta say i think it's worth it so last year i was talking about the five pillars of a great smartphone so if you recall some of my previous reviews i've had about five pillars of a great smartphone those five and the one that the note 8 didn't have was great battery but literally everything else about it was great and it's still one phone of the year this year the note 9 upgrades literally everything about that phone and makes the biggest improvement to the battery so it's getting a lot of flack for being just an incremental upgrade to the note 8 but i actually think that's one of the best compliments that you could give a phone right now so what are those pillars again you might be asking they are great display great build quality great performance great camera and great battery life i always say if you check every single box you got yourself a great quality smartphone if we look at galaxy note 9 now it checks every single box and then some so the display is incredible some including me would even say it's literally the best display in any phone last year's note was already the best display in any phone this year it's 0.1 inches bigger and it's magnificently bright you can read it outdoors in direct sunlight it's super vibrant and contrasty and color accurate this is an a plus display great for gaming for watching videos and also no notch in case you forgot about that the only downside to a display like this is how big it makes the phone feel i just came from the oneplus 6 as you know with a smaller display and the pixel before that and using an iphone 10 a lot so moving up to this note it's one of the few phones that really makes me work hard to use it with one hand and i prefer often to use it with two hands and i don't say that about a lot of phones so there's a lot of reaching to get up to the top of the display and then back down to the bottom and you're going to notice it but then again if you're getting a note you already know what you're getting yourself into and sometimes that's just something you got to calibrate for but all in all great display no question that gets a thumbs up and that kind of leads me into the second part which is great build quality with the infinity display the kind of bleeding of the edge of the screen over samsung still does that it's recognizable versus other phones that don't do this and i like it they don't have to reinvent the wheel here they found something that makes it feel really immersive and they just keep doing that well but really i think we just keep forgetting like the build quality the industrial design or just generally the hardware of this phone is one of the most underrated things about it it's really great you have the premium build materials right so you got metal all the way around this is the new blue one that i actually kind of like a lot tight corners like really boxy as a phone much more squared off than most but i like that they still have the rounded corners of the display but not by a whole lot and then overall it just has this chiseled dense look and feel and it checks a lot of boxes it's ip68 water resistant it has a headphone jack it has excellent clicky buttons and i'll talk more about those in a bit and one of the more underrated upgrades to the hardware is the speakers they're in the same place as they were but they're now much louder and fuller sounding and just straight up better than before i definitely appreciate that slight downside to the hardware is the glossy back that will 100 collect tons of fingerprints as you can see as good as samsung's glass looks when it's clean it can get pretty clouded up but obviously the easy fix you can drop a dbrand skin on it i may recommend a black skin specifically for this one so you can rock a super clean black and yellow look with that s pen overall this thing is built like a tank build quality is not a problem on the note 9. i'd even say it technically counts as a little bit of an upgrade because they move the fingerprint reader down just a little bit to be more reachable minor detail but makes a difference when you're using it every day but build quality is great okay so performance galaxy note 9 has been a great performer it's a fast high-end flagship so you'd expect that snapdragon 845 and six gigs of ram here etc i'm always worried about samsung's skin though because it's not light it's kind of a lot you worry about software updates with it but from my use so far it's been smooth and snappy it's what i've come to expect and it's gotten one software update so far now this is the 128 gig version with six gigs of ram i haven't yet gotten to try myself the 512 gig version with eight gigs of ram but the thing about that first of all it's 250 bucks more expensive than the baseline version so that's a lot and then i don't really see myself actually using 500 gigs of storage on a phone as amazing as it is i love that it's an option it's 2018 why not push that limit but almost all the stuff i use as far as media music photos this stuff is all cloud-based anyway if you are the type of person to have an insane amount of local media and movies and games whatever it is you're doing there can only be one phone that's offering this half a terabyte of storage right now i mean maybe two or three but that's what node is all about giving you these power user features plus an extra two gigs of ram doesn't hurt but i think pretty much anyone including me will be fine with the 128.6 and then there is also a new cooling system to mention so zack jerry rig everything he tore into his note 9 and showed the much bigger copper heat pipe inside this phone samsung calls it a water carbon cooling system all i can tell you is just from using it this phone definitely still gets a little bit warm on the back especially when gaming for a while or navigating in a warm window of your dashboard or something like that but definitely never overheated it is for sure a great gaming phone though it has the specs and more to keep up and the most incredible display and some upgraded speakers so that's still a solid combo and so then there is the camera or cameras and uh this is a this is a firmly third place camera as far as smartphones go right now which is pretty awesome i mean you got pixel 2 at the top which is amazing then you got this and iphone 10 right around second and third you can watch the blind test video if you don't believe me but this is essentially the exact same camera setup as the galaxy s9 plus from a couple months ago which makes it an upgrade from the last note so just like the s9 plus you give it a lot of light and it is an excellent camera you can get real shallow depth of field if you get close enough to your subject as they're pretty classic samsung vibrant colors and slight over processing as far as sharpening and noise reduction you've already heard this all from me before the one new addition is the ai in the settings which they call a scene optimizer that will automatically adjust certain colors when it recognizes the subject so with flowers it might boost the warmer colors or with landscapes it might boost the blue of the sky but i found this more inconsistent and annoying to me than useful so i turned it off after a while but what i do think was useful is what they called flaw detection or basically if someone blinks or the photo's blurry or it finds a red eye or something's messed up in some way it'll let you know right away so you can take another one that part's cool but overall yeah so galaxy note 8 had a great camera then galaxy s9 and s9 plus had great camera now we got note 9 still great camera so that brings us to what you were all probably wondering about from the beginning which is the battery the note 9 bumps up to a 4 000 milliamp hour battery which is a pretty big jump from last year last year they were a little conservative you know sort of following up on the heels of the problems they had so they had a 3 300 milliamp hour battery in note 8. so that's a plus 20 battery capacity size that's not iterative i know a lot of things we've said about this phone have been iterative that's not that is a massive jump but that's just on paper so as far as actual life of the phone goes it's not the best battery life of any phone that'll still go to phones with smaller screens but note 9 is now comfortably lasting all day with a little extra room to spare which it didn't do that before so i'm getting around 5 hours of screen on time with most of my days occasionally a little more never really less which with my heavy usage is pretty damn good i'm going to say a minus grade battery that i was pretty happy with obviously having a massive 6.4 inch super bright display cranked on all the time is gonna take a toll on a phone so we felt that last year with the big screen i think four thousand milliamp hours is actually the appropriate battery size for the galaxy note and i don't think anyone getting it will be disappointed this is great battery life so looks like they did it they they like i said literally upgraded everything on paper about this phone from last year which was already good so i mean you got a better bigger brighter display it's great you got great performance you got great build quality you got a great battery life and a great camera now all in one phone and like the note always does it also has a ton of extras just because samsung has tons of features to throw in for people who are into that kind of stuff those are people who are buying the note like all the different screen modes and advanced tinkering samsung throws in the settings for people who want to dial in the exact color balance and look of their displays things like that it's not it's clearly not flawless uh such a perfectly placed bixby button that can't be remapped i can't ignore that it's a damn shame i just want to remap the bixby button to launch google or twitter or something else i want to do what you can't samsung i thought you were about that and the s pen remote feature it works and it's great i i just don't see myself using it all that much i don't do powerpoints from my phone or any presentations or stuff like that so i still just use the s pen for just taking it out jotting down a note and putting it away you know the extra features are welcome and there will be people who love them and use them a lot but turns out i'm just one of those people who uses stylus the way i always have but for me at the end of the day honestly i would have no problem using this phone every single day it checks so many boxes you can't really find another phone that does an incredible high-res oled display no notch ip68 water resistance a headphone jack and then up to half a terabyte of flash storage snapdragon 845 eight gigs of ram expandable storage on top of that dual cameras both with ois and a 4 000 milliamp hour battery a thousand bucks is a lot to spend on a phone but if you're gonna spend a thousand bucks on one this is for sure the one to get you're getting your money's worth and people who are looking into buying a note already know what they're getting themselves into and they're gonna love this but if you're in the other side of that camp if you're not a note person if you're if you're already typing in the comments a thousand bucks is way too much to spend on a phone i would never do that then a phone like the galaxy s9 or s9 plus which are several hundred dollars less that's going to be the route for you to go so samsung's kind of offering the whole wealth of different budget options and you can choose and i think you'll find something you like in there it's a good phone good job samsung until the next one thanks for watching talk to you guys later peace you\n"