**A Year with My Samsung Note 9: Reflections and Impressions**

I have to say that when I first got my hands on the Samsung Note 9, it was a big issue that I had to deal with - really slow LTE speeds. I know it has more band support than its predecessor, the Note 8, so I expected faster speeds. However, what I experienced was slower data speeds in certain areas of my home, which was puzzling. Thankfully, after software updates and improvements from carriers like T-Mobile, the speeds have become much faster, even in areas where they were previously slow.

One area that I think contributed to this improvement is the software on the phone itself. It has indeed improved drastically over time, and it's great to see Samsung investing in updates and enhancements to make our devices better. In contrast, my kids' reactions to trying out "The Haunted Mansion" at Disneyland were a different story altogether. We told them it was spooky but not scary, and they surprised us by being troopers and enjoying the ride. They even said it wasn't too scary for them, which was music to our ears. This experience showed that sometimes, with the right mindset and support, kids can handle more than we think.

Fast forward to a year after I got my Note 9, and I have to admit that its design feels somewhat outdated compared to other flagship devices on the market. The phone's bezels are still present, and the fingerprint reader is located on the back - features that were considered cutting-edge when it was released but now feel like relics of the past. Even so, the phone has held up remarkably well in terms of performance, despite getting warmer during use than I'm used to with other devices.

One aspect that I still absolutely adore about my Note 9 is its fast charging capabilities. Samsung's Fast Charging technology is still one of the best on the market, and I was thrilled to see it in action when I needed a quick top-up. I managed to get almost 40% charge in just a few minutes - an incredible feat that every phone manufacturer should strive for.

In contrast, my experience with the S-Pen has been underwhelming. While I know it's a big reason why people buy the Note series, I hardly used it at all during my testing period. It was mostly relegated to jotting down quick notes or letting my kids draw pictures on the screen - not exactly the most exciting uses for this feature.

The speakers and microphones, however, have been a revelation. From the moment I started using the phone, I was struck by how good the speakers sounded. They're genuinely one of the best in the business, and the built-in microphones did an excellent job cutting out background noise - especially useful at crowded places like Disneyland.

Lastly, it's hard to overstate just how versatile my Note 9's camera is. With its standard camera, wide-angle lens, and telephoto capabilities, I've been able to capture some truly amazing moments with my family. From wide-angle videos of our kids' reactions to seeing the characters up close at Disneyland, this phone has been an indispensable companion on our summer adventures.

As I look back on my time with the Note 9, I realize that it's not just about the device itself but also the memories and experiences we create with it. While technology may come and go, it's the moments and memories we capture with our phones that truly stay with us forever. And for me, that's what makes using a phone like my Note 9 so special.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis video is sponsored by skull candy I've had the privilege of reviewing so many phones over the years that in hindsight they fade into the background I don't remember specs or which phone had what camera or what process or even how many gigs a ram but I remember though about each device is a flagship memory that sticks out with that phone this is the phone that I used when my kids were born is that what I took the first photos of them walking with and as the Galaxy Note 9 fades into the distance for the note 10 to eventually come out I wanted another flagship memory with that phone I started my Odyssey with the note 9 on a road trip halfway across the country almost a year ago and I wanted a bookend the note 9 taking my family Disneyland to have my kids experience that to see the rides to go on things for the first time so now I look back and I think about the note 9 this is what will stick out today we're not gonna go to camp today I'm sorry we are actually going to go to Disneyland today so living in Southern California we're like 25 minutes from Disneyland but tickets are also super expensive so we don't take our kids that often maybe once or twice a year but they know that galaxy's edge opens we kind of ran as fast as we could and it looks amazing it's open to the public now it looks like you are you know on a galaxy far far away so when I hold the note 9 and really any modern flagship phone I'm in awe of how good the screen is maybe I seem like a broken record but those screens never get old and I never get tired of looking at them and the note 9 being last year's flagship phone it's an incredible screen to look at the colors are bright and vibrant it's pretty good now for visibility anything that I want to do on that screen looks amazing it's not even scaled up to the highest resolution by default but everything I want to do on a phone the screen is a portal and nothing looks better to me than a Sam i screen the family just gone to see Toy Story 4 so after that we ran over to the Buzz Lightyear ride which been on a million times you shoot stuff I took it as a chance to be indoors have some air conditioning tonight my sandwich while we were in there which is nice the kids had a great time now you've been to an airport recently you see some version of wireless headphones everywhere you go but it can be really expensive to get good quality audio into tiny little things coming out of your ears enter Envy from Skullcandy these guys are $79.99 and give you some really awesome features at the competition doesn't first ip55 so if you go to the gym a lot and maybe you get sweaty didn't really nice have something that's not going to break Scott touch controls built-in you could control volume you can talk to your assistant whether you're rockin with the Lex at Google or assistant or you're slumming it with Siri you have access to all of them just by quick touching they also go into your ears they've got adjustable little gels it's actually gonna be noise isolating so you're not gonna be able to hear stuff going on around you so great for an airplane you got sort of loud engine noise you just want to block your movie in peace battery life obviously important you get 16 hours of total battery life four hours on the Indies themselves an additional 12 through the carrying case also got a bunch different colors available got indigo blue you got mints and black so I want to flex some color options it's gold candies got you covered so if you want to check them out you want a pair of solid wireless headphones for half the price the competition check them out will lead to them down below so it's been almost a year since our initial review of the note 9 and a lot has changed it's had almost 12 software updates it advanced in versions of Android a big issue that I had the first go around with the note 9 was I was getting really slow LTE speeds which shouldnt have been the case it has more band support it should have been faster than it was and that appears to have been fixed with software in areas of my home area where I was getting slower data speeds a year ago it was now much faster and that could be result of of t-mobile's network you know getting better I'm also putting some credit to the software on the phone that seems to have improved drastically all right so my kids are with my wife we're gonna try the Haunted Mansion for the first time we've just told them it's spooky and not scary are you guys excited for the Haunted Mansion what else what else you're excited about what did the ghost say wasn't sure if it was gonna be a total disaster at the haunted mansion or end up with two screaming kids and after like exit the ride they were troopers they made it through it they enjoyed it they liked it they said it wasn't too scary for them good great thumbs up so brave dude it's always interesting to see how quickly check the note nine when it came out looked and felt cutting-edge and now in a year has become commonplace to have phones with no bezels to have cutout displays and cameras that pop out in screen fingerprint readers so the design of the note somehow in about twelve months now seems outdated to me a fingerprint reader on the back feels like yesterday is tech so that's something that was really apparent when I picked up the phone again but some stuff still stayed the same the phone got really warm at Disneyland music was 95 degrees but I was using it a couple days before and I was watching some heavy video or playing a game I did notice the phone got warmer than what I've been used to with other devices so still something to consider with the note 9 but it didn't knock performance at all I still absolutely adore the fast charge that Samsung offers I was able to get almost 40% just a few minutes that is amazing and awesome every phone should have it I still find myself using the s-pen hardly at all Anil it's a big reason why people get the note the few times I used it it was handy is mostly just to you know write a few notes or my kids draw a picture on the screen it's there it's could use it as a shutter button but I still didn't use the s-pen as much as I had on previous gen huge improvement on the note 9 versus the 8 the speakers are really good and it was obvious the first time I used the phone the speakers were definitely better and having used a bunch of phones in between my testing period with the note 9 I appreciated how good those speakers were and the microphones also built-in it sounded really good and did a nice job cutting out in Viet know me especially at a crowded place like isn't it so we live in a really cool age where you can like physically or digitally capture memories you can capture these moments and time with you your family and your loved one and there are very few devices that can capture that kind of like the note can just do the versatility of the cameras and you got your standard camera you got your wide-angle and telephoto you've got everything that you need depending on the setting so it was awesome to be able to take a wide-angle video and let my kids sort of talk about what they're seeing and also being able to see Disneyland behind them is there to zoom in on details at galaxy's edge and just take regular pictures it was cool to have and I really like the versatility that the note 9 offers it's nice to see other manufacturers who are jumping on board with those multiple cameras the Samsung wasn't the first every time I use a phone that has multiple lenses reminded of how nice it is for those times when I need it so therefore maybe like four and a half five hours not a huge amount of time but it was a fun way to spend the day with my family it was a good summer day for the kids and hopefully it was kind of a memory that they'll have with them I think I look back on technology than to associate it with memories you know what pictures that I take with this phone when I go and look back on timeout for example and they look back on my time with the note 9 this is what I'll remember I'll remember the tests of you know the telephoto or the camera or video tests that I did that'll fade into the background of just another phone but I'll remember Disneyland and taking videos of my kids with it and ask if they were excited to go and seeing what they thought when they saw the characters face to face that was a really cool experience that's something that I think will stay with me foreverthis video is sponsored by skull candy I've had the privilege of reviewing so many phones over the years that in hindsight they fade into the background I don't remember specs or which phone had what camera or what process or even how many gigs a ram but I remember though about each device is a flagship memory that sticks out with that phone this is the phone that I used when my kids were born is that what I took the first photos of them walking with and as the Galaxy Note 9 fades into the distance for the note 10 to eventually come out I wanted another flagship memory with that phone I started my Odyssey with the note 9 on a road trip halfway across the country almost a year ago and I wanted a bookend the note 9 taking my family Disneyland to have my kids experience that to see the rides to go on things for the first time so now I look back and I think about the note 9 this is what will stick out today we're not gonna go to camp today I'm sorry we are actually going to go to Disneyland today so living in Southern California we're like 25 minutes from Disneyland but tickets are also super expensive so we don't take our kids that often maybe once or twice a year but they know that galaxy's edge opens we kind of ran as fast as we could and it looks amazing it's open to the public now it looks like you are you know on a galaxy far far away so when I hold the note 9 and really any modern flagship phone I'm in awe of how good the screen is maybe I seem like a broken record but those screens never get old and I never get tired of looking at them and the note 9 being last year's flagship phone it's an incredible screen to look at the colors are bright and vibrant it's pretty good now for visibility anything that I want to do on that screen looks amazing it's not even scaled up to the highest resolution by default but everything I want to do on a phone the screen is a portal and nothing looks better to me than a Sam i screen the family just gone to see Toy Story 4 so after that we ran over to the Buzz Lightyear ride which been on a million times you shoot stuff I took it as a chance to be indoors have some air conditioning tonight my sandwich while we were in there which is nice the kids had a great time now you've been to an airport recently you see some version of wireless headphones everywhere you go but it can be really expensive to get good quality audio into tiny little things coming out of your ears enter Envy from Skullcandy these guys are $79.99 and give you some really awesome features at the competition doesn't first ip55 so if you go to the gym a lot and maybe you get sweaty didn't really nice have something that's not going to break Scott touch controls built-in you could control volume you can talk to your assistant whether you're rockin with the Lex at Google or assistant or you're slumming it with Siri you have access to all of them just by quick touching they also go into your ears they've got adjustable little gels it's actually gonna be noise isolating so you're not gonna be able to hear stuff going on around you so great for an airplane you got sort of loud engine noise you just want to block your movie in peace battery life obviously important you get 16 hours of total battery life four hours on the Indies themselves an additional 12 through the carrying case also got a bunch different colors available got indigo blue you got mints and black so I want to flex some color options it's gold candies got you covered so if you want to check them out you want a pair of solid wireless headphones for half the price the competition check them out will lead to them down below so it's been almost a year since our initial review of the note 9 and a lot has changed it's had almost 12 software updates it advanced in versions of Android a big issue that I had the first go around with the note 9 was I was getting really slow LTE speeds which shouldnt have been the case it has more band support it should have been faster than it was and that appears to have been fixed with software in areas of my home area where I was getting slower data speeds a year ago it was now much faster and that could be result of of t-mobile's network you know getting better I'm also putting some credit to the software on the phone that seems to have improved drastically all right so my kids are with my wife we're gonna try the Haunted Mansion for the first time we've just told them it's spooky and not scary are you guys excited for the Haunted Mansion what else what else you're excited about what did the ghost say wasn't sure if it was gonna be a total disaster at the haunted mansion or end up with two screaming kids and after like exit the ride they were troopers they made it through it they enjoyed it they liked it they said it wasn't too scary for them good great thumbs up so brave dude it's always interesting to see how quickly check the note nine when it came out looked and felt cutting-edge and now in a year has become commonplace to have phones with no bezels to have cutout displays and cameras that pop out in screen fingerprint readers so the design of the note somehow in about twelve months now seems outdated to me a fingerprint reader on the back feels like yesterday is tech so that's something that was really apparent when I picked up the phone again but some stuff still stayed the same the phone got really warm at Disneyland music was 95 degrees but I was using it a couple days before and I was watching some heavy video or playing a game I did notice the phone got warmer than what I've been used to with other devices so still something to consider with the note 9 but it didn't knock performance at all I still absolutely adore the fast charge that Samsung offers I was able to get almost 40% just a few minutes that is amazing and awesome every phone should have it I still find myself using the s-pen hardly at all Anil it's a big reason why people get the note the few times I used it it was handy is mostly just to you know write a few notes or my kids draw a picture on the screen it's there it's could use it as a shutter button but I still didn't use the s-pen as much as I had on previous gen huge improvement on the note 9 versus the 8 the speakers are really good and it was obvious the first time I used the phone the speakers were definitely better and having used a bunch of phones in between my testing period with the note 9 I appreciated how good those speakers were and the microphones also built-in it sounded really good and did a nice job cutting out in Viet know me especially at a crowded place like isn't it so we live in a really cool age where you can like physically or digitally capture memories you can capture these moments and time with you your family and your loved one and there are very few devices that can capture that kind of like the note can just do the versatility of the cameras and you got your standard camera you got your wide-angle and telephoto you've got everything that you need depending on the setting so it was awesome to be able to take a wide-angle video and let my kids sort of talk about what they're seeing and also being able to see Disneyland behind them is there to zoom in on details at galaxy's edge and just take regular pictures it was cool to have and I really like the versatility that the note 9 offers it's nice to see other manufacturers who are jumping on board with those multiple cameras the Samsung wasn't the first every time I use a phone that has multiple lenses reminded of how nice it is for those times when I need it so therefore maybe like four and a half five hours not a huge amount of time but it was a fun way to spend the day with my family it was a good summer day for the kids and hopefully it was kind of a memory that they'll have with them I think I look back on technology than to associate it with memories you know what pictures that I take with this phone when I go and look back on timeout for example and they look back on my time with the note 9 this is what I'll remember I'll remember the tests of you know the telephoto or the camera or video tests that I did that'll fade into the background of just another phone but I'll remember Disneyland and taking videos of my kids with it and ask if they were excited to go and seeing what they thought when they saw the characters face to face that was a really cool experience that's something that I think will stay with me forever\n"