It’s finally here. In a matter of days from now, a device touted as the best Android device ever known till date will be in the market. Samsung has officially unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 at an event in New York and sales will begin soonest. The Korean company has tagged the device ‘world most advanced smartphone’ but at the end of this article, you should able to give your verdict.
The Note 8 successor is powered with the Snapdragon 845 processor/ Exynos 9810 depending on where you are buying from. The 6.4 inches device has come with lots of improvements including its 512GB storage, the S pen, bigger battery and so on.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 the best till date?
For this device to be regarded as the world’s most advanced smartphone, it has to have an edge over every other (major) smartphone. So, looking at some key features, we will be putting the device side by side with some rivals.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Design And Display
It comes with a 6.4-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Display – an end-to-end, bezel-less screen that extends to the phone’s sides, similar to the Note 8. Although more colourful, and is protected by the corning gorilla glass like the Note 8 as well. iPhone X is only 5.8 inches, Huawei P20 is 6.1 inches, even it’s predecessor Note 8 is a little behind with 6.3 even though they have a similar look.
It is quite understandable that a phablet should be larger in size as compared to conventional Android devices. So, let’s conclude that it is attractive in its own way and it is on a league of its own (since it’s a phablet) it wouldn’t be fair enough should we compared to devices like the iPhone X, Huawei P20.
Platform And OS
Every high-end device right now has to come out of the box with Oreo(Android 8.1), anything less will be unacceptable. This is why it won’t be a surprise for you to know that so many devices are equal to the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Most premium smartphones of high repute run the latest Android O.S.
Where the Galaxy Note 9 could have edged it is partnering with Google to make the device am Android One device so that Android 9.0 (Pie) update and more will be guaranteed. But it is not an Android One device.
The Game Changers For The Samsung Flagship
After talking about 2 major features, there are still no major standout features here. Why then is it the World Most Advanced Smartphone? Let’s go further down into the review.
Storage/Memory
As for memory with this device, there are 2 choices to pick from 128GB/6GB and 512GB/8GB Internal storage/RAM respectively. While the latter starts at $1000, the latter demands more.
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If you’ve got some few extra bucks more than $1000 you would be able to land the 512GB variant in your hands. The device is also expandable to another 512GB via SDcard. This will mean that you can have the first mainstream 1TB device in Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
The maximum storage Galaxy Note 8 offers 256GB + up to 512GB via SDCARD. Same applies to the Samsung S9+, Oneplus 6, Xiaomi Mi 8 and even iPhone X. While Samsung even supports the use of SDcards to further expand memory, these devices mentioned above and several others don’t. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 wins this one hand down if you ask me.
Performance
On paper, the iPhone X doesn’t even come close and only a miracle can see the iPhone X do better than the newly launched Samsung flagship device. While Android devices like Oneplus 6, Huawei P20 pro, Xiaomi Mi 8 still have a chance with their octa-core processors on Snapdragon 845 just like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, they run at almost the same speed.
The Exynos 9810 chip gives Octa-core (4×2.7 GHz Mongoose M3 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) – EMEA While Snapdragon 845 gives Octa-core (4×2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) – USA/LATAM, China. The processor you get all depends on your location.
Camera
The camera is better, with a dual 12MP rear setup that has a dual-aperture technology, and can record Super Slow Motion videos iPhone X have 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras while on the front, Samsung offers 8 megapixels compared with Apple’s 7.
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Samsung says its dual aperture adapts to different lighting scenarios and can perform better in a low-light environment and its flagship also recognizes what’s on the screen to optimize colour settings and detect flawed photos. Apple’s camera touts precise facial mapping and depth-sensing. This camera can’t be less than what we expect but how it compares against these top phones is left to be seen.
Battery
iPhone X 2,716mah, Xiaomi Mi 8 3,400mah, Oneplus 6 3,000mah, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 3,300mah, Samsung S9+ 3,500mah. The only top-notch device that matches the 4000mah feat of the Note 9 is Huawei P20 pro and it might probably last longer due to its 128GB/6GB memory it has. It won’t consume so much power. 4000mAh battery with fast charging both on wired and wireless (WPC and PMA) charging is quite huge and rare amongst phone of the same class.
Security: Water/Dust Resistance
For once, we thought the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 would come with an in-display fingerprint reader and honestly we are disappointed it didn’t happen. We surely will look forward to it in the next edition.
But this Samsung flagship won’t go without some accolades in this department since it provides a range of security options, including iris and fingerprint scanners as well as facial recognition while the iPhone X relies on its Face ID feature, which analyzes 30,000 invisible dots to create a precise depth map of a user’s face.
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The Iris scanner is not new Samsung devices since the S9, Note 8 and some several others have this feature. It is a biometric system of identification just like the fingerprint as it reads into the eye of its user.
No one does better than Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for water and dust resistance as well as its predecessor. Note 9 IP rating stands at IP68. Meaning it beats the iPhone X with only water resistance (IP67) while their dust resistance is the same.
Now, this insightful review won’t be complete if we fail to talk about the
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Stylus Pen
The stylus pen popularly known as the Same pen is one magical pen that always accompanies Samsung Note devices. This year’s pen has even added a Bluetooth connectivity so that it can control the device from a distance. It can help take photos from about 30 feet away. Good for taking notes and flipping pages during a presentation.
It comes with a battery but can also be used passively without charge in it. But note that whenever there is no charge in it, the Bluetooth functionality cannot be used.
Those are the major highlights of this device we will like to cross-examine even though there are more features.
Beautiful device, amazing specs -no doubt, Now that you have an idea of what to get, its $999.99 for the 128GB/6GB, $1249.99 for the 512GB/8GB.
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We can say this is probably the biggest phone in the market right now but be sure to know that in a month or two from now Apple will be out with their iPhone X successor as well as Google Nexus and couple others. But Samsung is probably playing a game of ‘The fastest win it all’.
