The wait is over! There have been quite a few leaks, and speculations going on this past weeks about the phablet and the S-Pen accompanying it. Now, all and sundry have confirmed details on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 flagship. Firstly, it has undergone some considerable number of upgrades from last year’s Note model. Even the Stylus has received its own set of brilliant additions. Nonetheless, the smartphone has a striking similarity with the Galaxy Note 8 just a bit bigger because of the increase in display and battery size. Why don’t you take a look at some of the nice features in store for us.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Key Specs and Features
- 6.4-inch, Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 1440 x 2960 pixels (516 ppi)
- Android 8.1 Oreo (Samsung Experience UI)
- Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 CPU with 6GB/8GB RAM
- 128GB/512GB built-in storage, up to 512GB memory card supported
- Dual 12MP + 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera
- S Pen with bluetooth
- IP68 water and dust proof
- Samsung Pay and NFC
- Samsung DeX (desktop experience support)
- 4G LTE
- Fingerprint scanner (rear)
- Face ID
- 4, 000mAh non removable Li–Ion battery
Design and Display
Going by last year’s build pattern, the Galaxy Note 9 is a large smartphone with a larger display and a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 envelope. The back of the smartphone looks very much like the Note 8 except that the fingerprint sensor is now below the camera. Due to the recent trend of reducing bezel, there is a bigger display which doesn’t reflect too much on the overall size. The smartphone has an aluminium frame and a Water Carbon Cooling System to help during long gaming periods. It retains the Bixby button and is resistant to water up to 1.5m for 30 minutes and also immune to dust.
The 6.4-inch display is just wow, it is tapered at the side in the usual Samsung’s way and has an impressive Quad HD+ resolution. The Super AMOLED screen has a track record to prove itself with its impressive contrast and excellent colour reproduction. In numbers the resolution is 1440 x 2960 pixels with a 516 ppi pixel densitt with HDR support. It is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 with an always on display feature. Remember the DeX mode, it is now built into the Galaxy Note 9 and allows you to connect to a larger display using an HDMI adapter. You can use the phablet as a touch pad or virtual keyboard.
Battery and Camera
A significant bump is also seen in the battery department from last year to 4, 000mAh on this one which is sure to deliver more gaming time and general usage. You also get to charge with Quick Charge and Qi wireless charging is also supported. All of this features is what makes up a flagship and it is much needed to power the features on the smartphone.
The smartphone maintains more or less the same configuration has in the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus but with an improved AI integration. There’s an algorithm to identify 20 different scenes so appropriate changes can be made to the settings to improve the picture taken. In addition , there is a Flaw Detection feature that tells you to retake a picture if it’s blurry or the person’s eye is closed. You still have the dual 12MP camera with dual aperture and optical image stabilization amongst other nice features. The same 8MP camera is also at the selfie side taking great pictures even in low light.
Hardware and Software
It is pretty much on par with other 2018 flagship in terms of hardware as it features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor while the Europe, Middle East and Africa models have the Exynos 9810 chipset. The former has an Adreno 630 GPU and the latter comes with a Mali-G72 MP18 GPU. For convenience, there is Samsung Pay as well as NFC in case the store doesn’t have NFC support.
The basic model has 6GB RAM and a storage space of 128GB. On the other hand, the more luxurious variant have a huge 8GB internal memory and an enormous 512GB storage that can also take a 512GB memory card, bringing it up to 1TB of storage space on the smartphone. On it, you have Android 8.1 Oreo with the Samsung Experience UI too
Stylus Pen (S Pen)
The signature of the Note series has always been the S Pen and it has gotten more functional features added and Low Energy (LE) bluetooth. It can now function as a remote for your phone, where you long press it to launch the camera app, tap to take pictures, a double tap to switch between back and front camera. There is a separate menu where you can customize the tasks you want the pen to do. Once it is ba in, it recharges in less than a minute through a special semiconductor in the holster. It has a life span of 30 minutes or 200 clicks which you can certainly work with.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Pricing and Availability
The phablet will be going on pre-sale at $1000 for the 6GB model and $1250 for the 8GB variant on August 10 while on the 24th of August it will be available on various major platforms.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Specs
Here are a few specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9:
General Features
- Platform: Android 8.1 Oreo
- Processor: Octa-core Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845/Exynos 9810
- GPU: Adreno 630/Mali-G72 MP18
- Memory: 6GB/8GB RAM
- Colours: Metallic copper, Lavender purple, Ocean blue, Midnight black
- Dimension: 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm
- Weight: 201g
- SIM Type: Nano SIM
- SIM Count: Dual SIM
Display
- Display: 6.4-inch, Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 1440 x 2960 pixels (516 ppi)
- Screen Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Camera
- Rear Camera: Dual 12MP + 12MP camera, 2160p Video@60fps 1080p Video@240fps, 720p Video@960fps
- Rear Camera Features: Autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama
- Front Camera: 8MP camera,Dual video call, Auto-HDR 1440p Video@30fps
Storage
- Built-in Storage: 128GB/512GB
- Memory Card Support: Yes, up to 512GB
- Bundled Cloud Storage: –
Network Support
- 2G GSM: Yes
- 2G CDMA 1X: Yes
- 3G WCDMA: Yes
- 3G CDMA EVDO: Yes
- 4G LTE: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100)
Internet & Connectivity
- GPRS: Yes
- EDGE: Yes
- 3G/WCDMA/HSPA: Yes
- HSPA+: 42.2/5.76Mbps
- CDMA EVDO: –
- 4G LTE: LTE-A (5CA) Cat 18 1200/200Mbps
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA
- Wi-Fi Hotspot: Yes
- Bluetooth: Yes, v5.0 with A2DP, LE, aptX HD
- NFC: Yes
- Infrared Blaster: –
- USB Port: USB Type-C 3.1
Messaging
- SMS/MMS: Yes
- Instant Messaging: Yes
- Push Emails: Yes
- Email Protocol: –
Entertainment
- Music Player: MP4/DviX/XviD/H.265 player
- Video Player: MP4/DviX/XviD/H.265 player
- FM Radio: Yes
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- 3.5mm Jack: Yes
Navigation
- Navigation: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
- Maps: Yes
Sensors & Control
- Digital Compass: Yes
- Accelerometer: Yes
- Proximity Sensor: Yes
- Light Sensor: Yes
- Barometer: Yes
- SpO2: Yes
- Pedometer: –
- Heart Rate Monitor: Yes
- Gyroscope: Yes
- Fingerprint Scanner: Yes, (rear)
- Iris Scanner: Yes
- Face Unlock: Yes
- Intelligent Digital Assistant: Yes
- Motion Sensing / Gesture Control: Yes
- Voice Control: –
Other Features
- Video Streaming: Yes
- Active Noise Cancellation: Yes
- Wireless Charging: Yes
- Built-in Mobile Payment: Yes
- Water Resistant: Yes
- Dust Resistant: Yes
- Image Editor: Yes
- Video Editor: Yes
- Document Viewer: Yes
- Document Editor: Yes
Battery
- Battery: 4, 000mAh non removable Li-Ion battery
- Talktime: –
- Standby Time: –
- Fast Charging: Yes
