Samsung Galaxy Note 9: S Pen gets mightier
Samsung’s Galaxy Note series has always been about enhanced productivity, especially with its S Pen and a large display. With this year’s Note 9, Samsung has taken the game a step above.
The Note 9 borrows the aesthetics from last year’s Note 8 — the familiar IP68- certified water and dust resistant glass- metal sandwich design with curved edges to the side and Samsung’s signature curved display. The fingerprint sensor now rests under the camera module for better access. The Note 9 sports a slightly bigger 6.4- inch Super AMOLED display — thanks to the slimmer chin. The display sets a benchmark for 2018 flagships — highly vivid colours with eyepopping contrasts.
The Note 9 is built around an Exynos 9810 chipset paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. You can also expand your storage up to an additional 512GB via a microSD card. With Samsung Experience UI skinned on Android 8.1 Oreo, the Note 9 is blazing fast, managing multiple intensive apps and games with ease. A bigger heatsink ensures temperatures are kept under control during long sessions of intensive gaming.
However, the S Pen gets the biggest upgrade — Bluetooth connectivity. You can now use it as a remote controller to snap photos or slide through presentations. A supercapacitor battery keeps its alive for 30 minutes and takes 40 seconds to rejuvenate. The Note 9’ s battery has itself got a huge upgrade to 4000mAh, which is enough to make the phone last through an entire’s day worth of casual usage — lots of calls, messages, Internet browsing, scribbling notes and snapping pictures.
Speaking of pictures, the 12MP + 12MP rear camera with OIS for both sensors manages impressive photos with oodles of colours and details. Samsung’s AI enhanced photos with bumped up saturation and notifies if your shot isn’t perfect. The 8MP selfie camera with autofocus also impresses with superb selfies. However, the Face Unlock system is too slow and one has to rely on Iris Scanner for unlocking.
The Note 9 starts at ` 67,900 for the base 6GB/ 128GB version and goes up to ` 84,900 for the 8GB/ 512GB. With its reliable and blazing performance alongside all the essential features, the Note 9 is presently the best Android smartphone money can buy.