Samsung Galaxy Note 9 | Hands-On Review

By James
August 28, 2018

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The new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has arrived, is it worth the upgrade?

Note fans, prepare to be impressed. There’s some great tech on offer here with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and even if you’re not a Note fan you may be forced to reconsider as this could be one of the best phones in the world right now.

To start with, the S Pen has been greatly enhanced; let’s face it, it’s one of the main things that make the Note series stand out from the rest. There’s been some significant improvements, two of which are its very own power source and blue tooth functionality. This was demonstrated perfectly at its launch event in New York by taking some pictures remotely, just using the S Pen. Its range is 30ft and can also be used to open any app but it’s default setting is to the camera function. In short, it is much easier and more precise than using the timer on the camera; quite impressive I’m sure you’ll agree. Just long press to open the camera, double click to open and swap between the front and rear cameras then one click to take your photos, simple! Astonishingly the S Pen only takes 40 seconds to charge and will give you 30 minutes of use.

The battery inside the Note 9 is colossal with a 4000mAh unit. Even with the new larger screen it will easily get you through a heavy usage day. You perhaps wouldn’t notice the larger screen unless you compared it to the Note 8 but what is clearly evident is the quality; its 6.4in Super Amoled panel with 516 pixels/in give you an outstandingly vivid screen.

The camera is of the highest calibre. Samsung have added an AI ability which helps it recognise what it’s photographing, coupled with the new flaw detection mode making sure your photos aren’t ruined by someone blinking, they really have pushed the boundaries to create an intelligent, easy to live with piece of kit. The main camera has a duel 12 mega pixel set up, one wide and one telephoto while the selfie camera is an 8 mega pixel unit. You’ll also be able to film in stunning 4K.

There’s no need to worry about the phone’s processing speed either as it’s powered by the substantial Exynos 9810 chip set. You can also choose between 6 or 8 gigabytes of RAM and 128G or 512G of storage. There’s even expandable storage should you need it. Fresh out of the box it’s running 8.9 Oreo and with all the up to date tech you’ve come to expect from Samsung, not to mention our old friend the head phone jack.

In the Note 9, Samsung have produced an attractive, high-end, titan of a phone with so much to admire and enjoy.

We’ll have a full review up soon on our YouTube channel – the best place to find the latest smartphone videos. You can buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 at Direct Mobiles now.