Samsung have taken to the stage today at Unpacked 2018 and announced their latest flagship smartphone. The leaks have been strong with this device, including a few of their main advertisement videos, so not much was a surprise at the official announcement.
None the less, the Galaxy Note 9 is finally official and we have all the details to share.
Design hasn’t really had many changes compared to the Note 8 from last year. We now have a slightly larger 6.4-inch display, but mostly the same design and shape as before. That’s a stunning Super AMOLED INfinity Display with 2,960 x 1,440 resolution. The biggest we have seen from the Note series.
We have metal wrapped around glass on the front and back of the device. Similar display frontprint with no notch, just bezel on the top and bottom of the display. We do get AKG tuned stereo speakers, similar to what we have seen on the S9. Samsung have promised this to be the loudest Note yet.
The fingerprint sensor has been moved to below to the camera sensors, which might aid in preventing accidental camera smudges. Although the fingerprint sensor is smaller this time around, so who knows if that will help.
Intenerally are where the big changes are hiding with the latest Note 9. The U.S version will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and the Global version will have the Exynos 9810. Both are Octa-Core processors with different clockspeed, but fairly similar performance. Both will also feature water carbon cooling system that Samsung have touted as key in delivering the best performance around. Which works out well for Fortnight fans, which arrives first on Samsung devices (announced at the event)
Among the region variants, there will also be two memory/storage options as well. We have the 128GB storage with 6GB’s of RAM, or the massive 512GB with 8GB’s of RAM. Both still include a MicroSD slot, which means the Note series has some serious storage capabilities.
The camera has been taken directly from the S9 earlier this year. We have dual sensors on the back with both supporting OIS. The primary 12MP sensor features a variable aperture of either F/1.5 or f/2.4,. This really helps for low light situations.
The secondary is a telephoto 12MP sensor with permanent 2x optical zoom. The cameras together support up to 4K recording@60fps. The front facing camera is an 8MP sensor with f/1.7 aperture and 1440p recording@30fps.
Samsung have also managed to cram a massive 4,000mAh battery inside the Note 9, making it the largest they have ever managed to get in a Note device. ( imagine a funny remark about the Note 7 debacle here).
That extra juice will come in handy for the latest S-Pen, which now features built in Bluetooth that gives you control of your Note 9 from up to 30ft away. These functions include long pressing the S-Pen button to launch the camera, switch selfie/rear camera, take photos, and much more. Different apps give different options when their open.
In Fact, the slideshow done on stage at the event was controlled using an S-Pen connected to a Note 9 via Bluetooth. While not immediately useful for all users, this could add some interesting functionality in the future if developers take advantage.
The other new features included with the Note 9, is Dex is now built in and just requires a USB Type-C to HDMI adaptor. The entire device is also still functional while using Dex. Including S-Pen features.
Bixby 2.0 is also launching with the Note 9. The demo on stage showed it’s aimed at more integration with other services like booking a table, buying tickets, or getting an uber, all with your voice, and even without the need to have the corresponding app installed. It still remains to be seen how good the upgrades will be compared to original Bixby, which sadly never performed as good as Samsung said it would.
The latest Note certainly offers some decent upgrades over last years device, which is still one of the best smartphones available. This year we have better performance, better cameras, much larger battery, new upgraded S-Pen. Let’s not forget the huge storage increase as well.
The Galaxy Note 9 is available for pre-order right now and arrives on August 24th. It will be avaialble in Ocean Blue, Lavender Purpose, Midnight Black, or Metallic Copper. The 128GB/6GB is working around to be around €1,000, with the 512GB/8GB version coming in around €1,250. We have included the launch video for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 below. If you wish, you can also check out the Full Galaxy Unpacked Video
