Published on August 13th, 2018 | by Biplab Das

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9: A Bigger Phone That Still Has The Headphone Jack

Samsung has always confidently state “We are making the best phones.”

Samsung has added one more giant flagship on their list, the Galaxy Note 9.

Arguably the Note series has always dominant in the market, except the Note 7, for performance and productivity. It has the bigger display, a stylus, better camera and more productivity features.

This year the Note made a higher jump on many aspects.

First off, the Galaxy Note (thankfully) doesn’t have a notch on the display. Samsung’s Infinity Display design has made it possible. Otherwise, every flagship has one notch. The display is is a huge 6.4” Super AMOLED screen covered by Gorilla Glass.

Under the hood, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset is powering the device. Some markets have the Exynos 9810 instead. There are two variant available: 6/128GB and 8/512GB. The latter supports micro-SD expansion, so that you don’t have to worry about lack of storage space. Now you can carry a terabyte of storage inside your pocket without feeling bulky.

In the camera department, the Note 9’s camera is straightforwardly the S9+ camera: you are getting the same 12MP dual sensor and one is with a variable aperture f/1.5 or f/2.4 and both sensors are optically stabilized. For the Note, Samsung is focusing its camera improvements on software and artificial intelligence. A new Scene Optimizer mode can analyze the subject you’re pointing the camera at and identify up to 20 different scenarios (food, pets, sunsets, plants, urban / street, etc.). It then automatically applies changes to brightness, contrast, saturation, and white balance before you snap the shot to ensure the best possible end result. Moreover, the selfie camera is 8mp with f/1.7 aperture.

This year the S-pen also updated its feature pack. It comes with all the same drawing prowess and levels of pressure sensitivity as last year and this year it got Bluetooth. So now you can remotely access your phone like changing the slides on a presentation software, play-pause music, etc. By default it is mapped to the camera; like hold down the button and it will jump to the camera, double click it and it will switch to front camera and single click for snapping a photo. Since the S-pen became a remote switch, it needs to hold electrical power. Samsung has a very unique option for charging it. Just put it back inside the stylus drawer in the phone and it will charge itself using the Note’s battery, Samsung has built a supercapacitor into it for extremely rapid charging whenever it’s seated in the phone. The stylus can run for 30 minutes with 40 seconds of charging.

The Note 9 has also changed the way for connecting with DeX. This year you can just connect an external monitor using just an HDMI cable. Moreover, the phone’s screen can still be used as a trackpad or keyboard.

Additionally, they have moved the fingerprint sensor from an awkward place to below the camera. All major sensors are there like iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass, barometer, heart rate and SpO. Samsung has also upgraded its battery by 21% making it 4000 mAh capacity with fast charging technology using USB Type-C and also wireless fast charging technology is there.

Out of the box, you will get Android Oreo 8.1, NFC with Samsung Pay, IP68 water and dust resistance, always on display and best thing is that Samsung still has space for the headphone jack.

Fortnite is exclusively debuting on the Note 9 and later on other Samsung phones.

The Note 9 will be sold in two configurations: there’s a 128GB/ 6GB RAM model for $999 and a top-tier 512GB/ 8GB RAM version for $1,250. Pre-orders begin on August 10th, and the phone will be available on August 24th with all major carriers or direct (and unlocked) from Samsung.

Tags: bigger, Galaxy Note 9, headphone jack, Note 9, Phone, Samsung, Smartphone

About the Author

Biplab Das My name is Biplab Das. I’m a writer, sometimes a tech YouTuber, blogger, ICT tutor and a part time website developer whose childhood obsession with science fiction never quite faded. A quarter-century later, the technology that I coveted as a kid is woven into the fabric of everyday life. I’ve spent the past years to learn these technologies, People say smartphones are boring these days, but I think everyone is beginning to take this wonderful technology marvel for granted.