Samsung Galaxy Note9 review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

Name: Samsung Galaxy Note9
Brand: Samsung

Nick Broughall

Last updated: Jan 20, 2021

The Galaxy Note9 is the next evolution of Samsung’s smartphone vision, but its high price could turn you away.

Impressive battery life
Bluetooth Stylus works well
Up to 1TB of storage with microSD
DeX is super-simple now and works well

The premium price will make it unachievable for many
Rear fingerprint scanner is still awkward
Bixby still can’t compete with other assistants

6.4 inches

Display size

128GB, 512GB

Internal storage

12MP + 12MP

Rear camera

4,000 mAh

Battery size

Finder rated as Excellent vs similar phones

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Display

Display Size

6.4 inches

Pixels per inch (PPI)

516 ppi

Camera

Rear camera megapixels

12MP + 12MP

Rear camera aperture size

f/1.5 + f/2.4

Video recording

Front camera megapixels

8MP

Front camera aperture size

f/1.7

Physical Dimensions

Dimensions

161.9mm x 76.4mm x 8.8mm

Weight

201g

Connectivity

NFC

Yes

Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Network category speed

Category 18

Power, storage and battery

Processor

Exynos 9810

RAM

6GB / 8GB

Operating system

Android 8

Internal storage

128GB, 512GB

External storage support

Up to 512GB

Battery capacity

4,000mAh

Device features

Headphone jack

Yes

Fingerprint sensor

Yes

Water resistance rating

IP68

Wireless charging

Launch price (RRP)	$1,499
Launch date	2018-08

Go to Samsung's site More info

Nick Broughall

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Nick Broughall is a global group publisher across shopping, travel, tech, streaming and reviews at Finder. An award-winning journalist with over 15 years' experience writing about technology, Nick has edited leading tech publications, including Gizmodo, TechRadar and T3 Magazine, as well as contributing to CNET, the Sydney Morning Herald, Lifehacker, news.com.au and many more. In 2016 he was awarded the Best Reviewer title at the 14th Annual IT Journalism Awards and has been a finalist for Best Reviewer, Best Consumer Technology Journalist and Best News Journalist on multiple occasions. Nick has a Bachelor of Media and finds joy in solving problems with technology.

Where to buy

What's in this review?

Design
Camera
Performance
S-Pen
Battery life
Verdict
Pricing and availability
Specifications

Samsung’s second flagship smartphone release for the year, the Galaxy Note9, is the biggest phone the company has ever released. It has the biggest screen on a Galaxy smartphone, the biggest battery in a Samsung phone and the biggest internal storage capacity option the company has ever offered.

All that size has to come at a price though, so it’s no surprise that the Note9 also has the highest price we've seen from a Samsung device, with the 512GB variant selling for $1,799 at launch, a price tag you might associate with a decent quality full-size laptop.

The good news is there’s a lot of justification for that price tag in terms of performance and features. The biggest question you'll face when considering the Note9 is whether the features Samsung is using to differentiate the Note9 from its other flagship, the Galaxy S9+, are worth it for your needs.

Design

Stunning 6.4-inch display.
Bright yellow S-Pen on Blue variant not for everybody.
Heavy for a smartphone, but sleek.

The centrepiece of Samsung's smartphone design for the past few years has been the screen, which makes sense given it's the largest part of the phone. The Note9 is no exception, with lots of glass, sleek curved edges and minimalistic buttons on the sides of the phone.
Samsung has refined some of the finer details on the Note9, though you need to look closely to notice it. The curved glass edge seamlessly blends into the metal frame and in line with the Note’s history as a business phone, the Note9’s corners are a little squarer than the S9+, but not so sharp as to cut holes in your jeans pockets.
The button layout hasn’t changed, with the power button on the right-hand side of the phone, opposite a volume rocker on the left and unfortunately, the dedicated Bixby button. Samsung still doesn’t allow you to remap that button to something more useful and the updated version of Bixby also removes the ability to switch off the Bixby button entirely, which was available in the S9. Unlocking the phone to find that the Bixby Home screen has been accidentally activated happens way too frequently.
On the bottom of the Note9 is a 3.5mm headphone jack, the USB-C connector for charging the phone (and launching the DeX functionality) and the S-Pen, which discreetly tucks away when not in use.
One of the bigger changes to the design of the Note9 is the arrangement of the dual cameras on the back of the phone. While the actual camera components are the same as those found in the S9+, Samsung has turned them to a horizontal alignment like they were in the Note8. But in a big improvement over the Note8, Samsung has moved the fingerprint sensor away from the lenses and placed it on its own below the cameras. It's still a bit uncomfortable to reach, but it does mean you don't smudge your digits across the camera lens every time you try and unlock the phone.

Camera

AI shooting modes work, with variable impact.
Default camera otherwise identical to S9 Plus.
AR Emoji is still dumb.

Samsung spent a lot of time and effort improving the camera in its Galaxy S9 family of phones with impressive results, so it’s not a surprise that it has simply migrated the same camera hardware over to the Note9.
That means that shots out of the Note9 camera are great, given that we described the Galaxy S9+’s camera performance as ”exceptional in the right circumstances” in its review.
The key difference with the Note9 is the addition of AI scene detection, which automatically detects any of 20 different photo types and adjusts the settings automatically to deliver a certain style for a particular scene. The modes that can be detected range from food, buildings, landscapes, pets, sunrise, flowers, trees, sky and a whole heap more.
The detection ability is generally quick and the phone will almost always detect food before the camera has focused, but depending on the scene it may not always work as expected. Some shots of buildings, for example, wouldn't fire up the building AI detection. Fortunately, the standard camera results are still worth keeping.
Resulting photos that are taken with AI mode tend to be a bit brighter and more saturated than the default photo mode will be, though it depends on the particular mode. The effect is not too overwhelming, but if you do find you’re not a fan of the automatic adjustments, you can switch off the AI mode in the camera’s settings.
The AI isn’t all about scene detection though, with automatic detection and alerts when a subject blinks during a photo, or smudge detection when the lens is dirty. If you want to enjoy the error detection alerts but not the automatic scene modes, the options are separate in the settings.
Samsung Galaxy S9+ Sample Photos
Because the Note9’s camera is the same as the S9, you also get the same shooting modes as that phone, including slow-motion video and AR Emoji. Slow motion video isn’t anything new and works well so long as you can time the shooting of your subject well (and the lighting is good enough to focus effectively).
AR Emoji, meanwhile, is as useless as it was six months ago. There are some downloadable Disney skins that might keep your kids interested for a few hours, but the emoji creator still struggles with ethnicities and beards, creating generic avatars that look nothing like the subject in question.
Overall though, the camera on the Note9 is as good as Samsung has ever produced, which is world-class, and the software improvements over the S9+ are likely to result in more vibrant pictures for most users.

Performance

Similar performance to the Galaxy S9.
Up to 1TB of storage is epic.
DeX is massively improved.

Both the Galaxy S9 Plus and the Note9 are powered by the Exynos 9810 processor, so it’s understandable why the two benchmark so similarly using Geekbench 4, with the Note9 getting a slight advantage in both the single and multi-core tests:
That puts the Note9 at the top of the Android pile when it comes to pure power performance, though still behind last year’s A11 Bionic-powered iPhone family from Apple. Keep in mind though that benchmarks are benchmarks and not reflective of real-world use, so the reality is that the Note9 will get you through most activities without breaking too much of a sweat.
One of the big components of the Note9 announcement was the partnership with Epic Games and the arrival of the gaming phenomenon Fortnite to an Android device for the first time. Given this focus, the 3D Mark benchmarks are a little on the disappointing side.
In real-world use though, the only way to describe the Note9’s performance is snappy. Menus open quickly, apps are quick to react and pretty much everything you ask the phone to do is done remarkably quickly, although there’s not a hugely noticeable difference between this phone and the Galaxy S9+ that came before it.
Where there is a noticeable difference is in the DeX functionality. Samsung has done away with the need for a custom dock to support DeX mode, instead building the functionality directly into the Note9. Now, all you need to launch DeX is a USB-C to HDMI adaptor and while Samsung has its own models available, it worked with Apple-branded adaptors when we tried it.
Plugging in the adaptor and connecting the phone to an external monitor automatically launches the DeX functionality, allowing you to experience a full desktop experience powered by the Note9. That means everything from connecting an external keyboard and mouse to writing up documents and spreadsheets, to running a PowerPoint presentation from your phone.
The Note9’s DeX implementation also allows you to use your device separately to the desktop display, so you can multitask effectively across your monitor and your phone without requiring multiple devices or complicated set-ups. Improvements to the S-Pen, which we’ll go into a bit further down the page, make this functionality a key selling point for the business market over competitor devices, though regular users will also benefit.

S-Pen

Low-energy Bluetooth gives remote control of your phone.
Fully charges in 40 seconds.

One of the big developments for the Note9 over last year’s Note8 is the addition of low-energy Bluetooth to the S-Pen. This gives the stylus the ability to control certain functions of the device remotely.
Samsung claims the S-Pen’s battery life lasts up to 30 minutes of standby time, or 200 clicks, which may not sound like too much, but the stylus will charge fully within 40 seconds and all you need to do is put it back in the phone’s body.
In terms of usability, at launch, you can use the stylus to cycle through photo galleries and slideshows, as well as starting and stopping videos on YouTube or playing, pausing and skipping tracks on Spotify. Samsung has opened up the API to developers though, so over time expect more apps to allow remote control functionality via the S-Pen
You can also use it to remotely shutter the camera, which will help take your selfie game to the next level, or improve your night photography.

Battery life

Biggest battery Samsung has ever put in a phone.
Top-shelf battery life.
Most tested battery ever.

It was only two years ago that Samsung’s Note line of phones seemed all but doomed thanks to the tendency of the Note 7 to set itself on fire. But Samsung took stock, developed a new world-class battery testing programme and relaunched the Note8 to massive success. With the Note9, Samsung has pushed the envelope even further, packing a huge 4000mAh battery inside the Note9’s body.
We’ve seen 4000mAh batteries in smartphones before, but combined with the Exynos processor and Samsung’s other hardware and software improvements, the results are hugely impressive.
Looking at our historic Geekbench 4 battery results, the Galaxy S9+ was the best performing phone for battery life, with a score of 5080. The Note9 blows it out of the water, with a score of 5870. In terms of test time, that’s 587 minutes for the Note9, up from 508 minutes with the S9+.
If you want to compare 4000mAh batteries, the Huawei P20 Pro has the same capacity battery, but only benchmarked a score of 400 minutes in our tests.
What’s more, the Note9 still supports fast charging for both wired and wireless standards, so even if you do manage to burn through the battery, you can top it up quickly and keep going.

Verdict

A seriously impressive device.
For the price, the Galaxy S9+ may be better value, depending on your needs.

Thanks to its incremental performance improvements and substantial battery life increase, the Note9 could well be the best smartphone Samsung has ever created. With improvements to its DeX tool and the addition of Bluetooth to the S-Pen, the Note9 is a powerhouse of a phone ready to tackle almost anything you throw at it.
The catch is that it’s also super expensive. Prices start at $1,499 and while you get a lot of phone for that price, the real-world benefit over the $1,349 Galaxy S9+ may not be substantial enough to justify the purchase.
That said, if you like the idea of the stylus for taking notes or drawing on your smartphone, then the Note9 is a no-brainer.
Alternatives
The obvious alternative is Samsung’s own Galaxy S9+, given that it shares the same camera, same processor and similar performance.
If you’re not married to the idea of a Samsung smartphone, the Huawei P20 Pro is a powerhouse of a phone led by a spectacular camera. Its performance in other areas doesn’t match the Note9, but its camera is definitely worth considering

Pricing and availability

Price: ~$800 - $900
Where to buy: The Good Guys | eBay | Kogan

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