Pack
in extraordinarily generous storage capacities (128 GB or 512 GB, which can
take up to a full terabyte with an optional microSD card) and a huge battery
that will not let you chase to a wall outlet, even if it is a long summer day
becomes dark and Samsung has produced a phone with very little to worry about.
I enjoyed using it.
How
good it is, I would not call this an exciting phone, or one you should miss and
buy, unless you are too late for an upgrade. Note 9 stands for an incremental
update without the hustle and bustle associated with the elongated folding
smartphone that Samsung's South Korean-based mobile chef Koh told that CNBC
could finally be unveiled this fall. For the time being, the details are vague.
It
is more natural to compare the Note9 with the other latest Android flagships
from Samsung, the Galaxy S9 and S9 + which came out at the end of February and
which, depending on the storage capacity, cost several hundred dollars less.
All three phones have beautiful cameras; the Note9 gets a few fresh AI-driven
photo tricks that the company hopes is one of the most important factors to
ensure that you spend at least $ 1000. (You can pay $ 1250 for the Note9 with
512 GB.)
That
is the friction. A big or more is a hefty price to pay for every smartphone,
even one that is so solid. Of course you can say the same for the iPhone X,
which despite its elevated amount since the release has become Apple's
best-selling iPhone. If Android is your preference and the price is indeed not
an object, go for it, because this is the best phone from Samsung and the best
Android smartphone on the market.
However,
it is not the best of a country mile, especially if you can not use the S Pen
stylus, the main distinguishing feature of the Note in relation to the S9s. And
other functions have become staples here on other Samsung's, from fast wireless
charging to, yes, the Samsung Bixby digital assistant. And yes, there is still
a standard headphone connection.
Here
are my main takeaways now that I've spent a few weeks with the Note9:
A
more versatile S Pen
I
have never been a heavy user of the S Pen that you can use to draw or sketch,
reveal a cursor when you move around the screen, or even translate text from
one language to another. But the pen is a big deal for Note diehards.
And
even I found it useful to quickly write a handwritten note on the otherwise
dark lock screen. My ocean blue tester has a yellow S Pen, which corresponds to
the standard ink color when drawing, a small but beautiful aesthetic. (The pen
is lavender on other models).
I
also appreciated the newest feature of the S Pen: it also functions as a
Bluetooth remote control. You can use it to run a presentation, browse Chrome,
or pause a YouTube video. I used it mostly in Florida as a sometimes handy
remote control for the camera.
A
long press of a button on the pen launches the app. A double click switches the
camera back and forth from the front. When taking selfies, I often held the
phone in my left hand and pressed the button to shoot the photo with the right.
Samsung
says the S Pen will be fully charged in less than 40 seconds when it is in its
slot, with Bluetooth features that can support up to half an hour or 200 clicks
per full charge.
New
camera tricks
I
have admired the cameras in Samsung phones through different generations of
Galaxy devices. Here also. A new photo feature on the Note9 is 'error
detection', which warns you when a subject is blinking, the lens is dirty, the
backlight is messy or the image is blurred. In other words, you are asked to
shoot again under such circumstances, although the truth is that I did not see
many of these warnings.
Another
new camera function, the "scene optimization", analyzes an
environment or subject to determine in which of the 20 scene categories they
fit: a person, dog, beach, food, landscape and waterfalls. A small symbol on
the display reveals which category Samsung chooses. Based on the scene, the
camera adjusts the brightness, white balance, contrast, and so on accordingly.
It
sometimes takes longer than you would want before the camera identified a
scene, but the symbol was usually right, with the camera well able to
distinguish trees from other green. The real test however is how the photos
look like. In that respect, I was generally happy. The colors were usually
lively and the photos clear, as this picture of my son shows.
Water
resistant and yet
As
with other Samsung phones, the Note9 is water and dust resistant, so I have not
thought about bringing it to the beach to take pictures. Strangely enough,
however, I got a message to disconnect the charger because moisture had been
discovered - but only after I had returned to an air-conditioned apartment. I
had to wait until both the charger and the USB-C port were dry.
DeX
did not specifically mark the spot
I
have not tested the DeX feature that allows you to connect the phone to a TV or
monitor to create some kind of pseudo-desktop PC-like environment until I came
back from vacation, although some of you will be most useful get out of the job
when you are indeed on the road and do not want to use a real computer. And
with the Note9 you can discard the optional DeX dock that was required in the
past.
If
everything works properly, you can use the Note9 as a not-very-good trackpad or
virtual keyboard to determine which desktop apps are on the screen, which means
that you still want to use a real Bluetooth mouse or keyboard, which the
purpose of DeX in the first place. With the S Pen you can also use the Note9 to
draw on the larger screen.
Of
course it is important to play videos or other content on that larger screen.
It is important to note that you can also use the phone as you normally would,
while playing other content on the monitor. But for my purposes anyway, I'm not
completely sold on DeX.
I
myself am sold to the Note9, even if this impressive newcomer will not break a
lot of new ground. Sold, that is, if you have enough space in your budget and
it's been a while since you've updated your phone.