Samsung’s super-powered Galaxy Note 9 is back, but has it made enough progress?
The supersized Galaxy Note series of phones first appeared in 2011, and with each subsequent version the professional-focused device has loaded more and more features into its huge frame.
If the Galaxy S9 is the Bugatti Veyron of the phone world, the Note 9 is the Range Rover. If a work horse and a kitchen sink had a baby, this would be the incredible sink-horse child you’d be left holding. But place it side by side with last year’s Note 8 and even the parents would struggle to tell the two apart. So what exactly has changed in the last 12 months? And should Note 8 owners consider upgrading?
S Pen: The iconic S Pen stylus is now Bluetooth enabled, works for 30 minutes when unsheathed from its slot inside the phone, and recharges to full again in just 40 seconds. Why all this electrical business? Because the pen’s button now functions as a remote camera shutter, a way to control music and advance slides during presentations, or as a button assigned to launching certain apps. It still lets you draw and jot down handwritten notes too, naturally.
Battery: You don’t need to fully understand what a mAh is to appreciate that the Note 9’s battery has no less than 4,000 of them. That’s a huge old jug o’ juice to power these hungry specs all day long, even at the top screen-resolution settings.
Storage: Stick a 512GB MicroSD card into the Note 9 and it becomes the world’s first one terabyte phone.
Camera: The Note 9 inherits the S9+’s exceptional camera, and the latest advancements in “AI” prompt you to take another shot if your subject blinks at the wrong moment.
DeX: The Note 8 came with a chunky adapter that allowed you to use your phone like a PC by plugging it into a television. The Note 9 does the same, but without any additional hardware. You just need a generic USB to HDMI cable – the touchscreen becomes a trackpad on the fly – and you’ll be able to run full-fat, big screen Android apps. Useful for business travellers.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launches 24 August. The 128GB version is £899, the 512GB version is £1099.