Everything You Need to Know About the Samsung Note 9

Last year’sGalaxy Note 8was a totally solid telephone , but it was n’t very exciting . With a screen that was the same size as what you get on a Galaxy S8 + orS9 + , and a electric battery that was really smaller , it felt like Samsung played it dependable .

But on the new Galaxy Note 9 , it seems Samsung is back to its sure-enough , part - cramming ways , and despite looking basically the same as last year ’s French telephone , the Note 9 is pack a lot more muscle in spite of appearance , which is on the button what I ’m looking for in Samsung ’s high - death positive - sized telephone set .

start with its CRT screen , the Note 9 ’s QHD AMOLED display remains the best in the business and has been up - sized slightly from 6.3 to 6.4 - inches . Meanwhile , on the inside , its barrage has incur a significant bump up to 4,000 mAh , which is more than 20 - percent larger than the Note 8 ’s 3,300 mAh power ingroup .

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

But the specification juicing does n’t stop there , because Samsung has also doubled the Note 9 ’s base memory from 64 GB to 128 GB , while retaining a intelligent 6 GB of RAM , and the phone ’s handy microSD identity card slot . And in move that ’s typically book exclusively its Asia - only Galaxy phone var. , Samsung is making a crack premium variant of the Note 9 for the U.S. with 8 GB of RAM and a monumental 512 GB of storage . From there , you ’re just a 512 GB microSD card aside from having a 1 TB telephone .

And to keep all the performance from the Note 9 ’s Snapdragon 845 mainframe run at summit speeds even during keep up usage , Samsung exact to have bulked up the Note 9 ’s cool with a new carbon fiber user interface to serve improve thermal conduction , and a 335 square - millimeter heat broadcaster that ’s more than three times big than the one in a Galaxy S9 + or Galaxy Note 8 .

Even the Note 9 ’s S - Pen has been enhanaced with a work up - in supercapcitor that lets the style soak up 30 minutes of standby time in just 30 seconds . But that ’s not all , because the S - Pen now has built in Bluetooth LE too , so you may use the stylus as a tiny picayune remote control .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

At least in the U.S., the Note 9 will be available in four colors: black, orange, a deep ocean blue version pictured here, and a lavender purple hue seen below.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

ab initio , the S - Pen remote feature will be restricted to first - party Samsung apps like the music instrumentalist or tv camera app , so you may open up the photographic camera by long - press the S - Pen ’s push button , squeeze twice to alternate between front and rearward camera , or just tap it once to snap a pic . Yet Samsung plans to build out the S - Pen ’s compatibility , and is also providing an SDK for the S - Pen ’s remote functions , so later on , developer can add interchangeable features to third - company apps .

lamentably , the Note 9 ’s photographic camera is physically the same as what you get on the Galaxy S9 + , with an 8 megapixel television camera up front , dual 12 - MP cameras in back , variable apertures that can change between f/1.5 and f/2.4 , and a 2x zoom lens on the subaltern River Cam .

However , Samsung did add a little AI smarts to the Note 9 ’s photographic camera app , so now it can detect 20 different object and expend that information to mechanically pull off the phone ’s tv camera preferences for the expert result . Yet since we ’ve seen company likeHuawei , LG , and others do the same on phones as farback as late 2017 , Samsung ’s view optimizer feature does n’t really feel very innovative .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

To add a little spice, the blue Note 9’s S-Pen is bright yellow.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

What does feel innovative is the Note 9 ’s flaw detection feature that can detect when a picture is fuzzy , backlit or mess up because someone blinked or smudge the lens . It causes the television camera to hold up a warning saying you might want to retake the shot .

And for those who want to put all those specs to use in a unlike variety of way , the Note 9 also includesan amend Dex modethat let you hook the phone up to an outside display and use it like a mini desktop . The one caution is that you will need one of Samsung ’s $ 50 adapters to make that come about , because a regular USB - C to HDMI dongle wo n’t spark the phone into activating Dex modality .

I still wish well Samsung had done something more with the Note 9 ’s conception , because even though I do like that new deep blue and yellow people of colour system , trashy colors only go so far .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

It seems Samsung is really paying attention to little details, because by default, each Note 9’s S-Pen is set to write in the same color as the stylus.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

Oh , and about all those Fortnite on Android rumors ? Well it seems Samsung is giving the Note 9 the first fissure at Epic ’s Fortnite genus Beta by pre - instal the game out of the box seat . However , the Note 9 wo n’t be the only headphone capable of dropping in , because starting today , the Galaxy Note 8 , the Galaxy Tab S4 , and every other Galaxy S earphone going back to the Galaxy S7 will also be able to download Fortnite from Samsung ’s Game Launcher app . Epic has elect not to put its plot on the Google Play Store , so its appearance on Samsung ’s Game Launcher will make it one of the easiest methods for sideloading the game onto an Android phone .

But in the end , I still have one vainglorious question : Are all these lilliputian improvements enough ? Do n’t get me incorrect , I ’m digging all the large numbers and heavy eyeglasses , but many of them are things I was hoping to see on the Galaxy Note 8 , and just get them now may be a little too belatedly . This said , I wo n’t know for certain until I pass more time with the gadget , so check back soon for a full reassessment of the Galaxy Note 9 .

The Note 9 will be usable for pre - lodge starting August 10th , with in - store accessibility starting August 24th . alas , since Samsung is once again rent carrier countersink their own prices , we ’re still wait to see how much the Note 9 will actually be across all the various mesh .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

It’s a bit hard to see the little fork and knife icon that lets you know it’s working, but thanks the Samsung’s scene optimizer, the Note 9 does know that macarons are indeed a type of food.Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

UPDATE 12 pm EST : We now sleep together the Mary Leontyne Price of the Note 9 , and yikes . At T - Mobile the 128 GB model will depart at $ 1,000 , or $ 30 a month over 24 calendar month , with $ 280 make up at the metre of purchase . The 512 GB model will retail for $ 1,250 or $ 30 a month over 24 months with $ 530 paid at the time of purchase .

At Verizon you’re able to pay $ 41.66 over 24 months for the 128 GB exemplar , and $ 52.08 over 24 months for the 512 GB model . Sprint has a limited clock time offer for the 128 GB Note 9 where it will be 50 - pct off , or just $ 20.83 a calendar month over 24 month . At AT&T the 128 GB model will be $ 33.34 for 30 months , or $ 1,000 sum .

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Photo: Sam Rutherford