Samsung had a slow start with the Galaxy S9 earlier this year but the company is back to stir things up with its next flagship, the Galaxy Note 9. Much like all the other notes this too promises more productivity and better performance. There is also a smarter S pen, more battery power and a bigger screen (that is a 6.4 inch display versus last year’s 6.3-inch display).

DESIGN: REINVENTING THE WHEEL

Now the hardware itself, at least first glance is pretty similar to its predecessor. Flip the phone over and on the back you will find the rear fingerprint sensor which is more sensibly placed right below the camera as opposed to what we saw (read: struggled with) on the Note 8. Now if you have tiny hands or prefer one-hand usage, you will need some getting used to or just consider another option. Samsung has retained its classic features like water resistance, fast wireless charging and my favourite, the headphone jack.

STORAGE: THE MOST UNDERRATED FEATURE

One of the most impressive yet underrated features of the Note 9 is its storage capacity. The base model packs in 128GB of storage along with 6 GB of RAM. That is the base model folks! The top-tier variant comes with 512 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM. Now remember, Samsung also packs in an expandable microSD storage slot, which means you can bump the storage by another 512 GB – that's 1 terabyte of storage in your hands, which is legit cool!

BATTERY: NO EXPLOSION JOKES HERE

The Note 9 houses a 4,000mAh battery, which is the largest that any Note has had. I know, you read battery and ‘Note’ in one sentence and I also know what you are thinking? But move over the explosion jokes as the company has validated and certified its batteries both internally and externally. So yeah, let’s move on!

S PEN: OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS

Let’s focus on the bright yellow S Pen that is now powered by low frequency bluetooth, which means even if your device's bluetooth is off, the S pen is connected to your phone. One pen down one amongst the many use cases, you use the button on the S Pen to fire up the camera, flip the shooting mode and even use it as a shutter button. The S Pen also supports super-capacitive charging, which means it charges itself as soon as you stick the pen into the handset.

CAMERA: WATCH TIS SPACE FOR MORE

On the back panel the Note 9 sports a 12-megapixel camera which looks a lot like the sensor on the S9 Plus, so I am too worried about the results. Since I have only spent little time the device, I will reserve my verdict but watch this space for photo samples.

EARLY VERDICT

The Note 9 is a powerhouse of a device with lots of potential. If you are a fan of plus size phones & work a lot on the go, then the Note 9 is right up your alley. Overall, I feel Samsung is trying really hard to please you and at the same time, they are playing safe when it comes to the hardware. Maybe because its foldable phone that has been in the talks for so long is still in the works. For now, Samsung has the Note 9 to offer and it has been priced it at Rs 67,900 for the 128GB variant.

First Published:Aug 15, 2018 1:07 AM IST