- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 4,105
- Reaction score
- 2,276
- Current Phone Model
- Google Pixel XL/Galaxy Note 8
- DroidNCState
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11945207/akrales_180807_2718_0397.jpg)
At its core, the Galaxy Note 9 is mostly a Galaxy S9+. In terms of basic specs, features, connectivity, capabilities, buttons and ports, the phones are indistinguishable. The Note 9 has the same Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM and supporting radios for LTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It has the same stereo speakers, headphone jack, microSD card slot, USB-C port, buttons and fingerprint sensor. The cameras are entirely identical in terms of hardware. It charges at the same speed, both wired and wireless. It's water and dust resistant to the same IP68 specification.
Specs:
Operating system Android 8.1 Oreo
Samsung Experience 9.5
Display 6.4-inch Super AMOLED, 2960x1440 (18.5:9)
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Storage 128/512GB
Expandable MicroSD up to 2TB
RAM 6/8GB
Primary rear camera 12MP Super Speed Dual Pixel, OIS, f/1.5 or f/2.4
Secondary rear camera 12MP, OIS, f/2.4, telephoto lens
Front camera 8MP, f/1.7, auto focus
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMO, 1.2Gbps (Cat-18) LTE, Bluetooth 5.0 LE
ANT+, NFC, GPS, Glonass
Audio Stereo speakers
Dolby Atmos
3.5mm headphone
Battery 4000mAh
Non-removable
Charging Quick Charge 2.0
Fast Wireless Charging (15W)
Water resistance IP68
Security One-touch fingerprint sensor
Iris scanner
Samsung KNOX
Dimensions 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm
201g
Colors Ocean Blue, Lavender Purple (U.S.)
Midnight Black, Metallic Copper (intl)
This isn't particularly surprising or even upsetting; the Galaxy S9+ is a wonderful phone with all of the features and power you'd need, so building the Note 9 from that foundation is great. But it can't be entirely identical, right? Correct, there are some improvements — and they're in areas that will make Note fans swoon.
Samsung has finally decided to give the Note a much-needed battery bump — all the way up to 4000mAh, which is 14% larger than the Galaxy S9+ and 21% larger than the Galaxy Note 8. It always felt a bit odd that the power user-focused Notes have had relatively small batteries, and Samsung has addressed it. Given how the Galaxy S9+'s battery life has been prettygood, adding another 14% for the Note 9 running the same specs should translate directly to more people having worry-free all-day use.
Do You Want Storage?
The Note 9 has you covered. The base storage for the phone has been doubled to 128GB, which is impressive in itself. But what's really cool is the upgraded model that offers a whopping 512GB of storage. And this isn't just some special edition model for certain markets — it's available globally, including from U.S. carriers. The upgraded 512GB model also makes a bump up to 8GB of RAM, which is of dubious value right now (just as it is in the OnePlus 6) but gives you some future-proofing potential, on top of bragging rights. The microSD card slot supports cards of that size (and larger), so with currently available tech you can throw an extra 512GB in the phone for over 1TB of total storage. Even if you want to keep things reasonable (and under $100) and get a 256GB microSD card, that's 768GB of storage ... in your phone. I find it hard to believe anyone needs more than that right now.
