Samsung Galaxy Note9 hands-on review

Design and hardware

Samsung made just subtle changes to the Galaxy Note8 design, but all of those combined improve the overall experience and handling of the new Note9.

For starters, the Note9 uses the Samsung's favorite glass-sandwich design. The Gorilla Glass pieces, both front, and rear are curved towards the longer sides of the frame. At first, we thought Samsung had flattened those curves a bit, but upon further inspection we found those to be the same as on the Note8.

The metal frame is different though. It's shaped differently on Note9's longer sides and completely flat on the shorter. But what's really nice is that the frame has a matte finish and ends on diamond-cut bevels.

The now grippy and flattened aluminum frame improves the overall grip by a mile, and we really appreciated it. The chamfers give some additional sense of security when using the Note9 in landscape orientation, especially for the camera.

The Note9 is as big as the Note8, despite having a larger screen and a bigger battery. It weighs just 6g over the Note8 at 201g.

Samsung managed to keep the same footprint but added a slightly bigger 6.4" Super AMOLED screen. This, of course, was possible by trimming the bezels - the black bottom bar is somewhat thinner than it was on the Note8. But the screen aspect ratio and resolution are the same as before - 18.5:9 and 2,960 x 1,440 pixels. Samsung will ship the Note9 set at 1080p resolution by default, but you can go in QuadHD+ from Setting.

While most of the front is Super AMOLED, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Above the screen is the earpiece, which now doubles as a speaker. The iris scanner is here to stay, of course, there is an RGB LED notification light, and the excellent 8MP selfie snapper with f/1.7 lens, autofocus, and large pixels just can't get better than that, can it?

Samsung is sticking to its pressure-sensitive Home key - the sensors are once again at mid-bottom and work as on the S9 and Note8.

A peek around the sides of the Note9 reveals the SIM and microSD tray on top, while the bottom has the USB port, the 3.5mm audio port, and the other speaker.

The Bixby button is staying, sorry guys, but some extended functionality is coming.

The back of the Note9 has seen the most notable exterior change - the fingerprint scanner has been moved below the camera, which puts an end of the excessive finger-stretching and always smudgy lenses!

The camera deck looks as big and odd as before, but that has been Samsung's take on it for quite some time. The optically-stabilized dual setup is the same as on the S9+ - a 12MP main camera, with a variable aperture (f/1.5-2.4) and a telephoto lens, with a 12MP sensor and f/2.4 aperture. There is a single LED flash and right next to it is the heart-rate sensor.

As far as the exterior is concerned, it's hard to tell a Note9 from a Note8. The visual changes are minor, and if it weren't for the more thoughtfully positioned fingerprint scanner, it would have been close to impossible. But Samsung did make enough improvements on the frame, and the grip benefits the most from them.

The Note9 is water resistant, just like the Note8, and since the S-Pen now has some circuitry inside, it's got water-insulation as well. The pen itself pops-up just like before, and don't you worry, you can't insert it from the wrong side.

It's nice we don't have to worry about charging the S-Pen - it doesn't really have a battery, but a supercapacitor, which charges within the phone and it takes just 40 seconds. The charge is enough for up to 30 minutes of use over BLE connection, or 200 clicks on the remote. The maximum range is 10 meters.

And when the charge is depleted, it's the good ol' S-Pen from the Note8 - you can still write, draw, swipe, and use its key close to the screen.

The Galaxy Note9 supports fast wireless charging, as well as fast wired charging. There haven't been any standard upgrades though - it's the familiar Samsung adaptive charging and QuickCharge 2.0 - speeds. Which is somewhat disappointing - that large 4,000 mAh battery would take a while to charge over QC2.0 for sure.

The Note9 will be available in Metallic Copper, Lavender Purple, Ocean Blue, and Midnight Black. Samsung didn't cave under the competition and stuck to its usual color schemes instead of going for the gradient or faux-transparent trends. But that's not a surprise, Samsung is hardly a trend-follower - you can't see a notch on a Galaxy, can you? We are glad the maker did use some of those paints on the S-Pen though - it looks cooler, and well, fresher now.

The Note9 is the Note you know, nothing really surprising or unexpected. Maybe Samsung will change the design for the NoteX, maybe not. But it's still a flagship shape, with a premium feel, and the minor improvements do matter. There are also new colors, and doubled base storage, so we can't really ask for more. Not this year, at least.