Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Review: Just an Incremental Upgrade

Cameraperson: Abhishek Ranjan | Editor: Kunal Mehra

The Samsung Galaxy Note series has attracted a lot of buyers in the market ever since it was launched. People really didn’t think of a large screen phone as “practical” and thought the trend of big displays wasn’t there to stay.

Look at what’s happening today! There isn’t a smartphone maker in the market that’s not making large screen phones and Samsung seems to have a considerable lead in that department. And the smartphone that’s carrying the mantle for the South Korean company – the Galaxy Note 9.

The new Note 9 has drawn a lot of criticism for not bringing a lot to the game in terms of design and specifications. It looks exactly like the Note 8 with just a few millimeters of growth in the width of the screen. It will look bigger to you only if your see it through a microscope.

There has been a lot of the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applied to the Note 9. Take for instance, the display remains exactly the same as the Note 8. The camera setup on the Note 9 too is similar to its predecessor minus the aperture, which has been upgraded bundled with some artificial intelligence.

Okay, I am done talking about what’s same. Here’s what’s different about the Note 9.

The battery pack has undergone a considerable upgrade and now comes with a 4,000mAh battery inside. Many are welcoming this move as the battery was a serious issue with the Note 8. The S-Pen or what many know as the stylus of the Note 9 now comes with Bluetooth connectivity and can be used as a remote control to operate the camera and many other applications in the phone.

Clearly, there is a lot of innovation that the Note 9 is missing. My suggestion to the aspiring Note 9 buyers. Hold that thought!

You could easily buy the Note 8 and get ‘almost’ the same experience at a lesser price. And, for the ones looking to upgrade from a Note 8 – there’s hardly anything new to look forward to. Wait another year.