Samsung unpacks the Galaxy Note 9

By Chong Jinn Xiung August 10, 2018

New Galaxy Note 9 will retail on 24 Aug with prices starting at RM3,699
Ups battery capacity to 4,000mAh and storage up to 512GB

Samsung unpacks the Galaxy Note 9

(l-r) Samsung Malaysia Electronics head of IM product marketing Wong Peng Yew and chief marketing officer Elaine Soh presenting the new Galaxy Note 9 in Malaysia

Samsung has taken the wraps off its latest phablet, the Galaxy Note 9 at a special Unpack Event in New York. No sooner did the live stream end did Samsung Malaysia Electronics president Yoonsoon Kim announced that the Galaxy Note 9 will be available in Malaysia on Aug 24 with a starting price of RM3,699.

Getting right down to the device itself, the Galaxy Note 9 sports a similar design to its predecessor though with some influence from this year’s Galaxy S9. Samsung has released three colour variations: Midnight Black, Metallic Copper and Ocean Blue. Interestingly, the Ocean Blue’s S Pen will be of a different colour (Yellow) than the phone’s body, providing some contrast.

You get a massive yet gorgeous 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a QHD+ (2,9600 x 1,440) resolution. This is slightly larger than the Galaxy Note 8 which had a 6.3-inch display.

Just like before, the Galaxy Note 9 is IP68 water and dust resistant. It also supports fast wireless charging and connects with other Samsung services like Samsung Health and Samsung Pay.

Samsung has added some improvements to its Bixby smart assistant, giving it the ability to take control of its ecosystem of connected devices. An example is the Galaxy Note 9 being able seamlessly passing over a song currently played on Spotify to your smart TV and controls from your smartwatch.

Apart from that, you get dual 12-Megapixel cameras on the back with one sporting the Dual Aperture feature from the Galaxy S9, that switches between f/1.5 for dark situations and f/2.4 during daylight. The second 12-Megapixel (f/2.4) camera provides 2 x times zoom for more varied shooting options.

The Galaxy Note 9’s camera is also Samsung’s first to incorporate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify elements in a photo and optimise them. The camera is also smart enough to detect a flaw, so if someone blinked or there is a smudge in the lens, it will advise users to retake the shot.

The front-facing camera is an 8-Megapixel (f/1.7) with autofocus. A cool new feature of the Galaxy Note 9 is the ability to use the S Pen as a remote shutter. This is thanks to its new Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) support.

Samsung said the S Pen can do more than jot down notes, it also be used to pause and play videos and control presentation slides. The company plans to release the Software Development Kit to developers to allow them to come up with new ways to take advantage of the S Pen.

Samsung unpacks the Galaxy Note 9

Samsung has strongly hinted that the Galaxy Note 9 will indeed be its most powerful Note smartphone to date. To meet that claim they have included a 10 nanometer 64-bit Octa-core processor. It is paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, giving it plenty of memory to multitask.

Gamers will be pleased to know that Epic's popular multiplayer competitive game Fortnite will be playable via a beta on the Galaxy smartphones. Galaxy players will get an exclusive skin , appropriately named Galaxy when they play the game.

The base unit will pack 128GB of internal storage which is double of what was offered last year. Samsung understands the need for space so they included 512GB of internal storage on the top end unit for power users. Incredibly, there is still a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 512GB in size.

Samsung played it too safe with the Galaxy Note 8, which had a surprisingly small 3,300mAh battery. Fortunately, Samsung has addressed that in the Galaxy Note 9 which now has a 4,000mAh battery that is claimed to give you more than enough stamina for a full day of us and then some.

When it comes to sound you get stereo speakers, one on the earpiece and the other on the bottom, that is tuned by audio experts AKG. It also has the ability to deliver Dolby Atmos audio for a more immersive audio experience.

For the busy working professional who needs to stay productive with their Galaxy Note 9, it comes with the Samsung DeX feature that offers a PC-like experience when plugged to an external display. Users can still actively use their Galaxy Note 9 even when it is plugged in, using it as a trackpad and take notes with.

It is now easier to connect the Galaxy smartphone and begin using DeX thanks to new easy-to-carry HDMI adapters.

The 128GB model with 6GB of RAM will retail at RM3,699 while the 512GB model will only be available in Midnight Black and retail at RM4,599.

Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will run from Aug 10 -19 . Samsung has some pre-order specials to entice Galaxy Note fans. Those who pre-orders of the 512GB model will get a complimentary Gear Sports smartwatch, Gear Sport Strap and Wireless Charger Pad for while those who pre-order the 128GB model will get a complimentary Gear Sports smartwatch.