Facebook Pixel

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 – Same ol’ Same ol’

…but admittedly improving. As expected, Samsung has released it’s latest version of the Note, the Galaxy Note 9 is pretty hum drum compared to last years, and possibly not even worth it compared to the Galaxy S9+. But hey, that’s Samsung, lets release 50 different models with a hair breath of difference.

Note 9

Of course they’d mess up the colour matching…

Note 9 But A Spec Bump

No revolutionary design, no cool new features, this is nothing but an Apple-esque S upgrade. In many ways, the Galaxy S9+ is a better buy, unless you really, really need that pen. For $100 less you are getting the same specs as the entry level. Snapdragon 845, 128GB Storage, Camera. The Note may have a bit better battery, but you are still plugging it in every night. On the higher end, the 512GB option is nice and the 8GB of RAM that it comes with is impressive, but thats only 384GB of storage and 2GB of RAM for $250 extra. $250 US because for whatever reason, the high end option is not available in Canada!

Like the S9 though, it’s processor lags behind the A11 Bionic, only getting a multi-core score of 8,295 compared to 10, 357 from the iPhone X. Real world tests should be helped by the gobs of RAM, but as per usual a new phone SHOULD trounce a 10 month old phone. Video editing is where the A11 embarrassed the Note 9, taking just 49 seconds to transcode a 2 minute 4k video compared to the 2:32 it took the Note 9.

Samsung Tax?

So why is the Galaxy Note 9 TWICE as much as the OnePlus 6 with the same specs? Sure, the OnePlus is a crappy name brand, I understand, but Samsung has to give something a little more for asking just a premium price. They aren’t Apple. This year, it’s not bigger, no super lit camera, it’s just a S9+ with a larger price tag. It seems like it’s more of an excuse to have a $1,000 phone on the market… but didn’t someone get lambasted for that before? Who was that btw…..?

Apple.

Apple got dragged through the coals for having the cahoonas to ask $1,000 for a phone.

I’m sorry, but the iPhone X Animoji are still better then creepy ass AR Emoji. Face ID is still far superior to the face detection offered by Samsung products, no matter what they cringe worthy ads are saying. Even though Samsung manufacturers the iPhone X display panel, it’s own designs coming out of the same factory just can’t seem to beat Apples, coming on nearly 100 nits brighter. Despite Siri getting laughed at all the time, Samsung Bixby gets laughed at more and deserves it. The front Cam on the iPhone X is better and also offers the Truth Depth sensor array.

As a favour to Samsung I’m not even going to bring up App superiority, iOS superiority or those cool yearly updates we get like clockwork.

My advice, buy an iPhone X… or the Galaxy S9+ and save yourself some money.

 

Follow me
Ryszard (Rick) Gold, From Calgary, Alberta, Canada has over 20 years of experience working with Apple products in a technical capacity. Passionate about technology in general, his natural troubleshooting abilities, curiosity and appreciation of good design lead him into working exclusively with Apple Computer products.
Ryszard Gold
Follow me

Facebook Comments