Early release of Samsung’s best ever smartphone/phablet: Galaxy Note 9/9 Plus – Part II

Yes, the launching of Samsung Galaxy Note 9/9 Plus smartphone/phablet is going to happen for real on 9 August 2018; in an event that has been scheduled to take place in Brooklyn, New York. The release date should follow suit, but definite information on that is not yet available, though you can be sure it’s […]

Yes, the launching of Samsung Galaxy Note 9/9 Plus smartphone/phablet is going to happen for real on 9 August 2018; in an event that has been scheduled to take place in Brooklyn, New York. The release date should follow suit, but definite information on that is not yet available, though you can be sure it’s not going to be too far behind, given the motivation for this year’s early launch. For perspective, Galaxy Note 8/8 Plus became available for purchase on 15 September 2017.

Will the new gadget be worth your while? For sure, this device is high-end, so it isn’t going to be cheap – perhaps you’ll be looking at approximately one thousand U.S. dollars. If you are cash-strapped, the new release may be of little consequence to you, though there is still some value in knowing what is out there. Let’s run through the rumored features, noting well that the new device is going to be evolutionary – that is, some “delta” additions to the features in the most-recent previous models. In other words, do not expect a total re-design of the Note.

A big phone: Galaxy Note 9/9Plus will be a huge phone (phablet), slightly larger than Note 8. It is also going to be bigger and better than Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus. The galaxy Note 9 is expected to have a display size of 6.38 inches, compared to Note 8’s 6.32. So the difference is in the third significant digit, which is not much.

A two-day battery life? The rumors have it that the battery performance of the new device will be significantly better than that of Samsung’s previous phones. There are even suggestions that the battery of Note 9 may be able to last for 2 days. If this becomes a reality and the phone charges fast, I am pretty sure consumers will love the new device. Remember that Samsung was quite conservative regarding the battery in Note 8. Well, once-beaten, twice-shy. With the battery-caused spontaneous combustion of Note 7 and the ensuing public relation and financial issues for Samsung, the company scaled down on the strength of the battery for Note 8. Now, am I skeptical about a two-day battery life for Note 9? You bet I am. Drawing too much energy out of these devices carries some risks with it. One rumor suggests that Note 9 could have a 3,850mAh battery, compared to 3,300mAh in the Note 8 and 3,500mAh in the S9 Plus. Another source says you should expect a 4,000mAh battery. This one sounds too good (risky?) to be true.

Price: The device is not going to be cheap and, as suggested earlier, you should budget approximately $1,000 for it. The Galaxy Note 8 retailed for $929 when it was launched; it’s highly unlikely that Note 9 will be cheaper. Moreover, Apple jacked up the price of iPhone X, meaning that Samsung cannot afford to sell for too much lower because of the risk of poor product perception. The S9 and S9 Plus phones saw a price increase in most countries, except in the U.S., where the devices actually sold for less.

Software: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will most likely be based on the Snapdragon 845 chipset, with 6GB of RAM and running Android 8.1, which is the same spec as that of the U.S. version of Galaxy S9 Plus. Rumors of 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage have also surfaced. Moreover, there are suggestions that Note 9’s storage will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB variants in China and South Korea.

Front-face fingerprint scanner: To put it mildly, folks don’t like the finger print scanner to be located on the back of the phone. There are rumors that the scanner is moving to the front face of the device. However, there are also claims that Samsung might have settled on having the scanner on the back of the phone, just like in S9/S9 Plus. So the prospect of in-screen fingerprint scanner in Note 9 may be bleak.

Facial recognition features: The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus released in March of this year failed to have a decent facial recognition capability, in absolute terms and in comparison with the Face ID feature in iPhone X.  Will Samsung be able to narrow this gap in Note 9/9 Plus? There are no definitive statements, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer to this question is negative. 

Competitive Bixby? Bixby is of course Samsung’s answer to Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft), or Alexa (Amazon) – the digital assistants. Samsung has talked up Bixby in recent device releases, but this assistant trails behind its competitors. Personally, I am not sure Note 9/9 Plus will be able to pull it off; perhaps not this tme.

While Galaxy Note 9/9 Plus will most likely be the best smartphone that Samsung has ever produced, its capabilities are incremental over those of Galaxy Note 8/8 Plus or Galaxy S9/S9 Plus. Thus, the “can’t wait” factor may not be that strong for this phone. Moreover, the launching of Samsung Galaxy S10 is planned for January 2019. So you wouldn’t need to wait for too long.