Post by ?eta/?lpha on Nov 21, 2018 23:37:12 GMT
Now first of all I want to say that I DO know I'm almost 3 months late with this review and that you can find a crap ton of proper professional reviews, but I just felt that giving my own opinions on this phone as an everyday human creature that dwells on this planet would be useful to other homosapiens that fall into the category of "the general public" if they're considering to purchase this phone (or if you're just curious how a "lucky fucker"(as my friends describe me now...) with the newest Samsung phone fells about it).
So I've had the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a month now, and while using it I've obviously kept an eye on how the phone performs and if it lives up to it's name and series's reputation. To keep things simple, my review is split into categories; First Impressions, User Friendliness, Specs and Internal design, Strength and External design and Final Thoughts.
Let's get on with this...
First Impressions;
Now I first need to explain how I got the phone for my own 'first impression' to even make sense. (Just unspoiled if you're willing read it)
Now once I had set up my phone and gotten my accounts logged in and all that, one of my first confusions was the screen - more specifically, the edge design. Now I hadn't really paid much attention to the latest Samsung phones since I'm not a phone-lover like _Windows, but the fact that Samsung had permanently added the Edge screen to the Note series really puzzled me. Sure, it gave Samsung Galaxy phones their own unique thing like how Apple devices all have a circular home button and basically all look the same, but it just looked purely aesthetic and flashy, which in my opinion is the complete opposite of the purpose of the Galaxy Notes (That being towards professional use and functionality rather than a good phone to show to your mates).
That aside I had a little confusion with how the screen is now a full display (But since I went from so old to brand new I can't blame it for that), and some issues with the phones edges digging into my skin until I eventually got a case for it. But on a high note (no pun intended) the phone itself functioned at top-notch quality. Fast, smooth, comfortable to use, screen size being perfect for a business oriented phone in my opinion. The storage is a tad bit overkill... Is what I would have said if I didn't take into factor that the phone can last you for years thanks to it's new and adaptive features.
OVERALL SCORE on First Impressions: 8.6/10
User Friendliness and Quality of Features;
Now my personal experiences with how user friendly the phone is can all be stemmed down to what I use this phone for. That being... lots of YouTube, Minecraft PE, Drawing and kinda ignoring it's business related features...
But even with that said, for what I've used the phone for, it does a really good job of providing a nice experience with my 3 main uses. The Stylus (S Pen) had come a extremely long way from the days of the note 2 and 3 and now is as accurate as ever (if you saw my digital art posts you should know how much I enjoyed this feature). The video streaming quality is really smooth and as long as you have a stable enough internet connection you can enjoy 1080p HD YouTube on the go. And this phone is a BEAST at running games. And I've tested this with not just Minecraft, but larger apps that require much more RAM such as PUBG mobile run with a frame rate that doesn't drop below 50.
Other much minor features that I personally love are the Blue-light filter, Dolby Atmos, App multitasking (which I've used to play CaH on the discord server events with ease of chatting)
And something that is an accessory unique feature, but the official case having LED icons is a neat feature, though I find it way too over kill being under the leather sewing and much rather prefer a glass window like the Note 3 had (and so that I could actually use the phone through the case). But still neat to have customizable icons for apps like Discord and Google Play Store.
OVERALL SCORE on User Friendliness: 8.9/10
Specs, Space and Internal Design;
Wow... That is all I can say for this section...
The Note 9 is a highly compact phone for what you get in it. It baffles me how they managed to fit the S Pen, Dual camera, Bixby button, Stereo Speakers, a Fingerprint scanner, a 4,000mAh battery, and that's not even including all the processors and internal devices in this. Short and simple, the Note 9 is amazing and features the best in recent internal specs for a phone that is not even that big compaired to older models.
OVERALL SCORE on Specs and Internal Design: 10/10
Strength, Handling and External Design;
Now comes the area where all my issues come from and where my Samsung fanboyingness stops...
Now, what could I possibly hate about the look of the phone? If I've said it works so well, shouldn't the slick and modern design make it a gold mine? Well... that's exactly the problem...
You see, as a die-hard samsung fan (From the old keyboard phones to now) the main thing that attracted ME to a Note 2 or a S4 were the durable designs of Samsung phones. You see, dispite my Grand being old and having a ton of performance issue, there is one thing I absolutely love about it...
It's screen is very durable.
And when I say 'very' I don't just mean surviving a 5 foot fall once... I mean surviving Multiple 5 foot falls, slipping out of my hand and smashing against the floor multiple times, falling on rocky pavements to the point of discoloration on it's rimmed edges, and being tossed at a wall- ... I think I know why it was so laggy now... But yhea, the Grand was VERY durable... and this was WITHOUT a protective case or any covering. And it's all thanks to the fact that Samsung's old phones were made as competitors to Apple's fragile screened phones.
And I'm sure you all know what I hate about the Note 9, and all recent Samsung phones; The FUCKING curved/edge screens.
These screen serve no purpose in my opinion. They infact are the biggest drawback to the amazing and ALMOST flawless phone that the Note 9 is. Older models not only covered the screen all around to avoid breaks from corner or side falls, but if you have any old phone from say 2013 or 15, like the Grand that I have, you'll notice the rims on the edge of the screen pop outwards. It might fell like a sharp razor or to be an aesthetic choice, but you have no idea that how useful the slight jutting out of a covering can be. Say if you dropped your old phone, screen facing down, the rims would take the impact of it, and (dispite them getting damaged) the screen goes unharmed. But newer models not only make them more fragile by havings edge screen, but to make matters worse they abandoned the protective lining, which to me makes Samsung phones no difference to iPhones.
The general design of the phone is alright, but the fact that screen protection is just ignored is the biggest disappointment to me. And don't even get me started on why we don't need glass backs... You can tell I'm the kind of person who prefers strenght over style.
I've actually already cracked the screen slightly thanks to the curved edges. Lucky I had insurance so it was a simple claim to get it fixed, but for some people buying a 1000 euro phone and getting 100-200 euro insurance or one if those tempered screen protectors that need changing after every use on top of that just because of a fear of the screen cracking is a huge let down. I know you all are going to start telling me to just not drop it, but I think this phone is a hassle to hold since keeping a grip on something that is basically a square shaped metal dish covered in glass is like trying to hold the blade of a knife. Especially when your daily routine involves lots of busy and overcrowded public transport.
In exchange for attractive design, Samsung has lost something I, and many others, had loved; Durability
OVERALL SCORE on Strength and External Design: 3.2/10
Final Conclusion;
Dispite some of the flaws and pandering with it's design, the Note 9 has a stable place in the mobile market. It gets the job done and if you can avoid the dangers of a fragile screen you can easily keep this phone in top-notch condition. If you can, get a case for it since the slightly thicker design and the tougher material makes gripping onto it much easier and you won't have to worry about claiming your insurance 14 days in cause the some bus driver randomly slams the breaks to talk to a friend he saw on the sidewalk...
Overall, I highly recommend this phone to those that are planning to save up for a new phone or need a recent change, and I'd say my opinion will stand for the next 5 years, so getting it after a year once prices drop is still a good choice since it's current functions are going to suffice me for the next 8 or so.
FINAL SCORE on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9: 9/10
Almost a Flawless Victory.
So I've had the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a month now, and while using it I've obviously kept an eye on how the phone performs and if it lives up to it's name and series's reputation. To keep things simple, my review is split into categories; First Impressions, User Friendliness, Specs and Internal design, Strength and External design and Final Thoughts.
Let's get on with this...
First Impressions;
Now I first need to explain how I got the phone for my own 'first impression' to even make sense. (Just unspoiled if you're willing read it)
I was gifted the phone as a slightly late birthday gift since my last phone was the Samsung Galaxy Grand (Neo Plus) that I got around 3 years ago, so I was given this phone for making do with that one dispite the fact it has a shit camera, 8 Gigabytes of storage (4 of which the phone used to run the system), a now ancient version of android; 5.0.0, and was fairly run down and sometimes would even crash spontaneously. It was a sort of surprise gift that my parents and sister got since they saw me look fairly interested in the Galaxy Note series phones, and so suprised me the day after with it.
Now once I had set up my phone and gotten my accounts logged in and all that, one of my first confusions was the screen - more specifically, the edge design. Now I hadn't really paid much attention to the latest Samsung phones since I'm not a phone-lover like _Windows, but the fact that Samsung had permanently added the Edge screen to the Note series really puzzled me. Sure, it gave Samsung Galaxy phones their own unique thing like how Apple devices all have a circular home button and basically all look the same, but it just looked purely aesthetic and flashy, which in my opinion is the complete opposite of the purpose of the Galaxy Notes (That being towards professional use and functionality rather than a good phone to show to your mates).
That aside I had a little confusion with how the screen is now a full display (But since I went from so old to brand new I can't blame it for that), and some issues with the phones edges digging into my skin until I eventually got a case for it. But on a high note (no pun intended) the phone itself functioned at top-notch quality. Fast, smooth, comfortable to use, screen size being perfect for a business oriented phone in my opinion. The storage is a tad bit overkill... Is what I would have said if I didn't take into factor that the phone can last you for years thanks to it's new and adaptive features.
OVERALL SCORE on First Impressions: 8.6/10
User Friendliness and Quality of Features;
Now my personal experiences with how user friendly the phone is can all be stemmed down to what I use this phone for. That being... lots of YouTube, Minecraft PE, Drawing and kinda ignoring it's business related features...
But even with that said, for what I've used the phone for, it does a really good job of providing a nice experience with my 3 main uses. The Stylus (S Pen) had come a extremely long way from the days of the note 2 and 3 and now is as accurate as ever (if you saw my digital art posts you should know how much I enjoyed this feature). The video streaming quality is really smooth and as long as you have a stable enough internet connection you can enjoy 1080p HD YouTube on the go. And this phone is a BEAST at running games. And I've tested this with not just Minecraft, but larger apps that require much more RAM such as PUBG mobile run with a frame rate that doesn't drop below 50.
Other much minor features that I personally love are the Blue-light filter, Dolby Atmos, App multitasking (which I've used to play CaH on the discord server events with ease of chatting)
And something that is an accessory unique feature, but the official case having LED icons is a neat feature, though I find it way too over kill being under the leather sewing and much rather prefer a glass window like the Note 3 had (and so that I could actually use the phone through the case). But still neat to have customizable icons for apps like Discord and Google Play Store.
OVERALL SCORE on User Friendliness: 8.9/10
Specs, Space and Internal Design;
Wow... That is all I can say for this section...
The Note 9 is a highly compact phone for what you get in it. It baffles me how they managed to fit the S Pen, Dual camera, Bixby button, Stereo Speakers, a Fingerprint scanner, a 4,000mAh battery, and that's not even including all the processors and internal devices in this. Short and simple, the Note 9 is amazing and features the best in recent internal specs for a phone that is not even that big compaired to older models.
OVERALL SCORE on Specs and Internal Design: 10/10
Strength, Handling and External Design;
Now comes the area where all my issues come from and where my Samsung fanboyingness stops...
Now, what could I possibly hate about the look of the phone? If I've said it works so well, shouldn't the slick and modern design make it a gold mine? Well... that's exactly the problem...
You see, as a die-hard samsung fan (From the old keyboard phones to now) the main thing that attracted ME to a Note 2 or a S4 were the durable designs of Samsung phones. You see, dispite my Grand being old and having a ton of performance issue, there is one thing I absolutely love about it...
It's screen is very durable.
And when I say 'very' I don't just mean surviving a 5 foot fall once... I mean surviving Multiple 5 foot falls, slipping out of my hand and smashing against the floor multiple times, falling on rocky pavements to the point of discoloration on it's rimmed edges, and being tossed at a wall- ... I think I know why it was so laggy now... But yhea, the Grand was VERY durable... and this was WITHOUT a protective case or any covering. And it's all thanks to the fact that Samsung's old phones were made as competitors to Apple's fragile screened phones.
And I'm sure you all know what I hate about the Note 9, and all recent Samsung phones; The FUCKING curved/edge screens.
These screen serve no purpose in my opinion. They infact are the biggest drawback to the amazing and ALMOST flawless phone that the Note 9 is. Older models not only covered the screen all around to avoid breaks from corner or side falls, but if you have any old phone from say 2013 or 15, like the Grand that I have, you'll notice the rims on the edge of the screen pop outwards. It might fell like a sharp razor or to be an aesthetic choice, but you have no idea that how useful the slight jutting out of a covering can be. Say if you dropped your old phone, screen facing down, the rims would take the impact of it, and (dispite them getting damaged) the screen goes unharmed. But newer models not only make them more fragile by havings edge screen, but to make matters worse they abandoned the protective lining, which to me makes Samsung phones no difference to iPhones.
The general design of the phone is alright, but the fact that screen protection is just ignored is the biggest disappointment to me. And don't even get me started on why we don't need glass backs... You can tell I'm the kind of person who prefers strenght over style.
I've actually already cracked the screen slightly thanks to the curved edges. Lucky I had insurance so it was a simple claim to get it fixed, but for some people buying a 1000 euro phone and getting 100-200 euro insurance or one if those tempered screen protectors that need changing after every use on top of that just because of a fear of the screen cracking is a huge let down. I know you all are going to start telling me to just not drop it, but I think this phone is a hassle to hold since keeping a grip on something that is basically a square shaped metal dish covered in glass is like trying to hold the blade of a knife. Especially when your daily routine involves lots of busy and overcrowded public transport.
In exchange for attractive design, Samsung has lost something I, and many others, had loved; Durability
OVERALL SCORE on Strength and External Design: 3.2/10
Final Conclusion;
Dispite some of the flaws and pandering with it's design, the Note 9 has a stable place in the mobile market. It gets the job done and if you can avoid the dangers of a fragile screen you can easily keep this phone in top-notch condition. If you can, get a case for it since the slightly thicker design and the tougher material makes gripping onto it much easier and you won't have to worry about claiming your insurance 14 days in cause the some bus driver randomly slams the breaks to talk to a friend he saw on the sidewalk...
Overall, I highly recommend this phone to those that are planning to save up for a new phone or need a recent change, and I'd say my opinion will stand for the next 5 years, so getting it after a year once prices drop is still a good choice since it's current functions are going to suffice me for the next 8 or so.
FINAL SCORE on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9: 9/10
Almost a Flawless Victory.
