After huge success in pre-booking — which started from 17th of August to 30th of August — the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has now hit the shelves of Nepali market. Despite bearing resemblance to the Galaxy Note 8 in terms of aesthetics, the Galaxy Note 9 comes with some subtle yet important changes; most importantly the battery.
Like every latest and greatest from Samsung, pre-booking the Galaxy Note 9 came with some perks. Those who pre-booked the beauty got an HDMI adapter and a leather cover for the phone. And for those who added extra 10,000 got an HDMI adapter as well as 24-inch Samsung Curved Monitor. Similarly, there were other freebies as well, including the 18000MB data from Ncell and breakage insurance from Shikhar Insurance for one year. Two of the lucky pre-bookers were also eligible to get a chance to win a trip to Turkish Airlines’ destination or two-night stay for two at either Himalayan Front Resort or the Water Front Resort.
More about the phone
Firstly, let’s talk build and design, the Note 9 borrows quite a lot in terms of design and build from its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 8. The Note Series has always been top of the line offering from Samsung that comes under phablet category of smartphones, which means, this beast is huge — 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display (HDR10 Compliant) to be precise. Let’s appreciate the fact that Samsung makes the best displays in the smartphone market and the Note 9 brings the same gorgeous 2940 x 1440 px with the pixel density being 516ppi. This time around, the Note 9’s display with its full glory and a brightness of 1050 nits makes it one of the best displays on a smartphone in the world. With a display this huge, the Note 9 becomes perfect for content consumption and multi-tasking.
Apart from a great display, a great audio is a must for any device to be best for media consumption and gaming. The speakers, this time around is tuned by AKG and is a huge upgrade over the Note 8. The stereo speaker that was much appreciated on the S9/S9 Plus and the Note 8, the speakers now sound fuller and have some added bass as well.
From button placements to the glass and metal sandwich design, this device resembles the Galaxy Note 8 in all aspects apart from the fact that the fingerprint scanner has been shifted to a much more appropriate location, centered right below the camera.
Talking about the camera (or rather cameras), the Note 9 borrows the optics from its Galaxy S9 Plus, which translates to the same yet versatile 12MP primary and a 12MP secondary telephoto lens combo. Talking about the optics on the device, the primary camera on the Note 9 and the Galaxy S9 are the same, which was much appreciated and it also means no matter what lighting conditions you’re in, the dual aperture system that shifts between f/1.5 and f/2.4, you can expect some great photos from the shooter on this device. Plus the secondary snapper makes way for the Live Focus mode i.e. great portrait shots along with the flexibility to choose the amount of background blur before and after you click a photo. The front camera remains the same as well with an 8MP f/1.7 lens.
The device runs on Samsung Experience UI 9.5, built on top of android 8.1.0 Oreo. Samsung’s UI has been tweaked down a little bit and is optimized to be used with the S Pen. The major upgrade and the game changer has to be the S-pen this time around. The S-pen now supports Bluetooth LE. The button on the S Pen now acts as a remote as well as a shutter button for the camera. Straight out of the phone, a single press on the button of the S Pen fires up the camera and a double press switches between the front and/or the back camera. Once you’re in the camera app, the button acts as a shutter button. The button can also be used for media controls. On top of that, the S-pen is also water resistant. With the SDK now being available to the developers, the possible utility of the S Pen has now become endless.
The upgrade has to be with the battery size. The new Note 9 comes with a huge 4,000mAh battery with support for fast charging and wireless fast charging. With a battery this huge and the chipset that Samsung has to offer — the Exynos 9810 — built on the 10nm FinFET process, the device is powerful and power efficient at the same time. One prominent issue with smartphone gaming has to be the device heating up and affecting the gameplay, but with the Note 9, Samsung has introduced water carbon cooling system which is supposed to keep the device temperature in check at all times.
With security being a major concern in this day and age, Samsung’s security offers the safe and traditional fingerprint scanner along with the improved biometrics that includes face and iris scanning.
This is 2018 and every bells and whistles count, talking of which, the Galaxy Note 9 offers 128GB of internal memory and 6GB of RAM as a base variant of this device. Plus there’s the good old IP68 water and dirt resistance which reduces the risk of accidental water damages to your phone. The device supports Bluetooth 5.0. One thing that has improved with the Note 9 is the Samsung DeX (Desktop experience support) and this beast just requires a special USB Type C to HDMI adapter to provide that full-fledged PC like experience that required a dedicated docking station for doing so in previous Note devices.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Price in Nepal
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 can be purchased for Rs. 109,900 in Nepal. Unlike previous Note launch, the Note 9 will come in three colors, including the Midnight Black, Ocean Blue, and Metallic Copper.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Specs Highlight
- Display: 6.4-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display
- Resolution: 2960×1440 pixel; 516ppi pixel density
- Chipset: Exynos 9810
- CPU: Octa-core (4×2.7GHz Mongoose M3 and 4×1.8GHz Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G72 MP18
- OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, Experience 9.5
- Memory: 6GB RAM, 128GB storage; expandable via microSD card up to 512GB
- Primary Camera: Dual Camera with Dual OIS; Wide angle super speed dual pixel 12MP AF, F/1.5 & F/2.4, OIS + Telephoto 12MP AF, F/2.4, OIS
- Secondary Camera: 8MP, AF, F/1.7
- Battery: Non-removable Li-Ion 4,000 mAh battery
