August 24, 2018 • 8 mins
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is in stores now for $1,000. It's a device that truly offers it all, if you don't mind the supersized price tag or form factor.TV Segment and sample photos:https://ktla.com/2018/08/24/samsung-galaxy-note-9-review-nearly-no-compromises/Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontech Easy ways to listen on your phone or smart speaker:"Hey Google, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Hey Siri, Play the Rich on Tech Podcast""Alexa, Enable the Rich on Tech Flash Briefing"
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Samsung Galaxy Note nine review. It's a big, expensive phone,
but you get it all. What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro.
This is Rich on Tech. The Samsung Galaxy Note nine
is in stores right now and it sells for one
thousand dollars. That gets you a six point four in screen,
one of the best I've ever seen on a phone,
(00:24):
plus one hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of storage, dual
cameras on the back, an s Penn Stylus with Bluetooth,
and one of the biggest, baddest batteries you can pack
into a phone that still feels pretty darn good in
your hand. How's that for an intro. Well, I've been
using this device for the past two weeks and I
can tell you it is one of my favorite phones ever.
It is a pleasure to use. It's fast, it has
(00:47):
every feature you can think of, a fun camera, the
stylus makes a great addition to Instagram Stories in general
navigation when you remember to use it. Plus, it's big,
but it's not on wield. And although I still prefer
the clean software and faster camera on the pixel, the
Note nine offers so many more features. Let's talk about
some of them for starters. The battery in this thing
(01:07):
is just a rock star. It's four thousand million hours,
which is a lot, about a third more than other
big smartphones, and the battery is going to be the
least of your concerns on this device. It charges super
fast with the cable or wirelessly, and if you drive
for a bit during the day and have it plugged
in your car, like I often do in Los Angeles, realistically,
battery life is not a concern at all. There are
(01:27):
even some nights I didn't even bother to plug it
in because it was still so full by the time
I went to bed. The storage is also great. It's
one hundred and twenty eight gigabyte standard. You just won't
worry about anything taking tons of pictures, videos, downloading Spotify
music and Netflix shows and YouTube videos. I didn't even
consider how much storage everything was taking up because it
doesn't matter. And if you get close to filling up
(01:49):
that one hundred and twenty eight gigs, you can just
add a memory card. Two hundred and fifty six gigs
on Amazon right now is just about eighty dollars, and
you can go all the way up to a five
hundred and twelve gigabyte memory car when that's available. Performance
on the Note nine has been great. Samsung software gets
a bad rap and there are little things I don't
like about it, like the way it handles notifications and
(02:09):
the always on screen, but I can live with that,
and for ninety nine percent of people, you're probably not
gonna care. The phone hasn't gotten hot even once, which
is a departure from other Samsung phones which have eate
it up in the past. Maybe it's because Samsung added
some sort of new liquid cooling inside, but I can't
be sure, but this thing stays pretty cool throughout the day.
The Spen with Bluetooth is really cool, but you have
(02:30):
to remember to use it otherwise it's useless, and that's
one of the big features of this device. You have
to remember to pull it out. When I did, it
would come in handy for various creative situations like Instagram
stories and writing on pictures. You'll figure out what you
need it for, but it's a useful thing to have.
And yes, I am the weirdo that sets up my
phone on a tripod to take group pictures at family
and friend gathering, so I'll definitely be using the Spen
(02:51):
in the future versus the typical timer. I would normally
set the Spen lasts for thirty minutes on Bluetooth use.
Then you pop it back into the phone and it
takes forty seconds to recharge it. But it always works
to write on the screen no matter whether it's charged
or dead. Now let's talk about the camera, because this
is one of the biggest parts of any smartphone, and
on the Note nine, it is good. It borders on great.
(03:13):
It's a very capable camera and you will have lots
of fun with it. I really love having the two
times lens so I can zoom into things optically versus digitally.
And the camera performs good, but I'd like to see
it perform great. It can be a little slow to
react and focus sometimes, and things like zoom and movements
can look a little jittery in the preview window. But overall,
the photos you take on this device are very, very
(03:34):
good and many times excellent. It does a great job
in low light, one of the best performers in low light,
and I'm very impressed with the detail on pictures compared
to the iPhones photos. I think those look nice, but
they always look kind of flat. The Galaxy Note nine
has much more depth and detail. Of course, not as
much as a pixel, which has like crazy computer processing
(03:54):
going on to make any shot look good. But Samsung
definitely makes one of the top cameras on the market. Now,
they did add some sort of scene detection artificial intelligence,
but I can't really tell if that's helping my photos
look better or just boosting things like color and other
stuff depending on the situation. It can recognize scenes including food, portraits, flowers, animals, landscape, sky, sunrise, sunset, text,
(04:15):
and more. The camera also tells you when someone blinks,
or the shot is blurry, or there's some bad backlight.
I found this feature nice to have, but not entirely useful,
because look, if it's an important shot, I'm gonna be
reviewing it anyway. Now. The front facing camera is a
totally different story. If there's a source spot to this device,
this is it. In a word, I'm unimpressed. It's very
hit or missed. Sometimes you get such a good shot
(04:35):
it looks like a pro took it. Other Times you
get something that looks kind of muddled and blurry. The
front facing camera is not a deal breaker, but it's
definitely the biggest disappointment on this device. Low light is
especially challenging for it. It will take a noticeable amount
of time to snap a front facing photo and the
result is often not very good, so you're gonna have
to take a couple of front facing photos to get
a good one. As for the rest of the Galaxy
(04:57):
Note nine, it is a very complete package. The screen
just simply amazing. It puts other smartphone screens to shame.
I watched the original Jurassic Park movie on a plane
and I just can't tell you how good it looked
on that big, bright, six point four inch screen, and
that's an old movie. If you look at some of
the new stuff on Netflix with HDR, that's unbelievable. You
also get Dolby at most. Video on this thing is
(05:19):
just amazing, and plus you get all the features you need,
like a headphone jack and the fingerprint reader. Although it's
a tad small, it's in a dream spot compared to
last year's model. You can actually reach it without looking,
and it's properly placed under the camera instead of to
the side of the camera. Now, the Note nine is
expensive and I'm not thrilled about either color combo. You
can choose from blue or lavender. In the US right now,
(05:40):
there is a black and copper model available, just not
in the US just yet, but I expect them to
make their way here eventually. And one thing I don't like.
You no longer have the option to turn off the
Bixby button now unless I'm missing it in the Bixby settings.
They seem to have gotten rid of this entirely, which
is unfortunate because you do press that dedicated button a
lot and it activates Bixby, which I don't think is bad,
(06:02):
but I just don't need another assistant in my life
right now. So let's compare against some other phones. Against
the iPhone ten, well, at number one, we're coming out
with the new iPhone very soon, so if you're comparing
those two and deciding, you probably want to wait to
see what Apple does. But against the iPhone ten, you're
definitely getting more for your money with the Note nine. Now,
I rarely compare Android to iPhone anymore, because, let's face it,
I've realized most people don't care through either Apple or
(06:23):
Android for life, and they don't want to switch, And
that's kind of fine with me. It's personal preference, and
I understand how Apple folks will miss I Message, FaceTime
and other niceties of the Apple ecosystem, So I'm not
trying to convince you to switch here now. If you
don't need the stylus or the large battery, you'll be
perfectly happy with the Samsung Galaxy S nine plus. This
is nearly the same phone, just slightly smaller, with less
(06:45):
bells and whistles, but it's a very similar camera setup,
and it has that gorgeous screen again just a bit smaller.
And if you don't want to spend one thousand dollars,
the one plus six is a really nice Android device.
It has amazing software, it's super fast, it charges fast
although there's no wirel charging, and the software is updated
way more often. The only downside of the one plus
really is you don't get as good of a camera.
(07:07):
But I will tell you the one plus six is
doing some amazing pictures for that five hundred and thirty
dollars price. One plus you're doing a great job. Now
against the Pixel. That's a tough one, because that is
my favorite phone ever. And rumor has it that the
new Pixel is gonna add wireless charging in wired headphones,
which are two chief complaints I had against the last one,
and the Pixel camera is just a monster. It's the
(07:29):
absolute best in the world on a smartphone and one
of the reasons I keep going back to that device.
And also, the Pixel is going to be cheaper than
the Samsung Note nine, but it won't come with as
many software bells and whistles. Some will like that, others won't.
Samsung versus Pixel is a tough one. If you're a
true Android hardcore, that's a tough decision. All right. There
you have it at my review of the Samsung Galaxy
(07:49):
Note nine. Bottom line, this is a beast, but in
a good way. Samsung has managed to cram just about
every feature known to man in a smartphone that actually looks, feels,
and performs great. The price tag and large size are
basically the two biggest downsides, along with infrequent software updates,
but that's about it. You're really getting one of the
best phones on the market. Thanks so much for listening.
If you want photo samples, video samples, plus my TV review,
(08:12):
check the show notes, or just go to richontech dot
tv and let me know if you have any questions.
You can find me on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter,
I will be listening and answering. Amrich Demiro, I'll talk
to you real soon
Samsung Galaxy Note nine review. It's a big, expensive phone,
but you get it all. What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro.
This is Rich on Tech. The Samsung Galaxy Note nine
is in stores right now and it sells for one
thousand dollars. That gets you a six point four in screen,
one of the best I've ever seen on a phone,
(00:24):
plus one hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of storage, dual
cameras on the back, an s Penn Stylus with Bluetooth,
and one of the biggest, baddest batteries you can pack
into a phone that still feels pretty darn good in
your hand. How's that for an intro. Well, I've been
using this device for the past two weeks and I
can tell you it is one of my favorite phones ever.
It is a pleasure to use. It's fast, it has
(00:47):
every feature you can think of, a fun camera, the
stylus makes a great addition to Instagram Stories in general
navigation when you remember to use it. Plus, it's big,
but it's not on wield. And although I still prefer
the clean software and faster camera on the pixel, the
Note nine offers so many more features. Let's talk about
some of them for starters. The battery in this thing
(01:07):
is just a rock star. It's four thousand million hours,
which is a lot, about a third more than other
big smartphones, and the battery is going to be the
least of your concerns on this device. It charges super
fast with the cable or wirelessly, and if you drive
for a bit during the day and have it plugged
in your car, like I often do in Los Angeles, realistically,
battery life is not a concern at all. There are
(01:27):
even some nights I didn't even bother to plug it
in because it was still so full by the time
I went to bed. The storage is also great. It's
one hundred and twenty eight gigabyte standard. You just won't
worry about anything taking tons of pictures, videos, downloading Spotify
music and Netflix shows and YouTube videos. I didn't even
consider how much storage everything was taking up because it
doesn't matter. And if you get close to filling up
(01:49):
that one hundred and twenty eight gigs, you can just
add a memory card. Two hundred and fifty six gigs
on Amazon right now is just about eighty dollars, and
you can go all the way up to a five
hundred and twelve gigabyte memory car when that's available. Performance
on the Note nine has been great. Samsung software gets
a bad rap and there are little things I don't
like about it, like the way it handles notifications and
(02:09):
the always on screen, but I can live with that,
and for ninety nine percent of people, you're probably not
gonna care. The phone hasn't gotten hot even once, which
is a departure from other Samsung phones which have eate
it up in the past. Maybe it's because Samsung added
some sort of new liquid cooling inside, but I can't
be sure, but this thing stays pretty cool throughout the day.
The Spen with Bluetooth is really cool, but you have
(02:30):
to remember to use it otherwise it's useless, and that's
one of the big features of this device. You have
to remember to pull it out. When I did, it
would come in handy for various creative situations like Instagram
stories and writing on pictures. You'll figure out what you
need it for, but it's a useful thing to have.
And yes, I am the weirdo that sets up my
phone on a tripod to take group pictures at family
and friend gathering, so I'll definitely be using the Spen
(02:51):
in the future versus the typical timer. I would normally
set the Spen lasts for thirty minutes on Bluetooth use.
Then you pop it back into the phone and it
takes forty seconds to recharge it. But it always works
to write on the screen no matter whether it's charged
or dead. Now let's talk about the camera, because this
is one of the biggest parts of any smartphone, and
on the Note nine, it is good. It borders on great.
(03:13):
It's a very capable camera and you will have lots
of fun with it. I really love having the two
times lens so I can zoom into things optically versus digitally.
And the camera performs good, but I'd like to see
it perform great. It can be a little slow to
react and focus sometimes, and things like zoom and movements
can look a little jittery in the preview window. But overall,
the photos you take on this device are very, very
(03:34):
good and many times excellent. It does a great job
in low light, one of the best performers in low light,
and I'm very impressed with the detail on pictures compared
to the iPhones photos. I think those look nice, but
they always look kind of flat. The Galaxy Note nine
has much more depth and detail. Of course, not as
much as a pixel, which has like crazy computer processing
(03:54):
going on to make any shot look good. But Samsung
definitely makes one of the top cameras on the market. Now,
they did add some sort of scene detection artificial intelligence,
but I can't really tell if that's helping my photos
look better or just boosting things like color and other
stuff depending on the situation. It can recognize scenes including food, portraits, flowers, animals, landscape, sky, sunrise, sunset, text,
(04:15):
and more. The camera also tells you when someone blinks,
or the shot is blurry, or there's some bad backlight.
I found this feature nice to have, but not entirely useful,
because look, if it's an important shot, I'm gonna be
reviewing it anyway. Now. The front facing camera is a
totally different story. If there's a source spot to this device,
this is it. In a word, I'm unimpressed. It's very
hit or missed. Sometimes you get such a good shot
(04:35):
it looks like a pro took it. Other Times you
get something that looks kind of muddled and blurry. The
front facing camera is not a deal breaker, but it's
definitely the biggest disappointment on this device. Low light is
especially challenging for it. It will take a noticeable amount
of time to snap a front facing photo and the
result is often not very good, so you're gonna have
to take a couple of front facing photos to get
a good one. As for the rest of the Galaxy
(04:57):
Note nine, it is a very complete package. The screen
just simply amazing. It puts other smartphone screens to shame.
I watched the original Jurassic Park movie on a plane
and I just can't tell you how good it looked
on that big, bright, six point four inch screen, and
that's an old movie. If you look at some of
the new stuff on Netflix with HDR, that's unbelievable. You
also get Dolby at most. Video on this thing is
(05:19):
just amazing, and plus you get all the features you need,
like a headphone jack and the fingerprint reader. Although it's
a tad small, it's in a dream spot compared to
last year's model. You can actually reach it without looking,
and it's properly placed under the camera instead of to
the side of the camera. Now, the Note nine is
expensive and I'm not thrilled about either color combo. You
can choose from blue or lavender. In the US right now,
(05:40):
there is a black and copper model available, just not
in the US just yet, but I expect them to
make their way here eventually. And one thing I don't like.
You no longer have the option to turn off the
Bixby button now unless I'm missing it in the Bixby settings.
They seem to have gotten rid of this entirely, which
is unfortunate because you do press that dedicated button a
lot and it activates Bixby, which I don't think is bad,
(06:02):
but I just don't need another assistant in my life
right now. So let's compare against some other phones. Against
the iPhone ten, well, at number one, we're coming out
with the new iPhone very soon, so if you're comparing
those two and deciding, you probably want to wait to
see what Apple does. But against the iPhone ten, you're
definitely getting more for your money with the Note nine. Now,
I rarely compare Android to iPhone anymore, because, let's face it,
I've realized most people don't care through either Apple or
(06:23):
Android for life, and they don't want to switch, And
that's kind of fine with me. It's personal preference, and
I understand how Apple folks will miss I Message, FaceTime
and other niceties of the Apple ecosystem, So I'm not
trying to convince you to switch here now. If you
don't need the stylus or the large battery, you'll be
perfectly happy with the Samsung Galaxy S nine plus. This
is nearly the same phone, just slightly smaller, with less
(06:45):
bells and whistles, but it's a very similar camera setup,
and it has that gorgeous screen again just a bit smaller.
And if you don't want to spend one thousand dollars,
the one plus six is a really nice Android device.
It has amazing software, it's super fast, it charges fast
although there's no wirel charging, and the software is updated
way more often. The only downside of the one plus
really is you don't get as good of a camera.
(07:07):
But I will tell you the one plus six is
doing some amazing pictures for that five hundred and thirty
dollars price. One plus you're doing a great job. Now
against the Pixel. That's a tough one, because that is
my favorite phone ever. And rumor has it that the
new Pixel is gonna add wireless charging in wired headphones,
which are two chief complaints I had against the last one,
and the Pixel camera is just a monster. It's the
(07:29):
absolute best in the world on a smartphone and one
of the reasons I keep going back to that device.
And also, the Pixel is going to be cheaper than
the Samsung Note nine, but it won't come with as
many software bells and whistles. Some will like that, others won't.
Samsung versus Pixel is a tough one. If you're a
true Android hardcore, that's a tough decision. All right. There
you have it at my review of the Samsung Galaxy
(07:49):
Note nine. Bottom line, this is a beast, but in
a good way. Samsung has managed to cram just about
every feature known to man in a smartphone that actually looks, feels,
and performs great. The price tag and large size are
basically the two biggest downsides, along with infrequent software updates,
but that's about it. You're really getting one of the
best phones on the market. Thanks so much for listening.
If you want photo samples, video samples, plus my TV review,
(08:12):
check the show notes, or just go to richontech dot
tv and let me know if you have any questions.
You can find me on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter,
I will be listening and answering. Amrich Demiro, I'll talk
to you real soon
Host
Rich DeMuro
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