Bigger screen. Bigger battery. More powerful S Pen. The Samsung Galaxy Note9 was unveiled in New York on Thursday night and it looks like a solid performer. Here’s what you can look forward to if Note9 is on your wish list.
Configuration
The phone comes in two variants — 128GB storage/6GB RAM and 512GB storage/8GB RAM. In way of looks, not much has changed except for the rear fingerprint sensor that has been shifted to below the camera. The other hardware bells and whistles are there — expandable microSD (up to 512GB), headphone jack, fast wireless charging and water resistance. And it has the “largest edge-to-edge display ever on a Note” — a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity Display (Full HD+ but can be switched to Quad HD+). The other important factor is battery life. This time, the Note packs a 4,000mAh battery. Running Android Oreo, the Note9 comes with stereo speakers, tuned by AKG, that are able to deliver Dolby Atmos audio.
Camera
Note9’s camera matches that of Galaxy S9 Plus. You get the same two 12-megapixel cameras and the same dual-aperture (f/1.5 or f/2.4) with the primary, wide-angle camera. And both lenses have optical image stabilisation. The upgrade comes in terms of camera improvements on software and artificial intelligence.
Stylus
The S Pen has same drawing prowess and levels of pressure that we saw last year but now it is also Bluetooth enabled. Clicking the pen users can take selfies, pause and play videos and present slides. The selfies part is important because the new feature will help take group photos.
Fortnite on Android
Fortnite maker Epic Games has confirmed that the battle royale game will launch in beta on the Android mobile operating system for the first time. Samsung users can download Fortnite from Samsung’s Game Launcher app on the new Galaxy Note 9 and Tab S4, as well as the Galaxy S9, S9 Plus, Note 8, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Tab S3.
When and how much?
The phone will become available on August 24 and the price starts at Rs 67,900.
... And there’s one more thing
It looks like a grill on tripod and it’s Samsung’s first smart speaker with the Bixby virtual voice assistant, the Galaxy Home. The device will also serve as a hub for smart home gadgets using the SmartThings .