The Galaxy Note 9 comes with the Exynos 9810 SoC in most countries and the Snapdragon 845 in others, with 6GB of RAM on the base model. Performance on the phone is great, and it’s more consistent than the S9+ as well, thanks to Samsung’s tendency to better optimize software on its Note devices. Gaming performance is excellent, too, but I’m not sure if there is a difference in how warm the phone can get despite the upgraded water cooling system inside.
That shouldn’t be surprising, though. With everything that’s packed inside smartphones these days, some degree of rise in temperature is to be expected when performing heavy tasks. But Samsung does seem to have a lot of trust in the cooling system, which might be the reason why the Note 9 can be used with a monitor for a desktop experience without the need for a DeX station.
When it comes to biometrics, the Galaxy Note 9 is similar in performance to the Galaxy S9+. Iris and facial recognition aren’t the fastest way to unlock the phone, but the convenience they offer make up for the delay that can sometimes occur. The best part is that you can now use Intelligent Scan, which combines both iris and facial scanning, without much of an effect on battery life. The fingerprint sensor is also quick and lets you register your fingerprint with just one to three swipes. Again, it could have been easier to reach and its surface area could be larger, but its accuracy and speed aren’t something you can complain about.
Before I forget: The 128GB of internal storage is great to have. Around 109GB is available for use out of the box, and thanks to the microSD slot, most users will never find themselves lacking for space to store their photos, videos, music, and other data. However, it would have been nice to have a 256GB model as an option, especially for those who use two SIM cards and have the need to store more than a hundred gigs of data on their phone. Such folks will probably be in the minority, but it’s still a problem as the 512GB model’s premium over the base model is just too high to be palatable.
That shouldn’t be surprising, though. With everything that’s packed inside smartphones these days, some degree of rise in temperature is to be expected when performing heavy tasks. But Samsung does seem to have a lot of trust in the cooling system, which might be the reason why the Note 9 can be used with a monitor for a desktop experience without the need for a DeX station.
When it comes to biometrics, the Galaxy Note 9 is similar in performance to the Galaxy S9+. Iris and facial recognition aren’t the fastest way to unlock the phone, but the convenience they offer make up for the delay that can sometimes occur. The best part is that you can now use Intelligent Scan, which combines both iris and facial scanning, without much of an effect on battery life. The fingerprint sensor is also quick and lets you register your fingerprint with just one to three swipes. Again, it could have been easier to reach and its surface area could be larger, but its accuracy and speed aren’t something you can complain about.
Before I forget: The 128GB of internal storage is great to have. Around 109GB is available for use out of the box, and thanks to the microSD slot, most users will never find themselves lacking for space to store their photos, videos, music, and other data. However, it would have been nice to have a 256GB model as an option, especially for those who use two SIM cards and have the need to store more than a hundred gigs of data on their phone. Such folks will probably be in the minority, but it’s still a problem as the 512GB model’s premium over the base model is just too high to be palatable.
