The much-awaited launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was held in New York last night and many of the rumored specifications and features were confirmed to be true. The highlight of the new smartphone is definitely the dynamic S-Pen Stylus.
But first the basic specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9: The display is huge at 6.4 inches. It’s a Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display, the screen resolution reading 1440x2960pixels and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The pixel density is 516ppi, quite substantial.
On the physical aspect, with the new device weighing 200gms and its overall dimensions relatively larger, possibly to accommodate the large 4000mAh battery, some concerns are being raised by observers on how it would handle.
Samsung may follow the policy of fitting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC for the US and other markets and for markets like India, the processor could be its in-house Exynos 9810. The latter has a marginally lower clocking speed of 2.7GHz compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon’s 2.8GHz.
The Galaxy Note 9 will have 2 RAM variants, 6GB and 8GB. The 6GB variant will have 128GB internal storage and the other one 512GB. In both cases the microSD cars slot will enable the enhancement of storage by 512GB. Thus, if you buy the higher RAM phone, you are assured of 1TB on board storage in total. These were rumored earlier with images released by Samsung. The OS would be the Android Oreo version 8.1.
The camera section sees a dual-sensor setup in the rear (2x12MP) and an 8MP front camera for selfies. The rear camera has features like an autofocus sensor with 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom.
But, the stylus steals the show and at the launch event, the company executives took more time to demonstrate its capabilities.
The S Pen stylus is Bluetooth enabled, equipped with a Low Energy module. This means the stylus pen goes beyond what users have seen it perform. It can act as a remote and can control playing videos from YouTube or in flicking through images in the Gallery. If you are making presentations from your Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the S Pen stylus can be used as the remote to do whatever you desire. What’s more, the stylus can be used to click pictures with your Note 9. Click it once to capture the image and twice to alternate between the front and the rear cameras.
The Bluetooth enabled stylus needs to be charged and Samsung says as long it is lodged inside the phone, it keeps getting charged automatically. Externally, it requires only 40 seconds of charging to make it to last 30 minutes of usage or 200 clicks.
Samsung has released a neon yellow stylus with the Blue Note 9 while with the other colors, the Pen is of the same color as the phone. For the record, Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue, and Lavender Purple are the 4 colors in which the new smartphone will be sold.
Samsung will follow the policy of single SIM and dual SIM Note 9s for different markets. The connectivity options are complete as one would expect.
On the pricing, the top end 8GB/512GB variant Galaxy Note 9 is being sold in the US at $1,250 (Rs 85,900) and the lower 128GB at $999 (Rs 69,700). The phone will go on sale from August 24 and pre-orders to start August 10.
However, there's no official word yet on the India launch date of the Galaxy Note 9.