Samsung Galaxy Note 9: The Best Never Felt So Bland

With great power comes little excitement.

- Michael Simon

The Galaxy Note 9 is Samsung’s passionate love letter to Note fans. It has insane specs, a gigantic, gorgeous screen, a Bluetooth-powered S Pen, and a headphone jack—all critical features for the kind of Android user that Samsung is targeting with a Note update. For devotees of the phablet, the Note 9 is a dream come true.

But once you get past the megahertz and gigabytes, the Galaxy Note 9 doesn’t bring much to the table beyond what’s in the Note 8 (go.pcworld.com/gnt8). Granted, that phone was one of 2017’s best handsets, but a lot has changed in a year. In a post- iPhone X world (go.pcworld.com/ fxrv), a recycled design, been-there camera, and gimmicky S Pen aren’t really enough to justify a price hike that pushes the phone firmly into four-figure territory.

Even with upgraded specs across the board, the Note 9 feels very much like a phone we’ve seen before. Note fans may love it, but very few of them will be in love with it.

A PREDICTABLY GREAT DISPLAY

The most interesting thing about the Note 9’s design is its color options. In the U.S., you can only buy it in blue or purple, choices that will more than likely split along gender lines. Otherwise, if you’ve held a Galaxy Note 8, you already know how the Note 9 feels. It’s taller and boxier than the Galaxy S9+ and a bit heavier as well. The Note 9 weighs 12 grams more than the S9+ (which in turn is heavier than the S8+), a noticeable increase, especially when trying to use it with one hand.