The latest Samsung Galaxy Note9 is globally announced on 9 August and Singapore will be able to get their hands on it from 25 August. There are 2 variants, 6GB/128GB at S$1398 and 8GB/512GB at S$1728, and in three colours – Midnight Black, Ocean Blue, Metallic Copper.
While the overall design DNA appears to be similar to Galaxy Note8, Samsung has beefed up the device with the following enhancements.
More Battery for All Day Use
With 4000 mAh, it should give consumers more usage time, but given the size of the device, I would expect them to squeeze in more battery. After all, the Note9 can do so much things, I’m sure users would be using the phone so much more than on other phones, so any extra power will be appreciated.
More Storage
With 512GB, it will be hard to run out of space. It’s even larger than some premium ultrabooks. And if you top up with an external 512GB microSD card, you will get 1TB storage. Just wow. Word of caution though: I would highly recommend you to backup the data either on the cloud or on a separate external storage. Plus, 512GB worth of data will take quite a long time to copy.
S Pen is Bluetooth Enabled
The S Pen is now built with Bluetooth Low Energy and so you can use the S Pen as a remote control for many useful functions, like camera shutter, slideshow presentation. This is definitely a great feature for users who do not doodle that much.
In addition, the S Pen comes in various matching colours, with the exception of the Ocean Blue Note9 that comes with a striking yellow S Pen.
Samsung DeX Desktop Directly
From Note9 onwards, you no longer need a separate DeX Station to run the phone in Desktop mode. Also, during DeX mode when the desktop is displayed on an external HDMI monitor, the Note9 can still be used as a phone to take calls, or as a trackpad to control the desktop. This is the same experience as Huawei Mate 10 and P20 series, which clearly Samsung takes inspiration from.
Intelligent Camera
Short of saying Note9 has an AI camera, where the term is grossly over-used, Samsung’s camera offers the usual intelligence of optimising the scene, as well as a special feature to prompt the user if the camera detects some flaw, like blur image, eye blink.
In addition, the Note9 also inherits the Galaxy S9+ dual aperture camera specs, so you will enjoy the same premium camera quality, including super slow-motion 960fps.
Samsung Ecosystem
Buying a Note9 is no longer just for the phone features, but for the integration with other products, like Samsung Health, Samsung Pay, Samsung Knox, SmartThings IoT, Bixby, to name a few.
Singapore Pre-Order and Launch Special
The pre-order for Singapore market begins from 10 August at 3pm. All consumers who successfully purchase the Note9 128GB will enjoy a free upgrade to the Note9 512GB worth S$330 when they collect from 22 August. In short, everyone who pre-orders will receive the 512GB version at the 128GB price. I think this is a much better deal than giving free accessories like in previous years.
Pre-order locations:
- Samsung Store Online
- Samsung Experience Stores
- Telcos (StarHub, SingTel, M1)
- Best Denki, Courts, Gain City, Hachi.Tech, Harvey Norman, Lazada, Newstead
If you seriously aren’t keen on this one-time offer (seriously?), the Note9 will be available islandwide from 25 Aug 2018 at S$1398 (128GB) and S$1728 (512GB).
Additionally, consumers who trade-in their existing devices through the Samsung Trade Up Programme will receive an additional S$100 trade-in value.
Finally, Note9 owners are encouraged to purchase the Samsung Concierge Care Park at S$48 instead of the usual price S$128. This special price is valid within 14 days of the date of Note9 purchase.
Galaxy Note9 Specs
- Display: 6.4-inch quad HD+ Super AMOLED 2960×1440
- Rear Wide Angle Camera: dual pixel 12MP f/1.5 – f/2.4 OIS
- Rear Telephoto Camera: 12MP f/2.4 OIS
- Front Camera: 8MP f/1.7
- Dimension: 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm
- Weight: 201g
- Processor: 10nm 64-bit Octa-core processor (2.7GHz + 1.7GHz)
- Memory: 6GB/128GB or 8GB/256GB (LPDDR4)
- SIM Slot: Hybrid dual nano SIM or microSD (up to 512GB)
- Battery: 4000 mAh (QC 2.0, fast wireless charging)
- Operating System: Android 8.1
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 4X4 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB Type-C
