- [Michael] We are confident that we have built
the best smartphone on the market.
That's the kind of braggadocios boast
so common to phone releases that folks,
I usually don't even bother to write it down.
But when it's Samsung saying it, I take note.
From Samsung Unpacked in Brooklyn, New York, I'm Mr. Mobile,
and this is a first look at the Galaxy Note 9,
brought to you by dbrand.
(upbeat music)
Let's be honest, it's tough to be surprised
by a smartphone in 2018, and the Note 9 is no exception.
If you followed the leaks, they were right on.
The most notable physical changes here
are the slightly larger display
compared with last year's Note 8,
and the relocation of the fingerprint sensor.
That's funny because last year Samsung told me
it had to put the Note 8's fingerprint reader
way up out of reach, because to move it lower,
would necessitate a smaller battery.
The Note 9 must have some black magic baked into it,
because it not only puts the fingerprint sensor
where it belongs, it also increases battery capacity by 21%.
That's a 4,000 mAh power pack inside,
the biggest Samsung has ever built into a Note,
which makes me hopeful that this phone can improve
on the lackluster endurance of the Note 8.
Still, it needs to be said that Samsung
is playing catch-up here.
Huawei's Pro Series phones
have packed 4,000 mAh batteries for the past year,
and they're some of the longest lasting phones
I've ever tested.
Then there's the camera tricks.
The Note 9 can automatically recognize subjects like food
and adjust camera settings for the better shot,
but we've already seen similar features
from LG, Huawei, and others.
Let's talk about the thing that only a Galaxy Note can do.
While a few other phones come with styluses,
the S Pen has always been special
both for it's accuracy and it's feature set.
This year, Samsung has kept all the old features
and added even more,
by giving the S Pen it's own power source and Bluetooth.
That means you can use the S Pen's button
to do things like remotely open an app,
by default, the camera.
Check it out.
You long press it to open,
double click to switch between front and back cameras,
and click once to take a photo.
There are also options for music control,
controlling presentation software,
and unlocking the phone remotely.
That's not the exciting part though.
After all, you can do the same remote control stuff
with a smart swatch.
The cool stuff will hopefully show up down the road.
Samsung is planning to offer an SDK for the S Pen,
which means developers
will be able to write their own features
to take advantage of the new hardware,
assuming any of them do.
And the engineering accomplishment of that hardware
deserves a quick word.
Samsung squeezed a super capacitor
and a Bluetooth LE radio into an S Pen
not much bigger than last year's.
It charges inductively when it's docked.
It lasts 30 minutes on one 40 second charge.
And yes, if the battery dies,
it still delivers on all the old S Pen features.
Remember, none of the prior ones needed on-board power.
Also, both pen and phone are still water and dust resistant.
There's plenty of features in the Note 9
that only a full review will be able to uncover.
The camera has something called flaw detection
which should be able to tell you if your subject blinked,
or if you're out of focus,
or if something's happening in the background
that's gonna ruin your shot.
Samsung also built a new carbon fiber cooling system
around the processor, which is meant to preserve performance
even under a heavy load.
This is a big deal.
I remember seeing PUBG played on a Note 8 a few months ago,
and I remember thinking, such a powerful phone,
shouldn't be bogging down so much.
The new processor and cooling system
should help with high demand games like Fortnite
which is finally coming to newer Samsung phones as of today.
The rest of the spec sheet from the high RAM count
to the dense storage options,
they all help with everything else.
If you can find a 500 GB SD card,
you could have a terabyte of storage in your hand
with this thing, and your hand
doesn't need to be all that much bigger either.
While the Note 9 is still a very large phone,
it's surprisingly close, at least in terms of hand feel,
to the Note 8.
Of course it's still just as easy to smudge
as any all glass smartphone,
so before we get to pricing and availability,
I'll drop a mention of a name you can't hear often enough,
can you?
Dbrand, delivers premium vinyl skin
in up to 25 different finishes,
to give you the power to craft a custom color cocktail
unique to your smartphone.
Thanks to dbrand for sponsoring this video
and you can get yours at the link in the description.
And where can you get your own Note 9?
The phone will be available in stores starting August 24
for a penny shy of 1,000 US dollars.
That's for the 128G version.
The 512 will run you the princely sum
of $1249.99, yee.
There is a small break for you
if you preorder before August 23rd,
you'll get your choice of a free pair of AKG headphones
or the Fortnite Galaxy skin.
I don't know what that is.
I'd probably go for the headphones but you do you.
And let me know what you think of this pricing too, folks.
Magic? Tragic?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below,
and please be sure to hit that subscribe button
so you don't miss my own thoughts on whether it's worth it
in the full Galaxy Note 9 review coming soon to Mr. Mobile.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile my friends.