For the last three weeks I’ve been testing out the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and a few features in particular left a lasting impression, but it’s the overall package that confirms my love for the Note series, and Samsung’s excellent user experience.
I’ve been testing out a lot of phones this year, and the Note 9 is absolutely my new favorite. Coming from the Note 8, which I’ve been using for almost a year now, the Note 9 improves on the predecessor in a number of ways, and the biggest upgrade is once again the camera.
While the Samsung Galaxy S9 is a solid device, with great cameras, the Note 9 introduces a very important upgrade for photos: dual aperture lenses, which means that, similar to a DSLR, the cameras can switch between f-stops, or how open they are to light. The Note 9 can intelligently switch between F1.5 to F2.4, depending on the light.
On the one hand, F1.5 is great in low-light conditions, while F2.4 provides more depth-of-field, and makes images more clear in brighter spaces.
The dual aperture lenses effectively means that the Note 9 works better in all conditions, and still features one wide-angle lens, with one telephoto lens for the Live Focus mode that creates such vivid portraits.
The other standout feature? The S Pen can now be used to trigger the camera, so you can setup the phone, or hold it in one hand, and take the photo by pressing the S Pen button. That’s a big deal because a lot of time it may be too loud to use voice commands, and that also means you can use the better rear cameras to take photos now.
Check out a couple of my favorite photos from the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 below, and maybe best of all, check out the video I made with the Note 9 from a recent trip to Downey’s Farm. I’ll have a full review of the phone coming up on the site soon.
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