First look: the new features in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 phone

There’s a new smartphone in town from South Korean giant Samsung.

The company launched its new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphone at a packed event in New York last night. 

With a new and improved S-Pen, a massive battery to keep you going throughout your day, and Fortnite packed into the phone, here’s the new features you need to know about. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Battery 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is a big phone and it has a big battery, 4,000mAh to be precise, which is the biggest battery Samsung has ever installed in a smartphone.

Having a battery this big means that there will be enough juice to last all day so you aren’t scrabbling around for a charger when you’re out and about.

To provide this battery function, however, Samsung has had to ensure that there are no risks of fire with this phone. The new device has a water-carbon cooling system to ensure it doesn’t overheat. 

Kate Beaumont, director of product services and commercial strategy, told the Standard: “You can do so much with the Note 9 and have lots of things running at the same time, so it’s really important to not just have more battery but the whole battery consumption managed as well.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Camera

The camera on the Note 9 is pretty similar to the Note 8 from last year, as it is dual aperture lenses on the back, both at 12-megapixels. However, it has had a smart upgrade.

New features include a flaw detection feature, so if an image is slightly blurry or the camera lens is smudged, the phone will tell you to take another picture.  

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Dex

If you’ve never used Samsung Dex before, this is where you can turn your smartphone into a desktop computer.

Before you were only able to do this in a specific Dex docking station, however, Samsung has removed this so you can turn the Note 9 into a desktop experience with only an HDMI adapter. 

It’s a really cool feature. You can connect the device to a screen and then use the phone screen as a trackpad. Essentially, you could ditch your laptop and just carry the Note 9 around with you. And, with a 512GB storage option, the smartphone probably has more storage than your laptop does. 

“That’s what we’re starting to see at the top end of the market,” said Beaumont. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Fortnite 

In big gaming news, the Note 9 is launching exclusively with Fortnite Battle Royale installed. This is a big deal because Android gamers have been waiting for their own mobile version of Fortnite since March, and it’s a major coup for Samsung to be the first to offer the game.

Given the infinity display on the Note 9, it offers a decent gaming experience so you can experience Fortnite in all its glory. 

If you have an older Samsung device, like the S9, S8, Note 8 or S7, you too download Fortnite from today. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Health 

Samsung has gone all out on its Health app for the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. It’s working with London-based health tech start-up, Babylon, to offer its 24-hour GP at Hand service.

If you’re worried about a headache or any other health concerns, simply open up the Health app and get chatting to the experts, powered by Babylon. 

Other features include tracking your activities, food and drink intake including how much water you’ve had to drink that day, and a way to measure your stress by checking your heartrate. 

The app includes workout auto-detection so if you start running and forget to programme your phone to track the run, the Samsung Health app automatically detects this for you and starts tracking. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: S-Pen

Finally, the S-Pen. This is one of the key features of the Note Series and it has undergone a serious upgrade for the Note 9. 

The S-Pen has had a clicker facility for a while, but thanks to its new Bluetooth Low Energy support, you can use the S-Pen as a way to take images or video, or click on to the next slide in a Powerpoint presentation. 

If you choose the Ocean Blue version, it comes with a sleek yellow S-Pen, whilst the S-Pen for the Lavender Purple and Midnight Black devices perfectly match the phone’s colour.

How much will the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 cost?

With all these new features, the Note 9 doesn’t come cheap.

The 128GB variant will retail at £899, whilst the 512GB device will cost £1,099. If you add an SD card to the device, you can boost its storage up to 1TB. 

Yet Samsung is certain people will fork out for the higher-end phone because they want premium features and importantly, a big memory. “Because you can do so much with the Note, when we looked into consumer research, [we found] consumers didn’t want to be deleting things and hitting that memory cap,” said Beaumont. 

“The cool thing is you can take the phone up to 1TB. It’s a huge memory,” she added. 

When is the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 available?

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is available to pre-order now from Samsung.com. 

The device will be available to buy in two weeks, on August 24.