Hi All,
I've just become a very happy owner of a Note 9 8GB 512gb, picked up a really good deal on eBay on a new imported headset dual SIM, in the end cost £729 as eBay are also running a 10% discount on tech until the 24th. Took one day for delivery and no different to buying it in the UK shops, setup was identical and in ENglish with UK power supply.
Must say I'm blown away with how good it is, I owned the original Note. Since then I went off Samsung years back and have always owned Pixels and managed to convince myself there is nothing better for the Android experience.
Had my Pixel 2XL and then swapped to a Pixel 3XL, apart from the camera and software updates the 3XL hardware isn't great. I had a lot of lag (Google Pay, opening camera, app shutting etc) and and very distorted speakers.
Tried the Mate 20 Pro which was hands down better then the Pixel apart from the camera which was questionable and their fingerprint sensor which is naff, performance and battery were amazing in comparison. I hid EMUI with Action Launcher so it wasn't an issue.
I was waiting for the S10 Plus and started reading reviews of the Note 9. Saw the deals available on eBay and took the plunge, arrived this morning and set it up and I'm amazed how great it is.
Screen is a lot brighter then the Pixel and there is no horrid notch, performance is really really good along and loving the s-Pen.
Also been playing with the camera, the Pixel is better but not by much, with the Mate 20 Pro I would get blurred and really muted colours often. So far with the Note 9 camera I'm happy, also 40K 60fps on video is a great feature.
Size wise it's almost the same dimensions as my 3XL, slightly taller and that's it.
You also can't beat a good old fashioned finger print sensor, it will be good to see how good the new ultrasonic ones are on the S10 as the optical ones on the Mate 20 Pro are very unreliable making me wonder what the point was for changing.
Speakers blow away the Mate 20 Pro USB port one and the Pixel 3XL which get bad distortion and is also poor used hands free through the speaker.
Only annoying thing as everywhere has mentioned has been the Bixby button, I have read that on the S10 they allow you to program to anything, hopefully this will filter down as it's software only.
I think I have got lucky with the release of Pie on the Note 9, I use Action Launcher on top but the general Samsung build of Pie has some great features not on the base version by Google. Only things I'm missing is the scheduled night mode, grey scale and do not disturb.
In conclusion, I think even after a days use this is the most well rounded phone I have ever owned.
I've just become a very happy owner of a Note 9 8GB 512gb, picked up a really good deal on eBay on a new imported headset dual SIM, in the end cost £729 as eBay are also running a 10% discount on tech until the 24th. Took one day for delivery and no different to buying it in the UK shops, setup was identical and in ENglish with UK power supply.
Must say I'm blown away with how good it is, I owned the original Note. Since then I went off Samsung years back and have always owned Pixels and managed to convince myself there is nothing better for the Android experience.
Had my Pixel 2XL and then swapped to a Pixel 3XL, apart from the camera and software updates the 3XL hardware isn't great. I had a lot of lag (Google Pay, opening camera, app shutting etc) and and very distorted speakers.
Tried the Mate 20 Pro which was hands down better then the Pixel apart from the camera which was questionable and their fingerprint sensor which is naff, performance and battery were amazing in comparison. I hid EMUI with Action Launcher so it wasn't an issue.
I was waiting for the S10 Plus and started reading reviews of the Note 9. Saw the deals available on eBay and took the plunge, arrived this morning and set it up and I'm amazed how great it is.
Screen is a lot brighter then the Pixel and there is no horrid notch, performance is really really good along and loving the s-Pen.
Also been playing with the camera, the Pixel is better but not by much, with the Mate 20 Pro I would get blurred and really muted colours often. So far with the Note 9 camera I'm happy, also 40K 60fps on video is a great feature.
Size wise it's almost the same dimensions as my 3XL, slightly taller and that's it.
You also can't beat a good old fashioned finger print sensor, it will be good to see how good the new ultrasonic ones are on the S10 as the optical ones on the Mate 20 Pro are very unreliable making me wonder what the point was for changing.
Speakers blow away the Mate 20 Pro USB port one and the Pixel 3XL which get bad distortion and is also poor used hands free through the speaker.
Only annoying thing as everywhere has mentioned has been the Bixby button, I have read that on the S10 they allow you to program to anything, hopefully this will filter down as it's software only.
I think I have got lucky with the release of Pie on the Note 9, I use Action Launcher on top but the general Samsung build of Pie has some great features not on the base version by Google. Only things I'm missing is the scheduled night mode, grey scale and do not disturb.
In conclusion, I think even after a days use this is the most well rounded phone I have ever owned.
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