Samsung Galaxy Note 9

[pacmacman]

Also nothing like DeX in the horizon for the Xs. Some app-specific scenarios aside, the Note 9 is a more capable productivity device by quite a margin now.

Funny you bring this up. Apple has created such a mess for themselves with iPads v PC’s. They’re positioning the iPad as a legit laptop replacement, okay fine. So how about doing a dex support type thing for iOS? Nope. Can’t. Why? Cause you’re supposed to use OS X for any desktop work! But but...I thought the iPad was a replacement for that???

They’re a trillion dollar company but their marketing and product strategy is just bizzare to me at this point.
[doublepost=1536840804][/doublepost]

The Note plays to its strengths & the Max plays to its.

They may not be equal in terms of the type of strengths, but for those who they appeal to, the beefed up specs will be enough.

I also stated a couple of areas where the Note 9 may have an edge, so there's no need to get all defensive. I'm not here to hurt your feelings...

I agree with you, actually. It’s not correct to insist the iPhone isn’t a productivity device at this point. Tens of thousands (millions?) of professionals in all walks use iPhones for work.

However I also don’t think the Note 9 is a good comp, but that’s because I think the Note series is a breed unto itself in the smartphone industry. Always has been.

 

[Cryates]

The Note plays to its strengths & the Max plays to its.

They may not be equal in terms of the type of strengths, but for those who they appeal to, the beefed up specs will be enough.

I also stated a couple of areas where the Note 9 may have an edge, so there's no need to get all defensive. I'm not here to hurt your feelings...

Sorry, didn't mean to get defensive. It's early and I didn't sleep good.

It's pretty clear the Note and the Max are geared towards two different user groups, and at a functional level, the Max simply does not compete with the Note. I'm sure it will sell well, but folks really need to think about the law of diminishing returns. The Max is the definition of it in every way.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The Note plays to its strengths & the Max plays to its.

They may not be equal in terms of the type of strengths, but for those who they appeal to, the beefed up specs will be enough.

I also stated a couple of areas where the Note 9 may have an edge, so there's no need to get all defensive. I'm not here to hurt your feelings...

I’m an iPhone user. You can’t hurt my feelings about the note 9
[doublepost=1536841089][/doublepost]

Funny you bring this up. Apple has created such a mess for themselves with iPads v PC’s. They’re positioning the iPad as a legit laptop replacement, okay fine. So how about doing a dex support type thing for iOS? Nope. Can’t. Why? Cause you’re supposed to use OS X for any desktop work! But but...I thought the iPad was a replacement for that???

They’re a trillion dollar company but their marketing and product strategy is just bizzare to me at this point.
[doublepost=1536840804][/doublepost]

I agree with you, actually. It’s not correct to insist the iPhone isn’t a productivity device at this point. Tens of thousands (millions?) of professionals in all walks use iPhones for work.

However I also don’t think the Note 9 is a good comp, but that’s because I think the Note series is a breed unto itself in the smartphone industry. Always has been.

Apple have a long history of canabilising themselves.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Also nothing like DeX in the horizon for the Xs.

While DeX is a cool feature it is not yet a benefit to many consumers. You can't popular desktop applications found on Mac or Windows, and some Android apps don't work optimally yet.

It's promosing though and I hope that DeX will run Chrome OS in the future.

 

[Roadstar]

While DeX is a cool feature it is not yet a benefit to many consumers. You can't popular desktop applications found on Mac or Windows, and some Android apps don't work optimally yet.

It's promosing though and I hope that DeX will run Chrome OS in the future.

Yep, DeX isn’t up to its full potential yet, but I’m hoping they’ll release the promised Linux on DeX soon.

 

[5105973]

Speaking of productivity. Apple didn't even announce pen support for the Xs!

I guess that will offer it on the iPhone 11 and thus give Xs Max owners a reason to dump $1400 worth of stainless steal for $800 on eBay.

You know it! That’s exactly what Apple will do.

I’m not going for the Max this time around. Oh, I’d like to, but it’s too expensive and lacking the camera upgrade that would make me want to shell out that kind of moolah this year. I’ll hold out for the triple lens beast if I’m going to spend that much money. Also it’s too big, given that I’m still using the very generous display of my S9+ and that’s not going anywhere, nor is my Product Red IPhone 8 Plus.

And I do think pencil support will come eventually. They’d do it to needle Samsung.

I’m looking at the XS and Xr. Going XS means I don’t have to spend for cases and display protectors. Already had them for the X I sent back. But Xr may be a choice I make if Apple hasn’t done anything about the pwm flicker that was giving nearly half of surveyed MR forum members eye strain and headaches on the OLED. Sadly I was one of them getting the eye strain. I’m still planning to do all my ebook reading on my red iPhone 8 Plus.

Now I just need to figure out how to optimize my choices to make the most of running an Android and iOS team combo. I have to watch my iPhone spending if I still am going to try to pick up a Note when I get more affordable pricing opportunities. I’m not the productivity wiz and power user this phone is really meant for, but I do want the S Pen and did make use of it when I had the Note 7.

It’s a trip reading through the forums and seeing how furious and indignant everyone is. And here I am happy as can be, overwhelmed by finally getting almost everything I could want from iPhones and Samsung. It’s just affording it all that I need to figure out.

Anyway I think Apple did a nice job with their offerings this year. And so did Samsung. Google...I’ll keep an open mind.

Oh and my husband loves his Huawei P20 Pro. I’m not sure he’s going back to IPhone. He doesn’t want to give his P20 up. He still has the Note 9 preorder coming in. I think he can afford to have all these flagships, thanks to trade in discounts. He had ordered the P20 using accumulated credit card points so it didn’t cost him much.

I wish I could get a chance to see what he sees in it but I can’t pry that phone out of his hands for very long. It’s quite the surprise hit of the house.

 

[tonybarnaby]

Note 9 will probably stay close to msrp until Black Friday id assume.

 

[pacmacman]

Note 9 will probably stay close to msrp until Black Friday id assume.

Actually, if you go to bestbuy.com in the States, you can get either varient for $200 off if you choose to activate it the day you purchase.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I’ll hold out for the triple lens beast if I’m going to spend that much money.

Triple lenses on Samsungs and iPhones are inevitable.

Seeing is believing and camera upgrade is the most powerful lever for triggering phone upgrades. Screens can't get much better than they are now and under bonnet changes have little affect on usage of non-graphic apps.

I’m not the productivity wiz and power user this phone is really meant for, but I do want the S Pen and did make use of it when I had the Note 7.

Good that you are a pen user. My favourite attribute of the Note 9 is the glorious notch free OLED. Any video or content thrown at it looks amazing.

 

[tonybarnaby]

Actually, if you go to bestbuy.com in the States, you can get either varient for $200 off if you choose to activate it the day you purchase.

I don’t think that applies for T-Mobile. Regardless, $200 off isn’t a good enough deal. I could have tracked down an s7 and traded that in for $500 off. I wish I had, but that ship has sailed.

Op6t
V40
Note 9
Pixel 3xl

One of these will be my next Android.

 

[BigSky20]

For the corporate user, I think Note 9 is making a huge mistake by not bringing a color neutral phone such as the midnight black to the US. I have been an iPhone user since the first iPhone and I would be tempted to try a Note 9 this year, but I cannot imagine being in a board meeting and pull out my bright yellow or purple s-pen.

 

[pacmacman]

I don’t think that applies for T-Mobile. Regardless, $200 off isn’t a good enough deal. I could have tracked down an s7 and traded that in for $500 off. I wish I had, but that ship has sailed.

Op6t
V40
Note 9
Pixel 3xl

One of these will be my next Android.

Okay...but this deal allows for $200 off without doing anything but purchasing the phone.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Note 9 will probably stay close to msrp until Black Friday id assume.

There'll be huge discounts in the coming months. Samsung need to maximise sales before the end of the year. Come December, whoever hasn't bought one will be holding off for the Galaxy 10.

 

[Fernandez21]

You know it! That’s exactly what Apple will do.

I’m not going for the Max this time around. Oh, I’d like to, but it’s too expensive and lacking the camera upgrade that would make me want to shell out that kind of moolah this year. I’ll hold out for the triple lens beast if I’m going to spend that much money. Also it’s too big, given that I’m still using the very generous display of my S9+ and that’s not going anywhere, nor is my Product Red IPhone 8 Plus.

And I do think pencil support will come eventually. They’d do it to needle Samsung.

I’m looking at the XS and Xr. Going XS means I don’t have to spend for cases and display protectors. Already had them for the X I sent back. But Xr may be a choice I make if Apple hasn’t done anything about the pwm flicker that was giving nearly half of surveyed MR forum members eye strain and headaches on the OLED. Sadly I was one of them getting the eye strain. I’m still planning to do all my ebook reading on my red iPhone 8 Plus.

Now I just need to figure out how to optimize my choices to make the most of running an Android and iOS team combo. I have to watch my iPhone spending if I still am going to try to pick up a Note when I get more affordable pricing opportunities. I’m not the productivity wiz and power user this phone is really meant for, but I do want the S Pen and did make use of it when I had the Note 7.

It’s a trip reading through the forums and seeing how furious and indignant everyone is. And here I am happy as can be, overwhelmed by finally getting almost everything I could want from iPhones and Samsung. It’s just affording it all that I need to figure out.

Anyway I think Apple did a nice job with their offerings this year. And so did Samsung. Google...I’ll keep an open mind.

Oh and my husband loves his Huawei P20 Pro. I’m not sure he’s going back to IPhone. He doesn’t want to give his P20 up. He still has the Note 9 preorder coming in. I think he can afford to have all these flagships, thanks to trade in discounts. He had ordered the P20 using accumulated credit card points so it didn’t cost him much.

I wish I could get a chance to see what he sees in it but I can’t pry that phone out of his hands for very long. It’s quite the surprise hit of the house.

The iPhone XR uses LCD, not amoled, so it should work just as well as your 8 Plus for reading.

It sounds like you should probably get a Product red iphone Xr and Note 9 when a good deal pops up.

I'm still trying to decide between XS and XS Max.

 

[Fernandez21]

For the corporate user, I think Note 9 is making a huge mistake by not bringing a color neutral phone such as the midnight black to the US. I have been an iPhone user since the first iPhone and I would be tempted to try a Note 9 this year, but I cannot imagine being in a board meeting and pull out my bright yellow or purple s-pen.

If you really like the features of the Note but not the color, you could get a black spen separately to use with the Note. I think they cost around $30. And the blue is actually pretty dark, it's not the bright shimmery blue they've used before, it's like a dark navy blue.

 

[5105973]

If I get an XR I think I’ll go with yellow or blue. I have Apple Care Plus on my Product Red 8 Plus. It’s got a lot of life in it yet and won’t be traded away. The silver one will because it’s going to be out of warranty in spring. But the red one is staying with me. I would possibly trade it in if we were to leave AT&T for Verizon but that’s about the only reason I would. So anyway, I’ll be going with a color I don’t currently have. Right now I have purple, silver, and red.

I still will probably go with XS because I use zoom all the time and I have almost $200 worth of cases I can use for it. Be a shame for them to go to waste. They just sat in a drawer after I sent my X back.

I don’t know what’s going on, but our AT&T signal has dropped down to two bars at my house. Sometimes it’s as low as one. Currently I have 3 but had 2 a minute ago. It’s not doing my battery life any favors.

My husband is also about to go to war on AT&T for messing up our billing dating back to the Note 7 fiasco. It’s a long story what they did to us. I won’t go into all the details here. It’s not so much that they made a mistake, but their so-called customer service got actually abusive with us once we called the mistake to their attention. This is not the first time. Rudeness is one thing. Outright abusive treatment and deranged behavior by their employees is a different matter entirely.

Neither my husband or nor I get rude in our dealings with businesses. You’ve seen me here, maintaining my manners pretty well even in differences of opinion in discussion. Heck, I had myself suspended when I was all emotional about taking care of four sick elders at the same time on top of dealing with teenagers. I didn’t want to risk coming here when I wasn’t at my best. We aren’t that kind of people that deal crap to other people. So we don’t stand for taking any crap, either.

When he does make the time to deal with them, if it gets as bad is it could possibly get, we may nuke our accounts and that would render our existing AT&T specific phones somewhat useless. Not so much if we go to T-Mobile. But more likely we would go to Verizon and they can’t take our AT&T phones. This was one additional factor in my canceling my Note 9 preorder. It was an AT&T version. It is a shame that when it comes to Android phones, if you want the full array of features like WiFi calling and visual voicemail you need to get the carrier version.

I’m very excited about the e-sim in the newer iPhones.

Edit...on second thought maybe e-sim is a trap: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/xs-and-xs-max-sim-free-at-launch.2136606/page-2#post-26444010

 

[ramram55]

Imagine what the Max will cost if they add Pencil support.

They either want to hold off pencil support till next 2 years or have not the tech there. The keynote speaker will also say 'this is the best iphone ever made', liken to Soviet leadership always say 'next year harvest will be better'.

 

[Cryates]

Apple Pencil on the iPhone doesn't seem feasible unless it's smaller one, and the ghost of Steve Jobs will haunt Tim Cook forver if that happens. "YUCK!"

 

[mi7chy]

Apple seems to have hit back nicely in response to the Note 9. That Xs Max is a monster.

A bigger iPod with calling capability is not really a response. The thing with iPhone is while the hardware is improving but it's still held back by the shackles of iOS.

 

[Michael Goff]

I have the phone, can't tell you if I like it or not because Sprint has decided that it needs to take 2-3 working days to send a new SIM and it's basically the weekend.

 

[BigSky20]

If you really like the features of the Note but not the color, you could get a black spen separately to use with the Note. I think they cost around $30. And the blue is actually pretty dark, it's not the bright shimmery blue they've used before, it's like a dark navy blue.

I actually dig the blue color, I just don't like the bright yellow pen.

 

[Fernandez21]

I actually dig the blue color, I just don't like the bright yellow pen.

If that's the only thing holding you back:
Samsung Galaxy Note9 Original Replacement S Pen EJ-PN960BBKGKR Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GKQXYW3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9wSMBbRJ2VZPS

 

[BigSky20]

If that's the only thing holding you back:
Samsung Galaxy Note9 Original Replacement S Pen EJ-PN960BBKGKR Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GKQXYW3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9wSMBbRJ2VZPS

Getting closer. Now I need a Verizon 512 GB to be in stock! I thought about unlocked, but then no visual voicemail.

 

[Fernandez21]

Getting closer. Now I need a Verizon 512 GB to be in stock! I thought about unlocked, but then no visual voicemail.

Ha, I think I'm giving up on my 512gb preorder, haven't heard anything from best buy in a couple of weeks now.

 

[nviz22]

It's pretty interesting how Apple now has a phablet sized device at $750, or a tad bit cheaper than the Note 9. If the Average Jane/Joe can get passed the screen resolution and type differences, then that could mean Samsung might have to be more aggressive with the S9+ pricing to undercut the iPhone XR.

Though, the corner cutting is laughable at times because some Android OEMs don't need to corner cut as much. Head phone jacks, OLED screens, FP sensors, fast charging out of the box isn't just priced for the flagship $800-$1000 devices.