December 21, 2018
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! Been a long time since using a Note. It was a Note2 with Cyanogenmod that was my main phone for a LONG time, with the looks people gave a huge phone obvious. If I'd not dropped it when fumbling for car keys, I might still be using it today. A few other phones (lots of Motos) went by, but none /really/ hit all the points I prefer for a phone.Amoled screensdcardWhen the S9 was released, and TMo was doing a 'buy one, get one free', I /almost/ jumped. Glad I waited. The Note9 was announced, but the price was still "you've gotta be joking". But Tmo offering a trade in, and an Verison S7 I'd got cheap to do some dev work on sat on my desk, halved the price and I thought "back to the Note we go". First impressions were "this is a thing of beauty, please don't drop it, please don't drop it". The case I've got is one of those wrap around leather things that you can put cards in too, protects the screen/should handle a bounce. Next main thing noticed was the battery life. This thing is simply scary after coming from a phone that was starting to struggle. The note9's left on my desk when I get home, used it for Google Maps traffic, sometimes forgetting to plug it in, next day/afternoon it's still 70%. That battery life is just simply monstrous. (and why I like Amoled screens with a Dark/Black theme). Speaking of themes, and no idea why Samsung doesn't make this more obvious, but the GoodLock app from the Samsung app store should be right up there, the way it lets you tweak everything is fantastic. That was the reason that I flashed Cyanogenmod in the first place on the Note2, to get rid of the horrible mess of Samsung's heavy Touchwiz stuff, to get it 'lighter'. I've really not felt the need to do this at all with this phone. They've got it better, the popup menu when you take the stylus out? /shrug. Doesn't intrude normally. And GoodLock lets me tweak all the other stuff I'd normally use Cyanogenmod+custom launcher to tweak. (though still using Novalauncher because I've got used to it on all the phones/tablets). The OS, that it's Oreo and not Pie? /shrug. It works and works well, for once, I don't feel the need to flash it (but being on Tmo, US version, I can't unlock the bootloader anyway which is a shame, maybe one day). With a bit of launcher tweaks, it's pretty much one handed use anyway, but the new Pie stuff being beta'd looks interesting. But not essential. Camera is decent. I don't really take many pics, but when I do, results seem ok. Low light is far better than any prior phones. Bixby annoyed me. Spent a buck to get some app that disabled it. Wish could get rid of it for good and use the button for something else perhaps. Dex. Ordered a 20 buck usb docking thing that has hdmi in as well as charging. It's amazing that it works, but not had need to use it for anything yet. If I'm away on holiday and still doing support, I think I'd prefer to take the cheapo laptop than rely on this. But can see it's the way of the future, good to know it's there just in case, but won't rely on it yet, and wish could remote in to it to get that screen instead of it only working on a plugged in hdmi device, would be useful for support/developing on. Speed.Nothing's slow, nothing. Everything, the camera, powering on and unlocking, UI stuff, games, Dex, browser, downloading and installing, I'm never noticing it slowing down for anything. With this much oomph, the processor, the memory, I'd be miffed if there was, but as is, it's just incredible (I did crank the rez down to extend battery, perhaps that helps, but with my eyes, I can't tell the difference between the lowest rez/highest rez, so I might as well get more battery life if I can't tell the difference).Downsides.I use Google Voice for my number, occasionally, and I don't know why, the Note9 doesn't ring, the other phones on my desk to. Not sure if that's a note9 thing, TMO wifi calling/something else. Doesn't happen all the time, but once a week is more than enough to be annoying. The stylus, though the remote button for pics is cool, seems far less durable than prior Note Stylusesesssi. I've not broken it, but I'm /very/ wary of sliding it out. Wifey got a note9 when her Pixel went kaput and seeing my phone. She loves the stylus, seems a lot smoother in her phone than mine. /shrug. It's also the monstrous battery life that she likes, the Pixel was