I think my Moto X4 is approaching its end of life. Laggy and shorter battery life. I don't really want to pay $1k for a phone but would like to buy something with a decent camera.
Is Samsung note 9 still worth to buy in 2020? Wonder if Samsung still support it? OS updates, etc. I saw some used ones for $400-$500. Thanks in advance.
Thanks, is the camera pretty decent. Saw a comparison with note 10 plus, except ultra wide lens they're pretty similar. Thanks
Wife has the Note10.. very little if any difference in the quality of photos
The Note 9 is still a good phone in 2020, but if they are used be aware that the battery etc would have degraded from use. Perhaps a decent mid ranger would be best for that budget?
Samsung have gotten better in updates for their phones but have still got a long way to go, however, with Samsung you'd usually see at least 2 years of support, after 2-3 years they generally have only security updates when necessary. Nothing beats software support from Apple though in comparison
True, that s why i was asking if it's still supported since it is 2 years old. For $500 i don't mind trying exynos phone :p. Yea, need to see how used for battery life sake :)
Samsung have been getting a hella lot of $hit for their inferior Exynos chips VS the Snapdragon versions (in the USA) etc… and rightfully so, they charge a premium for it here in Oz, parts of Asia and Europe but give us the inferior version. Even so I myself use a Samsung device.
Check out some discussions of mobiles here:
Mid range phones $300-500
High range phones $500-800
I think from 10 onwards, they are promising "3 generations of updates".
Using the example from the place I am quoting this,
"Galaxy S20, announced in February 2020 with Android 10, will get support for three OS upgrades starting with Android 11. This means that the Galaxy S20 will get updated to Android 13."
For other devices "Samsung is “committed to providing the latest Android OS upgrades until the hardware specifications allow to provide the optimized mobile experience for our users"
https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-devices-3-gene…
Even with what they are promising, I have a suspicion that we will be getting the OS update very late compared to Korea (which always happens). Anyways, good that they will try to do something about their software updates (and I hope to God they don't stop the update like they did with Lollipop where RAM leaks left right and centre and they just stopped it there).
After a camera replacement on my note 9 (would shake randomly on a zoom) its been perfectly fine.
Still a good phone in 2020 for sure!!
Depends on how much you pay for it. I would not pay more than $500.
I bought one a few months ago second hand and the battery just died. replaced it and it is going well again. (however I had the drama of a bad batch of batteries)
Short answer:
Yes. It's a good phone, and worth buying. But it isn't perfect, there are caveats. And there are strong mid-range competitors, if not, other flagships worth considering.
Long answer:
It depends on the price, and your requirements.
If you need an S-Pen/Stylus and a 3.5mm Headphone Jack… well, the Samsung Note 9 is the only option out there. The Jack… yeah the Note10 killed it, Note20 killed it, S20 killed it, and going forward the S30/Note30 are likely to keep it dead. There are some LG phones (and some Lenovo-Motorola too) that do support stylus as a bonus feature, but needs to be bought separately and they have No Silo, so you need to keep it separately in your pocket and the Pen Software isn't as polished.
I should mention the Note9 (a few updates prior) did have the proper DeX Functionality. They've later bastardised this major feature. And some users have been complaining about performance and battery life on the newer updates too. Shame. Samsung has given up on the Note9 and earlier, software-wise. You'll get some updates, but its all half-hearted. Whereas they've doubled-down on the S10/S20/S30 going forwards to provide 3-year support support. But it's still not good. Depending on where you buy your device, you may not get updates pushed for some time. Sometimes the Optus variants are left stranded, other times the Aussie versions are fine but the Grey Market version is left stranded. It sucks. There's no way to know which variant to get.
Now you might be tempted to ask what about Custom Roms? Well, have a look first. Frankly, I'm not too happy on the state for Samsung devices. Knox and locked bootloaders continues to be a problem. And the ones that are lucky, often have less stable drivers, and are on the notably inferior Exynos Processor and Isocell Cameras.
Thanks for your feedback, what's dex function anyway? I narrow down my choice to note range for the s pen /)
Here's like the first video I found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpa6fgBghU
…but I recommend you to search on YouTube for other/better videos on the matter. Like from other youtubers like Linus Tech Tips, Gary Explains, XDA, ETA Prime, etc etc.
What DeX is for: Transforming your phone into a PC.
How?
Have your phone connected to a (Monitor, TV, Projector) screen. But it doesn't just mirror your phone's screen, and blow the image larger. It allows you to use the phone as a computer. Things are re-sized more properly, and Apps now do multi-tasking. The Apps float in separate Windows, and they can be resized. The Apps themselves will also change from "mobile version" to their "tablet/pc version" when available. So overall, this would transform your phone into a lite-notebook like the Chromebooks.
You can use just one cable, and the screen of your choice. Or if you're serious, combine it with a wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, and maybe a USB Hub. And then, there are mobile screens too so the monitor itself isn't connected to the wall/power but has a battery. So you can basically have an empty shell of a laptop, with your phone being the brains. Impressive stuff.
On top of all this, you had LoD "Linux on DeX" which allowed you to install/use a full distro like Ubuntu with this feature. If you don't know what that means, it means you're device isn't just some "lite-notebook" anymore, it's now a "full-fledged laptop". Kind of like going from a $500 Chromebook to a $1,000 Windows Laptop, if that analogy makes any sense.
Daymmm
.. That's a real nifty feature… Why did they bastardize it is beyond me :(
Linus @ Linus Tech Tips still rocks Note 9 as do I.
And I prefer to have a hole for headphone jack instead of having a hole for a selfie camera.
Thanks guys, I'm leaning towards either note 9 or note 10 lite for similar price. Headphone jack vs ultra wide lens. Some ppl may think lens definitely an upgrade but i use the headphone jack all the time. :)
… or the LG v30, which can be great value even in 2020 for top audio/headphone output, and good cameras using gcam apps. But the s-pen on top of that makes the note9 special, although photos and sound-wise are about the same as v30
Having used both the note 9 (daily driver) and the v30 (a perfectly good phone), if roughly the same price I'd go the note 9 any day.
yes, agreed … now to see if it's possible to get a note9 at a decent price, as i'd like to keep my v30 as a full-time audio & streaming device ;)
According to this piece, it is likely that they’ll drop software support soon.
https://www.engadget.com/samsung-galaxy-note-20-android-upda…
I've still got a Note9. Still a beast. Still gets updates. Only thing that I've had to replace is the stylus because the spring mech in the top stopped working. No complaints here