Galaxy Note 9 vs Galaxy Note 8: Is it worth upgrading?

Last night, Samsung amazed everyone at the Galaxy Unpacked event in New York by unveiling the Note 9 — their most advanced smartphone presently on sale. While the phone retains the Note lineup’s characteristic traits, it gains the new S Pen fortified with Bluetooth Low Energy and a massive 4000mAh battery. It also gains up to 512GB of onboard storage, which paired along with 512GB of expandable storage, can let you store up to 1TB of data on the go.

While the new Note 9 is certainly an attractive package, last year’s Galaxy Note 8 is still an impressive flagship-grade smartphone. It may not have the Bluetooth-enabled S Pen and the battery may be smaller, but it’s still a very capable phone. It looks pretty much the same and holds most of the Note lineup’s characteristic traits. So what separates the Note 9 from the Note 8? We find out.

                Galaxy Note 9                                       Galaxy Note 8:

    

Dimensions:

161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm, 201g                                 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.6mm, 195g

S Pen weight: 3.1g                                                S Pen weight: 2.8g

Display:

6.4-inch Super AMOLED                                       6.3-inch Super AMOLED

Quad HD+, 521ppi                                                Quad HD+, 516ppi

Camera

12MP (F1.5 / F2.4) + 12MP (F2.4)                       12MP (F1.7) + 12MP (F2.4)

8MP front                                                              8MP front

Processor:

64-bit 10nm processor                                          64-bit 10nm processor

Exynos 9810 octa-core                                         Exynos 8895 octa-core

Memory:

6/8GB LPDDR4 RAM                                            6GB LPDDR4 RAM

Storage: 128/512GB                                             Storage: 64/128/256GB

MicroSD: up to 512GB                                          MicroSD: up to 256GB

OS:

Android 8.1                                                           Android 7.1 (now on 8.1 Oreo)

Battery:

4000mAh                                                              3300mAh                                   

Authentication:

Intelligent Scan, Iris, Fingerprint                          Iris, Fingerprint

So, what do you think? Is the Note 9 a substantial upgrade over the Note 8?

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.