Samsung launches the Galaxy Note9 with 6.4-inch screen

[Moonister]

When I say there hasn't been much innovation in the last 5-10yrs, this is how I see it:

Camera
The last proper innovation in mobile phone photography was Nokia Pureview 808. I still take it with me (alongside S7) because it takes amazing photos in many situations that still look good on 50 inch screen. All these flagship cameras look good on 6 inch screen but look rubbish when you put them on 30+ inch one. The quality hasn't changed much since LG G2 5 yrs ago

Battery life
Has been stagnant or even deteriorating. My S7 gets 3.5h sot on custom rom dark theme and what nots. A joke.

OS
Android came a long way from 10yrs ago but stopped really delivering any improvements for the consumer ~5yrs ago. It seems like all they do is change icons shape each time...I'm sure they do stuff we don't know about (like algorithms that record our usage/data) but I prefer to see user friendly changes that make difference for me not the corporation

Screen
Quality improved a bit but nothing special

Sound
Quality pretty much the same

Xfactor
something innovative like various gestures and actions you can assign. Not much to be honest. The biggest one I can think of is waterproofing. More usefull than I thought (in a peace of mind kind of way). There has been so many gimmicks...Silicon Valley corporate hippies trying to convince us that they found a solution to a problem....a problem we never had and a solution we naver asked for. Still waiting for a shatterproof screen not guerilla glass b'llocks branding

Other
There's been a bunch of step backs. like getting rid of 3.5mm port, notch, curved screen, obsession with trimming bezels etc.

also, I miss blackberry ;-)

[Lord Midas]

If it's like the Note 1 or Note 4 I used to own then all this shiny tech will be for nought. Give it 6 months and it'll start grinding its wheels and become a frustration to use.

After going to Google Pixel XL I've never looked back. It's as fast and slick as the day I got it a year and a half ago.

[big_hairy_rob]

Samsung saves costs by producing and licencing own tech. Phones increase in price to ludicrous levels...

Sorry, but this much on a phone is just stupid. But hey, if you can afford to throw £999+ away every 2/3 years (excluding extras) then I just cannot relate to you.

[philehidiot]

When I was looking for a new phone a while back the S8 was just out (a few months). I did a load of maths on various options and rang up Vodafone armed with all the various deals that were around and I basically said I was more than happy to get an S7 outright and buy a cheaper SIM only deal. I listed to them the various contract options available blah blah blah and the end result was they simply applied the maximum discount they could to retain me without going any further. I ended up getting an S8 for effectively under £500 (about £480ish) when it was a newly released flagship.

I'm no negotiator, I simply went in knowing I could walk, I didn't want the top of the range phone and nor did I need it and I had researched the market. Given this phone was nearly £700 at that point, it really shows the margin they are making that they could offer that S8 cheaper than the S7 at that point.

There was also a little issue with Carphone Warehouse which means I'll never use them again but that's another story for another day. Suffice to say their sales technique... needs work.

[DaMoot]

Entry price of $1000 (that will be £1000 then...).... I'm sorry but who in their right minds thinks that sort of price is 'acceptable' for a mobile phone.

I don't care how much stuff they shove into it, there's no way on this planet I would pay more than I would for a mid/high laptop etc, for around £1000 I can get a i5 8GB surface pro etc which would be a hell of a lot more productive.

"Mobile phones" haven't been mobile phones for a very long time. They are a computer in your pocket. Samsung is arguably the best mobile _device_ maker currently. At this point I really refuse to call them 'phones' because they are so much more now.

You say you'd pay a grand for an i5 w/8g and get more done, but I argue you can get exactly the same amount done by doing nothing more than docking the device. When you're done, you put it in your pocket and continue about your day. Can't do that with your surface pro!

[peterb]

"Mobile phones" haven't been mobile phones for a very long time. They are a computer in your pocket. Samsung is arguably the best mobile _device_ maker currently. At this point I really refuse to call them 'phones' because they are so much more now.

You say you'd pay a grand for an i5 w/8g and get more done, but I argue you can get exactly the same amount done by doing nothing more than docking the device. When you're done, you put it in your pocket and continue about your day. Can't do that with your surface pro!

I'd argue that - at the end of the day, its just another Android device - there are lots of Android devices that will do what the Samsung device does. That doesn't make it a 'bad' device - far from it - but to say it is the best is very open ended. Best value for money - probably not. Better than any other at sending e mail, browsing the web, interacting with social media? Id suggest no better or worse than any other Android device. So to call it 'the best' is certainly a point for debate!

[Muaadib]

I tried to like these "big" phones but for the life of me i just can't. Are all flagships now 6"+?

[philehidiot]

I tried to like these "big" phones but for the life of me i just can't. Are all flagships now 6"+?

Pretty much, although I've found the S8 more usable than most given the funky aspect ratio. S8+ was impossible to use. Swings and roundabouts really - better for some things, worse for others.