For some folks, last year’s Note is a much better buy.
The Galaxy Note 10 has just been unveiled as the latest addition to the Note family. It has astonishingly slim bezels, a small hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera, three rear cameras, an in-screen fingerprint sensor, and Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 processor.
There’s a lot to like about the Note 10, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a perfect phone.
In fact, if you have an older phone and have been waiting for the Note 10 to upgrade, you might want to consider getting last year’s Note 9 instead. Here are a few reasons why.
Get this instead
Galaxy Note 9
$700 at Amazon
Save money and get more features with last year’s Note.
The Galaxy Note 10 is new and flashy, but in some aspects, it’s a worse phone compared to the Note 9. Not only is the Note 9 more affordable, it also comes with essential features not found on the Note 10 — such as a 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable storage.
It has a headphone jack
There are a lot of things that help Samsung’s Note phones stand out from everything else out there, and especially over the last few years, one of those things has been the 3.5mm headphone jack. This year, however, Samsung’s gotten rid of the legacy port with the Note 10.
This has proven to be a highly controversial decision, and rightfully so. Note phones are often seen as devices for power users, and if you ask any power user, they’ll probably say that a headphone jack is a necessary feature.
Thankfully, the Note 9 retains the 3.5mm jack, and it works just as you’d expect — plug your wired headphones in, pick whatever you want to listen to, and that’s all there is to it.
Expandable storage is included by default
While the Galaxy Note 10 technically still has expandable storage, that’s only true for the more expensive Galaxy Note 10+. If you buy the base Note 10, there’s no way to insert a microSD card. For power users and/or people that like to store a lot of local files on their phone, that’s a huge bummer.
Once again, the Note 9 comes to the rescue.
The Galaxy Note 9 is available with internal storage options of 128GB and 512GB. If that’s not enough space, you can quickly expand it up to 2TB. That’s a feature that’s included by default on all variants and SKUs of the Note 9.
The display is sharper
With the Note 10+ being Samsung’s true Note flagship for 2019, that’s resulted in the regular Note 10 getting some less than favorable disadvantages. In addition to the missing headphone jack and microSD card slot, the Galaxy Note 10 ships with a display resolution of just Full HD+. And yes, it still costs $950.
Specifically, the Note 10’s 6.3-inch display has a resolution of 2280 x 1080. On the other hand, the Note 9’s 6.4-inch screen is 2960 x 1440.
This means that everything from pictures, video, and text will be clearer on last year’s Note 9 compared to the just-released Note 10. If you ask me, this is the most annoying of all the Note 10’s quirks.
There’s a larger battery
So, the Note 10 doesn’t have a headphone jack, can’t have its storage expanded, and has a lower-resolution display. Things can’t get any worse, right?
Guess again.
Where the Galaxy Note 9 has a 4,000 mAh battery, the Note 10’s battery is just 3,500 mAh.
While the Note 10 does have some battery-sipping advantages with its more power-efficient processor and lower-res display, you can set the Note 9’s resolution to Full HD or standard HD if you want to really maximize its longevity.
Add that together with the extra 500 mAh compared to the Note 10, and it’s bound to have the better endurance of the two phones.
You won’t pay as much for it
Last but certainly not least, there’s the matter of price.
The Galaxy Note 10 has a starting price of $950, and if you upgrade to the Note 10+, you’ll be spending a minimum of $1100.
The Note 9 had a starting price of $1000 when it first launched, but that was a year ago. Since then, we’ve seen the phone sell for considerably less.
Prices for the Note 9 can fluctuate a lot depending on when you’re buying and where you’re buying from, so we recommend keeping a regular eye on the Amazon listing to make sure you’re getting the best deal. We recently saw the Note 9 sell for as little as $650 during Amazon Prime Day, putting it at a full $350 less than the starting price of the Note 10.
Get this instead
Galaxy Note 9
$700 at Amazon
Save money and get more features with last year’s Note.
The Galaxy Note 10 is new and flashy, but in some aspects, it’s a worse phone compared to the Note 9. Not only is the Note 9 more affordable, it also comes with essential features not found on the Note 10 — such as a 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable storage.