WEBVTT - Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Review

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<v Speaker 1>Samsung Galaxy Note nine review. It's a big, expensive phone,

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<v Speaker 1>but you get it all. What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Rich on Tech. The Samsung Galaxy Note nine

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<v Speaker 1>is in stores right now and it sells for one

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars. That gets you a six point four in screen,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the best I've ever seen on a phone,

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<v Speaker 1>plus one hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of storage, dual

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<v Speaker 1>cameras on the back, an s Penn Stylus with Bluetooth,

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<v Speaker 1>and one of the biggest, baddest batteries you can pack

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<v Speaker 1>into a phone that still feels pretty darn good in

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<v Speaker 1>your hand. How's that for an intro. Well, I've been

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<v Speaker 1>using this device for the past two weeks and I

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<v Speaker 1>can tell you it is one of my favorite phones ever.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a pleasure to use. It's fast, it has

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<v Speaker 1>every feature you can think of, a fun camera, the

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<v Speaker 1>stylus makes a great addition to Instagram Stories in general

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<v Speaker 1>navigation when you remember to use it. Plus, it's big,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's not on wield. And although I still prefer

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<v Speaker 1>the clean software and faster camera on the pixel, the

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<v Speaker 1>Note nine offers so many more features. Let's talk about

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<v Speaker 1>some of them for starters. The battery in this thing

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<v Speaker 1>is just a rock star. It's four thousand million hours,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a lot, about a third more than other

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<v Speaker 1>big smartphones, and the battery is going to be the

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<v Speaker 1>least of your concerns on this device. It charges super

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<v Speaker 1>fast with the cable or wirelessly, and if you drive

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<v Speaker 1>for a bit during the day and have it plugged

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<v Speaker 1>in your car, like I often do in Los Angeles, realistically,

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<v Speaker 1>battery life is not a concern at all. There are

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<v Speaker 1>even some nights I didn't even bother to plug it

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<v Speaker 1>in because it was still so full by the time

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<v Speaker 1>I went to bed. The storage is also great. It's

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and twenty eight gigabyte standard. You just won't

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<v Speaker 1>worry about anything taking tons of pictures, videos, downloading Spotify

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<v Speaker 1>music and Netflix shows and YouTube videos. I didn't even

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<v Speaker 1>consider how much storage everything was taking up because it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't matter. And if you get close to filling up

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<v Speaker 1>that one hundred and twenty eight gigs, you can just

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<v Speaker 1>add a memory card. Two hundred and fifty six gigs

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<v Speaker 1>on Amazon right now is just about eighty dollars, and

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<v Speaker 1>you can go all the way up to a five

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and twelve gigabyte memory car when that's available. Performance

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<v Speaker 1>on the Note nine has been great. Samsung software gets

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<v Speaker 1>a bad rap and there are little things I don't

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<v Speaker 1>like about it, like the way it handles notifications and

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<v Speaker 1>the always on screen, but I can live with that,

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<v Speaker 1>and for ninety nine percent of people, you're probably not

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<v Speaker 1>gonna care. The phone hasn't gotten hot even once, which

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<v Speaker 1>is a departure from other Samsung phones which have eate

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<v Speaker 1>it up in the past. Maybe it's because Samsung added

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of new liquid cooling inside, but I can't

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<v Speaker 1>be sure, but this thing stays pretty cool throughout the day.

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<v Speaker 1>The Spen with Bluetooth is really cool, but you have

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<v Speaker 1>to remember to use it otherwise it's useless, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>one of the big features of this device. You have

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<v Speaker 1>to remember to pull it out. When I did, it

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<v Speaker 1>would come in handy for various creative situations like Instagram

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<v Speaker 1>stories and writing on pictures. You'll figure out what you

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<v Speaker 1>need it for, but it's a useful thing to have.

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<v Speaker 1>And yes, I am the weirdo that sets up my

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<v Speaker 1>phone on a tripod to take group pictures at family

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<v Speaker 1>and friend gathering, so I'll definitely be using the Spen

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<v Speaker 1>in the future versus the typical timer. I would normally

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<v Speaker 1>set the Spen lasts for thirty minutes on Bluetooth use.

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<v Speaker 1>Then you pop it back into the phone and it

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<v Speaker 1>takes forty seconds to recharge it. But it always works

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<v Speaker 1>to write on the screen no matter whether it's charged

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<v Speaker 1>or dead. Now let's talk about the camera, because this

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<v Speaker 1>is one of the biggest parts of any smartphone, and

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<v Speaker 1>on the Note nine, it is good. It borders on great.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a very capable camera and you will have lots

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<v Speaker 1>of fun with it. I really love having the two

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<v Speaker 1>times lens so I can zoom into things optically versus digitally.

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<v Speaker 1>And the camera performs good, but I'd like to see

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<v Speaker 1>it perform great. It can be a little slow to

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<v Speaker 1>react and focus sometimes, and things like zoom and movements

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<v Speaker 1>can look a little jittery in the preview window. But overall,

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<v Speaker 1>the photos you take on this device are very, very

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<v Speaker 1>good and many times excellent. It does a great job

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<v Speaker 1>in low light, one of the best performers in low light,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm very impressed with the detail on pictures compared

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<v Speaker 1>to the iPhones photos. I think those look nice, but

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<v Speaker 1>they always look kind of flat. The Galaxy Note nine

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<v Speaker 1>has much more depth and detail. Of course, not as

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<v Speaker 1>much as a pixel, which has like crazy computer processing

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<v Speaker 1>going on to make any shot look good. But Samsung

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<v Speaker 1>definitely makes one of the top cameras on the market. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>they did add some sort of scene detection artificial intelligence,

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<v Speaker 1>but I can't really tell if that's helping my photos

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<v Speaker 1>look better or just boosting things like color and other

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<v Speaker 1>stuff depending on the situation. It can recognize scenes including food, portraits, flowers, animals, landscape, sky, sunrise, sunset, text,

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<v Speaker 1>and more. The camera also tells you when someone blinks,

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<v Speaker 1>or the shot is blurry, or there's some bad backlight.

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<v Speaker 1>I found this feature nice to have, but not entirely useful,

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<v Speaker 1>because look, if it's an important shot, I'm gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>reviewing it anyway. Now. The front facing camera is a

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<v Speaker 1>totally different story. If there's a source spot to this device,

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<v Speaker 1>this is it. In a word, I'm unimpressed. It's very

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<v Speaker 1>hit or missed. Sometimes you get such a good shot

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<v Speaker 1>it looks like a pro took it. Other Times you

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<v Speaker 1>get something that looks kind of muddled and blurry. The

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<v Speaker 1>front facing camera is not a deal breaker, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>definitely the biggest disappointment on this device. Low light is

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<v Speaker 1>especially challenging for it. It will take a noticeable amount

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<v Speaker 1>of time to snap a front facing photo and the

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<v Speaker 1>result is often not very good, so you're gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>to take a couple of front facing photos to get

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<v Speaker 1>a good one. As for the rest of the Galaxy

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<v Speaker 1>Note nine, it is a very complete package. The screen

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<v Speaker 1>just simply amazing. It puts other smartphone screens to shame.

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<v Speaker 1>I watched the original Jurassic Park movie on a plane

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<v Speaker 1>and I just can't tell you how good it looked

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<v Speaker 1>on that big, bright, six point four inch screen, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's an old movie. If you look at some of

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<v Speaker 1>the new stuff on Netflix with HDR, that's unbelievable. You

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<v Speaker 1>also get Dolby at most. Video on this thing is

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<v Speaker 1>just amazing, and plus you get all the features you need,

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<v Speaker 1>like a headphone jack and the fingerprint reader. Although it's

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<v Speaker 1>a tad small, it's in a dream spot compared to

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<v Speaker 1>last year's model. You can actually reach it without looking,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's properly placed under the camera instead of to

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<v Speaker 1>the side of the camera. Now, the Note nine is

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<v Speaker 1>expensive and I'm not thrilled about either color combo. You

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<v Speaker 1>can choose from blue or lavender. In the US right now,

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<v Speaker 1>there is a black and copper model available, just not

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<v Speaker 1>in the US just yet, but I expect them to

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<v Speaker 1>make their way here eventually. And one thing I don't like.

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<v Speaker 1>You no longer have the option to turn off the

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<v Speaker 1>Bixby button now unless I'm missing it in the Bixby settings.

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<v Speaker 1>They seem to have gotten rid of this entirely, which

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<v Speaker 1>is unfortunate because you do press that dedicated button a

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<v Speaker 1>lot and it activates Bixby, which I don't think is bad,

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<v Speaker 1>but I just don't need another assistant in my life

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<v Speaker 1>right now. So let's compare against some other phones. Against

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<v Speaker 1>the iPhone ten, well, at number one, we're coming out

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<v Speaker 1>with the new iPhone very soon, so if you're comparing

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<v Speaker 1>those two and deciding, you probably want to wait to

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<v Speaker 1>see what Apple does. But against the iPhone ten, you're

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<v Speaker 1>definitely getting more for your money with the Note nine. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>I rarely compare Android to iPhone anymore, because, let's face it,

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<v Speaker 1>I've realized most people don't care through either Apple or

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<v Speaker 1>Android for life, and they don't want to switch, And

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<v Speaker 1>that's kind of fine with me. It's personal preference, and

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<v Speaker 1>I understand how Apple folks will miss I Message, FaceTime

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<v Speaker 1>and other niceties of the Apple ecosystem, So I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>trying to convince you to switch here now. If you

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<v Speaker 1>don't need the stylus or the large battery, you'll be

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<v Speaker 1>perfectly happy with the Samsung Galaxy S nine plus. This

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<v Speaker 1>is nearly the same phone, just slightly smaller, with less

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<v Speaker 1>bells and whistles, but it's a very similar camera setup,

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<v Speaker 1>and it has that gorgeous screen again just a bit smaller.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you don't want to spend one thousand dollars,

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<v Speaker 1>the one plus six is a really nice Android device.

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<v Speaker 1>It has amazing software, it's super fast, it charges fast

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<v Speaker 1>although there's no wirel charging, and the software is updated

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<v Speaker 1>way more often. The only downside of the one plus

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<v Speaker 1>really is you don't get as good of a camera.

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<v Speaker 1>But I will tell you the one plus six is

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<v Speaker 1>doing some amazing pictures for that five hundred and thirty

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<v Speaker 1>dollars price. One plus you're doing a great job. Now

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<v Speaker 1>against the Pixel. That's a tough one, because that is

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<v Speaker 1>my favorite phone ever. And rumor has it that the

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<v Speaker 1>new Pixel is gonna add wireless charging in wired headphones,

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<v Speaker 1>which are two chief complaints I had against the last one,

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<v Speaker 1>and the Pixel camera is just a monster. It's the

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<v Speaker 1>absolute best in the world on a smartphone and one

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<v Speaker 1>of the reasons I keep going back to that device.

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<v Speaker 1>And also, the Pixel is going to be cheaper than

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<v Speaker 1>the Samsung Note nine, but it won't come with as

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<v Speaker 1>many software bells and whistles. Some will like that, others won't.

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<v Speaker 1>Samsung versus Pixel is a tough one. If you're a

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<v Speaker 1>true Android hardcore, that's a tough decision. All right. There

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<v Speaker 1>you have it at my review of the Samsung Galaxy

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<v Speaker 1>Note nine. Bottom line, this is a beast, but in

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<v Speaker 1>a good way. Samsung has managed to cram just about

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<v Speaker 1>every feature known to man in a smartphone that actually looks, feels,

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<v Speaker 1>and performs great. The price tag and large size are

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<v Speaker 1>basically the two biggest downsides, along with infrequent software updates,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's about it. You're really getting one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best phones on the market. Thanks so much for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want photo samples, video samples, plus my TV review,

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<v Speaker 1>check the show notes, or just go to richontech dot

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<v Speaker 1>tv and let me know if you have any questions.

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<v Speaker 1>You can find me on Facebook, on Instagram, on Twitter,

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<v Speaker 1>I will be listening and answering. Amrich Demiro, I'll talk

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<v Speaker 1>to you real soon