I got this phone back in 2018 after my aging Galaxy S5 started to have problems (Bad cellular connection and flickering screen at lower brightnesses.) Not to mention the horrible battery life even after buying a replacement for the battery. The S5 was still a great phone, fit in the palm of your hand, custom roms, plastic back cover, removable battery, to name a few benefits. Anyway, after looking at the options at the AT&T store, I decided on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. The big upgrades from the S5 was the beautiful screen, 4000mAh battery, powerful Snapdragon 845 APU, Loud speakers, and a feature I can't live without, the "always on display". Samsung managed to cram all these features, along with the headphone jack AND a S Pen into this slim device is crazy.
Pros:
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Cons:
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Over time of having the phone, I have hardened the device to make it more privacy friendly like removing Google Play Services, finding alternatives to the Google family of apps, managing permissions, etc. It still runs really fast after using it for 3+ years at this point, and my plan is to keep using it until it breaks, 4G LTE is shut off, or when I don't need a phone anymore. I average around an hour a day of screen time, as I mostly use my computer way more and hate the touchscreen keyboard. I just find myself more efficient on the computer compared to the phone. I will admit, I haven't really used the S Pen that much, but it does come in handy. I am also really surprised that there are no cracks on the back of the phone or screen.
Left: 3.5mm AUX
Middle: USB Type-C 3.1
Right: S Pen
Specs of the phone can be find here: GSMARENA
