Galaxy Note 9 vs Galaxy Note 5: Worth the Upgrade?

Note 9 vs Note 5: Design

The Note 5 still looks pretty good considering it's three years old. The back has rounded glass and metal, and it's very sleek.

The Note 9 looks similar, yet vastly different. If you've seen a Galaxy Note 8 or even the Galaxy S9 you'll know exactly what to expect, as the two look almost identical. Honestly, you'd probably be ok if you simply got a Note 8.

That said, with the Note 9 you'll get the same premium all metal and glass design, curved edges, and tons of features. In case you missed it, the Note 9 won't have a physical home button, it's gone completely. Samsung moved the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone. This allows for the bigger screen but makes using the scanner more difficult.

As for the actual design, the front and back are curved similar to the Galaxy Note 5 on the back, making it comfortable to hold. It's also more fragile, so keep that in mind. Aside from the screen, there are three very important aspects of the design you should be aware of. For one, the Galaxy Note 9 is IP68 dust and water-resistant. It can go under 5ft of water for over 30 minutes and work fine. And that includes the S-Pen stylus. The Note 5 is not water-resistant at all.

Another important factor is storage. The Galaxy Note 5 only came with 32GB and was that weird year Samsung removed the microSD slot. You're probably out of space or constantly deleting apps, photos, and videos. How frustrating.

The Galaxy Note 9 has 128GB of storage, so 4x as much. Or, you can buy a model with 512GB if you really need space. Not to mention it takes a microSD slot. And finally, it has a massive 4,000 mAh battery, but more on that in a moment. We haven't even talked about the S-Pen, software, or camera yet. Want one already?