The Note9 looks very (very) similar to the Note8—and in principle at least, we're fine with that. Smartphone evolution has slowed, and even we don't think you should try to fix what isn't broken.

That said, we would like a fix for the Note series' history of low repairability.

So what is new? Well, it's very slightly wider and shorter than the Note8, with an extra 0.1 inch of display—and it's a hair thicker at 8.8 mm versus 8.6 mm.

In an increasingly rare (but welcome) move, Samsung has kept the analog headphone jack.

Not only does this reduce wear on the charging port, it prevents the scourge of built-in-battery wireless earbuds.