Galaxy Note 9 repair will unsurprisingly not be easy

Some of you may recall that we reported last year that the Galaxy Note 8 is going to be a nightmare to repair. While the handset could be disassembled in ten seemingly simple steps, it actually requires a lot of effort and care that someone who’s new at taking phones apart will surely struggle with. So it’s not surprising to hear that things haven’t changed with the Galaxy Note 9.

Galaxy Note 9 repair will require serious effort

The folks at iFixit have done their teardown of the Galaxy Note 9 and given it a repairability score of 4/10, with 10 being the easiest to repair. It’s the same score that the Galaxy Note 8 got last year. No surprises here as both handsets are largely similar to each other as far as the design and dimensions are concerned.

However, it’s pointed out that the Galaxy Note 9’s components are more modular than ever given the subtle changes made to the USB Type-C hardware, headphone jack and the flex cable of the S Pen’s dock. One point that goes in favor of the device is that standard Phillips screws are the only screws used to hold everything together.

The massive 4,000mah battery is replaceable but it not only requires you to un-glue and then re-glue the rear glass panel but also make your way through “two extremely stubborn glue barriers” before the battery can come loose. That’s to be expected of these Samsung flagships that are religiously sticking to the metal and glass sandwich design language.

You can read more about the painstaking Galaxy Note 9 repair process and also see the images of the teardown over at iFixit.

Galaxy Note 9

• Model: SM-N960F
• Dimensions: 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm
• Display: 6.4" (162.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 CMOS Dual OIS (F1.5/F2.4) & Telephoto: 12MP AF F2.4)

More specifications

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Samsung Focus will no longer be supported, but you can still use it

With the release of the version 2.5.00.20, Samsung has announced the end of development and support for the Samsung Focus productivity app. It was launched in September 2016 as an application that combines email, calendar, task, memo, and contacts into a unified productivity hub. We were pleasantly surprised with the idea and execution at the time of the launch and mostly praised the app in our review.

Samsung Focus stores all data locally

Though Samsung has ceased development of the app, you can continue to use it as long as it works since it doesn’t rely on any Samsung cloud services to function. The app connects to work servers and stores all the data locally on the device.

Announcing the termination, the Samsung Focus team posted the following message on its Google Play listing:

 

Right from the beginning, the app was aimed at the enterprise segment with many tailor-made privacy, security, and productivity features. Given the target market, it was never preinstalled on the Galaxy devices and remained a niche offering. The Google Play listing says it was downloaded more than 100,000 times, which pales in comparison to the 500 million downloads of some other Samsung apps.

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Color options for upcoming budget and mid-range Galaxy phones include a surprise

We recently reported about many upcoming low-end and mid-range smartphones from Samsung. Today, we have some exclusive information about the color options for some of these devices. Most of the colors here are pretty standard, except for one small surprise: Samsung seems to be bringing the pink color variant to both low-end and mid-range devices once again.

Samsung brings pink to its budget segment

We have received information about the color options for the Galaxy J4 Prime (SM-J415FN), a new Galaxy A9 (SM-A920F), and the SM-A750F, which may or may not be the 2019 version of the Galaxy A8+. Beginning with the Galaxy J4 Prime, it will be available in black, gold, and pink color variants. Thanks to Xiaomi, Samsung’s budget options have improved a lot with Infinity screens and thoughtful software features. Attractive color options, along with these improvements, will go a long way in enhancing the appeal of Samsung’s budget offerings.

The new Galaxy A9, meanwhile, will be available in blue, pink, and black hues. There is a possibility of a gold version as well, but the evidence we have is not clinching. The SM-A750F will come in blue, pink, black, and gold. These are the same options that the Galaxy A (2017) series phones were launched with.

As we can see from the above color offerings, there is nothing too exciting, experimental, or surprising here, other than Samsung bringing the pink hue to budget devices again. Pink has been seen on mid-range Galaxy phones before, but it might become more accessible with these upcoming devices. Hopefully, Samsung will also bring some of the new colors from its flagship devices to budget and mid-range smartphones at some point.

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Galaxy S10 in-display fingerprint sensor may be present on all models

Reports about the Galaxy S10 continue to trickle in as the attention has now shifted to the company’s next flagship smartphone that’s due in 2019. Samsung is believed to launch three models of the Galaxy S10. The much-awaited in-display fingerprint sensor is also expected to debut with the Galaxy S10.

Earlier reports had suggested that except the entry-level Galaxy S10 model, the two remaining variants would feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. A new report out of South Korea today claims that it will actually be present on all three Galaxy S10 variants.

Galaxy S10 in-display fingerprint sensor

In addition to the entry-level model, Samsung is said to launch the successors of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ next year with a 6.2-inch and 6.44-inch curved Infinity Display respectively. The display-based fingerprint sensor was previously expected on the successors only.

A report last month claimed that the fingerprint sensor of this entry-level model would be placed on the frame of the device itself. One would normally expect Samsung to position it at the back but that wasn’t said to be the case.

Today’s report tells a different story altogether. It claims that all three variants of the Galaxy S10 will feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. The only difference would be the technology used for this implementation.

The two high-end models will reportedly have an ultrasonic display-based fingerprint sensor while the entry-level model will get an optical fingerprint sensor. The ultrasonic sensor may be supplied by Qualcomm.

It works by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse against the finger to map the pores and ridges that are unique to each fingerprint. Ultrasonic sensors are more accurate than their optical counterparts as enhanced 3D reproduction of the fingerprint is possible using the additional depth data collected.

An optical fingerprint sensor works much like a digital camera as it captures a two-dimensional image of the fingerprint. The accuracy tends to decrease if the finger being scanned is too wet, dry or dirty. External lights can hamper its performance as well.

It’s not like optical display-based scanners are completely useless. Multiple Chinese smartphone manufacturers have already released devices with this technology. It’s considered to be three times cheaper than ultrasonic sensors which would explain why Samsung may have decided to go with it for the cheaper Galaxy S10 model.

Samsung is yet to confirm if it’s going to launch three models of the Galaxy S10, let alone reveal that all three will feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. It would be best to take this report with a grain of salt until there’s more concrete evidence to go on.

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Samsung Health will stop syncing data with third-party apps

Samsung Health is one of the better-designed and feature-rich apps from the Korean company’s stable. The health and wellness-focused app is capable of collecting a wide variety of activity related data through the built-in smartphone sensors and dedicated wearables such as the Gear S3, Gear Sport, Gear Fit Pro, etc.

In an attempt to make the app more versatile, Samsung added the ‘Connected Services’ feature a couple of years back. Connected Services feature allows Samsung Health users to sync data with third-party apps and services such as Microsoft Health, Misfit, Fitbit, Jawbone, Runkeeper, etc. It offers users the flexibility to use any app, service, or wearable of their choice and still be able to sync that data with the Samsung Health app.

Samsung Health will remove ‘Connected Services’ soon

Unfortunately, Samsung has decided to retire this functionality from September 1 for all the third-party apps and services except Strava. It is also removing UV tracker, Temperature and Humidity (TH) tracker from the app. The company is notifying Samsung Health users about the upcoming change through a notice in the app. It is not clear what prompted this move, but it definitely makes Samsung Health less open and more restrictive.

All these changes appear to be part of Samsung Health version 6.0, scheduled to hit the devices soon. The company is teasing users about the impending major update and asking them to sync the data before the update to prevent any data loss.

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You can’t disable Bixby on the Galaxy Note 9, not yet anyway

Want to learn how to completely disable Bixby on the Galaxy Note 9? You’re out of luck because it’s not possible. We have guides on how to disable the assistant completely on previous devices like the Galaxy S9 but Samsung has made a subtle change to ensure that Galaxy Note 9 owners keep stumbling on Bixby, whether they like it or not.

Granted, Bixby has its strengths, but many users just don’t feel the need to use it. If they are already relying heavily on the Google Assistant then one can understand why they don’t want to put up with a second virtual assistant.

It’s not possible to disable Bixby on Galaxy Note 9

Samsung launched Bixby with the Galaxy S8 and the device had a dedicated button for the assistant. That button has since been a permanent fixture on all of the company’s flagship smartphones. Samsung doesn’t let users remap the button so it can’t be used for anything else.

While it was previously possible to disable the Bixby key so that it does nothing when pressed, that’s not possible on the Galaxy Note 9. The key could be disabled by launching Bixby and tapping on the gear icon at the top which revealed a toggle. When turned off, the key wouldn’t open Bixby Home when pressed. You’ll find no such toggle on the Galaxy Note 9, just a gesture to refresh Bixby Home.

This is likely going to irk many Galaxy Note 9 users because they have essentially been forced to live with Bixby. The placement of the buttons might see them accidentally pressing it often unintentionally. We also feel that the buttons are more sensitive so it will be difficult to avoid Bixby.

We were surprised when we didn’t see the option on the Galaxy Note 9 and thought that perhaps it may arrive by way of an update once the handset is released. That hasn’t happend as yet but the possibility exists that Samsung could add this option once again in a future update. If you just can’t stand it, you can always pull out the Bixby button.

That being said, here are a few steps that you can take to limit your exposure to Bixby on Galaxy Note 9:

Disable voice wakeup

While you can’t fully disable Bixby on Galaxy Note 9, it’s possible to prevent it from waking up whenever you say “Hi, Bixby.” The toggle can be found inside the Voice Wake-Up section of Bixby Voice Settings menu in the Settings app. Turn off “Wake with “Hi, Bixby” to disable voice wakeup. Or, you know, just don’t say “Hi, Bixby” in the vicinity of your Galaxy Note 9.

Disable Bixby Home

The key isn’t the only way you can open Bixby Home. Swiping to the left of your home screen brings it up as well. To prevent it from being launched after an accidental swipe, just tap and hold on any empty section of the home screen. Keep swiping to the right and you’ll find the relevant toggle in the last panel.

A second chance for Bixby?

Should you give Bixby another chance? Samsung has made some improvements to the assistant on the Galaxy Note 9 after all. There’s a new interface for Bixby Voice and the company claims it’s better at processing natural language. This will lead to quicker response times. Bixby is also better at making recommendations based on the user’s preferences and its integration with other apps has been improved as well.

Before you set on your quest to disable Bixby on Galaxy Note 9 as soon as you take your new phone out of the box, perhaps give the assistant a few days and see whether the new changes make you want to use it more. If not, tough luck, it’s not like you can completely disable Bixby on Galaxy Note 9 anyway.

Galaxy Note 9

• Model: SM-N960F
• Dimensions: 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm
• Display: 6.4" (162.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 CMOS Dual OIS (F1.5/F2.4) & Telephoto: 12MP AF F2.4)

More specifications

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