Samsung Galaxy Note 11 Final Review 2019

Samsung Galaxy Note 11: What could improve the flagship phablet?

It’s not long since the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 arrived, but time stand still for no-one – so here’s what we want to see delivered by the Note 11.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 was awarded 4 out of 5 stars in our review, and while that’s a good score we can’t help but feel the tech titan will want to improve on it for next year’s Note. We reckon the Note 10 series could be improved in several key areas if it’s to earn an even greater score: here’s our full wishlist.

Samsung Galaxy Note 11 – Camera

The Galaxy Note 10 camera was changed little from that of the S10, released around six months previously. While that still meant that you get a solid, versatile experience from its three cameras, the photography doesn’t quite measure up to the standard found on the Huawei P30 Pro, or the Google Pixel 4.

To pick a specific example, we’d like to see serious tweaks made to the Live Focus bokeh mode for video, which we claimed did a “shoddy job” at cutting around a subject’s face to emphasize it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 11 – Battery Life

Unfortunately, the battery life on the Galaxy Note 10 was fairly underwhelming. Weighing in at 3500mAh, it just wasn’t enough to sate a powerhouse like Note 10, and we sometimes found ourselves flat out of juice by the end of the day. That’s particularly disappointing given the Note series’ reputation for endurance.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus performed better thanks to its 4000mAh battery, which at least us through the day but we still weren’t stunned by its longevity. We’d like to see this stepped up for next year.

Samsung Galaxy Note 11 – Screen

A theme of recent new flagships has been a boosted display refresh rate, which makes the screen smoother. Both the OnePlus 7T Pro and the Google Pixel 4 have delivered refresh rates of 90Hz, which is a notable improvement on the industry-standard 60Hz. We hope (and expect) to see Samsung step up to the plate too with the Note 11, and deliver a flagship smooth display of 90Hz or even greater.

Samsung Galaxy Note 11 – Features

When it comes to hardware features, the Galaxy Note 10 arguably made a step backward compared to Note 9. The 3.5mm headphone jack was missing from both variants, while the Micro SD was only present on the Plus, and this sadly deprived the typically feature-packed devices of much-needed flexibility. Ideally, we’d like to see these features make a return to Note 11, but we can’t help feeling that our wish will be in vain.

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