Gadgetory

the 359 is sponsored by USB technology the USB implementers forum reminds consumers that USB if' logos are displayed on certified USB products so the next time you're shopping for a reliable USB charger cable or device look for the logos get the whole story at an abling USB org good morning on a solid Jam coming at you live from the scene at studios in New York City on BVG this is the 359 podcast episode 445 and today your hosts are Joanie Saltzman and Roger Chang how's it going Brian Oh doing ok I'm excited that we're talking about phones today I am too because I love phones I love all things mobile we're gonna be talking about the official review of the 9 Jessica told Court as her final verdict after a little bit more than a week of testing I will also be talking about some of the various t-mobile and carrier announcements that were made yesterday I've seen the stuff about customer service but you know a lot of our readers care about free stuff so free a free year Pandora plus and access to Live Nation tickets and shows will break it down for you that's why I've Joan on to talk about what this means and if this is actually a big deal I don't know as always if you have any questions leave it in the comments section I don't pick up the best and we get them in 3 minutes and 59 seconds kicking it off in three two welcome to the 359 I'm Roger Chang I'm Joni salzman the official CNET review of the galaxy note 9 is out and our own Jessica dual court calls it one of the year's best phone phones but she does know it's on the pricey side and she ultimately suggests you might hold off and wait to check out the new iPhone or pixel or even next year's Galaxy has ten before making a call and that's largely because it's not a lot of huge upgrades in this phone I mean it's a bigger battery some camera tricks and you get the sense that Samsung's holding back yeah yeah I mean just said that in her review she had tons of fun it felt like the most fun that she's used but do you really want to pay that much money just to have a little more fun with your phone especially when you don't know what it's gonna be competing against we don't know what we're gonna see from those it's nice I think it's gimmicky I know Samsung insists that no users love their s-pen but I had a note I loved my pen it's like when you like go on to another phone without a stylus you kind of forget about it that's true so I don't know for folks who are hardcore they're probably already decided you know I said this last week I think that that is the dilemma like do you buy this upgrade film which is arguably one of the best if not the best Android phones out there or do you wait for some of the bigger innovations that are gonna come next year yeah so next up I want to talk about t-mobile I know the big uncarrier event was all about customer service but I want to skip ahead to the the more music oriented announcements they offered customers they will be offering customers a free year of Pandora plus as well as access to tickets to Live Nation events I mean you come from music how big a deal is it for these companies well you actually probably have a good vantage point of what it means for t-mobile yes I imagine it for t-mobile it's kind of like another thing in the potpourri of free gimmies that they give to their this is obviously this is another thing for t-mobile Tuesday this will come as a t-mobile Tuesday promotion the penor plus thing later this month and I mean as a as a t-mobile customer I'm looking forward to checking out who doesn't like free who doesn't like free free stuff but for Pandora it's definitely something that's I wouldn't say it's critical but it's definitely helped considering they're facing such competition with Spotify and other services you know they were the biggest service for in the US for a really long time until in the period before subscription streaming really started to hit its stride and right what's that happen that's when Apple music and spotify sort of solidified their lead and and Pandora's had a hard time catching up I mean I have to imagine that kind of pressure really kind of pushed these two to get together a lot quicker yeah I imagine t-mobile got some really good discounted rates for this and I guess yeah they're banking that for the year the folks will just keep on with pend or + or what they're probably really making on is that those Pandora plus users will upsell to pain to our premium which is twice as much and you get all it's basically like exactly like all the other services where you get total library all the skips play on-demand all the offline listening anything that you know adds obviously and you get into their five dollars a month out of those people alright so lastly I was down in South Carolina to check out the latest on Caravan it was all about customer service it wasn't about video which a lot of folks were speculating it like a big over-the-top video play you can check out some of the footage from the the call center here it's that's me walking through what's what's known as a clap in its how they introduce guests yeah it's like stroking gauntlet yeah yes well seeing giant posters in my face like that right like that oh my god I did you that was ledger ledger ledger holding a pile of Rogers face yeah romance like a serious bromance that I find I find the twist in terms of it so it's not the most exciting thing but that their their pitch is that they're trying to get away from BOTS more into dedicated teams that are that sort of focused on you and your service like they'll there's a team of 40 people tasked with specific regions so when you call and you get the same 40 people and so it's an interesting idea that's kind of like White Glove service we'll see if it actually makes a difference I know folks were a little disappointed it wasn't about a video that's later this year anyways Morley story of ships on scene I'm Roger Chang I'm Joanie Saltzman thanks for listening and thanks for the joining us as always for the recording of the audio podcast that concludes today's broadcast no I'm kidding we're going to go ahead and pull out some questions and comments about uh-oh what's that phone called the galaxy yeah let's just see how many people I trigger in the chat with that one anyways yes and in your questions and comments will be happy to floor them and yeah in the meantime it's okay so the one thing that kind of struck me about the the comments that we said from Jessica's review it's like oh but if you wait and see what the pixel does then you wait till you see what Apple does it's like you're just gonna be waiting indefinitely and if we've waited for the next model you like we'd still be rolling with like the iPhone 3 well so I think normally yes that is you know that's a fairly astute observation but I think the issue is we're looking at 2019 as a potentially big year for innovations whether it's 5g whether it's fingerprint sensors embedded in the display foldable phones there are a bunch of innovations things are supposed to get smaller the chips are supposed to get a lot faster next year there could be a big leap and so I guess the fear is if you buy something now you're gonna miss out on the big innovation next year if you if you buy next year yeah I feel like you're you're somewhat future proofing yourself a little bit better than you are this year and really this phone wasn't that different that's the big issue it's like there's some some tricks on the camera that are a little better if you're upgrading from the galaxy note 5 like a phone that's three or four years old yeah this is gonna be huge leap and it's fine but it's like if your phone's a year to old this is probably not a great upgrade for you fair enough and then for everybody who's kind of citing the price is a bit of a turn-off like they're all just getting too expensive okay so well the thing is they are leading into this Samsung was like oh yeah we were like they kind of knows that price was an issue they were they were kind of hinting that this would be more reasonable and and how they've justified that is through packing in more memory more storage yeah so like a we give you more for your money but still a thousand dollars that's a lot of money for a phone that isn't dramatically different from last year's and and I know folks in the comments of the world the iPhone 10 is a thousand dollars and you guys don't reckon we didn't rag on iPhone 10 for that price they're super expensive but that phone was also significantly different from the previous models and so there was at least some justification for that huge price and yeah I'm not found the fact that we're all paying a thousand dollars for a phone it's not really even a thousand like if we want the maximum storage it's more like 1100 1200 dollars for these things right yeah but the note does have what it was like 500 plus gigabytes of storage yes yeah yeah the 1250 model has 512 gigs of storage I'm sorry and then it has annexed you to get a 5 and 12 gig memory card so you have one one terabyte phone which is insane but given how many photos my wife takes of our kid I know who actually will fill up in a month so we have to floor a medic question before we move any form of any further forward for the for the newbie in the chat Ken what's up dude thanks for joining us is a stupid question why is it called the 359 if it's livestream in nineteen Central Time does it last almost four hours only once and never again will we ever do that right its 359 because essentially the idea is we're gonna give the best headlines in 3 minutes and 59 seconds for some arbitrary management reason today it was like we did not use and we didn't name it for but then after that we chitchat so clearly we've gone a lot longer than three minutes the idea is that's in 59 seconds you can leave because you've gotten all the good stuff got it so that ah that's good Roger Joan that's my elevator music good stuff no I guess that's the fluff we can ignore all right let's stick like the note 9 because everybody wants to Ahmed asks is it worth it if I've got the s8 plus and I think a lot of what our takeaway has been so far if you're jumping a full number it's worth it in like the lineup if you have something concurrent you may me wish you watch I would I would disagree si plus I mean it's a larger phone it's got well it doesn't have the weight does it have the dual camera that was last year's oh no this year was the first year with a dual camera yeah I mean yeah it was like that was last year's model and I would actually say generally no but I mean the camera is a significant upgrade from last year's model in fact it's a dual lens camera versus a single lens if you don't care about that you don't care about photos as much and most people do I don't think it's worth upgrading cuz that was last year's model and you're not getting them that much of a significant pickup in performance or in in any kind of bells and whistles you'd find in a new phone so as with any major fiscal investment you have to weigh your priorities that was very practical and reasonable sounding bright I was I was evaluating your response because you were practical and intelligent first so photo nuts no.9 anybody else maybe yeah yeah that fair assessment well no yes if you're if you're a camera person and you don't have an S 9 so everyone else yeah yes as long as you have an S 9 and you were like crazy and upgrading after a few months so yeah a side bar from Timothy do when are we going back to dumb phones these prices are too much nowadays well I have a no phone on my desk if you want it's really just a it's a black slab of plastic 3d printed plastic it doesn't actually make any calls it really doesn't amaura it's no phone camera oh it might have the selfie mode because it's got like a reflective surface on it look at yourself I mean I think well my dad had a dumb phone up until like two years ago but even he gave it up and he's he's got an iPhone now so I mean the days of dumb phones are kind of over whether we like it or not yeah like we can't even get those retro Nokia phones in the US that's that's what it's really kind of disappointing me I was thinking to myself like wow like just kind of going back in my brain I'm surprise that no one's got the 3310 here in this office she was like oh wait we can't yeah doesn't work it doesn't work in the band's here yeah and I remember talking to some of the hmd global folks the startup that makes Nokia phones you know they kind of envisioned that 3310 as a like a weekend of ice a vacation device you switch your SIM card you put it in there and no one can reach you I mean it's really just for phone calls but I mean realistically speaking I like I couldn't do it like I need to be reached I need to be reachable so yeah it's hard let's talk about the micro SD card we brought this up before have we found anything more about whether you can install apps on the expandable media on the note 9 just to know like how much you're kind of stuck with if that internal storage which is beefy enough really um if that internal storage is where you have to lock in all of your functionality or if you can expand that too or if that was strictly for media uh let me get back to you on that one I can ask Jess she'll probably know but she's not here in this office right now but I won't get back to you I'm trying to skim through her article right now to find out myself this show really needs to have like the entire staff of Sina on call it maybe she's awake it's 8:30 okay and you know what while you're at it shown would you ask her how okay the first question was questions from podcast jazz okay the first question was is the expandable microSD can you load apps on that or strictly for media storage okay and secondly how is the battery been so far I think I can find this oh yeah you know water is in the review I've got that interview let's bring up the stats right here a 9.0 overall shining above all else is the battery at a solid tent so Bravo I mean look it's four thousand milliamp hours that's that's huge so that's a 21 percent increase from last year and it's why the phone is a little bit thicker than it was last year so going against the trend of thinner phones for the sake of battery that's I like that we should more phone makers should do that or battery more battery yes let's go ahead and take a question from syringe Oh who always is loaded with good information now that Samsung is open the S Pen to developers are we excited to see some nifty tricks coming to the apps to be implemented on the S Pen yes I don't even know what those tricks would look like but you know yeah that's totally the fun of it I mean that the early demonstrations were pretty cool right being able to control your music remotely being able to use it as a remote camera Roger let's dream together okay let's do it let's do it you see what apps do I play with or do I use constantly mm-hmm Spotify I do well I guess I mean controlling music would be nice I guess I don't know they keep using the PowerPoint presentation example but I'm like I never use my phone as a as a platform for a PowerPoint presentation so when you're giving your TED talk I said it before and I'll say it again mine would be just a quick launch to play hollow notes on Spotify just that yeah that is well that would be for a convenience key right not just the s-pen like if you had a physical button on your phone that you could do anything with that it would be four whole notes right yeah yeah every button on my phone would play Halla notes I love it here's another good question from Storm King I still have the note 5 are we expecting great changes for the note 10 trying to decide if you should wait on the 9 or not yeah I think you're the perfect example of someone who is in that dilemma because by normal logic you should be upgrading like it would be this phone if you buy it would be a huge upgrade for you would be a much better experience longer-lasting phone much faster get a lot of value out of but yet the I mean the thinking is that by the time the note 10 rolls around 5g is getting prevalent and it's hard to say how 5 G's gonna look it's gonna be optimized for different networks and I'm not sure if you're based in the US although if you're named storm cam soon you're somewhat local to here 5g will be around for certain carriers I believe t-mobile said New York will actually get it sometime next year early next year actually so you have to imagine that by the time the second half rolls are around and the note 10 is out there 5g should should be probably the hallmark feature for the next phone so that's the thing like do you want to if you buy now you're gonna have that phone in the next few years you might skip out on so that that 5g revolution but I mean either it's it's a tough decision I can't make women make it for you but it's definitely a pickle there Alex Mitchell had a great suggestion for the s-pen triple click to start voice notes I think that's a great idea I think you could also probably apply that to a voice or at voice-to-text yeah oh yeah Andy what did they put a microphone right in the S Pen you could just speak into it like that skinny mic like it could be a karaoke mic Oh karaoke phone I mean fortunately no mic that's that's good we should tell that to Samsung and then like who should we should just sell to sans let's just start our own development here yeah let's work on it speaking that APEC wants to know how long before third-party developers can get access to be able to use the s-pen for different features is this gonna be at launch or postpone for a little while hey we're a little cagey on the exact time and they just said that it will happen I believe it's gonna happen like in the next month or so but I'm not entirely sure I know they had their developer conference and I wanna say October at that point she definitely out and when do we think when is he s ten kind of slated for announcement is that gonna be in February traditionally it's February early March devil's advocate mike shaw desks does the note nine still have the annoying Bigsby button if so can it be repurposed yeah we had this discussion the other day yes there is a dedicated Big C button and no you can't change it it can only call it Bixby we all hate that I know everyone's in agreement Samsung no but you're gonna love Bixby Bixby's awesome no good Halla notes I'd probably make it I'll be an email trigger button yes hmm but yeah all I can think of is Bixby sorry all I can think of is the Simpsons meme and Samsung is officially Principal Skinner versus am I out of touch no it's the children who are wrong that's all this brings to mind with the whole big speak conversation before we go we are just about out of time one quick question about Pandora Joseph asks is the free Pandora Plus subscription only for new penned or email accounts or will it also apply to existing Pandora accounts who don't subscribe to the no ads service I am not entirely sure how it's gonna get rolled out its I believe if you're not if you're not is there a grandfather clause essentially well if you're not a Pandora Plus user now I think you'll be able to get access to it I don't know what happens with existing customers imagine existing customers can request to have it switched over to like I'm just I'd be surprised if Oh existing like free customers I don't know what oh if you're saying an existing Pandora Plus oh yeah if you're already paying more and you're a t-mobile subscriber I can't I'd be very surprised if like they're like sorry you got to keep paying timo that's true probably right yeah again this gets rolled out at the end of the month so we're not sure how it's gonna work yet it'll be through your t-mobile Tuesday app but yeah I imagine if you're paying for it now you probably get a break once once it's a rule drive yeah yeah that's how that's what happens Netflix right if you already Netflix subscriber I think they just like knocked off ten bucks from your bill or something that would make a lot of sense we want to pivot back into note 9 real quick specifically yes pen one more time from APEC will we see third-party S pen's being made or could you see accessories being made to add to features to the s-pen like a joy con that's a cool idea oh wow that's actually a great idea I don't know well I know for sure that they're I don't think they're gonna be making a third party S pen's that thing is kind of built specifically for the the known I think Samsung's got a lot proprietary stuff around it so I've know not that that lock down but in terms of third-party accessories to pair with the s-pen which is kind of funny because it's S Pen is self is sort of a an accessory to the no nine so you're buying accessories to accessories I mean yeah the doors open I don't like I don't know how big of a market that is because I don't know how many note users are out there we had their estimates out there but it's obviously a fraction of like the S market that's for the market so I I don't know what the appetite is for those those kinds of third-party accessories i imagine given like yes DK and how open there you can theoretically build one it just I don't know if I don't buy it maybe a Nintendo lab Oh could like get in and go some sort of like foldable accessory thing that you stick an S Pen into ooh Samsung Nintendo team up I'm into it yeah so before we go there is a pressing question in the chat from our friends friend Roy Roger how many spells have you learned spells my scar there we go oh yeah there it is but it's not a lightning bolt I don't know Alfred I made that joke yesterday so watch out for a dark wizard that's my favorite part is that the only guy you need to jump right in baby I know I know that only took him five seconds to do yeah I think Alfred's missed his calling he's not a reporter he's a graphic designer oh don't don't don't even suggest that I get all cranky on you alright fantastic conversation is always today folks thanks for joining us we are out of time we are out of week and we'll be back on Monday and until then thanks for joining you guys who wants to take us out today I'll take it out the 3:59 podcast is available in iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner google play music and the amazon alexa course it's on cnn.com we will see you all next week take care folks have a good weekend you you