Galaxy Note 9: Is it really worth it? (The 3:59, Ep. 444)

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 enablingusb.org. [MUSIC] Welcome to 3:59, I'm Roger Cheng. I'm Joan E. Solsman. The official cnet review of the Galaxy 9 is out and our own Jessica Delcord calls it one of the year's best phones but she doesn't know, it's on the pricy side and she ultimately suggests she might hold off and Wait to check out the new iPhone, or Pixel, or even next year's Galaxy S10 before making a cool. And that's largely because there's not a lot of huge upgrades in this phone. I mean, there's a bigger battery, some camera tricks And you get the sense that Samsung's holding back. Yeah, yeah, Annie just said that in her review, she had tons of fun, it felt like the most fun phone that she's used but do you really wanna pay that much money just to have a little more fun with your phone? No. Especially when you don't know what it's gonna be competing against, we don't know what we're gonna see from- Exactly. Exactly and like the S pen, its nice. I think its gimmicky, I know Samsung says that no users love their S pen. When I had a Note, I loved my pen, loved it. Yeah but its like when you go onto another phone without a stylus, you kind of forget about it. That's true [LAUGH] So I don't know, for folks that are hardcore, they probably already decided. You know, I said this last week. I think that that is the dilemma. Like do you buy this upgraded phone, 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? So next up, want to talk about T-Mobile. I know the bigger care of them was all about customer service, but I want to Skim ahead to the more music oriented announcements. They will be offering customers a free year of Pandora plus as well as access to tickets to Live Nation events. You cover music How big a deal is it for these companies? You actually probably have a good vantage point of what it means for T-Mobile. Yes. I imagine for T-Mobile, it's kind of like, another thing in the potpourri of free gimmes that they give to their uesrs. I mean oviously, this is another thing for T-Mobile Tuesday. This will come as a T-Mobile Tuesday promotion, the pandora plus thing. Mm-hm. Later this month, and as a You know as a T-Mobile customer I'm looking forward to checking it out. Who doesn't like free? Who doesn't like free? Free stuff. But for pandora Yeah. It's definitely something that's I wouldn't say it's critical. But it's definitely a help. Considering they're facing such Competition with Spotify and other services. You know, they were the biggest service in the U.S. for a really long time, until in the period before subscription steaming really started to hit its stride. So once that happened, 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 would have to imagine, that kind of pressure really kind of pushed these two to get together a lot quicker. Yeah. I imagine [UNKNOWN] some really good discounted rates for this. And I guess, yeah, they're banking that after the year the folks will just keep on with Pandora Plus. Or what they're probably really banking on is that those Pandora Plus Users will upsell to Pandora Premium, which is twice as much. And you get all, it's basically exactly like all the other services, where you get total library, all the skips, play on demand, all the offline listening. Anything that you, no ads, obviously. And you get another $5 a month out of those people. All right, so lastly, I was down in South Carolina To check out the latest [UNKNOWN]. It was all about customer service. It wasn't about video, which a lot of folks were speculating it would be a big, over-the-top video play. You can check out some of the footage from the call center here. That's me walking through What's known as a clap in. It's how they introduce guests. Yeah, it's kinda crazy. It's like an ego stroking gauntlet basically. Yeah, yeah seeing giant posters of my face like that. My god, I didn't see that. [CROSSTALK] The emoji farm. My gosh, sorry everybody. That was ledger. Ledger. Pleasure. Holding up a sign of Roger's face. Yeah. They have a bromance, like a serious bromance that I find the twist and turns of it it really interesting. So, it's not the most exciting thing, but their pitch is that they're to get away from [UNKNOWN], more into dedicated teams that are That sort of focus on you and your service. There's a team of 40 people tasked with a specific region so when you call in you get the same 40 people. So, it's an interesting idea. It's kind of like white glove service. We'll see if it actually makes a difference. Difference, I know folks are a little disappointed it wasn't about a video. [LAUGH] That's later this year. Anyways, for more of these stories, [UNKNOWN], I'm Roger Cheng. I'm Jenny Saltzman. Thanks for listening. [MUSIC]