Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today debuted the long-anticipated Galaxy Note 9, a homegrown smart speaker to challenge Amazon.com Inc.’s Echo and a variety of other products.

Indeed, the new “phablet” was the star of Samsung’s big Unpacked conference today. The Note 9 looks mostly similar to last year’s model, featuring only a handful of external changes headlined by a slightly wider screen and a repositioned fingerprint sensor. But the familiar exterior hides massive enhancements under the hood.

Samsung has equipped the Note 9 with Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon 845 processor, the same chip that powers the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. It also took the opportunity to tweak the graphics card for better performance. To deal with the heat generated by all this silicon, the Note 9 packs a built-in water cooling system paired with a thermal spreader described as three times bigger than the one in the Note 8.

The extra components likely mean the new phablet consumes more power than the previous model. Fortunately, the Note 9 makes up for it with a significantly larger battery that can hold 4,000 mAh worth of electricity, a 700 mAh increase over last year.

Samsung has made big improvements on the software side as well. Most notably, the Note 9 includes the company’s DeX app out of the box, enabling users to connect the device to an desktop display without the dedicated dock needed before. The change should be particularly handy for business users, who will benefit from the ability to more easily use a larger display when work applications call for it.

The professional crowd has other improvements to look forward to as well. In particular, Samsung will offer an enhanced S Pen alongside the Note 9 that improves upon last year’s iteration with Bluetooth support. Users can now employ the stylus as a presentation clicker with a DeX-connected display, as well to remotely control the camera and music apps.

Samsung will offer the Note 9 in two editions. One offers 128GB of storage and a 6GB memory pool for $999, while the other will feature 512 gigabytes of storage, 8GB of memory and a $1,250 price tag. Users can increase the handset’s total capacity to a full terabyte with a microSD card.

Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, sees the Note 9 as a big step forward for Samsung. “The new Note 9 is very differentiated versus any other premium smartphone out there with its new, active S Pen, DeX desktop capabilities, top-rated display, battery size, top-rated camera and huge storage,” Moorhead told SiliconANGLE. “Samsung will now need to do some flawless marketing to get those points across to consumers and businesses. For businesses, there is no better phone out there.”

Samsung has also made sure to provide plenty of selling points for the average consumer. On all top the improvements in the Note 9,  the company announced that the Android version of the popular Fortnite multiplayer game, which launched today, will be available exclusively on Galaxy devices for “the next few days.” That includes not just the Note 9 but also other handsets from the series.

“The Fortnite early access and gaming bucks are compelling as is the new water cooling,” Moorhead added. “I am hopeful Samsung has solved some of the throttling issues in phones.”

New gadgets

Samsung unveiled the Note 9 alongside several other new devices. Chief among them is the Galaxy Home, the company’s first entry into the fast-growing smart speaker market.

The Galaxy Home is mounted on three metal legs and stands out from competing systems with an unusual shape that almost resembles a vase. Control buttons at the top enable users to adjust music playing by hand, while eight far-field microphones built into the speaker also make it possible to use voice commands. The speech features are powered by Samsung’s Bixby virtual assistant.

Joining the Galaxy Home is the Galaxy Watch, the latest iteration of Samsung’s smart wristwatch. Its circular display closely resembles a traditional timepiece, except the device boasts high-tech features such as LTE connectivity and a battery that lasts “several days.” The battery can be wirelessly charged using a multidevice charging pad called Wireless Charger Duo that Samsung unveiled as well.

The Note 9 will begin shipping on Aug. 24, while the Galaxy Watch is set to become available in a $329.99 42-millimeter version and 46-millimeter edition priced at $349.99. There’s no word yet on when the smartwatch will hit shelves, nor any availability information about the Galaxy Home or charging pad.

Photos: Samsung