It's a definite upgrade from my OG XL. I didn't realize how much I missed dual front firing speakers.
A friend linked me to an article about how you can feel the vibration from the speakers in the back of the phone when the volume is not even 50%. I hadn't noticed while playing a game at reasonable volume, but after reading the article, I cranked some music & you sure can feel it. At 50%, the vibration was pretty strong, but not enough to make the phone rattler around on a flat, smooth surface in my Spigen Rugged Armor case. I don't think this is going to bug me, as I watched some YouTube & Netflix later at a decent volume where I could hear it over my kids & the TV & it didn't bother me.
The notch really isn't bad. I actually had some time where I considered a return to Samsung & even went out of my way to check out a Note 9 & S9+ in-store because I wasn't sure I could live that notch life, but after having it for just over 24 hours, it definitely doesn't bug me or draw my attention or anything.
Battery life for the first day has been great, but it'll be longer before I have a real gauge on that. I didn't have time to check my phone as often today as I do some days during work, but I left battery saver off & had 77% after an hour of streaming music over Bluetooth headphones, occasional checking of social media & news, a quick (5 minute?) phone call, & being in poor service for 7 hours (I was in a building where I had 3G most times I checked & LTE the couple of times I stepped outside). I spent my half hour lunch reading articles & etc.
With the OG XL & it's nearly 2 year old battery, with only slightly heavier usage in good service areas, I can easily have less battery % left at the end of a work day with battery saver being on the whole day.
Those are some of my initial thoughts so far.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL