I wanted hyperlinks that work, I just didn't want the previews scattered throughout the note. I just wanted a note with links only.
I guess we can try it. Click this and see if the link works for you: duckduckgo.com
isn't your suggestion to not use `http://` so your client doesn't interpret it as a link and not render a preview? that would also make it not render as a link almost anywhere else for the same reason.. which didn't seem to me like what the op wanted as he refers specifically the previews but maybe it is..
Discussion
It works.