Note 9 tipped to have long battery life, record screen brightness and a heavy build

by Daniel Petrov

Jul 05, 2018, 4:22 AM

Thanks to two independent sources of credible tipsters from the Benelux and Russia, who claim they have toyed around with the Galaxy Note 9 a little bit, we now have the full suite of specs, notes about camera performance, battery life and pricing suggestions. So, what's the new info?

Design and dimensions

Note 9 tipped to have long battery life, record screen brightness and a heavy build

The design action with the Note 9 will be all on the back

The Galaxy Note 9 is said to sport Samsung's Infinity Display 2.0 design that made a cameo with the Galaxy S9, but with tougher frame and cover glass, and a horizontal dual camera on the back. The previous leaks pegged the phone to be barely different in dimensions than the Note 8, but this latest tip claims it will be a tad larger and heavier.

The exact dimensions are said to be 162 x 76.4 x 8.8 mm, against the 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.6 mm of the Note 8, so the 9th generation may come a tad shorter, wider and thicker than its predecessor. This jibes with the CAD-based renders we made not long ago almost exactly to the mm, and is pretty explicable, as the sources say it now houses a way larger, 4000 mAh battery itself, plus the S Pen will have its own energy source and Bluetooth connectivity. Other than that, the Note 9 looks pretty identical with the Note 8 at the front, they add.

Processor and memory

The Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 go without saying with their 2nd-gen 10nm process, but unlike the Note 8, the 6GB RAM/128GB storage version is the starting memory combo, going all the way to 8GB/256GB and 8GB/512GB, making the Note 9 the second phone landing with half a terabyte storage option. Needless to say, not all memory versions will be available in all places, and the most decked-out model will probably be reserved for Asia, as has been customary for Samsung before.

Note 9 Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 version benchmarks

Display

The screen will stay a 6.3" QHD+ SuperAMOLED affair, but the tipsters claim that it has enhanced brightness levels, more display modes to choose from, and the same Always-on Display regimes that are now on the S9/S9+. There will be a drastic AoD overhaul, they add, but it is reserved for the Galaxy S10 that will land at the MWC next year. The maximum brightness is tipped to be 1150 nits, which would catapult the Note 9 at the top of the luminance pile.

Camera

What's new with the camera, compared to the excellent dual S9+ shooter besides the horizontal placement of the lens and sensors? Well, both sources say they noticed a much improved image stabilization, and, despite that the dual 12MP modules are identical to the ones on the S9+, the light sensitivity has improved, they say, there is the variable aperture thingy that debuted with the S9, and brand new algorithms bring enhanced photography chops. Oh, and there are new and improved AR Emoji algorithms, too, if you are into that kind of thing.

Battery life

Perhaps the biggest single improvement over the Note 9, or any Galaxy S model so far, is the 4000mAh battery which both sources confirm, making the phone feel heavier in the palm. With brightness cranked up, and a video looped, the phone is said to last 23-25 hours on a charge, which is very impressive, and we can't wait to test if Samsung finally made a two-day flagship with average use out of the Note 9.

Price

The two independent sources mention a price tag of EUR 999 in Europe, and EUR 949 in Russia, and that's for the basic 6GB RAM/128GB storage version. It's expensive, but the Note 8 also started at about the same prices - $950 in the US, now fallen to $720 - so we can expect nothing less for the Note 9, sadly. While the announcement date is already official - August 9th - the release is not yet set in stone, but will likely be towards the end of next month, if history is any indication.

Any takers of the much larger battery, more storage and better camera of the Note 9 at that tag? Oh, let's not forget the new S Pen that can unlock doors and start cars. We kid, but one of the sources does tip there is a new way to unlock the phone with the help of the stylus, sight unseen. We are all in goosebumps now.

source: Mobile-review (translated) & Techtastic

Related phones

View Full specs

PhoneArena Rating:

9.0

Read Full Review

User Rating:

9.4

Based on 18 Reviews

Display 6.4 inches
2960 x 1440 pixels

Camera 12 MP (Dual camera)
8 MP front

Hardware Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 6GB RAM

Storage 128GB, microSDXC

Battery 4000 mAh

OS Android 10
Samsung One UI

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27 Comments

26. cocoy

Posts: 467; Member since: Oct 30, 2015

How about a flat screen variant Samsung? Not all of is want that curve screen of yours

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 10:51 PM 0

23. Blazers

Posts: 796; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

While I appreciate the update to the S-Pen, I still feel that Samsung is holding back a lot for their 10th anniversary models. I'll stick with my Note 8 and see what they have up their sleeves for 2019.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 3:50 PM 0

16. j_grouchy

Posts: 194; Member since: Nov 08, 2016

It's just a shame it'll be insanely expensive and I cannot possibly justify spending that much.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 8:01 AM 0

15. piyath

Posts: 2445; Member since: Mar 23, 2012

Another year, same design...... Pass

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 7:51 AM 0

17. sissy246

Posts: 7129; Member since: Mar 04, 2015

And how many years did apple use the same design, like 5 years.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 8:34 AM 5

18. Mreveryphone

Posts: 1887; Member since: Apr 22, 2014

Exactly!

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 8:41 AM 0

19. toosmoove

Posts: 914; Member since: Sep 28, 2017

Another year, same imbecilic comment.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 10:52 AM 0

12. vuyonc

Posts: 1094; Member since: Feb 24, 2014

Rumours are looking good so far! Front facing speakers would make it a knockout phone for me. Real world brightness should be at least adequate.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 6:21 AM 0

10. MDave

Posts: 210; Member since: Apr 09, 2015

Still a warped display though. Hard pass.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 5:38 AM 1

5. nodes

Posts: 1165; Member since: Mar 06, 2014

please stop with maximum brightness when real life scenario can't take advantage on that. what kind of scenario that your phone only shows small part of the display?

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 4:47 AM 3

8. midan

Posts: 3295; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

Funny how techsceptic already made big thing about it without understanding what he reads :D

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 5:12 AM 2

9. Trex95

Posts: 2402; Member since: Mar 03, 2013

When you’re using your phone undersun then you’ll understand how’s higher brghtiness it’s important instead of stupid edge screen. I’m using S9 plus and has issue still undersun due to the edge reflect the light despite S9 plus comes with more brighter OLED than note 8.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 5:16 AM 5

24. nodes

Posts: 1165; Member since: Mar 06, 2014

the thing is that insane 1150 nits can only be achieved when there is only small or tiny part of the screen need to light up. when you use your phone the entire screen is light up, it could only achieve half if not worse. that's why on review sites other than DisplayMate the achieveable maximum brightness is way less than the advertised one.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 9:07 PM 0

13. Marcwand3l

Posts: 466; Member since: May 08, 2017

LoL those that say that the Note 9 has a noticeable brighter screen vs the Note 8 didn't do specialized lab tests on it. They simple used the phone normally and noticed it right away. Anyway samsung's displays are optimized to be as bright as they need to be depending on the situation. Note 9 will obviously have an impressive display.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 6:23 AM 1

25. nodes

Posts: 1165; Member since: Mar 06, 2014

i don't doubt the quality, it will be impressive, as S8 is already really impressive. it's the false marketing that grinds my gear. even Apple didn't advertise their brightness to be that high, despite it could reach that high on the same test applied on the X(only small part is light up)

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 9:09 PM 0

28. Marcwand3l

Posts: 466; Member since: May 08, 2017

You are getting worked up by a made up number and act like somebody is claiming something you don't agree with and that's all that matters. Note 8 is already birther than 1150nits with 1% active pixels so your argument is miss-placed.

posted on Jul 06, 2018, 6:43 AM 0

4. Hollowmost

Posts: 425; Member since: Oct 10, 2017

This will be the perfect Samsung flagship until the king of all smartphones comes #SX

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 4:47 AM 0

22. chenski

Posts: 801; Member since: Mar 22, 2015

Haha I'm also more interested in what SX vrinfs

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 3:40 PM 0

2. TechSceptic

Posts: 1156; Member since: Feb 05, 2018

This sounds like it's going to be a fantastic phone with quite a lot of generation improvements. The massive battery capacity jump in a smartphone of the same size, while also adding Bluetooth to the stylus is really impressive. The 1150 nits from an Amoled screen at 6.3 inches is insane and completely unparalleled in the smartphone world.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 4:28 AM 5

3. JMartin22

Posts: 2429; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

Honestly, I’m skeptical of that rating. The 800-1000 nit brightness DisplayMate talks about is not ever achieved under real life or practical circumstances. Only extreme scenarios of when the phone is on auto-brightness and is auto-boosted in a high contrast environment where like only less than 10% of the display’s pixels are on

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 4:31 AM 1

6. midan

Posts: 3295; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

iPhone X has the brightest screen in the market and you can actually use that brightness in real life.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 5:00 AM 1

21. TechNeck

Posts: 659; Member since: Aug 29, 2014

The LG G7 ThinQ's screen is brighter than my X, just sayin'. The X is bright, but not the brightest in the market right now. (And I mean without the boosted brightness)

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 2:19 PM 0

7. midan

Posts: 3295; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

Sorry to ruin your day but Note 8 already got 1240 nits in theory "The fact that the Note 8 isn't far and away the leader here may come as a surprise, especially after it was reported by DisplayMate that the device could reach a peak brightness of 1,240 nits. Indeed, the Note 8 can get brighter than the iPhone X, but only in extremely specialized conditions where a very small portion of the display is active. Owners are not likely to ever encounter such a scenario in typical usage, so when viewing full-screen content, Apple's phone actually performs better" But in reality 408 nitshttps://img.purch.com/tg-brightness-iphonex-jpg/w/755/aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLmJlc3RvZm1pY3JvLmNvbS85L1gvNzI0ODIxL29yaWdpbmFsL1RHX0JyaWdodG5lc3NfaVBob25lWC5qcGc= Must be hard news for you

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 5:06 AM 6

27. perry1234

Posts: 655; Member since: Aug 14, 2012

The 1150 nits of brightness is achieved when : only one square inch of phone is lit up + when the manual brightness is cranked to max + Auto boost is enabled + you are shining down a super bright light on the device's ambient light sensor. I am not critiquing, it will most probably be the brightest phone, but achieving 1150 nits in day to day usage is impractical and frankly not required too. Superb contrast on AMOLEDs most often compensates for such high brightness requirement anyway. Also, in achieving such high brightness , manufacturers hurt the other spectrum of a display: lowest brightness. I don't want to be blinded by a screen in a dark room / theater just because the phone maker was too busy tuning the display for peak brightness. And I say this, even though the sun is pretty damn bright where I live.

posted on Jul 06, 2018, 12:04 AM 0

1. JMartin22

Posts: 2429; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

Yet, when PA tests it with their weird battery script, it will probably reach mediocre/average scores of around 8 hours of usage, while other sites report above average ratings.

posted on Jul 05, 2018, 4:25 AM 12

11. Marcwand3l

Posts: 466; Member since: May 08, 2017

I'll say it now. In PA's test Note 9 batter will score similar to an iphone x/ 8 plus ore only a little more than them. Although there is a possibility it would score lower.