Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs Galaxy Note 8

Design

Aesthetically, it would be difficult for anyone to tell the two smartphones apart. From their metal-meets-glass premium constructions to the placement of their ports and buttons, there’s no denying that Sammy has recycled the majority of the design. To be technical, though, the Note 9’s is shorter and heavier, but it’s almost indistinguishable when you hold the two together in the hand. Still, there are a few changes to the design.
For starters, the most notable change here is the repositioning of the fingerprint sensor. Samsung received flak for having it placed in an odd spot near the camera with the Note 8, which made it prone to being covered and smudged when trying to unlock the phone. Thankfully, they’ve listened to the criticism this time and moved it just below the cameras – though, we still wish it were moved just a little bit farther down to give it more separation.

Secondly, the mighty S Pen with the Note 9 has been upgraded with Bluetooth LE connectivity for additional functionality. At the core, though, the S Pens with both devices function similarly in providing users that pen and paper-like experience when it comes to jotting down notes and drawing sketches, but now the Note 9’s S Pen becomes an extension of the phone. That’s because it can be used as a remote shutter for snapping photos, navigating between slides in a presentation, and even offering media playback controls. The added functionality is useful, but we wouldn’t necessarily say that they’re essential.

It is also worth mentioning that the Note 9 comes in a slightly different selection of colors. Out of the four, the new Ocean Blue Note 9 paired with a yellow S Pen makes for the most interesting color combo.

And lastly, the cameras on the Note 9's back occupy less room that what we see with the Note 8. It may be negligible for some people, but it’s still nonetheless a noticeable difference with their designs.

Display

Over on the specs side, the only change that’s evident in this comparison is the miniscule increase in size with the Note 9’s display, which of course, borrows the same all-screen look as its predecessor. It’s a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED panel with the Note 8, while the Note 9 goes up slightly with its 6.4-incher – with both employing Quad HD+ resolution. On paper, that equates to a slightly better pixel density count for last year’s Note 8. Then again, it’s something so insignificant that no one will notice.

Specs aside, the characteristics between them are surprisingly similar, which would lead many to believe that they’re identical. While their spot-on ~6400K color temperatures and color accuracy in the sRGB gamut chart appear to be the same, the only improvement we see with the Note 9 is its stronger brightness output of 575 nits, which is a step up over the Note 8’s mark of 518 nits. Naturally, that increase helps in the Note 9’s visibility outdoors under direct sunlight, but the Note 8 is still visible as well. This is truly a case for that age-old adage of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.