Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Linus's daily phone, which Arun found surprising.

A bundle of small improvements that made it much better to use, and one he used for a long time.

Still feels premium with an S Pen, better display, OIS and speed, but battery degradation and no warranty hold it back.

A better phone all round with a larger battery, but he couldn't find one for under about $500.

A great phone when released, but unless you need the S Pen the Galaxy S10 Plus is a better pick.

Impressed him with 6 hours 41 minutes in third, helped by a software update that improved battery.

Still a good phone with the S Pen and a lower price, but the S10 Plus beats it in most areas.

Mentioned as praised by DxOMark for low-light photography, which makes the Pixel 3 review look inconsistent.

Great phone overall but held back by slow charging, finishing last of the five.

Mentioned only as having louder speakers than the Mate 20 Pro's, which he would prefer.

Reliable, full-featured and built like a tank, but the battery degraded quickly and its night shots were beaten by software-driven rivals.

Mentioned only as having a brighter display, reaching about 710 nits.

Lasted 7 hours 7 minutes at 1080p, but at its maximum resolution the iPhone XS Max tends to outlast it.

Used as his phone for months before switching, and used as a size comparison for the Mate 20 Pro.

Still a strong camera phone with 4K 60fps, good low light and better super slow motion, but outdone by the Mate 20 Pro in most areas.

Reasonably impressive given its large battery, but the 15W charging is dated and the result is not amazing.

Offers super slow motion and bright low-light photos, but weaker video stabilisation, selfies and highlight control.

One of the better flagship phones for battery life, finishing just ahead of the Pixel and almost level with the iPhone.

Used as the benchmark, with a clearly better display than the A9.

Intelligent Scan is secure enough for most people and gets to the home screen faster, but it struggles in pitch-black rooms and with sunglasses, though the fingerprint scanner is a handy fallback.

Strong in slow motion, stabilisation and low light thanks to its wide aperture, but its photos look over-sharpened and selfies are weaker.

Disappointing at full quad HD resolution, with poor battery life for its large battery.

Mentioned only as the rival the Mate 20 Pro is expected to stack up well against.

Best overall for video, stabilisation, zoom and low light, but selfies and portrait cut-out are weaker and it costs about $1,000.

Used as the benchmark: slightly higher average frame rate than the Honor Play but about three times the price.

Used as a benchmark for camera and battery life, with the Poco F1 matching or beating it.

An iterative but very polished flagship with great battery, storage and a useful S Pen, and he is switching to it as his daily phone.

Tested against rivals for battery life, but no verdict can be recorded without a transcript.

Not covered in detail, but it will be Samsung's top-tier go-to device until the S10 arrives.

He might switch to it as his daily phone once it is released.

Not yet released; he expects it to fit in his top 10 but probably not the top three because of its likely price.

The real phone is not yet released; he expects a 6.38-inch display, dual Dolby Atmos speakers and a better fingerprint scanner position.

Cited both as a fake benchmark leak and as a good example of genuinely independent sources lining up.

A good but iterative phone that he suggests skipping or waiting on, because bigger flagships are coming in 2019.

Mentioned as the next Samsung flagship, whose upgrades are expected to carry over to the S10.

Unreleased at the time; he thinks fixing the Note 8's weaknesses could make it an instant buy for many people.