Samsung's flagship product, $ 450, is it better?

	OnePlus 6T	Galaxy Note 9
Starting price	$ 549	$ 999
Screen resolution)	6.4 inches (2340 x 1080)	6.4 inches (2960 x 1440)
CPU	Snapdragon 845	Snapdragon 845
RAM	6 GB, 8 GB	6 GB, 8 GB
Storage room	128 GB, 256 GB	128 GB, 512 GB
MicroSD	No	Yes
Rear camera	16 MP (f / 1.7), 20 MP (f / 1.7)	Double 12-MP (f / 1.5-f / 2.4)
Front camera	16-MP (f / 2.0)	8 MP (f / 1.7)
Battery size	3,700 mAh	4000 mAh
Battery life (hours: minutes)	10:23	11:26
Wireless charging	Yes	No
Resistance to water	Splash resistant	IP68
Cut	6.2 x 2.9 x 0.32 inches	6.3 x 3 x 0.34 inches
Weight	6.5 ounces	7.1 ounces

Design

It's been two years now that Samsung has the same look for its flagship products, but why play with something that works? Note 9 places the front and center of the Infinity Display in its design, giving this phablet an appearance as distinctive as Apple's handsets. The most significant change in the appearance of Note 9 solved one of the biggest problems of note 8. Samsung has moved the rear fingerprint sensor under the camera configuration of recoil from its uncomfortable position located right next to the targets.

Galaxy Note 9Similarly, the OnePlus 6T retains the glass design introduced with the OnePlus 6 earlier this year. The most important change is the one that may not be well received by traditionalists: OnePlus has abandoned the headphone jack 6T, decision that the phone manufacturer admits against the return of customers. Note 9 always has a headphone jack.

The OnePlus 6T is more compact than Note 9, but only in fractions of an inch. At 6.52 ounces, it's also lighter than the 7.1-ounce Samsung phone.

OnePlus 6TSamsung is not really known for its colors, but the phone maker has been a little relaxed with the Note 9. The phone debuted with less conventional options: Lavender Purple and Ocean Blue, adding then the Cloud Silver and Midnight Black options. mix. This is more options than you will get with the OnePlus 6T, which has just added a new purple model to join its two shades of black.

MORE: OnePlus 6T Review: Pure Magic, Perfect Price

Note 9 has an additional advantage over the OnePlus 6T. Thanks to its IP68 water resistance rating, Note 9 can swim in water up to 5 feet of water for 30 minutes. OnePlus only indicates that the 6T can withstand splashing water.

Winner: Note 9

Display

Both phones have a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, although both panels look different. While Note 9 offers an end-to-end Infinity display with only a hint of cache at the top and bottom of the phone, the OnePlus 6T features a notch, though less cluttered than one's. iPhone X the one that came down in the OnePlus 6 screen. At 2960 x 1440, the resolution of Note 9 is also significantly sharper than that of the 640 x 1080 panel.

OnePlus 6TBy measuring the brightness with a light meter, the result of 604 points in Note 9 surpassed the 405 nits recorded from 6T. Side by side inside, we have not noticed much space, but the more luminous screen of Note 9 makes all the difference.

Galaxy Note 9The phone screens are just as colorful: Note 9 reproduces 224% of the sRGB color spectrum on 222.6% of the 6Ts. These colors are about as accurate, with almost identical Delta-E dimensions: 0.34 for the 9 note and 0.36 for the 6T. (The numbers closer to 0 are better.)

MORE: Galaxy Note 9 vs Pixel 3 XL: Which big screen phone wins?

Looking at the trailer of Inspector Pikachu on their two default display modes, the OnePlus 6T's screen seemed a little more washed out and colder. This was certainly not as sharp as the 9 note panel, which is not surprising considering the differences in resolution. Note 9 also offers better viewing angles, better retaining brightness when we set the angle of the phone in our hand.

Winner: Note 9

Camera

If there is one area in which OnePlus phones have not followed the mantra "as good or better than any other flagship product", that is with the cameras. The cameras on OnePlus phones are generally good, although they have trouble keeping up with the torch of Samsung's more expensive flagship products.

Galaxy Note 9Note 9 sets a bar high enough to beat. While the 12-megapixel twin rear lenses of the phone are not so different from those of the Galaxy S9 + (up to the possibility of passing the f / 1.5 aperture to f / 2.4 according to the lighting conditions), Samsung has reinforced the artificial intelligence on the Note 9 to recognize the scene and optimize the camera settings in order to get the best picture possible.

OnePlus 6TThe OnePlus 6T also focuses on software enhancements rather than changing its 16 and 20 megapixel rear shooters. OnePlus has added a night mode that extends the exposure time for more detailed shots in the dark. Portrait mode has also seen some improvements.

But are these changes sufficient? Certainly, the OnePlus 6T does a better job than the previous OnePlus phones when the lights are dim. But as can be seen in this dimly lit photo featuring a stuffed bird, a candle and a pine cone, Note 9 still reigns as the king of low light.

MORE: iPhone XS vs. Galaxy Note 9: Why Apple's Camera Wins

Individual objects have a distinct appearance in the photo of Note 9. You can distinguish specific colors, even in low light. The flickering flame of the candle seems blurred in the shot of the OnePlus 6T and a visible lighting artifact is visible on the pine cone. The color is off on the sofa cushion in the background too.

Going outdoors on a snowy scene did not change the problems. Shooting the OnePlus 6T looks great, with the trees in the background providing fine contrast and the colors accurately reflecting a winter day. But the version of note 9 is more precise: it is easier to read the entire text of the sign signaling the crossing of Delaware by Washington, and the falling snowflakes stand out a little more.

OnePlus may have improved the portrait mode on the 6T, but it's not enough to exceed what the note 9 can do with fuzzy backgrounds. At first glance, the images look pretty similar, but the background of the 6T is a little too fuzzy, especially around my colleague Adam's beard and shirt collar. Shooting the 6T also has a larger perspective, which does not bother me particularly, but some of my colleagues did not care.

This is not a free kick for the Note 9 camera, however. The 16MP front camera of the OnePlus 6T captured a better self-portrait of Adam. The colors are a bit too hot in the selfie photographed by the front shooter at 8 MP from Note 9, and the right side of Adam's face has an unnatural shine. Things are a lot more balanced in shooting the 6T.

Winner: Note 9

Performance

You can expect similar performance from Note 9 and OnePlus 6T since both phones feature the same Snapdragon 845 chipset that you will find in most major Android handsets. And that's exactly what we got when we submitted both phones to a series of evaluation tests.

Galaxy Note 9On the Geekbench 4, which measures overall performance, the OnePlus 6T posted a score of 8,972. The score 9 result is barely 8,876, but this OnePlus victory comes with a caveat. We tested the base model Note 9, which comes with 6 GB of RAM. Our OnePlus 6T review unit included 8GB of RAM. If we were testing the 6T base model, which has the same RAM as Note 9, Samsung's phone may have got the best result; Again, this OnePlus 6T model costs even less than the $ 579 version we reviewed.

The OnePlus 6T also beat Note 9 when we used the 3DMark Slingshot Extreme 3.1 benchmark. The 6T recorded a score of 5,183 points, which is significantly higher than the score of 4,639 in Note 9.

OnePlus 6TRegarding special performance features, Note 9 features a water / carbon fiber cooling system designed to keep your phone running unrestricted, especially if you play a lot of processor-intensive games. We did not notice a huge difference when testing the water cooling capabilities of Note 9.

Meanwhile, OnePlus has updated its OxygenOS with a new SmartBoost feature that removes the back-end applications you use less often, improving launch speeds – and we've noticed this in the 6T test.

Essentially, the OnePlus 6T has a marginal advantage over Note 9 in terms of performance. But this gap keeps growing when you consider how much you paid less for the OnePlus phone.

Winner: OnePlus 6T

Software and special features

The release of Note 9 in August allowed Samsung to beat other flagship launches of the fall in stores. But that also means that Note 9 comes with Android Oreo at a time when other phones, including the OnePlus 6T, come with Android 9 Pie. In addition, OnePlus' Oxygen operating system, based on the latest version of Android, offers a cleaner and more sophisticated experience than Samsung's TouchWiz user interface on its Android phones. (Samsung seems to have recognized it with its preview of OneUI, with the Android 9 based interface coming on Note 9 and other phones next year.)

It would be a mistake, however, to reject footnote 9 simply because its operating system is a little older. Samsung's phone offers several convincing special features, highlighted by the S Pen. The stylus version provided with Note 9 adds Bluetooth connectivity, allowing you to use the S Pen as a remote control. Out of the box, this means that the S Pen can be a remote shutter when you want to take a picture with the phone's camera, or you can use it to control a presentation or music playback when your Note 9 is out of range. This month, Samsung has released development tools to help software publishers integrate S Pen support into their own applications. The stylus should therefore be more and more powerful.

Galaxy Note 9Note 9 also enhances DeX features offered by Samsung in previous flagship products that turned these phones into mini PCs when they were connected to a monitor. Previously, this required a separate docking station, but the Note 9 only requires an adapter and an HDMI cable, which facilitates the conversion of your phone into an ultra-portable PC, if that's the case. is how you ride.

We are less impressed by Bixby, Samsung's built-in digital assistant. Bixby remains a work in progress, although Samsung is fine-tuning it to allow you to make restaurant reservations or book Uber rides. These features were random during our tests.

OnePlus 6TThe operating system of OnePlus 6T being based on the latest version of Android, you can enjoy features specific to Pie, such as gesture navigation and adaptive battery support. The lens of Google Lens, the AI-based object recognition feature, is integrated with the 6T camera, while other features of the 6T's predecessor, such as the Unlocking the face and the game mode, come back in this iteration of the flagship OnePlus device. These are all nice features, but they really do not offer the extensive features you will get with the S Pen of Note 9, one of the best add-ons you'll find with any one. which flagship phone.

Winner: Note 9

Battery life

Note 9 has a larger battery than the OnePlus 6T: 4000 mAh against 3,700 mAh. And bigger turns out to be better, at least as far as the results of the battery test of our Tom's Guide is concerned.

OnePlus 6TWe have configured the two fully-charged phones to continuously browse the web via T-Mobile's LTE network until they run out of resources. The OnePlus 6T lasted 10 hours and 23 minutes, just over half an hour longer than the average smartphone. But Note 9 has had a better time. It lasted 11 hours and 26 minutes, beating the 6T time for over an hour. (We got this result by disabling the Adaptive Display function of Note 9. With Adaptive Display enabled, the 9th note lasted 11:16, which was still superior to the OnePlus 6T.)

Galaxy Note 9The Note 9 boasts another power advantage over the 6T because you can charge the Samsung phone wirelessly. You can not do that with the OnePlus 6T, but at least this phone still supports the OnePlus Dash Charge feature, which charges the 6T at 60% charge after only 30 minutes.

Winner: Note 9

Price and availability

There is no way around the vast price gap between these two phones. The Galaxy Note 9 is the flagship price tag for flagship phones, starting at $ 999 for a model with 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage. The OnePlus 6T base model has the same memory and storage specifications, but costs $ 450 less.

Even if you had to maximize memory and storage on the OnePlus 6T (with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of integrated storage), you would only pay $ 629. This is a $ 370 rebate on the starting price of the 9 note.

Note 9 has an advantage when it comes to offering more storage, with its 512 GB model. Of course, you will pay for the privilege, with this phone you Restore $ 1,249.

You'll find the note 9 available from all major US carriers, which is generally an advantage for Samsung's flagship brands compared to their unrestricted rivals. But OnePlus partially cancels out this advantage with the 6T: it's the first OnePlus phone to be available via an operator (T-Mobile in this case). In addition, the 6T runs on Verizon's CDMA network in addition to the T-Mobile and AT & T GSM networks.

Winner: OnePlus 6T

Bottom line

The OnePlus 6T offers many benefits, including the fact that it offers high-end features at a price well below what you would use for most high-end phones. But as attractive as this price is, the OnePlus phone is beaten by Note 9 in too many categories – not much, most of the time, but enough to make Note 9 the best option if you want the top to be big. screen phone.