Galaxy Note 9 is a flagship device from Samsung, sports 6.4 inch AMOLED display with QHD resolution, powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC and running on Android 9 Pie (One UI) currently. The Galaxy S9 is also a flagship device from Samsung and features 5.8 inch QHD display and now running on Android Pie.
Both flagships are arrived with Android 8.0 Oreo and later received the Android 9 Pie update with One UI skin. The next update for these flagships is Android 10 Q. Google released the sixth and final Beta of Android Q on August 8th. However, the official release got out on about one month after, on September 3rd. The tenth anniversary edition and the next android updates don’t feature codenames as Google announced in a blog post.
When will Android 10 hit Note 9 and S9
The Search Giant released the third beta in May at I/O 2019 and announced that flagships like LG G8 ThinQ, Sony Xperia 1 will also get the early beta of Android Q. Since, Samsung is not participating in the Beta program, there won’t be an early Android 10 Beta rollout for Note 9 and S9. However, the South Korean tech giant may start its own Beta program for Note 10 and S10 in its home country and the US very soon, according to leaks.
Most likely, Samsung will include Note 9 and S9 devices in Second phase Beta program soon after Note 10 and S10. So the Android 10 Beta program may begins from November or December 2019 and extends till February 2020. So the users of Note 9 and S9 may receive the final version of Android 10 in March 2020.
We will post the confirmed rollout dates of Android 10 for Note 9 and S9 here, as soon as Samsung has announced them.
What’s new in Android 10 ?
As Android Q is the tenth major update, Google is developing it very different from previous ones and also planned for six Betas for Pixel devices before final release.
The Gesture navigation without nav bar is one of the major changes coming with Android Q, but it is upto Samsung whether include this feature in its update or not. So more details about Gesture navigation will be revealed once the official Beta program for Samsung flagships has started.
System-wide Dark mode is another most aniticipated feature for stock android users, fortunately came to Note 9 and S9 with the One UI update previously. So the remaining major features expected to come in the update are Digital wellbeing with Parental controls, Focus mode, Improved app permissions and privacy options, system-suggested smart replies, live captions and Improved securtiy features.
The new features exclusive to Samsung may include : New Camera interface and refinements, Improved Settings menu, Visual improvements and others. More details about the Android Q update features will be revealed in coming days.
One UI 2.0
The South Korean tech giant rolled out the exclusive user interface called as One UI based on stock Android Pie interface for Galaxy S9 devices with the Pie update. The update also includes full-featured night theme. So Samsung flagship users got dark mode even before the stock android users got it. Gesture based navigation also available in One UI similar to that in Android Q Beta.
However, according to some latest leaks, Samsung is going to rollout the updated version of One UI with the Android Q update for Galaxy S9 and Note 9 flagships. The One UI 2.0 is coming with Android Q update for these flagships. What’s new inside the One UI 2.0 is still unknown but Samsung may include some exclsuive features of Android Q like new Gestures, silent lockscreen notifications, Digital wellbeing with Parental controls and improved dark theme.
Digital Wellbeing with Parental Controls
The Digital wellbeing is a remarkable feature introduced in Android 9 Pie. Now in the tenth anniversary edition of Android, Google refined with the addition of new components like Parental Controls and Focus mode. Using Parental Controls, Galaxy S10 users can restrict their children’s phone usage time and prevent smartphone addiction. Screen-on timer, specific App usage timer, app lock are the features of parental controls.
Focus Mode
Another new component in Digital wellbeing is Focus mode which helps to user to focus on one task with out constant interruptions. When the user turn-on the focus mode, it temporarily stops all notifications, alerts, so user can concentrate on work or watch a movie on the device.
Project Mainline
The Search Giant revealed many details about Project Mainline at the I/O 2019 in May. According to Google, android developers can update the critical modules of Android straight from Google Play without the rollout of full software update from OEM. So these updates will be downloaded and installed in background and applied at reboot.
The Search Giant told that Project Treble will come to all devices running on Android Q, no matter the manufacture is. However, full details about Project Treble will be revealed in coming days.
Update on 28/11/2020 :
The South Korean tech giant has started the rollout of the first beta of Android 10 aka One UI 2 for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ users in India and South Korea, a few hours ago. The Galaxy Note 9 users in South Korea and UK are treated with a Beta program of One UI 2 about a week ago. Today, in India also, Note 9 users are able to register for One UI 2 and download the beta.
Samsung released a hotfix nailing some serious bugs like failed to unlock after a reboot in Note 9 devices. The hotfix came with November’s security patch and improved Night mode feature exclusive for Note 9 and S9 devices. After installing the beta of size about 1.9GB, the Note 9 and S9 users will get all the standard features of Android 10 and the refined night mode feature faciliates to use night mode with front camera too.
Update on 21/10/2020 :
The South Korean tech Giant released the first beta of OneUI 2.0 for Samsung S10 series devices few days back in South Korea and USA. Now the rollout hits EU countries too. The users in Germany received the update last week and now the consumers in UK are able to taste the early build of Android 10 with build version G97*FXXU3ZSJD through Samsung Members app, according to Sammobile. The users in Spain also started getting the update, according to the report. So in coming days more countries including India, Poland, France will join the Beta program in this week.
So the predecessors of Galaxy S10 and Note 10 will also receive the first beta build of Android 10 with OneUI 2.0 very soon. Most likely in late-November or early-December, Samsung may start the beta program of One UI 2.0 for Galaxy S9.
Update on 11/7/2020 :
The fifth beta of Android Q has arrived yesterday for Pixel devices with minor refinements over the previous beta. Notifications got snoozing option which can be enabled by going into Settings>Apps & Notifications. Lock screen Notifications customizations is another refinement in this update.
The rollout has been paused due to some issues in installing the Beta on Pixel devices. So after resuming the OTA rollout of Beta 5, more details about the Beta will be revealed. The Search Giant is going to release the last beta with final system behaviours in the last-week of July, according to the official roadmap.
We will update this post periodically with latest news about Android Q for Samsung Note 9 and S9, so please bookmark this page and keep visiting.
