Someone just published a hands-on Galaxy Note 9 review a month before it’s even announced Image source: Jacob Siegal/BGR

Samsung just confirmed that the Galaxy Note 9 will be unveiled on August 9th in New York, just as recent reports suggested. The phone will probably be one of the top three Android handsets you’ll be able to buy this year, but it won’t bring an exciting redesign or novel new features. In many ways, the Galaxy Note 9 will be similar to its predecessor, just like the Galaxy S9 is almost identical to the Galaxy S8.

The Galaxy Note 9 will bring a few improvements when it comes to hardware though, and a Samsung insider already knows everything there is to know about it because he’s spent time with the phone.

The Galaxy Note 9 will have almost the same design as its predecessor, Eldar Murtazin from Mobile-Review says. The Russian blogger has a long history of getting his hands on Samsung phones long before they’re released, which makes him a highly reliable source when it comes to upcoming Samsung devices.

The Super AMOLED screen should be even brighter than before and deliver an upgraded AlwaysOn Display functionality. The Note 9 will also come in two versions when it comes to processor options. Just like every other flagship, US-bound model will have a Qualcomm processor while international model will get Samsung’s own Exynos chip.

The base model will get a bump in storage to 128GB, and it’ll ship with the expected 6GB of RAM inside. Samsung is expected to sell 8GB/256GB and 8GB/512GB versions as well. All models will have microSD support as well. The Note 9 should have a similar price to its predecessor when it comes to the basic version. That’s at least 70,000 rubles in Russia, according to the report. Samsung sold the entry-level Galaxy Note 8 for $950 in the US last year. But expect to pay a lot more for the Note 9 if you want extra RAM and storage.

The cameras are going to deliver similar experiences to the Galaxy S9+, complete with a lens with variable aperture, improved low-light photography, and better optical image stabilization (OIS). The two lenses are placed horizontally, however, with the fingerprint sensor being positioned below them, just as rumors suggested. The AR Emoji feature is also supposedly getting an upgrade, according to the report, but we’re not getting our hopes up considering how bad it is right now.

The battery is also getting a welcomed bump. We’re looking at a 4,000 mAh battery ready to deliver more than two days of battery life and up to 25 hours of video playback at maximum brightness. Finally, the Galaxy Note 9 is getting a brand new S Pen stylus that will support Bluetooth connectivity, and it’ll also offer a new way to unlock the phone.

In other words, everything Murtazin had to say about the Note 9 sounds very familiar because the Galaxy Note 9’s specs and features have been widely covered in leaks this year, leaving virtually no surprises for the Samsung press conference in August. Murtazin does not mention any of the phone’s new software tricks, which means the only way Samsung can surprise the audience is with software features.