top picks

It's easy to find a great phone today. In fact, current flagship devices are so good you really don't need to be replacing them every year.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 display is stunning. Independent testing confirmed you will not find a better display on a smartphone today.

Since the display is what you spend hours looking at each day and one of the most important aspects of a smartphone, having a record-setting display backs up my decision to put the Galaxy Note 9 at the top of my 10 best smartphones list.

DisplayMate, a company providing calibration, testing, evaluation and optimization of displays, has issued it's latest report on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9.

It would probably be more surprising to see a new Samsung flagship release and then not hear about how the display improved. With the Galaxy Note 9, Samsung continues to raise the bar with a focus on picture quality and color accuracy. Brightness has been increased so that outdoor visibility is improved over the Note 8.

Dr. Soneira stated, "Even with our new tougher grading standards and new tests, the Galaxy Note 9 receives 100% all green very good to excellent ratings in all categories, earning DisplayMate's highest ever A+ grade."

Samsung seems destined to break records in display technology with each major flagship release. This year we see Samsung set the following records:

Very High Absolute Color Accuracy (0.5 JNCD) that is visually indistinguishable from perfect and significantly higher than on the Galaxy Note 8.
High Brightness Mode that is up to 27 percent brighter and has 32 percent higher contrast than the Galaxy Note 8 in High Ambient Light.
Peak Luminance that is independent of the on-screen image content APL.
Color Accuracy and Intensity Scales that are independent of the on-screen image content APL.
Lowest Screen Reflectance (4.4 percent).
Viewing angle performance where only a 27 percent decrease in brightness is experienced at 30 degrees.
Galaxy Note 9 matches or sets many new Smartphone Display Performance Records, earning DisplayMate's highest ever A+ grade.

I've been using a new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 since last Thursday and have been thoroughly enjoying the display for apps, games (Fortnite), and video content. It is simply stunning and if the display is important to you this detailed analysis and the results may help you justify the price of the Note 9.

Make sure to read through the entire article to view all of the details of the advanced testing conducted by DisplayMate.

Galaxy Note 9 event: First look at Samsung's... SEE FULL GALLERY