The Galaxy Note 9's One UI 2.0 beta program kicked off last week, and Samsung has now released a hotfix update for the phone in Korea and the UK to fix two seemingly critical bugs. We say seemingly because the translation from Korean to English isn't great, but it looks like one of those bugs is similar to one that wreaked havoc on the Galaxy S10 series.
The bug in question caused devices to stop accepting the PIN, password or pattern, leaving a factory reset as the only solution. The Galaxy Note 9's hotfix beta update changelog says “Unlocking after reboot” under the list of bug fixes, and we can only assume that it's the same issue as the one that Samsung had to fix on the Galaxy S10. The translation for the other bug fix is “Unintended issue of installing the app”, and we have no clue what that means, but it's likely to be important as hotfix updates don't usually include fixes for minor issues.
It remains to be seen when — and if — Samsung will expand the Note 9 beta program outside South Korea and the UK. The Galaxy S9 is supposed to get an Android 10 beta program as well; it should start sometime later this week, as Samsung had revealed on its community forums. As for the stable update, the company's Israeli arm is targeting a January release for the Galaxy Note 9 and an April release for the Galaxy S9, although these time frames could change at a later time.
Update: Samsung's notice for the hotfix beta in the UK confirms that one of the bugs resulted in the phone failing to unlock after a reboot.