[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] One Twelve:
Exactly, we're talking about auto which isn't going to get it right when light is low. Five out ten is average it isn't bad it isn't good. But it isn't a problem. I've frequently had to retake indoors for years now. Usually i'm documenting things and i want text sharp, this is even more demanding than usual. If it isn't tack sharp at the pixel level it means do over. Simple as. And this is with the G4 which was the best when it came out. Still good even today. I some times feel the V20 takes more effort but i do it. Maybe i'm holding the camera out much more these days and that will invariably increase camera shake.

So expecting tack sharp in low light each time, every time isn't a realistic expectation. But that is what people expect. Well, not happening. I can't help thinking you've seen a night shot outdoors comparison test by one of the publications showing the pixel doing better than the Note 9. That test is garbage because its random. The results will vary if you repeat that test with the Note 9 and possibly even the pixel. I'd never expect to get consistent photos in scenes like that. And if the test isn't repeatable then its worthless.

Point is very simple and one i've been hammering people with for years now. If Auto does not cut it then use manual and get the shot. I mean why wouldn't you want to get better than auto can do. It isn't difficult. There is no pressure to get it right on the first take. These are personal shots after all. Waiting for camera updates which may never come is pointless when you already have the tools to do the job. Besides the Koreans don't update camera all that often. The camera is good out of the box. That is for the likes of Sony, HTC, oneplus etc. Six months after launch they fix the camera. In auto. Those that could tweak were doing fine right from the start.

I've seen nothing in the examples you've posted that suggests there is a problem with the camera.

You only had the pixel for a short while, a longer stint would have brought out its quirks. The first pixel was notorious for setting focus in the wrong spot. Note that numerous updates did nothing to fix this issue. It was only fixed with the Pixel 2 or let's say it didn't get it wrong as often. You can tell with the pixel as that camera includes range finder data. Where it set focus. If you see it setting Macro when the scene is not then details in the distance are soft on closer examination. Interestingly, the google camera mod also shows this data but no OEM does to my knowledge.

I'd say its a bug in with your app given you used the same one and the S9 was fine. But it somehow damaged the Note 9 data. you can test this yourself. How much of the data is retained or not. Whether that was a one off. Can't really say much with a sample size of one :)

That was an auto shot with a little -ve exp comp.

It's to do with your comment about people liking pixel. Pixel flattens images. This isn't good its bad. The pixel would have done its HDR on that image and ruined it. If you disabled HDR you still wouldn't be able to get it. That is the difference between traditional shooters and pixel. I'm not a fan of these auto processing tricks that seem all the rage these days as it makes it impossible to diagnose problems as mentioned in this thread. Why does this photo not look right is a very common question asked over the years on boards here.

Huawei is notorious for adding scene modes for everything. You can't disable it even in manual. The results are predictably inconsistent. More companies are going down this route. Samsung introduced multi-frame processing to compete with hdr+ in the S8. To this day if a photo looks off i've no idea where the culprit lies. You can't disable mfp AFAIK I can't even tell what mfp does

Now we have scene enhancer. What pray tell does it do. Seems like a simple levels correction. And if that's all it does then leaving it on isn't a bad thing. But if it does more then maybe not. None of these tools has any documentation. Some body will discover its features by trial & error.

All this to say i think the Note 9 is a noticeable improvement over the S9 in both stills and video. The difficulty with supporting that assertion is its subjective. The sample shots i've seen in reviews do show the difference when i compare with the S9 at least in my mind. Stick with it.