Samsung is officially kicking off the year w/ the 1st flagship of 2018: the Galaxy S9. Throughout the years, the Galaxy S line has beefed up the cameras, hardware, battery life, software, & even their name (the 1st 2 versions had names based on the carrier they were on, it was a mess back in the days).
So the Galaxy S8 was a game changer in regards to design, display, & cameras for 2017. Here in 2018, the Galaxy S9 is an update to that new standard Samsung created. This year we have the S9 & S9+ w/ this year's Plus model being a lot closer to their Note line in regards to specs & size. Alas, we only have the S9 so that will be our subject in today's review analysis. So we're looking to break down the Galaxy S9, find out who is the S9 for, & is it worth the upgrade? Come along for the brief journey.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is the approach Samsung took in regards to its beautiful design as it retains the same look of the S8. Same IP68 dust & water resistant body that still holds up well. Save for slightly smaller bezels for a slightly larger Infinity Display. So still beautiful but a slippery slab of glass for the most part w/ still the best display in all of the smartphone land. The perfect combo of vibrant, saturated colors, damn-near bezel-less panel. Just not sure why Samsung puts it only at FHD at default instead of QHD resolution. Still the best screen & hardware out right now. There's even a blood pressure monitor on board that currently not really supported yet.
Still has the best smartphone display on the market right now.
Intelligent Scan is Samsung's take on Face ID. This combines their Iris scanning & Face Unlock features into one biometric way to unlock your S9. Despite having to see a fast-blinking red LED light, it does work as advertised. You set it up, and hold the phone at a certain distance to unlock and you're in. It isn't fast as Face ID or simply using the fingerprint scanner though. And speaking of the fingerprint scanner, they moved to where it should have been on the S8. Directly underneath the rear camera housing. You can sometimes smudge the camera but once you know what it feels like, it's all good.
This is the 1st time Samsung utilized stereo speakers for their smartphone. They didn't go the route of dual front-facing but only one facing the front & still the same bottom firing one. They got the audio tuned AKG as well. They sure to not just beef the sound using hardware but software as well. They added Dolby Atmos audio effect to provide a virtual surround sound effect. So for those, that of you that use the phone's speakers for audio will be impressed. Definitely sound better than your average smartphone speakers. Good job Samsung w/ that one.
- 5.8inch QHD Super AMOLED Infinity Display w/ 2960 x 1440 resolution + 570ppi
- Snapdragon 845 CPU
- 4GB of RAM + 64GB of storage expandable via microSD up to 400GB
- Rear-facing SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP sensor w/ OIS + Dual Aperture lens of f/1.5 or f/2.4
- f/1.7 8MP front-facing selfie camera
- Stereo speakers tuned by AKG w/ Dolby Atmos surround effect
- IP68 dust/water resistant body
- 3000 mAh battery w/ fast wireless charging support
- Android 8.0 Oreo w/ Samsung Experience
This year's internals for the Galaxy S9 is the usual spec bump you would expect. You got the latest Snapdragon 845 CPU or if you're outside of the US, Samsung's own Exynos CPU. Definitely powerful enough to handle everything from graphic-heavy/intense gaming, zero slowdowns/crashes, and running w/ several apps open w/o any dragging present. The only thing that took a bit long was the initial setup but other than that, it has been smooth sailing. However, if you grab the S9+, you get an even bigger spec bump w/ 6GB of RAM to handle even more & be better prepared for the future.
On the battery side of things, this where Samsung decided to keep things the same as well. So here on the S9, you got a 3000 mAh battery. Being the same in size as last year gives us the same battery life. Light-to-moderate usage got me around 12 hours and heavier usage got me around a little over 8 hours. Good enough to last you a day and thanks to its fast wired & wireless charging, more consumers will be fine. Although I wish Samsung put a slightly larger battery inside but this will do OK.
Now for the part, you wanted to know about: the new cameras on the S9. Samsung is marketing it as the camera reimagined. Not sure about that but it is a good camera that has been beefed up a great deal since last year. This is thanks to 2 things: the new mechanical Dual Aperture lens & faster image processing via built-in DRAM to the sensor itself.
Based on the photos we took, we're loving the improved results. Giving us much better sharpening while retaining the saturated colors - whether you like them or nah. Thanks to the new Dual Aperture lens, the S9 can get even better low-light photos than previous Galaxy S devices & other smartphones. The new lens allows you to switch between f/1.5 & f/2.4 based on your lighting conditions. So in Auto mode it will do it automatically & in Pro mode you can toggle between the apertures w/ a touch of a button.
Unfortunately, you got the same 8MP selfie camera from last year w/ auto-focus in the front. There's nothing wrong w/ it but w/ all of the new & improved camera performance stays on the back. It's not terrible but after what Google & Apple did w/ their flagship selfie cameras, it would have been nice to beef up theirs as well.
With the Super Slow Motion feature, its beating the standard of 240 fps w/ a whopping 960fps @ 720p resolution. Mind you, Sony did this first last year w/ their Xperia XZ Premium smartphone and now offers it in 1080p resolution w/ their latest Xperia XZ2. Back to Samsung, it takes 0.2 seconds and stretches it to a 6 second clip ether manually or automatically. Keep in mind if you plan on using this feature often, you will need tons of light due to resolution & the frame rates. If not you will get a dark, grainy mess of a video.
Moving onto the software, we have the new great iteration of Samsung's Android skin w/ the Samsung Experience 9.0 over Android 8.0 Oreo. So for the most part, it is the same as on the S8 for the most part. With all of the SmartThings supported products out now (if you have some), can all be controlled by here as well. But let's dive into the new key things about it.
Trying to make a stand against Apple's Animoji w/ AR Emoji. This takes a 2D image of you to create a 3D model to copy your reflections as Samsung says up to 100 facial features like nods & winks. It doesn't work as well as they don't have their version of Apple's TrueDepth camera. If you don't hold it at a certain point, it won't work well. So between that and its lack of choices in creating/clothing your AR Emoji, I'm not gonna use it or see others using it. It also creates several GIFs of your AR Emoji which is the only thing I enjoyed about this.
We also see the return of Bixby & the dedicated Bixby button. You still got its take on Google Now along w/ voice commands but the addition of the newer Bixby Camera features make it interesting. It's not ready for primetime or warrants the need for its own button. As far as the Bixby Camera options go, you got live translation for images, get nutritional info from food, see what a variety of makeup products will look like on you via Sephora, and more. Think of it as Samsung's take on Google Lens or a more useful part of Bixby.
The Galaxy S9 is a great culmination of what you would expect from Samsung but everyone won't upgrade to it though.
TG 2 Cents
The Galaxy S9 is a great update to the S8. They made sure to beef up the performance w/ the faster Snapdragon 845 chipset, same camera lens but w/ better low-light abilities, nice-tuned stereo speakers, and fixing the fingerprint scanner placement. The AR Emojis, Super Slow-Mo, & Bixby Camera features are cool but not game-changing. Some of you may get some use of it while everyone else will chalk it up as a gimmick.
So if you have an S8 or S8+, there isn't a massive need to upgrade. Unless you got $$$ to do so but what you're essentially paying for is a slightly better camera & better speakers. But if you have an S7 or something older, this will be a great device to upgrade to. Keep in mind that we're still early in the year as there are still several new smartphones set to come out later this year.
