Samsung Galaxy S9 is the flagship smartphone of 2018. It is the first one which gets fastest 10nm processor of the world. The design is identical to previous Galaxy S8. Though there is not much difference in specs but there are some upgraded and innovative features which make it realize to you that you are getting advantages of a successor version. The Galaxy S9 is faster than Galaxy S8 thanks to its latest and powerful chipset doesn’t matter either of Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810, both are high-end SoCs and give approximately same performance.
Samsung Galaxy S9 sports 5.8" QHD+ display which follows 18.5:9 aspect ratio. It is IP68 certified. The device has 12MP (f/1.5) rear camera, 8MP (f/1.7) selfie one, 4GB RAM, 64GB Memory, and 3000mAh battery. With your Galaxy S9’ camera, you can create something like Apple Animoji. Traditional Sensors including Fingerprint, Iris Scanner, Facial Recognition and Heart Rate are available there. Android 8.0 (Oreo) is used to run smartphone.
Advantages
1 – IP68 Rated and Bezel-Less Display
2 – Fastest 10nm SD845 based Processor
3 – Ever Best Camera Lens (f/1.5 aperture)
4 – Animated Emoji of Yourself
6 – AKG Sound by Harman Speakers
6 – Fastest Connectivity (4G + imminent 5G)
Disadvantages
1 – Still 5.8 Inches Screen
2 – Similar design to Galaxy S8
3 – Previous 8MP Selfie Cam (no progress)
4 – Low Battery Endurance (Only 3000mAh)
5 – Sick Bixby Assistant
Body and Design
We have no doubt that Samsung Galaxy S9 has premium body and design. But if we compared it to predecessor Galaxy S8, then it comes to know that Samsung made no change in design even both looks almost same and you feel it hard to differentiate one from another. The Galaxy S9 is identical to its sibling and this fact disappointed Samsung fans, especially Galaxy S8 owners who want to switch to the successor flagship.
Samsung S9 is fabricated with polished metal body which is measuring 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm dimensions and weighing in at 163 grams. It receives IP68 rating which means you can submerge device deeply up to 1.5 meter for 30 minutes. One good thing is that the curvy sides of Galaxy S9 make it more convenient to have a strong grip on your exclusive handset. The gadget comes with 5.8 inches diagonal screen which is spread over the whole front where the bezels are reduced and the edges are eradicated so you will feel that you are holding a screen, not a smartphone.
Following the Galaxy S8, the S9 has a Power button and two Volume keys on left side while the Bixby button on right. Above the screen, a camera lens has established alongside some useful sensors. Dual SIM and microSD card tray is available on the top. At the bottom, a single speaker is replaced with double Harman stereo speakers assisted with Dolby Atmos for better immersive sound. It is the first handset in Samsung’s smartphone portfolio to get such combination of specs for pleasing sound which is excellent for listening music under the perfect loudness. USB Type C on bottom enables reverse charging. On the back of Galaxy S9, there is a well equipped Camera lens above the fingerprint sensor near the dual LED flash. This time, Fingerprint Scanner is 2X faster than that of Galaxy S8.
Display, Software and Bixby
Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with a decent Super AMOLED display of 5.8 inches based on 18.5:9 format. It is quite perfect for watching movies and playing games under the good colors saturation. S-Amoled screen ensures you are getting brilliant vivid and vibrant performance. You can surf browsing on your favorite Full View display. It has 1440 x 2960 pixels resolution which shows one of the sharpest, brightest and detailed pictures below the direct sunlight. You can read content easily on screen everywhere, indoors as well as outdoors. In manual mode, the display provides 360nits max brightness. However, in auto mode, the display gives up to 658nits max brightness. It is supported with 3D touch, HDR10 compliant and Always-on display. Gorilla Glass5 is used to keep away scratches.
As far as software is concerned, Galaxy S9 is powered by Android 8.0 (Oreo) which is skinned with Samsung UI. It has planned to upgrade to Android Oreo Beta (8.1) so don’t worry about software and its smooth and steady performance. The thing annoys consumers it’s Bixby which can work correctly with English but it performs imperfectly with other languages and Samsung has not yet announced any fix for it.
Performance and Memory
Chipset and Performance is the main difference between Galaxy S8 and S9. The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes in two models, depends on region. The US model has Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and Adreno 630 GPU. On the other hand, the China model has Exynos 9810 Chipset and Mali-G72 GPU. Both models are powered by 10nm Octa core processor. The SD845 version gives slightly better performance than that of Exynos 9810. Both models run much smoothly and show higher performance than precursor. It is the first time when you are going to experience the fastest processor of 10nm which boosts device efficiency and drains battery consumption to keep up your stunning device for a long time. It is supported with fastest 4G and imminent 5G network to offer you to get rapid fast downloads like never before.
The Graphical performance is ever best and you can play animations and games under the surprising graphics. With the 4GB RAM of Galaxy S9, you can run more than two heavy apps simultaneously without any lack of smooth performance. The gadget arrives in three storage variants – 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. MicroSD slot is optional (uses SIM 2 slot).
Photography, Selfie and AR Emoji
Camera is one of the most favorite subjects of smartphone users. Everyone wants to experience unique and best photography and that’s the reason to the launch of 12MP optics of Galaxy S9 having the widest aperture of f/1.5 like never before. You can switch f/1.5 to f/2.4 aperture which is amazing. Samsung Galaxy S9’s 12MP rear camera is more responsive and performs very nice. With the f/1.5 aperture mode, you can take best, splendid photographs in any light condition. Even in dark, it captures surprising bright images. With the f/2.4 aperture, you can get low light and shadowy pictures just for fun yet in daylight. At the instant of shooting, you’ll feel that the scenes are not so good but after getting snaps the camera modify those of your images with different beauty effects and at the end you’ll see that your photographs are quite perfect. In this segment, Galaxy S9 surpasses iPhone X because of its sharpest and brightest photography performance; doesn’t matter it is day or night. If we talk about blurred background images of portrait mode then the S9 is still behind. Its portrait mode can’t blur pictures’ background, unlike the iPhone X.
For a videographer, Galaxy S9 is too good. It can shoot 4K videos as well as FHD movies under the excellent result with the help of LED flash. Noise cancellation and other enhancements offer you a better video recording ability.
Not only that, Samsung S9 is capable to capture HD videos with outstanding 960 frames per second. It means you are going to have best Slow-mo video experience with a smartphone. It converts 0.2 second instant into six seconds long time. The Slow-mo videos by Galaxy S9 are smooth and bright in direct daylight. But in low light, Slow-mo does not work accurately and a little LED flash is not enough to capture every moment brightly in dark.
There is the same 8MP front camera which has used in Galaxy S8. If we talk about selfie performance, then we can say the S9 is excellent for scenario. It takes amazing and beautiful selfies. Bokeh mode, HDR and other features are also available. With the new Samsung flagship, the video calling experience is superb which can beat other flagship level devices except Google Pixel 2 XL. All is well, but, if we take a look at the previous device, then we have come to know that there is no upgrade in Galaxy S9 which can differentiate it from Galaxy S8. In the competition with iPhone X, Galaxy S9 selfie performance is not overwhelming.
Emoji are the best way to show expressions - as it is a better way of fun with friends. Samsung’s competitor Apple has already presented iPhone X which can generate animated emoji of consumer’s face called Animoji. So, Samsung added AR Emoji feature in Galaxy S9 which allows Samsung fans to capture their face in order to create animated emoji of them to share their expressions and mood with friends for entertainment. Galaxy S9’ AR Emoji cannot beat iPhone X’ Animoji but it is still a good improvement over the predecessor.
Face Unlock, Battery and Price
Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with Face recognition as well as Iris scanner to offer you a better Face Unlock. Face recognition captures your 100 facial points while the Iris scanner scans your eyes and the combination guarantees that your device is more safe and secure with biometric security and only you can access your handset. It is slightly different with the Face Unlock of iPhone X which only identifies your face whereas the Galaxy S9 recognizes both face and eyes to allow access to smartphone. For Samsung Pay and other banking matters, you cannot use Face Unlock and at that time Fingerprint Sensor is useful which facility is not available in iPhone X which has no fingerprint sensor and consumers can’t use Face Unlock for apps purchase.
The most frustrating thing in Galaxy S9 is battery. Samsung completely neglected the role of a battery in a smartphone. There is only a 3000mAh power source behind a QHD+ display. Its endurance rating is not satisfactory for a full working day but for a half day it is quite good. The battery drains more quickly whenever you increase brightness or play games. Talk time is okay but the total handset life is not acceptable for a flagship device. A good fact is that it can be recharged instantly with the support of Fast Charging option which provides 38% life in half an hour. It takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to get fully recharged.
You will be pleased with the Price of Samsung Galaxy S9 which is cheaper than that of Apple flagship iPhone X ($999). The Galaxy S9 is available for $720 which is not expensive for a high-end smartphone.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy S9 is similar to the Galaxy S8. It has a few upgrades over the predecessor for a price tag of $720. So if you can spend $100 more then you should purchase Galaxy S9 Plus ($820) which comes with dual rear cameras, bigger display of 6.2 inches, 6GB RAM, and longer life battery as compared to Galaxy S9. Otherwise, Galaxy S9 is enough excellent to give you a unique experience of f/1.5 camera aperture, AR Emoji and 10nm processor based Snapdragon 845 which provides best performance as well as advanced connectivity modems for the advantages of fastest 4G and 5G internet.