Finally, the wait is over, the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S9 has finally arrived. The Samsung Galaxy S9 was launched at the 2018 MWC event in Barcelona, Spain alongside the bigger variant, which is the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 which was announced in February 2018, returns with a more improved camera, though some of the features are the same with that of its predecessor, Samsung Galaxy S8. The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with an increased and a more improved AI presence for many other features. Stay tuned as we take you round this smartphone.
Design
Coming down to the design of the Samsung Galaxy S9, this device has the same similar appearance as that of its predecessor. Just like the predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S9 features a body design that is made up of both metal and glass making this device look stylish and classy.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 seems to be heavier and thicker and that gives it a more premium feel. But, one of the obvious difference between the Samsung Galaxy S9 and its predecessor is the relocation of the fingerprint sensor that used to be by the side of the camera, has been changed from that position to another, but still within the camera module.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes in varieties of colors like Titanium Gray, Midnight Black, Lilac Purple, and Coral Blue. Note that the colors may likely not all be available in all countries.
The bezel at the top looks a little bit slimmer compared to the former products of Samsung, I think this was a conscious effort by the company to make the sensors of this device less obvious. Luckily, the Samsung Galaxy S9 still retains the 3.5mm audio jack that most flagship phones fail to feature lately.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with a water/dustproof (IP68), which means that this device can be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes and still survive it.
The 5.8-inch device comes with a rich and vibrant display, and still maintain the 18.5:9 aspect ratio that allows you to have more space for the screen with it actually being that large.
By default, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Super AMOLED display runs on a full HD resolution, in other to conserve power, but you might want to change that by going to the settings should in case you want perhaps the maximum 2960 X 1440 pixels (570 ppi) and don’t give damn about the battery life. The Samsung Galaxy S9 adopted the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection against easy damage and scratches, coupled with that nice curve display that gives it that unique and eye-catching look.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with that Always On feature, that displays useful information such as time and date whenever the phone screen is locked. The screen of this device also supports HDR10 and 3D Touch on the home button. The near-bezel-less device gives you that feeling of an infinity display with its edge to edge screen.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with more AI integration in their camera, which is the trend in flagship smartphones that are trying to give us a whole new milestone capturing-experience.
At the back of the Galaxy S9 is seated a new 12MP that has a DRAM chip mounted on top and it supply’s power straight to the camera, thus giving the device a much faster processing speed. There is an amazing dual aperture technology that switches between a f/1.5 and f/2.4.
The switch between the f/1.5 and f/2.4 is based on how bright the environment is, it uses the f/1.5 aperture, which is the smallest one when there is much light, and uses the bigger aperture during a low light condition.
There was one amazing camera feature showcased at the 2018 MWC event, which is the slow motion capturing up to 960fps at 720p. Though this feature is a great one, it has a timing problem, which is not great for capturing that really fast actions. And the remedy is the motion detector which will automatically start the recording once motion is detected. Don’t get too excited to know that you can record Slo-Mo at 1080p full HD, but at 240 fps.
The Optical Image Stabilisation of the Samsung Galaxy S9 can boast with up to 8X digital zoom, with the Bokeh effect also added to into the camera mix.
The front camera of the Samsung Galaxy S9 is packed with an 8MP sensor that offers a better wide angle selfies. There is also a Bixby Vision that helps to translate live texts that are written in a foreign language to your native language. According to Samsung, the camera can help estimate the number of calories that are in your food.
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S9 is offering two separate options based on the area or region that you reside. There are some carriers that are likely not to work in areas like the USA for instance. In other to prevent such, Samsung rolled out two separate SoCs. for users in regions like China and USA, you have an Octa-core Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 845 processor assisted by an Adreno 630 GPU. While, for others residing in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, you have the Octa-core Exynos 9810 chipset with a Mali-G72 MP18 GPU.
Samsung Galaxy S9 houses a 4GB RAM which I think is enough to carry out a smooth performance. The device comes with internal storage space variances of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. This device also supports external storage Via a microSD of up to 400GB.
The Galaxy S9 runs on Android 8.0 Oreo coupled with the Samsung Experience UI which was formally referred to as the TouchWiz. There is a presence of a Knox for real-time security monitoring and protection, coupled with the ability for you to create secured folders that will require biometric scanning (iris scanning or fingerprint scanning) in other to be able to access them. There is also a Samsung Payout of the box, which helps for easy and secure payment on your phone. Least I forget, The Galaxy S9 also comes with a DeX for desktop experience support.
Battery
The battery life is one of the features that I look out for before going for any smartphone. Though it would have given me great joy to see a longer lasting battery capacity in the Samsung Galaxy S9, nevertheless, this device only comes with a 3, 000mAh battery. It also supports fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0) and Qi / PMA wireless charging.
Samsung boasts up to 14 hours Wi-Fi use for the Galaxy S9. Also, you get 12 hours and 11 hours respectively on 4G and 3G and you also boasts 16 hours of video playback.
Other Features
- NFC ~ Yes,
- 3.5mm Jack ~ Yes,
- Expandable storage ~ Yes,
- FM ~ FM radio (USA & Canada only)
- Water and Dust Resistance ~ IP68(30 mins),
- record 4k videos at 30 fps or 60 fps (Even Full HD videos)
- Colors ~ Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Titanium Gray, Lilac Purple, Burgundy Red, Sunrise Gold
Samsung Galaxy S9 Price
This year’s Samsung Galaxy S9 is currently sold for about £739, which is about 373, 000 Naira.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S9 probably didn’t succeed in wowing their fans with the kind of design it featured, but they made up for that with their amazing performance and new well-developed camera skills. Though they may not be the bokeh king, the Samsung Galaxy S9 has been able to succeed where it matters – in still and image quality.