Samsung has finally launched its 2018 flagships- The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The smartphones pack a bunch of new features such as AR Emoji (something like Apple’s Animoji), Bixby Vision, Face Unlock method, and AKG-tuned dual speakers and they have really put some efforts into phone’s rear camera system that adapts automatically according to various lighting conditions for enhanced photography.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ have been priced at $719.99 (roughly Rs. 46,600) and $839.99 (roughly Rs. 54,355) respectively. You can reserve the unlocked model now by visiting Samsung’s online store and make the pre-order on March 2. Samsung will launch the smartphones in select markets on March 16. Indian customers can pre-book any of the smartphones by making a deposit of Rs. 2,000. Both the phones will be available to buy in three color options- Lilac Purple, Midnight Black, and Coral Blue. Pre-booking is live in select regions like UK and India (as mentioned earlier).
Let’s first discuss the improved camera system and other new features before detailing the specifications. The primary rear camera on the smartphones features dual aperture setup and supports f/1.5 and f/2.4 modes. When there is a bright light, the camera automatically switches to the f/2.4 mode and when there is dark or super low-light, the camera adjusts itself to f/1.5 mode. The duo captures 28 percent more light than Galaxy S8 flagships and packs a new multi-frame noise reduction feature that results in 30 percent less noise. The camera also packs super slow-mo feature allowing users to record videos at 960 fps (0.2 seconds of recording stretches to 6 seconds of playback). Users can shoot 20 slow-mo shots per video and it supports only HD resolution. Users can turn the slow-mo video into a GIF with three styles of looping- reverse, forward, or swing or set them as home/ lock screen wallpapers.
With AR Emoji feature, you can create an augmented reality version of yourself by simply taking a selfie and hence letting you express your feelings being you as emoji stickers and videos. Samsung has also introduced Bixby Vision, its AR assistant, within the camera app offering live translation or information about a thing in real-time. All you have to do is to open the camera or an image and it will start scanning for what you need to know. Users can scan a food item and it will give the name along with the calorie count. It can also recognize buildings or the location where you are standing and lets you share your location with friends and family. It can also translate street signs or something written in a language that you don’t understand in real-time. This feature will be available in select regions.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ come with Intelligent Scan feature that enables face unlocking even in low-light condition. The phones support three different biometric authentication options- fingerprint, iris, and face recognition. Listening to complaints with previous flagship smartphones, Samsung has finally placed the fingerprint sensor right where it is meant to be placed- below the camera module.
Both the smartphones sport near-to bezel-less Samsung’s Infinity display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio and there is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides of the smartphones (front and back). Samsung S9 and S9+ packs stereo speakers tuned by AKG for crisper and louder audio experience. According to the company, the sound is 1.4x more powerful than previous Galaxy smartphones. Powering up the whole setup is the Dolby Atmos surround sound technology for a theater-like experience. Both the Galaxy smartphones are rated IP68 for water (1.5m for up to 30 minutes) and dust resistance and also supports wireless charging.
The smartphones also support Samsung Dex Station for a desktop-like experience. You can connect the smartphone to a monitor and a mouse using Samsung Dex and use your smartphone on a big screen. Samsung has also launched Dex Pad, a new accessory that allows you to use the smartphone as input devices such as a touchpad or a touch keyboard for enhanced Dex experience.
Coming on to the specifications, Samsung Galaxy S9 sports 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED 18.5:9 display while the Galaxy S9+ sports 6.2-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display with 18.5:9 display ratio and there is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top. Both the smartphones are powered by Samsung Exynos 9810 octa-core (4×2.8 GHz Mongoose M3 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A55) SoC paired with Mali-G72 MP18 GPU and 4GB of RAM. The United States and China customers will get Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core (4×2.7 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver) processor paired with Adreno 630 GPU and 4GB of RAM.
In terms of storage, the smartphones come in two storage options- 64GB (all color models) and 256GB (only Midnight Black models). The internal storage is expandable up to 400GB via MicroSD card. Camera department on Samsung Galaxy S9 includes SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP rear autofocus f/1.5-f/2.4 primary sensor with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and an 8MP front autofocus camera with f/1.7 aperture. While the Galaxy S9+ packs dual rear camera setup with dual OIS consisting of one SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP autofocus f/1.5-f/2.4 primary sensor with a wide-angle lens and one 12MP autofocus f/2.4 sensor with a telephoto lens. On the front side, the smartphone features 8MP autofocus f/1.7 selfie sensor.
Both smartphone support dual-SIM hybrid setup and runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. The Galaxy S9 packs 3000mAh battery while the Galaxy S9+ packs 3500mAh battery. Connectivity options on board the Galaxy smartphones include Gigabit LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 G+5 GHz, Bluetooth v5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), NFC, GPS/A-GPS, USB Type-C, and 3.5mm audio jack. Sensors on the smartphones include proximity, accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, hall sensor, HR sensor, RGB light sensor, and a pressure sensor.
