SAMSUNG S9+

SAMSUNG UNVEILED THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+ AT THE GALAXY UNPACKED 2018 EVENT IN BARCELONA ON SUNDAY, GRABBING HEADLINES A DAY BEFORE THE MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS (MWC) KICKS OFF. WHILE THE SMARTPHONES LOOK VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL TO THEIR PREDECESSORS, THEY DO PACK IN SOME SIGNIFICANT UPGRADES IN THE CAMERA DEPARTMENT. WE MANAGED TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+ AHEAD OF THE LAUNCH EVENT AND HERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE.

IF IT’S NOT BROKE, DON’T FIX IT - THAT CLEARLY SEEMS TO THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND SAMSUNG’S DESIGN DECISIONS FOR ITS NEWEST FLAGSHIPS. FROM THE FRONT, THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+ LOOK NO DIFFERENT THAN THE GALAXY S8AND GALAXY S8+, THOUGH SAMSUNG CLAIMS TO HAVE FURTHER REDUCED THE SIZE OF THE BEZELS AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM. WE REALLY LIKED WHAT SAMSUNG HAD DONE WITH THE PREVIOUS GALAXY S FLAGSHIPS IN TERMS OF DESIGN, AND SAMSUNG HAS GONE AND FIXED THE ONE COMPLAINT WE HAD WITH THEM IN TERMS OF DESIGN/ ERGONOMICS - THE PLACEMENT OF THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER.

THE QUEST FOR EDGE-TO-EDGE DISPLAYS HAS RELEGATED THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER TO THE BACK OF MANY SMARTPHONES, BUT INSTEAD OF PLACING IT BELOW THE CAMERA MODULE NEAR THE MIDDLE WHERE IT’S EASILY REACHABLE, SAMSUNG MADE THE STRANGE DECISION OF PUTTING IT BESIDES THE REAR CAMERA MODULE AND FLASH ON ITS PREVIOUS GENERATION FLAGSHIPS. THIS MADE THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER MUCH HARDER TO REACH FOR MOST PEOPLE AND, OFTEN, INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE CAMERA MODULE SINCE YOU ARE REACHING FOR IT BLIND. WITH THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+, THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER IS BACK WHERE IT SHOULD’VE BEEN ALL ALONG.

WITH NO REAL UPGRADES IN TERMS OF THE LOOKS, SAMSUNG DESIGNED TO MIX THINGS UP BY INTRODUCING A BRAND NEW COLOUR WITH THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+ - LILAC PURPLE. THE COLOUR WILL CERTAINLY GRAB ATTENTION AND OUR INITIAL IMPRESSION IS THAT SAMSUNG HAS DONE A DECENT JOB EXECUTING A FINISH THAT WILL GRAB EYEBALLS WITHOUT FEELING OVER THE TOP. THE SMARTPHONES WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE IN MIDNIGHT BLACK, CORAL BLUE, AND TITANIUM GREY COLOURS, THOUGH AT LAUNCH, NOT ALL COLOURS MAY BE AVAILABLE IN ALL MARKETS.

ANOTHER SMALL BUT POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IS THE ADDITION OF STEREO SPEAKERS. IN ADDITION TO THE DOWNWARDS-FIRING SPEAKER, THE EARPIECE WILL NOW DOUBLE UP AS AN ADDITIONAL CHANNEL TO OFFER YOU STEREO EXPERIENCE WHILE LISTENING TO MUSIC, WATCHING MOVIES, OR LISTENING TO YOUR FAVOURITE PODCASTS. WHAT’S MORE, SAMSUNG HAS THROWN IN DOLBY ATMOS ON THE NEW GALAXY S9 AS WELL AS GALAXY S9+ AND IN THE LIMITED TIME THAT WE SPENT WITH THE DEVICES, IT SEEMED THEY WERE ABLE TO DO A DECENT JOB OF REPLICATING THE SURROUND EFFECT, GIVEN THE OBVIOUS LIMITATIONS OF A SMARTPHONE. OF COURSE THIS WAS AS PART OF A CONTROLLED DEMO, SO WE WILL RESERVE FURTHER JUDGEMENT ON THE  FEATURE UNTIL WE HAVE A CHANCE TO TEST OUT THE SMARTPHONES IN DETAIL AS PART OF OUR REVIEW PROCESS.

LIKE WE SAID EARLIER, POTENTIALLY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT UPGRADES THE GALAXY S9 AND GALAXY S9+ BRING ARE IN THE CAMERA DEPARTMENT - SUPER-SLOW MO RECORDING AT 960FPS, DUAL APERTURE CAPABILITY ON THE REAR CAMERA SENSOR, WHICH IS CAPABLE OF SHOOTING AT F/2.4 WHEN THERE’S PLENTY OF LIGHT, BUT CAN SWITCH TO F/1.5 WHEN THE PHONE DETECTS LOW-LIGHT CONDITIONS. THIS IS SUPPLEMENTED BY A SECONDARY 12-MEGAPIXEL SENSOR ON THE GALAXY S9+ FOR A DUAL REAR CAMERA SETUP. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE TIME WE SPENT WITH THE GALAXY S9 DUO ON SUNDAY WASN’T ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY DEFINITE COMMENTS ON THEIR CAMERA CAPABILITY, AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO TESTING THEM OUT IN DETAIL SOON.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S9+ SMARTPHONE WAS LAUNCHED IN FEBRUARY 2018. THE PHONE COMES WITH A 6.20-INCH TOUCHSCREEN DISPLAY WITH A RESOLUTION OF 1440 PIXELS BY 2960 PIXELS AT A PPI OF 531 PIXELS PER INCH. 

THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S9+ IS POWERED BY 1.7GHZ OCTA-CORE SAMSUNG EXYNOS 9810 PROCESSOR AND IT COMES WITH 6GB OF RAM. THE PHONE PACKS 64GB OF INTERNAL STORAGE THAT CAN BE EXPANDED UP TO 400GB VIA A MICROSD CARD. AS FAR AS THE CAMERAS ARE CONCERNED, THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S9+ PACKS A 12-MEGAPIXEL PRIMARY CAMERA ON THE REAR AND A 8-MEGAPIXEL FRONT SHOOTER FOR SELFIES.

THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S9+ RUNS ANDROID 8.0 AND IS POWERED BY A 3500MAH NON REMOVABLE BATTERY. IT MEASURES 158.10 X 73.80 X 8.50 (HEIGHT X WIDTH X THICKNESS) AND WEIGH 189.00 GRAMS.

CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS INCLUDE WI-FI, GPS, BLUETOOTH, NFC AND USB OTG. SENSORS ON THE PHONE INCLUDE COMPASS MAGNETOMETER, PROXIMITY SENSOR, ACCELEROMETER, AMBIENT LIGHT SENSOR, GYROSCOPE AND BAROMETER.

MANUFACTURER

SAMSUNG

MODEL

GALAXY S9

LAUNCH DATE (GLOBAL)

26-02-2018

OPERATING SYSTEM

ANDROID

OS VERSION

8

TYPE

SMARTPHONE

STATUS

ANNOUNCED

COLORS

·         MIDNIGHT BLACK

·          CORAL BLUE

·          TITANIUM GRAY

·          LILAC PURPLE

PRODUCT NAME

SAMSUNG GALAXY S9

DISPLAY

SCREEN SIZE (IN INCHES)

5.8

DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

SUPER AMOLED CAPACITIVE WITH MULTITOUCH

SCREEN RESOLUTION (IN PIXELS)

1440 X 2960

DISPLAY FEATURES

CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN

PIXEL DENSITY (PPI)

570

SCRATCH RESISTANT GLASS

CORNING GORILLA GLASS V5

CAMERA

FRONT CAMERA MEGAPIXEL

8

FRONT FACING CAMERA

YES

LED FLASH

YES

VIDEO RECORDING

YES

DIGITAL ZOOM

YES

AUTOFOCUS

YES

TOUCH FOCUS

YES

FACE DETECTION

YES

HDR

YES

PANORAMA MODE

YES

OIS

YES

PHASE DETECTION

YES

REAR CAMERA MEGAPIXEL

12

BATTERY

BATTERY CAPACITY (MAH)

3000

REMOVAL BATTERY (YES/NO)

NO

SENSORS AND FEATURES

KEYPAD TYPE

TOUCHSCREEN

MULTI TOUCH

YES

LIGHT SENSOR

YES

PROXIMITY SENSOR

YES

G (GRAVITY) SENSOR

YES

FINGER PRINT SENSOR

YES

ACCELEROMETER

YES

COMPASS

YES

BAROMETER

YES

GYROSCOPE

YES

DUST PROOF AND WATER RESISTANT

YES

CONNECTIVITY

WIFI CAPABILITY

YES

WIFI HOTSPOT

YES

BLUETOOTH

YES

NFC

YES

GPS

YES

SIM

DUAL

3G CAPABILITY

YES

4G CAPABILITY

YES

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU

SAMSUNG EXYNOS 9

CPU SPEED

2.3 GHZ

PROCESSOR CORES

OCTA

RAM

4 GB

GPU

MALI G71

STORAGE

64 GB

REMOVABLE STORAGE (YES OR NO)

YES