Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus: What’s new and improved with Samsung’s 2018 flagship
Samsung finally took the wraps off of their highly anticipated device, the premium Galaxy S9 and its bigger and even pricier sibling, the Galaxy S9+. At first glance, they are basically identically designed from their predecessor. Let us say Samsung play it safe over design– and who can blame them if they reuse the legacy design language as it still is one of the top notch in the market today with its sheer elegance. There is less controversy time around, unlike last yea’s ridiculous placement of S8’s fingerprint’s reader. A little win here is the presence of headphone jack which is commendable for a 2018’s flagship.
What’s new with the Galaxy S9
The most significant upgrade is the camera. Samsung is the first to implement a dual aperture lens in a phone. Depending on the lighting conditions, it can either utilize a f/2.4 aperture in bright light or automatically adjust to f/1.5 aperture under low light. In theory it should allow to take even more detailed pictures than before even under dimly lit conditions.
The AR Emoji is a feature that scans a cartoon version of yourself using the front camera. It is basically Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Animoji, but the South Korean company’s take is more personal as it tries its best to render your animated doppelganger —unlike the set of strictly pre-rendered Animojis found on the iPhone X. In addition, you can use the AR Emoji stickers outside the confines of Samsung’s ecosystem, such as popular chat and messaging services.
Another camera feat introduced is the super slow motion capability as it now able to capture 960 frames-per-second recording. You can set it automatically to trigger slow-mo recording once a movement is detected.
Samsung finally implement a stereo speaker set-up for the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, which is enhanced by AKG. The speakers are located at the earpiece while the other is located at the bottom — and can produce a much richer and louder sound.
Lastly, speaking of aesthetics the key differentiator of the Galaxy S9 is the one found on the rear. We are talking about the fingerprint reader that is now placed in a more sensible position. It is now much reachable and less prone to accidentally smudging the camera.
Should you buy the Galaxy S9?
The new Galaxy phones brings to the table some outstanding features that improved upon its predecessor. But truth be told, the improvements are comparatively more modest this time around when compared to previous versions before it. That said, nobody is stopping you from getting the latest and greatest, but if you own the S8 or S8+, the incremental upgrade may understandably make you hold off from adapting till the next big thing, considering the heftier pricing scheme by Samsung.
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