MANILA - The ninth iteration of Samsung's Galaxy S flagship is its best yet and arguably the most well-rounded Android flagship available, with a camera that competes with the Pixel 2 and the iPhone X.
But the S9 and S9+ merely improve upon its predecessors, the S8 and S8+ from 2017, which brought full-screen displays to the mainstream. The two lines are nearly identical in appearance.
While the new phones solve the previous generation's biggest ergonomic flaw, the performance enhancements, which are expected from annual upgrades, come at a very steep price.
DESIGN
The S9 line perfected the S8's design by relocating the fingerprint sensor to below the back camera lens (dual lenses on the S9+), making it easier to reach.
It's the design improvement that matters most since it eliminates the finger acrobatics S8 users had to deal with when unlocking their devices. The bezels are a bit smaller and the phone is slightly shorter, but these are invisible to the naked eye.
The curved sides also appear less pronounced, not nearly as flat as the Note 8, but curved enough to make it stand out from lower-end Samsung phones.
Four years after it was first introduced on the Galaxy Note Edge, the curved sides are still more aesthetic than useful. It also makes finding responsive glass screen protectors difficult.
The Bixby button still lives below the volume rocker, and the digital assistant Samsung wants you to use will appear every time you mistake it for the volume down key.
Samsung's display prowess is evident on the S9, images and text look sharper than on any other handset except the iPhone X (Samsung also reportedly made that screen).
CAMERA
Samsung hyped the "re-imagined" camera on the S9, which has two aperture settings that adjust to lighting conditions. The camera does take brighter shots but at the cost of softer images.
The software that makes photos taken with the newest Google phones are unmatched, but the S9 comes close.
The S9+ easily exposed the painted details of the metal ceiling and beams inside the dimly-lit San Sebastian Basilica .
It also captured both the details on a sunlit stained glass window as well as the details of the walls that surround it.
Like the iPhone X, the second lens on the larger S9+ is telephoto, which allows zoom. It's a first for the S line and like the Note 8 which came a few months before, it allows the user to blur the background, creating a "bokeh" effect.
Portraits using the S9+ are not as bad as the iPhone X's portrait lighting mode, which can make subjects appear as cutouts, but some details can get blurred when they shouldn't, like unruly strands of hair.
Super slow motion doesn't work well in the dark (we tried it with fireworks) and you have to press on a yellow square outline on the camera interface to trigger the feature.
Samsung's answer to Animoji, AR Emoji, is novel at best and creepy-looking at worst.
Here are some test shots using the Galaxy S9+:
PERFORMANCE
The Samsung logo on the startup screen turns bold white faster, underscoring the power of Samsung's in-house Exynos 9810 processor (Snapdragon 845 in other markets).
Except for a few color accent changes that favors blue and green over orange, Android Oreo skinned with Samsung's Experience is almost indistinguishable from the S8.
Samsung's user interface is unobtrusive, and in a good way, a far cry from the garish teal and neon green color scheme of its former TouchWiz UI.
There was no noticeable improvement in battery life. Unplugged at around 3am for a roadtrip and after taking photos at sunrise and some light Instagram browsing, power was half depleted before noon. On a workday filled with chats, emails and browsing while commuting, it lasted from early morning to early evening.
Unlike Huawei's Mate series and other battery powerhouses, the S9 is a phone that will need a midday top-up if you plan to use it until midnight.
CONCLUSION
Smartphones are supposed to get better every year as technology advances. Software becomes snappier, camera get sharper and screens get bigger as phone cases shrink.
Samsung is touting these improvements, albeit predictable, for its iPhone X challenger. For the first time, the Korean electronics giant implemented an iterative upgrade instead of a complete overhaul from the previous year.
But it's a harder proposition, given the already saturated market wherein Chinese manufacturers like Huawei and OnePlus offer a similar experience at half the price.
The S9 and S9+ are gorgeous pieces of tech with performance and cameras to match, but with a price tag that will shock most users, especially to holders of the S8 line.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
