So I got the chance earlier this week to check out the brand new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ in New York City the day after the announcement at Mobile World Congress aka MWC. The new flagship Galaxy S smartphones come with the features you expect and a heavy focus on the camera.
What’s New With The Galaxy S9?
Spec wise the Galaxy S9 and S9+ come with what you expect hardware wise. However, this year editions are separated by more than just display and battery size as there are now the camera and ram differences. The Galaxy S9 will come with a 5.8-inch QHD Infinity display, 4 GB of Ram, 3000 mAh battery and feature a single 12 MP primary camera now called SuperSpeed Dual Pixel with dual aperture optics which we’ll talk more about later.
The Galaxy S9+ is, of course, the bigger of the two with a 6.2-inch QHD Infinity Display, packs more ram with 6GB, 3500 mAH battery, and sports a dual camera setup with a 12 MP SuperSpeed Dual Pixel camera and a match Telephoto sensor. Both U.S. variants of the Galaxy S9 will come with a Snapdragon 845 processor, 8 Megapixel front facing the camera and run Android 8.0 oreo with Samsung user experience on top.
Hardware is also similar to the popular design of the previous generation Galaxy S8. An all glass design with a display taking up the build of the frame with a virtual home button with haptic feedback and a more central fingerprint sensor which is a very welcomed changed.
It’s All About The Camera
Speaking of changes, This year Samsung focused the changes of the Galaxy S9 on the cameras with the new SuperSpeed Dual Pixel with dual aperture technology. This new camera now has more processing power right on the sensor that allows for better performance with moving shots dual aperture with f1.5 and f2.4 that will automatically let in more light in dark shooting environments and let in less when there is too much light. This should produce some of the best images on a smartphone that we have seen, and from the looks of the samples images, I was able to take that it’s going to hold up to that claim.
There is also a new Super slow-mo mode that captures 960 frames per second in 6-second burst clips. I got to try this out myself with blowing bubbles, and it produces a pretty cool video with 720p video quality. There is also multiple version of the clip that is automatically processed right on the phone that is available to edit and share as you like.
The last big change for the Galaxy S9 is the augmented reality features (AR). Samsung has incorporated AR fulling into the redesigned camera app that lets you create AR Emojis. You can create your own AR Emoji just by letting the front-facing camera scan your face (Make sure you remove your hat and glasses) then after some quick processing you’ll see your digital self in AR Emoji form. The AR Emoji will follow your facial patterns and can be used to pose for pics. The image can be shared to any smartphone as a gif image.
It’s AR EMOJI TIME!
So far from my casual hands-on with the Galaxy S9, I feel Samsung has chosen a more refinement approach with this years device. It makes a lot of sense considering how popular the Galaxy S8 was last year. The camera is what I’m most excited to use as I want to put the new sensor to the test. I have high hope that the Galaxy S9 will be another smash hit for Samsung. I’ll reserve the rest of my judgment for our review coming soon.
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