Introduction
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are here, official, unwrapped, and we go in full hands-on mode. We might be sending off another UNPACKED event preceded by weeks of overwhelming leaks, but we are surely heading towards a new chapter in the smartphone photography.
Samsung is postponing the major redesign for yet another year. The Galaxy S9 duo refines the futuristic shape in a Cupertino-like fashion instead of taking a new path. And it's still fancy as it was on the Galaxy S6, we'll give it that.
But while the S9 may be lacking new looks, it makes up for that in hardware. New blazing-fast chipsets, an industry-first camera with variable aperture, and an Xperia-like super-slow-motion video capturing at 960fps but done the right way - automatically. There are also high-quality stereo speakers - a highly-anticipated and long overdue feature.
For the first time ever the two models have one major difference besides the screen size - the main camera. The two models share the new sensor with variable aperture, but only the S9+ comes with a secondary telephoto camera borrowed from the Note8's back. This means no Live Focus on the S9, but looking at all those upgrades, we think we'll manage.
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ at a glance
- Body: Polished aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back; IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Titanium Gray, Lilac Purple color schemes.
- Display: 5.8"/6.2" Super AMOLED Infinity, 2,960x1440px resolution, 18.5:9 (2.06:1) aspect ratio, 568/531ppi; HDR 10 compliant.
- Rear camera: S9 and S9+: 12MP, f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture, dual pixel phase detection autofocus, OIS; multi-shot image stacking; multi-frame noise reduction; 2160p/30fps video recording; 1080p/240fps; 960fps super slow-mo with automatic motion detection. S9+ only: Secondary telephoto 12MP, Type 1/3.4" sensor, OIS and Dual Pixel PDAF, f/2.4 aperture, 52mm equiv. focal length
- Front camera: 8MP, f/1.7 aperture, autofocus; 1440p/30fps video recording.
- OS/Software: Android 8.0 Oreo; Samsung Grace UX; Bixby virtual assistant with Bixby Vision; KNOX with Intelligent Scan
- Chipsets: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845: octa-core CPU (4x2.8 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 385 Silver), Adreno 630 GPU. Exynos 9810: octa-core CPU (4x2.9 GHz 3rd-gen Mongoose + 4x1.9GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G72 MP18 GPU.
- Memory: S9: 4GB of RAM; S9+: 6GB of RAM; 64GB / 128GB / 256GB storage; microSD slot for cards up to 256GB, UFS cards support.
- Battery: 3,000mAh/3,500mAh Li-Po (sealed); Adaptive Fast Charging; WPC&PMA wireless charging.
- Connectivity: Single-SIM, Dual-SIM available in certain markets; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.18 downlink; USB Type-C (v3.1); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS, Beidou, Galileo; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader; iris recognition/face recognition; AKG by Harman Stereo Speakers with Dolby Atmos; 3.5mm jack; bundled AKG headphones.
The software has received a major bump too. Starting with the latest Android Oreo Samsung seems to have built yet another impressive feature-rich Grace topping.
Bixby isn't going away, nor is its dedicated hardware button. Samsung is bringing new Bixby features such as live translation, places and food suggestions with burnt calories tracking.
Then there are the AR Emojis with 18 presets - a cool feature familiar from the iPhone X and its animojis. KNOX got smarter, DeX has new pad-support, the list goes on and on.
Let's get this hands-on session started, shall we?
Samsung Galaxy S9 hands-on
It's shiny, it's pretty, it's Galaxy, and this one is the S9. It looks a lot like the S8, there is no two ways about that, but the beauty that matters is the beast within.
A glimpse on the Galaxy S9 is enough to convince it's one of the most stunning specimen on the market. The dual-glass design and the polished metal frame is where Samsung has become a master and the S9 is yet another proof at that.
The 5.8" Infinity AMOLED screen occupies most of the front, frame-to frame, while the top and bottom bezels are tinier than ever. The Home key is beneath the screen as usual, while the top bezel has one change for the better - the iris scanner is now hidden under the black glass, so that's one less transparent dot and works for a more seamless design.
Galaxy S9 next to the Galaxy S8
The Infinity display is 'edged' as usual - the nicely curved Gorilla Glass is after all responsible for that futuristic feel of each Galaxy since the Galaxy S6 edge came out. Curved is also the rear glass, a Gorilla one as well, and if it's not for the different LED flash and fingerprint reader placement, it would have been impossible to tell an S9 from an S8.
The footprint of the whole thing is slightly smaller thanks to the trimmed bezels, and the frame, although looking identical, has been somewhat refined and now it's easier to pick an S9 from a table and makes it grippier and thus more secure in hand. The looks can't suggest that, but we can confirm it after we spend some time with the S9.
The power key has been changed though - it's smaller on the S9, which turned out to be our only niggle with the refinements on the design. And speaking of those...
One of the major exterior changes and a long overdue upgrade is the stereo speakers setup. The first speaker is behind the earpiece grille, just like on a bunch of Huawei and iPhones, while the other one is at the bottom firing behind a completely new lattice. Samsung used AKG by Harman speakers with Dolby Atmos support and promises 40% boost in loudness over the single unit installed on the S8. We'll see to test that for sure.
Samsung Galaxy S9
The other very obvious change is the comfortably placed fingerprint scanner at the back. The balance in the universe was restored back with the Note8 launch, but it's now here to stay with the Galaxy S9. The LED flash, the poor thing - still single after all those years, also got a different placement but only the hardcore fans would really notice that.
Samsung has upgraded the camera a lot since the S8, but it's still 12MP and it's still just one. It ticks all flagship checkboxes with OIS, dual-pixel autofocus, and is capable of stacking images. Samsung has enhanced that with a new 4-frame noise reduction for 30% less noise than the S8 pictures. But the highlight of the new camera is the variable aperture - you can opt for f/1.5 bright aperture, or f/2.4 darker one. No Fs in between, sorry.
The main camera also does 4K vids at 60fps, 1080p ones at 240fps, and even 1080p slow-mo at 960fps thanks to the new DRAM buffer. But more on that later.
The Galaxy S9 will be available in 64, 128, and 256 GB versions - all of those boasting a microSD slot just in case. Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple, Titanium Gray are all the color options you will be able to choose from, and they are all striking.
Galaxy S9 next to the Galaxy S8
Sure, the Galaxy S8 looks a lot like the S9 and it's hard to tell those apart, especially if you are not following closely the news, but there are enough major upgrades to keep your attention busy. If it's not broken, don't fix it, right? Let's hope the S10 breaks that rule, though.
Samsung Galaxy S9+ hands-on
Arguably the more interesting of the duo, the Galaxy S9+ is helming the new PR invasion as it's packing all new features Samsung could come up for this season. Trimmed bezels, hidden iris scanner, dual-camera with variable aperture, more RAM, jam-packed software suit. Yes, we have a lot to talk about.
The Galaxy S9+ is as beautiful and as big as the S8+ from last year. There is a tiny difference in the footprint thanks to the reduced bezels, but the 6.2" Infinity AMOLED is here to stay. Samsung says it somehow made the blacks even blacker, which just doesn't make sense in OLED, but once the words were in the air we somehow believed them. We'll see about that soon in our tests.
Anyway, the front is all screen, the Home key is a pressure-sensitive area beneath the screen, and the iris scanner is now invisible - just like on the S9. With this new almost uninterrupted front Samsung surely made the S9+ design as seamless as possible and it looks great, even though it's now just one big black glass when the screen is off.
While the Galaxy S9+ looks a lot like the S8+, there is one subtle but very welcome and long overdue change - stereo speakers. And Samsung wend all-in with those - the setup boasts AKK by Harman tech and has Dolby Atmos surround support just like the Axon 7. The company promises 40% raw boost in the loudness, and for what we heard - they sure sound like the best in business.
Galaxy S9+ next to the Galaxy S9
Another subtle and easily missable change is the frame finish. Sure, it looks the same, but grippier it is. Just like with the S9, now it's much easier to pick the S9+ from a flat surface and it feels more secure in hand. The power key on the S9+ grew bigger, contrary to S9's shrunken button.
The back is where the real star of the show is. A brand new 12MP OIS camera with variable aperture, enhanced noise reduction and new video capturing capabilities, accompanied by a secondary 12MP sensor with telephoto lens and OIS.
Around is also the fingerprint scanner finally placed where it should have been years ago. It's very comfortable and blazing fast but also features a new setup mechanism which requires just one swipe instead of multiple taps. One swipe and you are good to go. We tried that and indeed it works as advertised sparing you all the tapping hassle.
Samsung Galaxy S9+
Back to the camera - it got a whole lot of new features. The regular wide-angle snapper, also available on the S9, has optical stabilization and dual-pixel phase-detection autofocus, supports new 4-frame noise reduction, and you can use either bright f/1.5 or darker f/2.4 apertures.
There are new video recording capabilities such as 4K at 60 fps or slow-mo capturing with 960 fps. The slow-mo recording can be done manually or automatically, something Sony should have come up for its 960fps-cabpable phones since the beginning. But more on that later.
Galaxy S9+ next to the Galaxy S9
The telephoto camera on the Galaxy S9+ is the same as seen on the Note8 - a 12MP sensor behind f/2.4 lens, optically stabilized, and supports dual-pixel PDAF. We are yet to see if it's capable of the same video modes as the primary cam or not.
The selfie snapper remains unchanged - an 8MP shooter behind f/1.7 lens and capable of autofocus.
It's easier to pick the Galaxy S9+ from a lineup as opposed to the S9, for what's worth. Some will argue appearance matters, and we won't be the ones opposing it. Yet, Apple has a good track record of design recycling working very well, so who are we to say Samsung could have done better.
Galaxy S9+ next to the Galaxy S9
Yes, we wanted to see a new design, but the futuristic shape and it charisma haven't totally worn yet from the Galaxies, so we won't be dwelling on what ifs. The Galaxy S9+ is here with a familiar shape, but have a whole lot more within to brag about.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ run on the latest Android Oreo 8.1 and feature the newest iteration of the Grace UX. Some of the new features include AR Emojis, better KNOX, Intelligent Scan unlock, Bixby real-tile translation, among others.
In term of looks, the Android+Grace looks the same as we left it on the Galaxy S8 and Note8. No groundbreaking changes in looks or modus operandi.
The biometric security has gone through some reworking for the better. First - the fingerprint scanner is now positioned right. It's fast and accurate, but it's setup what has gotten a boost. Now you just need to swipe once your finger over the sensor and that's it - the fingerprint unlock is configured. This saves a lot of time and gets rid of the numerous taps and movements required from you on the S8 and Note8.
You can now dedicate different fingerprints for your locked folders - you can set up each finger to unlock a specific folder or folders.
Then there is the Intelligent Scan unlock. This is basically Face Unlock + Iris Recognition. The phone fires both simultaneously and whichever recognizes you first - it will unlock your phone. This is also used for the even more secured KNOX mode as an enhanced biometric lock.
AR Emojis are coming with the new S9 phones, and while it may sound like a gimmick, they turned to be rather cool. The phone snaps a picture of you and then makes an approximation of your face in 3D. You can choose to refine some of the face elements and then confirm the shape. This is the first part.
Then, just like Apple's Animojis, the phone tracks your face and uses your face render as a template. It doesn't recognize tongue, but rather than that it tracks your head, captures shakes, smiles, smirks and even singing and turns those in emojis.
The AR Emojis can also make 18 different static stickers from your face and you can use those on Facebook, Twitter, among other social networks and apps.
The new DeX pad
Finally, Samsung introduced a new DeX in the form of a pad, which is an addition to the old one, not a replacement. It allows you to dock the phone there and use its screen as a touchpad and/or keyboard.
Chipsets
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, just like the previous S and Note models, will be available in two variants. Samsung's own Exynos 9810 chip will power most of the S9 phones around the globe, while Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 845 will be ticking in the S9 handsets sold in North America and China.
So, what's the differences?
The Exynos 9810 chipset (10nm FinFET has a new octa-core processor packing four custom third-generation Mongoose cores at 2.9GHz and four Cortex-A55 at 1.9GHz. The GPU in charge of graphics is an 18-core Mali-G72.
The Exynos chip comes with a new LTE modem with support for 6CA (carrier aggregation) for download and maximum downlink of 1.2Gbs (Cat.18). The uplink supports 2CA and a speed of 200Mbps (Cat.18).
Finally, the Samsung's new silicon can do 4K capturing and playback at 120fps, but those won't be premiering on the S9 because the Snapdragon 845 can't do those.
The Snapdragon 845 chip (10nm LPP) introduces a new octa-core processor with new Kryo 385 cores. The high-performance pair of Kryo 385 Gold cores is clocked at 2.8GHz and the architecture derives from Cortex-A75. The power-efficient pair of Kryo 385 Silver cores works at 1.8GHz and its architecture is based on Cortex-A55.
There is also a new Adreno 630 GPU, 30% more powerful than the Adreno 540 inside the Snapdragon 835. Rumors suggest the Adreno 630 performance will be slightly behind Samsung's Mali choice, but this can't make a difference in real-life scenarios for the lifespan of the devices.
Qualcomm also has a new modem - the X20 with 5CA and LTE Cat1.18 downlink of 1.2Gbps. The uplink is inferior to Samsung's model with 2CA but LTE Cat.13 support for 150Mbps speeds.
The ISP of the Snapdragon is also inferior to the Samsung's with a support for 4K at 60fps video encoding and decoding.
We'll try to run some benchmarks on the event, so stay tuned for those.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ share the same main camera - a 12MP sensor with variable aperture - f/1.5-2.4. The positions are fixed though, you can either opt for f/1.5 or f/2.4 and nothing in-between.
The sensor is optically stabilized, as usual, and supports dual-pixel phase-detection autofocus. There is a single LED flash, nothing has changed in this matter since the Galaxy S2.
The Galaxy S9+ adds a secondary 12MP sensor with telephoto lens on the back, and it's the same camera we saw on the Galaxy Note8. OIS and dual-pixel AF are present as well.
The camera on both devices support image stacking and is capable of new noise-reduction procedure with 4-frame stacking. Samsung promises 30% less noise on all images, which is an impressive achievement right there. Reducing the noise would mean less artificial noise reduction and should allow for keeping more fine detail in the low-light images. And the bright f/1.5 aperture should be of massive help, too.
Both Galaxy S9 and S9+ support 4K video recording at 60fps, captured in the new HEVC format. But there is something else to steal the spotlight - 720p slow-mo capturing at 960fps.
Yes, Sony had that since last year, so Samsung can't claim first. The Koreans probably knew that, so they decided to make it a lot better than Sony's implementation.
Just like the Xperias, the new Galaxies can do 0.2s of slow-mo capturing at 960 fps. But Samsung has lowered the time between those captures down to 2 seconds. Between those timeouts the camera continues to shoot at 30fps. That's the first improvement.
The second upgrade is what matters the most, and it's game changing. The Xperia phones had a steep learning curve for hitting the button at the right time. We missed a lot of balloon pops and it took us numerous attempts across a few days until we got the know-how.
Samsung does it automatically.
Yes, the phone begins the slow-mo sequence automatically thanks to a new clever AI algorithm and you don't have to learn how and when to turn it on. And that's not just PR talk - we tried it and we didn't miss a single balloon pop out of 20 or so takes. How about that?!
There is a manual switch, don't you worry, so the advanced users aren't ignored either.
Finally, there is one more thing Samsung did better than Sony - an easy edit over the captured clip. After you are done shooting, you get a very intuitive preview with all the slow-mo moments clearly visible and easily editable. You can get rid of some or add sound to the ones you choose to keep.
And here is the kicker - in addition to those edits, you can also export the slow-mo parts as gifs, right there from the preview. Upon exportin you can choose one from three effects - loop, reverse, or swing.
Indeed, it's obvious Samsung has worked a lot on bringing a meaningful slow-mo experience to its users, not just the tech and a raw footage. And that could mean the world for the mainstream user.
Stay tuned for camera and video samples after the Unpacked event is officially over.
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