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Hands-on with Samsung Galaxy S9: is it that different from the S8?

Earlier this year, Samsung revealed its new flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, to much applause at Mobile World Congress.

The new device range is here to take on Apple’s iPhone X with a reimagined camera, fit with AR emojis and adjustable aperture.

After spending a week with the Samsung Galaxy S9, here’s what we thought.

Design

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy S9 is smart looking. It comes in four colours: Midnight Black, Titanium Grey, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple which is new this year, and the one we tried out.

The glass back, particularly in the new purple colour, is sharp and stands out. As it's glass, it means you can charge it wirelessly, however this also means it can get covered in fingerprint marks very quickly which can make the phone look dirty.

You can get around this with a case but that means sacrificing that bright purple colour.

The phone itself has a 5.8 inch Quad HD+ Curved Super Amoled infinity screen. It sounds impressive but this is the same screen on the Galaxy S8 so Samsung is sticking with what it knows here.

In fairness, the curved screen is impressive and means that when you’re watching video, such as on Netflix, you get that full-screen experience.

Instead of the annoying iPhone X notch, the device has a slight bezel at the top and the bottom but it’s so small you barely notice it.

As well, Samsung has kept the headphone jack on the Galaxy S9, when so many developers have dropped it. This will make its fans happy.

The Lilac Purple back of the new Samsung Galaxy S9 (Martyn Landi/PA Wire/PA Images)
The Lilac Purple back of the new Samsung Galaxy S9 (Martyn Landi/PA Wire/PA Images)

Display

That Curved Super Amoled infinity screen offers a nice, crispy display with vivid colours, even when you turn down the brightness.

Yet, as it’s the same screen as the Galaxy S8, there isn’t much difference to report.

As well, it’s worth noting that if you’re planning on putting a screen protector on that lovely glass screen, features such as the iris recognition and facial recognition (below) won’t work as well.

When you’re spending £700+ on a phone, you'll want to be able to protect the screen instead of spending extra money on fixing it if it breaks - but compromising access to facial recognition can be annoying for smartphone owners.

The curved screen of the Samsung Galaxy S9 (Martyn Landi/PA Wire/PA Images)
The curved screen of the Samsung Galaxy S9 (Martyn Landi/PA Wire/PA Images)

Camera

This is the part of the new smartphone that Samsung has really been pushing. The camera is 12-megapixels, as well as has an adjustable aperture, which puts it in line with DSLR cameras.

This defines how much light gets through the lens, allowing shorter exposure times to keep your images crisp in all lighting.

When trying it out in dark restaurants and even during the evening in the snow, it is noticeable how much better these images are against other smartphone cameras. Admittedly this was trying it against the iPhone 8 camera and not the iPhone X, but if you use your smartphone mainly for photos than that means the S9 should definitely be on your list.

The new slo-mo video is fun to play with, though this doesn’t work as well in the dark and takes some getting used to.

The S9+ has dual cameras, making its camera even sharper and offers 2x optical zoom, but this feature isn’t available on the lower priced device.

In terms of the front camera, this is a mere 8-megapixels. When other Android smartphone makers like OnePlus have been offering 16-megapixel front cameras for a while, it seems like Samsung needs to update its front cameras too.

That being said, the selfie mode is quite amazing.

The AR emoji feature is really fun too. Just like bitmoji, you can set up yourself as an emoji and send different versions of yourself to your friends, regardless of what device they’re using.

They may not be the most like-for-like emoji, but it is fun to play around with.

AR emoji - bring yourself to life in emoji form
AR emoji - bring yourself to life in emoji form

Security

When it comes to unlocking the device, there’s a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone, underneath the camera. This has been moved from next to the camera on the Galaxy S8.

However, the scanner on the back addition feels rather useless when the phone itself has facial and iris recognition. This “Intelligent Scan” feature, as it’s called, is very fast and on-point, making the Samsung Galaxy S9 feel secure.

Alternatively, you can unlock the device with a passcode but why bother when you can use your face instead.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is fitted with Android 8.0 Oreo, the latest Android operating software. It’s fast and responsive; minimising the background activity in apps so as not to drain your battery, and comes with updated emojis.

Android, in general, is known for the vast amount of apps its devices are fitted with, particularly Samsung. If you’re a first time user of a Samsung device, things like two app stores (Samsung apps and Google Play) as well as two email apps, (Gmail app and Email) can make the device feel bloated and difficult to navigate.

This may not be as much of an issue when you have 64GB of space, but it is notable when the software and files the phone comes installed with take up around 16GB.

But, I guess that's why Samsung has space for an SD card, to boost memory up to 256GB.

It's worth noting too that the Samsung Galaxy S9 has 4GB RAM, just like the S8.

AI assistant

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is shipped with Bixby, the Samsung artificial intelligent (AI) assistant intact. Bixby has had a major upgrade for this device and has been integrated into the camera to allow things like language translation and will soon be able to tell you the calories and protein in your food.

If you’re into AI assistants, Bixby works fine. But what is notable is that the Galaxy S9 also has the Google Assistant, Google’s AI. What’s the point in having two AI assistants on one device?

Particularly when the Google Assistant is said to be better than Bixby, it seems unnecessary. But this goes back to the classic problem of Android devices, balancing the developer's needs with that of Google's.

Soon, Bixby will be able to tell you how many calories are in your food through its camera integration (Richard Drew/AP )
Soon, Bixby will be able to tell you how many calories are in your food through its camera integration (Richard Drew/AP )

Battery

The new flagship smartphone has a 3,000 mAh battery, the same as the Samsung S8. You get a day’s play with the phone, but if you’re downloading apps, scrolling the internet, or using Twitter and Instagram, then you can see that percentage number go down quite fast.

To make up for this, Samsung fits its phones with “fast charging” but when compared with charging an iPhone 8, it doesn’t seem that much faster.

Verdict

In all honesty, the Samsung Galaxy S9 isn’t notably different from the Samsung Galaxy S8. The design is the same, albeit with different colours, the battery is the same, and the display is the same.

What’s updated is the camera, which is really good, as well as fun things like AR Emojis, the upgraded Bixby features, and Intelligent Scan.

As well, that headphone jack will keep users happy.

If you’re looking to upgrade your Android device, it’s the next one in line so it makes sense to choose the Samsung Galaxy S9. But it may not necessarily be worth the price increase from the S8.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is £59 per month (£29 upfront cost) from Vodafone.