Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone: all the features we want to see

This weekend, Samsung will be unveiling its brand new smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Its older sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S8, was a big hit when it launched last year. With infinity display and an excellent camera, expectations are running high for Samsung to deliver.

Here’s what we’re hoping to see in the new Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone:

1. An exceptional camera

On all the branding for the event on Sunday, it says: “The Camera. Reimagined.” This means we should expect an exceptional camera on the new device.

According to rumours of the new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S9+ is going to feature two cameras on the back, both with 12MPs. This should bring improved quality and function to the camera.

As well, the cameras are expected to have a variable aperture mode of f/1.5 or f/2.4. What this means is it will bring the new smartphone cameras in line with that of a traditional DSLR camera. Low light photography should be on point with these new features, as images will be sharper than we’ve seen before on a smartphone camera.

2. Android animoji

At last year’s iPhone launch, there was much interest in the smartphone’s new facial recognition technology as well as the new animojis.

Animoji was supposed to be for Apple’s messaging app, iMessage. With animoji, iPhone owners could then send their audio iMessages with a unicorn or a monkey for example.

The new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones are going to powered by Samsung’s new chip, the Exynos 9810. This should give the phones improved performance as well as more sophisticated face detection for racial recognition.

There are many fake animoji apps out there for Android smartphones so here’s to hoping that Samsung delivers on its own version.

3. Decent speakers

It's likely Samsung will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack in the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones, which is great if you mourn the days of headphone jacks.

What is interesting is that the smartphones will be fitting with AKG stereo speakers, according to VentureBeat. You probably don’t spend much time playing music out of your smartphone’s speakers but if they were better maybe you would.

AKG also made the Samsung Galaxy S8 headphones last time around, so it’s good to see this partnership still going strong.

4. Good battery life

The Samsung Galaxy S9+ is rumoured to have a whopping 3,500mAh battery unit. However, that’s not as big as some other smartphones out there, like the Huawei Mate 10 Pro which has a 4,000mAh battery unit.

This should give the Samsung Galaxy 9+ a good day and a half battery life, without you having to worry it’s going to shut down anytime soon.

When we spend so much time using our smartphones, the least they can do is last a full 24-hours.

5. Bixby from the start

When the Samsung Galaxy S8 was launched last year, it was very obviously missing Bixby, Samsung’s then-new artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. The company went all in on Bixby promotion ahead of the smartphone’s release, about how you could use your voice to perform tasks like writing emails, placing calls and editing photos.

However, it took a while for the full Bixby features were available around the world.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be shipping with all the Bixby features intact. Yet, this might not be a good thing.