Galaxy S9+ Reviews and Specs: Big Step Up With New Camera, Minor Improvements Everywhere Else
The much-awaited Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are now available starting Friday, March 16. How do the latest flagship phones from Samsung stack up not only against those from Apple or Google but also against their own Galaxy S8 series?
Judging from looks alone, not much has been changed with the step up from Galaxy S8 to S9. It's still the same OLED display that dominates the "Infinity Display" form factor at the front, while the rear saw some slight layout changes with the position of the fingerprint sensor, as The Verge noted.
The fingerprint sensor is now below the dual cameras, a more convenient position that also saves the lenses from fingerprint smudges. This year, though, Samsung is putting more separation between the S9 and S9 plus with different internal specs.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The S9 Plus is now a more attractive upgrade with its 6 GB of memory, compared to the 4 GB that the S9 has. The bigger model, still with a 6.2-inch display like the previous S8 Plus, also comes with a different dual camera system for better zoom and portrait effects.
This year also, Samsung has moved up from the Snapdragon 835 to the Snapdragon 845, still an 8-core chipset, but now with a complement of four 2.8 GHz chips, as Ars Technica noted. This much power comes at a price, though, with the new S9 Plus giving a battery life just about on par with the S8 Plus from 2017, even with a more efficient chipset.
Samsung, however, has put in a lot of work on the new camera, with the 12-megapixel main camera on the S9 Plus paired with a 12-megapixel telephoto lens, and a new variable aperture mechanism that gives the main camera f1.5 or f2.4 apertures to work with, depending on the lighting conditions.
Most reviews would note that there's not much incentive to move up for owners of the S8 Plus, but for everyone else, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus will be the Android phone to beat this year, as Tech Advisor concluded.
