Samsung Galaxy S9 And S9+: Are They Really Worth It?

The year hasn’t even started yet and the new Samsung flagship smartphone models are already out. Yes, you got it right. I am talking about none other than Samsung’s latest flagships the galaxy s9 an s9+. It packs some minor yet interesting updates over its predecessor. Yes, we do realize that we are a little late on this topic but without further ado, this is A.R.M from frenzytitans360 and today we ask the question, are the Samsung galaxy s9 and s9+ really worth it?

The Samsung galaxy s8 from 2017 was a revolutionary step to the future in the smartphone design industry. Very few would disagree that the s8 had one of the most attractive designs in the whole smartphone market. The bezel-less edge to edge curved “infinity” display with Samsung's most advanced state-of-the-art QHD+ super AMOLED panel, small chins at the top and bottom, glass back, aluminium rim and a slim form factor made the s8 and s8+ one of the, if not the most beautiful smartphones in 2017.

Fast forward to 2018 and the Samsung s9 and s9+ still holds that familiar inclusive look from the s8 and s8+.  But you can’t really complain considering the fact that even after a year, this is still one of the slickest phone designs around in the market. However, there are a few minor changes in the design that you will surely appreciate.

The metal and glass body still has its curved display, IP68 dust and water-resistance, micro SD card slot (now compatible with cards up to 400GB) and a 3.5 mm headphone jack! Yes, Samsung still decides to keep a headphone jack in their flagship smartphones and that is much appreciated. The durability of the phones has been increased by thickening the gorilla glass 5 coating on the screen and by strengthening the aluminium rim. So, the phones are a bit thicker than before but anything for the sake of protection I guess. Not to mention the bottom and upper bezels actually got a bit smaller than they already were on the s8 and s8+. So, the s9 and s9+ are slightly shorter compared to the s8 and s8+ all thanks to the smaller bezels. But the phones are still pretty slippery and fingerprint magnets, so you might want to use a skin or case with it.

The Bixby button still exists under the volume rocker and the lock button is on the other side. And yes, to our disappointment the Bixby button still can’t be programmed to do any other function, which I would really appreciate but that probably won’t happen anyways. Accidental presses on the Bixby button are still a thing. But you can turn that button completely off if you wanted to.

But on the bright side, Samsung finally decided to move the fingerprint sensor to a much more suitable spot under the camera (or “cameras” if you’re talking about the s9+). This change was much needed. The sensor is now slightly raised than before making it easier for your finger to find it. But the sensor is actually pretty small and stays pretty close the camera so you could still accidentally put smudges on the camera while trying to find the sensor with your finger but your muscle memory should be able to figure it out after maybe a few accidental tries anyways so you won’t need to worry about that at all.

The screen still remains the same as the s8 and it’s truly a beauty! The curved super AMOLED QHD+ panel under the bezel-less display is still one of the best smartphone displays to this date. The display instantly draws you in with its rich colors and fantastic contrast. There are different modes that you can use to control the displays warmth of color to best suit your eyes. It also has full support for mobile HDR10 and it can also stream HDR contents from sources like as Netflix and Amazon Prime. This is not the first phone to have HDR support but it certainly does it pretty well. Viewing angles are pretty good but it still uses an OLED panel so you will notice slight blue shift along the curved edges of the display. This happens with all smartphones using OLED panels but the s9 handles it pretty well than its competitors. So, Samsung still wins the display category as always.

The speaker used to be a down-firing one that you could easily cover up with your hands while holding the phone. But now there is also an earpiece speaker at the top. So, you can now get kind of a stereo speaker experience. The speakers have been tuned by AKG and it also supports Dolby Atmos. It’s supposed to give you a 360 degree sound experience. It certainly works and now with the dual speaker system the audio quality is surely better than the s8 or the s8+. But it is not nearly as good as the RAZER phone.  But if you don’t like to use the speakers, you still have the headphone jack! And the smartphones also come with a pair of free 100$ AKG earphones which are actually pretty good. Then if you like to go the Bluetooth route, the s9 still has Bluetooth 5 to fill your Bluetooth needs. And with Bluetooth 5 you still have the option to connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.

Now, this is a very fast phone and it better be, considering its flagship price. At the phone’s core you are going to find either an Exynos 9810 or a snapdragon 845 chipset (will change depending on the region you buy it from). Aside from the typical GPU and CPU boosts, the new SoCs can also handle improved facial recognition and 960fps slow motion video recording. You will get 4GB of RAM in the s9 and 6GB of RAM in the s9+ variant. The storage options starts from 64GB but you also have expandable storage up to 400GB.

The phones are both currently running on Android Oreo with the typical Samsung skin slapped on it. So the software experience is pretty much the usual Samsung way. So, you might notice some occasional hiccups, especially with the Samsung apps like Bixby. Hence, the experience obviously won’t be like clean stock android. So, if you don’t prefer the typical Samsung skin on their phones, the s9 and s9+ won’t be able to change your mind. But it is still android so you can do whatever customization you want anyways. But not to mention these phones might not be clean, but they are packed with tons of features. Now you get a blood pressure monitor in addition to the heart rate monitor that the s8 had.

A new “intelligent scan” feature has been added that uses both the iris scanner and facial recognition together to detect both the owners face and iris to confirm his or her identity. It is actually more secure to use than just using the facial unlock. In low light situations the phone boosts the screens brightness for a few seconds to shine some light on to your face so that the camera and the iris scanner can detect your face and iris easily. But still this isn’t really the fastest facial scanning offered in the market right now. But then again, Samsung still offers the fingerprint sensor alongside the iris scanner and facial recognition so; you have the freedom to choose any weapon of your choice.

On the subject of battery life, with the s9, it is exactly the same as last year’s s8. Even with the switch to a much more efficient chipset Samsung still hasn’t been able to squeeze any more juice out of the 3000mAh battery. Not to mention, the battery size hasn’t increased either. And because of the power hungry screen the battery life surely got a hit. Unless you are a really light user, it will be tough to make it throughout a whole day with the s9 and s9+.  Yes, the s9+ has a slightly bigger battery of 3500mAh but it still probably won’t be enough to last you a full day. But you can tweak down your display settings to make the battery last a bit longer. And not to mention, both the s9 and s9+ still has USB-c, support for wireless charging and fast charging as well. (It doesn’t work with the dash charger by the way) 

The camera is where things get really interesting. This is the biggest area of innovation in the s9 and s9+. Plus this is the main thing that compensates for the s9 and s9+ being so similar with their predecessor and makes the s9 feel actually new. So, a smartphone camera usually has a fixed aperture lens as everybody knows. But the s9 and s9+ have a camera that can physically switch between f/2.4 an f/1.5. Yes, you heard it right! The aperture of the camera physically changes to either f/2.4 or f/1.5. And not to mention, f/1.5 is pretty much the widest aperture you can get on a smartphone camera right now. The dual aperture was implemented so that, the camera could be ideal for both day and night photography. When the camera is on auto mode, the aperture will get wider or smaller depending on the amount of light that is provided in the scene. In bright daylight the camera will stay in the aperture of f/2.4 which is pretty much a common aperture for many smartphone cameras. But in low light conditions (when the light is under 100lux) the aperture will change into a wide aperture of f/1.5 to let in more light to the camera sensor. As a result the low light photography with this camera is really good. And the variable aperture generally works as it is supposed to. So, in low light you are now going to face less grain and noise in the picture as the wider aperture lets more light into the sensor. The images get slightly over-exposed in daylight. But the dynamic range is also better than the s8 which also had a great camera. So, in the camera section the s9 and s9+ surely has improved over their predecessors. It is still not the best smartphone camera in the market yet one of the best for sure.

Using the pro mode you can control the variable aperture to your needs. You can also control the white balance, exposure, shutter speed, ISO etc. as well.  And if you notice the camera of your phone while changing the aperture, you can see the aperture actually getting smaller or wider depending on the settings you choose. You can also do 960fps slow motion video at 720p that can stretch a 0.2 second video to a 6 second video so it is pretty cool but at 720p things aren’t really that crispy and you do need a lot of light to make the video look decent. But you still have the 240fps slow motion at 1080p which is much better in quality. The s9 camera only has one wide angle dual aperture camera but with the s9+ you get an extra telephoto camera down below it. So, with s9+ you will get to use features like live focus and optical zoom. But if you don’t really care about it you probably won’t need it.

So, the Samsung s9 and s9+ might look like a minor upgrade over its predecessors but actually it almost fixes all the gripes people had with the s8 and s8+. I like the fact that Samsung likes to add more features to their smartphones than to take them away. (I am looking at you Apple) Nevertheless the phones are packed with features, has really good camera performance, the best display in the market, fixed speaker issues, heck it even has a headphone jack! So, if the flagship price is not your concern, the only thing that might stop you from buying it is the fact that it is still a Samsung phone. And if clean stock android is your thing, these phones won’t change your mind either. But if you don’t have any problems with Samsung smartphones, these are surely the best ones Samsung is offering right now. However this is all from me today. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section down below. You can give suggestions for future contents as well. Follow us on all our social links, bookmark our website, keep your eyes peeled for new contents and all that good stuff, but for now this is A.R.M signing out.