Samsung Galaxy S9 is the Android you want
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is an excellent device. It’s the apex of Android expression with a gorgeous, polished design, fantastic performance and a few cutting-edge features that edge it into the extraordinary.
In the tick-tock cadence of smartphone designs and releases, the 5.8-inch S9 (and the 6.2-inch S9+, which I did not test) is clearly a tock. Instead of a redesign, Samsung delivered a polish of the laudable Samsung Galaxy S8, while fixing their most egregious error: the placement of the fingerprint sensor.
In what is quickly becoming Samsung’s signature design, the Galaxy S9 ($719.99 unlocked) looks like it’s poured, not built. There’s edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass wrapping both the front and back of the 147.7 mm x 68.7 mm x 8.5 mm device. It feels like it’s all glass because the Infinity display and the back curve gently toward each other, leaving just a thin spine of black metal separating them.
Like Apple’s iPhone X, the phone I most closely compared the S9 to, there are few physical buttons on the smartphone and they’re all on the edge. The face is button free, with the perfect glass expanse broken only for an earphone speaker slot near the top. The back is just as elegant, with a 12 MP camera situated in the middle and just under an inch below the top edge. It’s now, thankfully, stacked on top of the fingerprint sensor. To the right is the LED flash/heart-rate monitory stack. This is an unremarkable configuration, but Samsung gets credit for simplifying and making the fingerprint sensor useful again.
In hand, those curves make the 163-gram smartphone comfortable to hold. It is slightly narrower and taller than the iPhone X. The S9 is, however, also a few grams lighter than Apple’s phone.
There’s also still a 3.5 mm headphone jack (the new stereo speakers can get loud, but I prefer plugging the included AKG headphones into this jack), opposite a stereo speaker slot. In the middle of the bottom edge is the USB-C data and charging port. The S9 supports fast wired and wireless charging.
Infinity, not beyond
Samsung’s exquisite, Super AMOLED Infinity display, so named because it goes almost from edge-to-edge-to-edge-to edge, has the exact same resolution, 2960x1440, as it did on the S8, which is still higher than the iPhone X’s 2436x1125 Super Retina HD display. Samsung claims its new screen is brighter, but I could not tell the difference. As before, the Infinity Display stops a few millimeters shy of the top and bottom edges of the device. The bottom edge has an almost unnoticeable dead black space and the top edge houses the 8 MP selfie camera, microphone and IR sensor.
I’m not disappointed that Samsung didn’t up the resolution or do anything radical with the screen design. Side-by-side, it looks just as good as Apple’s iPhone X OLED display.
Why you’re here
So much of what I can tell you about the Samsung Galaxy S9 could be summed up be reading my original review of the S8 and S8+ but there are crucial differences in the features your probably care about most. Virtually everything to follow is underpinned by powerful new components.
Samsung swapped out the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 for an octa-core Snapdragon 845 and the performance boost is noticeable, at least in benchmarks. While the S8 got Geekbench scores of 6,314 multi-core and 1,835 single-core score, the Galaxy S9 gets 8,237 multi and 2,110 single. Even though these numbers fall well below those on the iPhone X’s A11 Bionic (10,071 multi-core and 4,263 single-core), I never noticed anything less that zippy performance across a wide variety of tasks including gaming, video, web browsing and video editing.
The other big silicon change comes on the image-processing side where Samsung managed to squeeze extra DRAM on the Dual Pixel sensor. The Galaxy S9 uses that memory to, among other things, help it capture better-low-light images.
Samsung also swapped out the 12 MP camera hardware for another 12 MP unit, which keeps everything that was good about the last camera, like optical image stabilization and a 77-degree field of view and adds a first: a mechanical aperture than can automatically switch between f 1.5 and f 2.4, depending on the lighting situation.
And it is a very good shooter. I used the Samsung Galaxy S9 in a wide variety of shooting situations, pitting it against Apple’s iPhone X 12 camera (since I did not have the dual-camera S9+, I avoided testing digital zoom and hardware-based portrait-mode capabilities). In all instances, the Samsung Galaxy S9 camera proved as good, if not better than the the iPhone X base camera. (See the unedited image comparisons scattered throughout this post.)
That aperture control extends, in a fashion, to the S9’s pro shooting mode. With a tap, you can switch aperture settings, and see the difference. Unfortunately, you cannot adjust to any f-stop in between.
As per usual, Samsung’s colors tend to be punchier than Apple’s, but the effect is greatly diminished on the S9, so much so that it’s now hard for me to decide who did a better job on color verity. Samsung’s output can, in some cases, be more eye-pleasing. The f 2.4 aperture also brought enhanced clarity to over-bright shots (like those shot directly into the sunlight).
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is an excellent low-light shooter (it uses 12 images to create one awesome one, but you don’t see the machinations behind the magic). The Dual Pixel sensor and its surfeit DRAM do wonders with low-light grain while maintaining remarkable sharpness and color accuracy. In most low-light photos I took, the S9 results outshone that of the Apple iPhone X.
I’m even impressed with front-facing 8-MP camera’s software-driven “Selfie Focus” shots. They’re just as good as what you can get from the sensor/camera combo in Apple’s TrueDepth module. What you do not get though, is that ability to edit the image or alter the background as you can with Apple’s Portrait Lighting Mode.
If I have one criticism of this Samsung Galaxy S9’s cameras, it’s speed. On multiple occasions, I noticed a lag between hitting the software shutter button and the phone capturing an image. This was especially noticeable in low-light conditions.
Slo-much fun
The best thing about Samsung’s new camera, heck the Samsung Galaxy S9, has to be the 960 frames per second (fps) Super Slow-mo. Is it a gimmick? Sure? Is it amazing? Definitely. I enjoyed finding fun slow-mo shooting opportunities so much that I had to remind myself that that I was reviewing the entire smartphone.
There are some rules and limitations for shooting 960 FPS video. You can try to capture 960 fps manually, but it works best if you select the mode, hit record and then hold the phone still while the image sensor detects motion and then turns on the 960-fps capture for a few seconds. And it is just short bursts. You will not be shooting an epic 15-minute-long 960 fps fight scene. You could though, capture bits of the action and then edit them together in a third-party video editing app.
For as good as the camera and super-slow-mo mode is, Samsung still has a lot to learn about software. The playback interface and slow-motion video editor manage to be simultaneously rudimentary and confusing.
960 fps video shows up in the gallery as regular video, but with ellipses overlayed on top to indicate the content has some super slow-mo. In the editor, you can crop down the video to just the slow parts — and even shorten those. However, if the camera didn’t capture all the slow-mo you wanted or even missed most of the action, you cannot, as you can with slow-motion video in iOS 11, shift or extend the slow motion to a different portion of the video.
Super Slow-Mo also has this awesome GIF output option, but it does not appear consistently. In fact, I couldn’t figure out how to make it show up until I learned that you have to swipe up on the video to access “Details” and then scroll down to some pre-set clips (like Loop and Reverse). These do not give you the same control, though, as the “GIF” option which sometimes appears right below the slow-mo video. Alternatively, you can edit clips and then find them in the video editor, where the GIF option appears more consistently.
And the Slow Motion video editor is the one piece of Samsung software that repeatedly crashed. Samsung just needs to stabilize and simplify this.
Even so, these are all easy hardware fixes to what is otherwise my favorite Galaxy S9 feature.
Secure me, protect me
As with the Galaxy S8, there are three biometric options for unlocking the S9: Face, Iris and Fingerprint. The only difference now is that they system can use Intelligent Scan to quickly switch between Iris and Face scanning if one doesn’t work right away. I registered my face, eyes and a digit with the phone, but generally only used my face or irises to unlock it. It was usually fast, though I did occasionally see a message to hold the phone at eye level. Finger print registration, which required my swiping my index finger across (top to bottom) over the fingerprint reader, was considerably faster than fingerprint registration on the iPhone 8 (there’s no fingerprint reader on the iPhone X). I never struggled to figure out where to place my finger when I wanted to unlock the phone that way.
The phone also includes Knox security, which should please business users. In additional to protection against cyber-intrusion, the Samsung Galaxy S9 can also hold up to real-world attacks of dust and water. I ran the phone under running water multiple times and am certain it can survive a dunk in your toilet bowl.
Almost Real
Samsung also dove head (or is it face?) first into the augmented reality game with AR Emojis. These are cartoon-like characters you build out of your own selfie image and that you can control using your face. Yes, it’s a lot like Apple’s Animojis. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy S9 ships with pre-installed cartoon characters that you can control, as well. Samsung’s tracking technology here is effective, but not as impressive as what you can achieve with Apple’s True Depth sensor.
I also think it’s funny that Samsung gave the emoji characters bodies, but doesn’t let you animate them. Instead you get 18 pre-build emoji animations that you can share with people via the messaging app of your choice.
I don’t dislike the feature, but it’s not something I’ll use very often.
Samsung’s more powerful vision and intelligence systems also extend to its digital assistant Bixby, which gets a significant upgrade in the Samsung Galaxy S9. The S9 has a dedicated Bixby button on the left side of the device that I hit by accident multiple times, but I prefer to summon Bixby by saying, “Hey Bixby,” even when the phone is asleep.
Bixby is quite competent at general interest questions and information. I can say “Hey Bixby, where’s the nearest Starbucks?” and it will launch Google Maps with a list of local coffee breweries, or “Hey Bixby, let’s take a selfie,” and it will launch the front facing camera and immediately start a short countdown before automatically taking a photo. There’s a new sign-translation feature that works as fast and well as the very similar Google Lens. I could also use it to identify food and their calories, though this was hit and miss at best, and locate nearby places of interest simply by pointing the phone in any direction.
I’m impressed with the Bixby update, but as a Google Assistant user and knowing that Assistant is on the phone, I still don’t really understand why Bixby is there. I’ve long believed that Samsung is waging an uphill battle with Bixby. It wants it to be the central intelligence for all Samsung’s smart home and intelligent CE devices — they just added it to their QLED TVs, but is essentially yet another voice AI to contend with in an already crowded field. I may be wrong, but I worry Bixby is a bad bet.
There are a handful of other nits: The glossy body is still a fingerprint magnet and sometimes, when I hold the phone my palm wraps over onto the touch-sensitive screen, turning a single finger tap into an inadvertent multi-touch. It’s a problem I never have with the iPhone X.
One area where the S9 gets particularly high marks is on battery life. I easily got as many as 18 hours of use in one day and averaged at least 12 hours of battery life per day. Even though the power management controls are a little hard to find, they do an excellent job.
And Samsung Health is the rare Samsung app that I like. It’s bright, informational and easy to navigate. Using it in tandem with the heart rate sensor on the S9’s back, I measured my resting rate and blood oxygenation level, at which point the phone declared me only mildly stressed.
The battle
Is Samsung Galaxy S9 a better button-free phone than the iPhone X. No, it’s is better in some ways. I like the Infinity Display and how it goes cleanly from edge-to-edge. Even though I no longer “see” the iPhone X notch, I’m reminded again of its existence when I use the S9 for a while.
But I still prefer iOS 11 over Android 8 and I await the day Samsung finally gives up on its proprietary apps for mail, Internet, maps, etc., and lets Google apps take over, they’re the ones I drop into Samsung’s useful App Edge, which lets me sweep in from the right edge to quickly access 10 customizable apps. I appreciate that the Galaxy S9 lets me sweep up to access Back, Task switch and Home, but want to be able to swipe up again (or use a long swipe) to access the home screen again. That Samsung confines haptic touch to a shallow space at the bottom of the phone is also problematic. The Apple iPhone just fees more alive thanks the gesture-controlled interface more ubiquitous 3D touch.
Would I give up my iPhone for a Samsung Galaxy S9? No. But if I were switching to Android, this would be my first stop.