More refinement than revolution, the Galaxy S9 ($720) and Galaxy S9+ ($840) build upon the best phone design in years in subtle but important ways. The new phones boast an improved camera for better low-light photos, a fun new Super Slow-Mo video mode, and improved performance — all stuffed inside handsets that are still the sleekest around.
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ try a little too hard to keep up with the iPhone X, such as with Samsung's creepy AR Emoji. But overall, the Galaxy S9+ is still one of the best phones around in terms of what you get for the money, and the Galaxy S9 is a fantastic flagship value.
Design: Now even awesomer
I'll give Samsung a pass for not changing the design of the Galaxy S9 much, because the phone's edge-to-edge Infinity Display already looked stunning when it was introduced a year ago on the Galaxy S8. This time around, Samsung trimmed the bezels slightly on the top and bottom, giving you the same size displays in slightly more compact packages.
The S9+ measures 6.2 x 2.8 X 0.33 inches, while the S8+ is 6.3 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches. However, the newer S9+ is heavier than its predecessor, at 6.7 versus 6.1 ounces, likely owing to the addition of the second rear-camera lens. The S9 is a lighter 5.8 ounces.
The biggest change is on the back of the S9 and S9+, as Samsung wisely moved the fingerprint sensor so that it sits beneath the camera instead of to the right of the lens (which is also a problem with the Note 8). And yet, despite this tweak, the reader is still pretty close to the bottom lens; it took a couple of days of practice for me to target the sensor correctly, but by that time, I had moved on to the iris and face-recognition methods for unlocking the phone.
The S9+ and S9 are available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple. We received the black model, which is sleek enough for a business setting but kind of boring. We would much prefer a pop of color. As with the S8, Samsung's new phones are IP68 water resistant, so you can dunk them in up to 5 feet of water for 30 minutes without fear. The new phones also include headphone jacks, but the backs pick up smudges easily.
Alas, the Bixby button remains on the left side, right underneath the volume button, which resulted in several accidental presses on my part. The good news is that you can turn this function off, but you can't remap the button to launch another app.
Durability: Tough to a point
We tested the toughness of the Galaxy S9 by dropping it on its face onto wood from a height of 4 feet and 6 feet; we then dropped it on its edge and face onto concrete from 4 feet. We also dropped it on its edge and face from 6 feet onto concrete.
Drops from 4 feet and 6 feet onto wood caused no damage whatsoever to the S9. A 4-foot face drop onto concrete caused the S9's screen to crack, but the phone was still largely usable. Following that, a 6-foot drop onto its edge caused more damage, as did a face drop from that height.
Finally, a 4-foot drop into a water-filled toilet didn't cause much more damage to occur, but by this point, the screen was shattered pretty thoroughly. It survived, though, which earned it a toughness score of 6 out of 10. To see the results of other smartphones, as well as our complete scoring methodology, check out our smartphone drop tests.
Display: It’s killer
A funny thing happened with the iPhone X. Even though that phone reportedly packs a Samsung-made OLED screen, it beat Samsung's own phones in our screen shootout last fall, achieving the highest brightness (indoors), widest viewing angles and most-natural-looking colors.
Samsung has responded with the Galaxy S9+, whose curved display offers a brighter picture than the S8+ and covers even more of the color gamut than the iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL.
On our light meter, the S9's display registered a whopping 603 nits, which is higher than the Pixel 2 XL's 438 nits and even higher than the iPhone X's 574 nits. The S9+ got even brighter at 630 nits. However, it's important to note that Samsung's panels don't get this bright manually; you'll have to be in direct sunlight. Under normal indoor conditions, the max brightness on the iPhone X is higher than the S9 or S9+.
The S9 definitely has the most colorful panel around, though, as it reproduces a whopping 220 percent of the SRGB color gamut. The S9+ registered 231 percent. That's much higher than the results from the iPhone X (128.6 percent) and Pixel 2 XL (120 percent).
In side-by-side viewing of a scene from the Black Panther on the Galaxy S9+, iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL, the S9+ delivered the best image quality. The greens and blues popped more on the S9+’s panel, even though the iPhone X’s display shined brighter. The Pixel 2 XL’s image looked a little flat by comparison.
My only nitpick with this curved panel is that it can sometimes be difficult to press buttons on the extreme edges of the display; on more than one occasion I had to press twice for something to register.
Audio: A big boost
I did something I've never done before when reviewing the Galaxy S9. I left the phone on for hours by my side playing music as I wrote this review and did my testing. That's because the sound coming from the stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the S9 is just that good.
When I streamed Alice Merton's "No Roots," the vocals sounded clear even at maximum volume and the drums had a nice punch to them. With the S9 and S9+ delivering 1.4 times more volume than the S8 and S8+, I also had an easier time hearing directions coming from Google Maps while I drove.
Although there's not a lot of content that supports it yet, both the S9 and S9+ support Dolby Atmos technology. This fools your ear into believing that sound is coming at you from different directions in 3D space, making movies more immersive.
Camera: Low-light improvement, Super Slow-mo fun
Boasting a new variable aperture, the Galaxy S9's new Super Speed Dual Pixel camera is designed to let in 28 percent more light than the S8. The aperture automatically adjusts from f/1.5 to f/2.4, depending on the conditions. In addition, the camera offers dedicated memory for reducing noise.
The results were fairly impressive in my testing, although the S9 and S9+ still trail the Pixel 2 and iPhone X in overall image quality. If you like the idea of 2x optical zoom or you want to take convincing-looking portraits, the S9+ is the phone to get, as its dual rear lenses give you those benefits. The regular S9 has a single rear shooter.
The Galaxy S9+ did a good job capturing a piñata indoors with some light streaming in through the window (to the left). When you zoom in, there's definitely less noise and more detail in the Samsung's shot. However, the oranges, purples and yellows are more vibrant in the iPhone X's photo.
source: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/galaxy-s9-s9-plus,review-5198.html
