Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus at first glance: The same and better

One thing about innovation is that it’s addictive. You can never eat just one and expect to have the whole bag, every time.

That’s what’s common between a packet of chips and Samsung. Having shown that it can come up with clever features no one’s done before, it raises the bar for expectations. So, looking at the newly minted and arrived S9 and S9+ flagships, what is it we see at first glance?

Same old design

The design for these two flagships has seen no radical change. If you pick up the Midnight Black version, you’ll have to look hard to find any differentiation from the previous generation of S8s. I outright refused a review unit in that colour and insisted on the Lilac Purple — and I’m not sorry. The two colour variants, Lilac and Coral Blue, bring a new aesthetic to an already elegant design and the Lilac in particular looks gorgeous, seeming to change colour in different lighting.

One thing Samsung has done is having moved the fingerprint sensor just under the camera. I will spend a few days with it to see whether it feels convenient and easy compared with the position next to the camera, which annoyed most people. Should you not want to use the fingerprint sensor at all, you do have the option of the using the new ‘Intelligent Scan,’ a feature that moves from identifying the face to the irises of your eyes to step up the security a notch as well as speed up access. Stay tuned to see how well that works once we test it.

In India, the S9 and S9+ work with Samsung’s own powerful Exynos 9 9810 chipset that’s the equivalent of the new Snapdragon 845. Both phones are running on Android Oreo 8.0 and Samsung’s familiar interface and customisations. The Galaxy S9 comes with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB or 256 GB of storage at ₹57,900 and ₹65,900. It’s the smaller of the two with its 5.8-inch screen though it doesn’t seem dramatically diminutive next to the the 6.2-inch Galaxy S9+, which has 6 GB of RAM has the same storage options at ₹64,900 and ₹72,900.

Both smartphones have support for two SIMs or one can use a memory card and add up to 400 GB of storage with just one nano SIM. Both phones come with a superb 18:9 screen or ‘Infinity Display’ that has been widely acclaimed as being the best on a smartphone. By now Samsung’s displays are in any case beyond argument. The batteries are 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh with support for wireless and quick charging.

Reimagined camera

What Samsung is most proud of for both these phones is the ‘reimagined’ camera set-up, which does happen to be a little different for the two devices. First, both have the new Dual Aperture lens on the primary 12 MP shooter that automatically adjusts and lets in more light when it’s dark with an industry first f/1.5 aperture and switches to f/2.4 in bright conditions allowing less light. Now that this has been done, it’s a fair bet that others will try it out too. The lenses automatically adjust their apertures to reduce visual distortion and, according to Samsung, make the picture 28 per cent better receptive to light. Manual adjustment for the aperture is also possible. On the S9+, there is an additional camera that creates the portrait effect or bokeh, which users are very fond of these days.

Photo and video enthusiasts will have some fun with the Super Slow Mode, which in this case is not a world first, having been introduced by Sony. But Samsung’s implementation does have its own enhancements such as an auto detection of movement to record, setting music to recordings rather than slowed down sound that doesn’t serve any purpose, and creating gifs with the results. Samsung calls it the moment within the moment. The idea is that you will miss a moment if you wait around to activate it manually, so the camera senses the movement (in Slow Mo) and takes sequences of slowed-down actions from two seconds to a stretched-out six seconds.

Samsung’s version of animated emojis is AR emojis, also made possible by the new cameras on board. In addition to preset characters like cats and rabbits and the usual, you make emojis of yourself, with 18 different variations. Use at will on social media and in messages for a laugh.

Overall, at first impression, the two new Galaxy flagships refine a stellar design. The processor is updated to the newest in use, and the camera has great new capabilities. An in-depth look will show how new features work but with the pricing and the big bouquet of schemes and offers at launch, the two phones look good to go for 2018.

Price: S9: ₹57,900 and ₹65,900 (4 GB RAM)

S9+: ₹64,900 and ₹72,900 (6 GB RAM)