Samsung Galaxy S9 Review

Overview

The Galaxy S9 has a heavy burden as it inherits the success of Galaxy S8 and the expectations that it should take from where the S8 has left off. From a first glance, the model does not bring much of an update to the 2017 model. The design and screen seem identical, so does the battery. Expectedly, the camera and chipset should provide a more noticeable positive difference and the expected biometrics should be improvided as well. But all this is on the surface. Our in-depth reviews usually delve into the smallest details possible, so you will definitely get a straight answer for yourself how and in what way the Galaxy S9 is different from the Galaxy S8 and whether it is worth the upgrade and your money, of course.

Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S9 is adorned by a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED Dual Edge Display with a WQHD+ resolution (1440 x 2960) and aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The display is protected by a 3D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Such a glass protects the back as well and in between them, there's a polished 7000-series aluminium alloy frame. In terms of chipset, the model has two variants. The first one is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 mobile platform, built on Samsung's 10LPP (Low Power Plus) process. It employs eight Kryo 385 CPU cores. Four are clocked at 2.8GHz and the other four at 1.8GHz. An Adreno 630 manages the graphics department and supports OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.0, DirectX 12. This chipset includes an X20 LTE modem, a Hexagon 685 DSP, Spectra 280 ISP, security core unit, etc. The second variant is based on the Exynos 9810 chipset. It is built on the same 2nd generation 10LPP process. The SoC houses a 3rd generation custom CPU upgraded with wider pipelines and optimized cache memory. It employs 4x Exynos M3 Mongoose CPU cores that run at a thread-count dependent maximum frequency the top one being 2.7GHz (not 2.9GHz as initially advertised). The other four cores are Cortex-A55 units ticking at 1.79GHz. The Exynos 9810 is equipped with the 18-core Mali-G72 M18 GPU clocked at 572MHz that supports OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 2.0, DirectX 11, Renderscript. The Exynos 9810 SoC also employs several security features such as Samsung KNOX, Security Processing Unit, and DRAM encryption. In terms of RAM and storage capacity, there are variants as well. The RAM measures 4GB and is LPDDR4X, clocked at 1794MHz. The UFS 2.1 storage is available in three versions - 64/128/256GB. The LTE modem on board the chipset supports category 18 with 6CA (carrier aggregation) for downlink and 2CA for uplink. With faster downlink and uplink speed of up to 1.2Gbps and 200Mbps respectively. The list of supported network bands includes 2G GSM (800, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 3G TD-SCDMA (1880-1920, 2010-2025 MHz), 3G UMTS (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz), 4G LTE-FDD (700 Class 13, 700 Class 17, 800, 850, 900, 1700/2100, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2600 MHz), and 4G LTE-TDD (1900, 2300, 2500, 2600, 700 MHz - B12, 700 MHz - B28). The model also supports Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with 4x4 VHT80 MIMO, 1024-QAM scheme, Bluetooth 5, NFC with Android Beam and Tap and Pay. The Galaxy S9 works with GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo. The device has a USB Type-C 3.1 port with OTG support and a 3.5 mm jack. The camera department includes a 12MP Samsung SAK2L3 sensor with an integrated DRAM layer. It is coupled with a 77° wide-angle lens with variable aperture - from f/1.5 to f/2.4, and is aided by Smart OIS, Object tracking AF, Dual-Pixel PDAF, real-time HDR imaging, 3-Dimensional Noise Reduction (3DNR) and a High CRI LED flash. The front-facing camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel Samsung S5K3H1 sensor and an 80° wide-angle lens with f/1.7 aperture. The model has a 3000 mAh battery that arrives with a 5V/2A~9V/1.67A fast charger and supports Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge and Fast Wireless Charging (Qi & PMA). An iris scanner, heart rate and fingerprint sensor are on board as well. The model runs on Android 8.0 Oreo with Samsung Experience 9.0 on top.

Complete Samsung Galaxy S9 Exynos and Samsung Galaxy S9 SD845 specifications.

What's in the box

The Galaxy S9 is packaged in Samsung's signature rectangular box in graphite black colour. The box has a "sleeve" of the same colour with the model's name imprinted in its centre in dark blue colour. The full model name, storage and SIM card version are imprinted on it as well. The lid of the box has the Samsung logo in deep black and with a different texture. It opens on the right side and unfolds to the left unveiling the contents. The device is placed in the top-level compartment with all standard protective packaging. Below it, you will see the accessories:

• 5V/2A~9V/1.67A fast charger (British Standard - BS 1363)
• USB Type-C data cable
• USB Connector (C to A)
• Transparent silicone case for the back
• AKG-tuned earphones with spare pads
• SIM tray pin
• Quick start guide
• Smart Switch leaflet

A note on the charger: this is a 13 amp charger that has 3 pins and supports 220-240 V electric systems. This type is used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Malaysia, and Singapore. Prepare a plug adapter, if you live elsewhere and receive a device with such a charger.