Samsung announced its 2018 flagship Android devices in March amid consumer expectations of bendable phones. Well the newest Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9 Plus fell short of being  revolutionary phones albeit with some extraordinary features. The S9 Plus resembling its predecessor, Galaxy S8 Plus, has the following on offer. 

    ·      Display and Design

When it comes to the hardware and design, it can be seen that the two are a complete copy, except for their dimension. The S9 Plus is slightly smaller with 158.1x73.8 mm dimension while the S8 Plus has 159.5x8.1 mm. However, it’s much heavier at 189g or 6.67 oz, while S8 Plus weighs 173g or 6.10 oz. 

Another major upgrade can be seen on the rim of the S9 Plus. It is a 0.2mm thicker, providing increased drop protection. New colours are also introduced with the addition of Lilac Purple and Titanium Gray. 

For the screen resolution, S9 Plus is undeniably brighter but with the same resolution of 2,960x1,440 pixels.

   ·      Camera

What makes the Galaxy S9 Plus a stunner is its two back cameras, the added one is a 12-megapixel telephoto lens which gives 2x zoom, plus the best-selling point, Portrait Mode. This is just a start as the S9 Plus also has a ‘dual aperture’ feature, that automatically switches in a well-lit and low light scenes. Lastly, the new Android phone has a ‘Slo-Mo’ mode, which is totally fun and exciting. The camera can shoot videos in 3840x2160 @ 60 fps, 1920x1080 @ 60 fps, 1280x720 @ 30 fps

   ·      Performance

Galaxy S8 Plus has the Exynos Octa-core which is equivalent to 2.35 GHz Quad + 1.9 GHz Quad. The S9 Plus boosted its own with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core chipset for the US and Exynos 9810 for Europe and Asia. It claims to have 20% improvement on performance and 30% on efficiency. 

Overall, the processor upgrade on the S9 Plus is truly powerful and fluid, with 6GB of RAM, coming from S8 Plus’ 4GB capacity. 

   ·      Battery Life

No significant change can be seen on the batteries of S8 Plus and S9 Plus as Samsung retained the 3500 mAh battery. But with the added features of S9 Plus like the dual camera, battery life can be affected. Samsungs 8-Point Quality Check is fully integrated though, with an impressive 95% battery capacity retention unlike Apple’s 20%. 

   ·      Features

The newest mobile assistant, Bixby, helps user calculate the calorie of their food by simply taking a photo and a lot more. Bixby can also translate words live, a relief for frequent travellers. The finger print sensor is also re-positioned to better suit user input. To conclude, although the S9 Plus has a lot of features, including Video Stabilization customization, it is a slightly disappointing upgrade overall. 

For the price, Galaxy S8 Plus retails at $999 while the Galaxy S9 Plus starts at $1,199. But you can also check shops like Phonebot for high-quality refurbished units. Their Galaxy S8 Plus starts at $599 while the Galaxy S9 Plus starts from $849. These are of great value, just like a brand-new phone. For more information, check out their website today. 

Reference: 

https://www.samsung.com/au/smartphones/galaxy-s8/
https://www.t3.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-s9-review