Let's get this out of the way first. The S9 is exactly as I had expected; An incremental upgrade to the S8's design with an upgraded camera and processor.
However, that doesn't mean it's bad.
For one, I don't think the design has aged that much. It still looks good and it is actually quite a bit thicker than before presumably to house the cameras. I personally still prefer the black and silver models.
But the camera hardware is probably the mad part. It's mostly what I expected, especially with its dual aperture, but the sensor itself is interesting. It's similar to the S8 in terms of basic specs, which is a 1/2.6" sensor with 1.4 micron pixels combined with an effective resolution of 12.2MP over a 4:3 aspect ratio. But it now has a layer of stacked DRAM in the actual sensor itself, much like the Sony XPERIA XZ Premium last year, and not only does that give 960FPS at 720p (ironically bested by Sony's XZ2 which does the same at 1080p) but also allows multi-frame processing for up to 12 photos that's tied into the DSP (of which the 845 natively supports). The hardware is superb but it remains to be seen how the software is like.
Other improvements are expected but no less welcome. The Exynos processor is a CPU champ while the 845 handles GPU loads better. Stereo speakers are always welcome and the fingerprint sensor location is now much more logical and should be better for hands of all sizes.
The price, however, actually surprised me. I was expecting a small price bump over the S8, but it's actually largely maintained, maybe a little lower than before (carrier pricing not withstanding). And it seems more countries are getting a 128GB and 256GB SKU for $50 and $100 extra respectively. I hope this becomes a global thing.
All in all, a solid hardware upgrade, but at the end of the day, it's an incremental one and while it is a good phone, I'll be sticking with my Note8 since it does everything I want it to do in a manner that's still relevant.
However, that doesn't mean it's bad.
For one, I don't think the design has aged that much. It still looks good and it is actually quite a bit thicker than before presumably to house the cameras. I personally still prefer the black and silver models.
But the camera hardware is probably the mad part. It's mostly what I expected, especially with its dual aperture, but the sensor itself is interesting. It's similar to the S8 in terms of basic specs, which is a 1/2.6" sensor with 1.4 micron pixels combined with an effective resolution of 12.2MP over a 4:3 aspect ratio. But it now has a layer of stacked DRAM in the actual sensor itself, much like the Sony XPERIA XZ Premium last year, and not only does that give 960FPS at 720p (ironically bested by Sony's XZ2 which does the same at 1080p) but also allows multi-frame processing for up to 12 photos that's tied into the DSP (of which the 845 natively supports). The hardware is superb but it remains to be seen how the software is like.
Other improvements are expected but no less welcome. The Exynos processor is a CPU champ while the 845 handles GPU loads better. Stereo speakers are always welcome and the fingerprint sensor location is now much more logical and should be better for hands of all sizes.
The price, however, actually surprised me. I was expecting a small price bump over the S8, but it's actually largely maintained, maybe a little lower than before (carrier pricing not withstanding). And it seems more countries are getting a 128GB and 256GB SKU for $50 and $100 extra respectively. I hope this becomes a global thing.
All in all, a solid hardware upgrade, but at the end of the day, it's an incremental one and while it is a good phone, I'll be sticking with my Note8 since it does everything I want it to do in a manner that's still relevant.
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