Is anyone leaving the S8s for any S9?

[michaelp68]

I am. Love my S8+. But annual upgrade eligible so I pre-ordered S9+.

Better processor, more RAM, improved durability, improved display, improved fingerprint sensor location, vastly superior camera, better speakers (louder & stereo).....

Easy choice for me.

 

[tigercs]

I have an S8 now and I love it save for a few things. The current fingerprint sensor placement does bother me and I find myself wanting the extra screen real estate. I also burn through a battery in around 12 hours of not-so-heavy use. When you're running from 5:30a to 11p, that’s kind of a problem. I’m hoping that the supposed battery gains from the 845 chipset and Oreo’s enhancements will get me further through my day. So I’m going to pull the trigger on the S9+ and see what happens.

 

[MarineDawg]

Note 9 will be my next device unless the Surface Phone gets released but I can't hold my breath that long.

 

[Pamela Fellers]

I got my S9+ yesterday and excitedly opened the box only to find my S8+ . I'm one of the people who upgrades every year to the new Samsung. This time I did so just like any other year but when I opened the box I didn't have the excitement that I had with all of my other upgrades.

S9 is beautiful and it has a lot of the same features that the S8 has with the exception of the new camera and relocation of the fingerprint sensor. Some of the internal upgrades seemed to be pretty good and all-in-all it is a great phone but what makes it great is that it is pretty much my S8 Plus with new headlights or with a new paint job.

And since Samsung is ending their upgrade every year program with Verizon, I felt like this upgrade was wasted and it took away my ability to upgrade to the next amazing device that comes out with a brand new look and a brand new feel.

This upgrade felt like the iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 5S. Just wasn't something to get excited about. I am sending my S9 + back and have reactivated my S8 plus and I will wait for either the Note 9 or the S10 and hope that Samsung puts a little more effort into teasing me into an upgrade.

By the way, I did notice that there was a feature loss with the S9 plus compared to the S8 Plus... You lose the ability to set customizable message tones through the contact edit feature. I was told to use a third party app to be able to have custom message tones and that maybe they would update it through a patch or through the Oreo 8.1 update at a later date. That's disappointing since this is supposed to be an upgrade

Afterthought... The speakers are amazing and the Dolby Atmos makes listening through your stereo speakers in your car or via Bluetooth a wonderful experience. The camera is also amazing and takes high-quality photos even in the dark. But unless those are the only two things that you do and you had such a hard time with your fingerprint sensor being in the position it was in, I couldn't justify the upgrade. Also, the intelligent scan feature for your security is pretty good as well but with a new fingerprint sensor location you accidentally touch the fingerprint sensor before it scans your face completely and then you have unlocked the phone before it even had a chance to work

 

[jmk32]

Not gonna blow my upgrade on such a little change from the S8+. Waiting for Note 9 (former Note 7 owner). Hope they differentiate the next Note more than vs the current S series - hoping to see much bigger battery (over 4000 mah), bigger zoom 2nd camera with more than 12mp, quad DAC...

 

[Grebnehtor]

Probably not, Samsung needs to pick up the pace with their updates. They are painfully behind the curve. The biggest problem I have with it is that its most likely intentional to try to get people to upgrade their phones. I don't think you would have ever got Oreo on the S8 series before the S9 launched with it.

Might have to look long and hard at the OnePlus 6.

 

[joeldf]

Sticking with the S8 for now, especially since I've only had it 6 months.

I've also come to realize that I hate the curved edges. I'd also rather have somewhat thicker bezel at least along the bottom. More grip space when getting the phone out of my pocket.

I mean, it all looks nice, but daily use makes a lot of these "design" choices a bit of an aggravation. I have a case on it, but I'm still accidentally activating icons along the screen edge all the time even just putting the thing down.

I don't know what my next phone will be because the trends seem to go against ergonomics and usable handling, and trying to go all screen (don't get me started on the "notch", which thankfully Samsung hasn't yet adopted).

I know there are some flat-screen models, including a few by Samsung, but most (other than the Active) are lower end models, or not offered by AT&T - which I have to stick with.

 

[waveuk]

I got my S9+ last week switching from my S8.

Great upgrade overall. Camera, speed an battery life are the main highlights.

 

[neil74]

great time to buy a used S8 or S8+!

 

[markst]

Nope. Pixel 3 next for me.

 

[clownin72]

Nope. Nothing special for me there compared to the 8+. I'll still with it until there is a major style change

 

[rushmore]

For the S9+, if you value much better sounding speakers, better low light pics, optical zoom (digital is fake zoom) and about 20% better overall performance, then could be worth it. Not sure though most would notice the performance increase unless you play emulators or use the Dex Pad.

 

[htcrazy]

I'm going to wait. My S8 is just fine. I was a little irked they didn't put dual cameras on the S9. The S9+ is too big. I don't want a phablet for a phone. My biggest concern though are all the complaints about soft and blurry photos.

 

[bandofbrothers2112]

No. I am done chasing the Holy Grail - - especially over minor improvements that amount to a handful of air when analyzed objectively. "Keeping Up with the Jones's" gets ridiculously expensive after a while.

My S8+ meets my needs.

+1 from me.

Hits the nail on the head.

I'll see what the Note 9 looks like.

 

[MS3GT]

waiting for the Note 9

 

[neil74]

I went from a V30 to the S9 but just returned the S9 and picked up an immaculate 3 month old S8 for less than half the price. Honestly the S9 did not impress, yes it is better than the S8 but really not by much and even the FPS which yes is better but imo is still too small and badly located.

 

[waveuk]

After a month with the S9+ (from a S8) I can say it is a much better phone.

Camera is the bigest difference.

 

[mark7914]

I've seen the rather annoying and desperate EE adverts (UK) with Kevin Bacon hamming it up about the camera.

Is that it? OK there might be some other bits and pieces, but if that's the main selling point I'm not seeing the attraction. If I wanted a brilliant camera I'd buy a brilliant camera.

Likewise, I'm a bit of an "audiophile" and the DAC in the S8 is what you'd expect. It's crap. (For comparison it's fractionally better than the one in my old iPhone and it isn't tonally biased to make everything sound like syrupy, crystallised glass). In hi-fi terms. In terms of what I'd expect from a phone, it's.. alright.

Some crude ten quid chip, maybe. It's alright for plugging into the car system. It is not a piece of hi-fi equipment. But it isn't meant to be. If you want top quality sound buy an external dedicated DAC. Or a really good turntable, tonearm and cartridge and listen to stuff from before when the "loudness wars" came along and wrecked sound quality. No device can "fix" that.

The S8 performs quickly enough, indeed at times it puts my Windows 10 PC to shame.

I can't see any "killer app" or reason to upgrade. But then I regard my phone as a "peripheral" device. it means I can look stuff up on the internet (though the experience isn't the same as with a dual-monitor Windows PC). I can read emails. I can type out quick short replies to them; if I want to type something lengthy I'm not going to do it on a device with no physical keyboard, I'll wait 'til I get home. And I can read Tweets.

That's probably about all I use the phone for. So in this respect, a better camera and a faster processor are worthless to me. That said, were this my primary means of accessing the internet, my views would probably be different.

 

[segujer]

Nope, maybe the Note 9...

straight from the s8+

 

[Lawrie Sherratt]

Waiting for Note 9.