Things i dont like about my s9 plus compared to my s8 plus

Chitown28

Well-known member
Oct 7, 2013
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Im kinda dissapointed in this phone i just received the s9 plus today and put it on full brightness next to my s8 plus and noticed my s8 plus is whiter like wow how can this be? I thought the s9 screen was suppose to be better :( Also in my s8 plus messages settings there is a option called backgrounds and my s9 plus does not have that option so we cant change the color to our text backgrounds which is annoying cause i hate having the white color! Another thing is the on my s8 plus when i set my frame icons to show icons only thats exactly what it does but on my s9 plus it still shows YouTube google chrome and gmail with frames even though i have it set on show icons only!

If you guys are noticing these same issues please let me know so i know its just not my phone.

UPDATE: i got the screen whiteness to look just like my s8 plus did by going into settings-display-advanced options. I lowered the red and green and its much better :)
 
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I changed my theme and it changed the colors of my text message background. It's black and purple now
 
I do agree with the brightness, I saw the same comparing the S9+ with an S8 and I was surprised.
 
I also notice that within the stock messaging app, there is no option to change the background that way.

However, I have nova launcher installed and downloaded a Samsung Theme which applied to the background of my messages, including the main messages background that shows all the contacts I've recently messaged with.

I am surprised it currently doesn't have an option for you to pick say a photo, to use as your messages background. I'd keep checking the app for updates maybe there's a fix for it.
 
use a different messenging app, I use Textra and it has a black background option
 
I haven't used it yet but I actually like the way the new messenger looks from the reviews I saw. I don't use custom backgrounds though.
 
I do miss the option to change the background and bubble colors, but I always use a dark theme so it doesn't bother me. I'd say give it till after the official release maybe an update will solve some of your issues.
 
Im kinda dissapointed in this phone i just received the s9 plus today and put it on full brightness next to my s8 plus and noticed my s8 plus is whiter like wow how can this be? I thought the s9 screen was suppose to be better :( Also in my s8 plus messages settings there is a option called backgrounds and my s9 plus does not have that option so we cant change the color to our text backgrounds which is annoying cause i hate having the white color! Another thing is the on my s8 plus when i set my frame icons to show icons only thats exactly what it does but on my s9 plus it still shows YouTube google chrome and gmail with frames even though i have it set on show icons only!

If you guys are noticing these same issues please let me know so i know its just not my phone.

Actually that new screen you're seeing is not the brightness being worse than the S8. It's built like that to get to the truest colors. So I'm sure you heard that the screen got the highest marks above the iPhone X right? It's that new change in color of the screen and brightness that is more accurate but in the naked eye, the s8 looks better.
 
I also notice that within the stock messaging app, there is no option to change the background that way.

However, I have nova launcher installed and downloaded a Samsung Theme which applied to the background of my messages, including the main messages background that shows all the contacts I've recently messaged with.

I am surprised it currently doesn't have an option for you to pick say a photo, to use as your messages background. I'd keep checking the app for updates maybe there's a fix for it.

Download an old Apk and downgrade
 
Actually that new screen you're seeing is not the brightness being worse than the S8. It's built like that to get to the truest colors. So I'm sure you heard that the screen got the highest marks above the iPhone X right? It's that new change in color of the screen and brightness that is more accurate but in the naked eye, the s8 looks better.

Could have a bad screen, not all of them are perfect.
 
The official Samsung themes seem to be all gone save the default. No dark theme, so no way to change the text message background and bubbles.
I really miss the samsung dark theme. 3rd party themes don't change all the icons, or add a drop shadow on the icons like the official Samsung themes did...

:(
 
you can adjust the warmth of the display under settings>display>screen mode. scroll to the bottom. you can even adjust the RGB settings individually if you check advanced.
 
The official Samsung themes seem to be all gone save the default. No dark theme, so no way to change the text message background and bubbles.
I really miss the samsung dark theme. 3rd party themes don't change all the icons, or add a drop shadow on the icons like the official Samsung themes did...

:(

I don't think the Note 8 has one either. It's something I miss from the LG V20.

Many devices these days seem to support light/dark themes but Samsung seems to be leaving it to 3rd party developers. However, the polish of the 3rd party ones just isn't the same.
 
I don't think the Note 8 has one either. It's something I miss from the LG V20.

Many devices these days seem to support light/dark themes but Samsung seems to be leaving it to 3rd party developers. However, the polish of the 3rd party ones just isn't the same.

3rd party themes in Samsung Store are awesome and well built. I have had many themes that work very well. You would know this if you had to browse themes in say LG World and HTC Themes for example.
 
My problem is many of them try too hard to be works of art at the sacrifice of function. Out of all I tried they were either too over the top, had readability issues or left something blinding white.

LG does a nice job at the basic light/dark theme but I never went into their other themes.

My guess is Samsung can make some money from the store given the popularity of dark themes. I would be happy to pay for a dark OEM theme but they probably don't want to compete with the 3rd party developers.
 
Also in my s8 plus messages settings there is a option called backgrounds and my s9 plus does not have that option so we cant change the color to our text backgrounds which is annoying cause i hate having the white color!

Based on the update my wife's S7 Active got yesterday, when your S8+ updates, it won't have the option for backgrounds anymore either.