Samsung Galaxy S9 A Galaxy phone at an astronomical price

Daylight robbery

When we reviewed the Galaxy S8, we liked its design but complained that it was ‘crazily expensive’. The S9 looks almost the same and costs £50 more. What’s happening here? Are we not making ourselves clear? Are copies of Computeractive not reaching Samsung’s HQ South Korea? Is it all a plot by Kim Jong-un to prevent our voice of wisdom reaching Seoul’s ears?

It’s not fake news – the S9 really does cost £739 (or £869 if you want the 6.2in S9+). And you might, because Samsung has followed Apple’s lead and added a second rear camera to the larger version, with a telephoto lens that brings subjects twice as close. Since optical zoom is one thing even the best phone cameras usually lack, that’s a big advantage, and one that you might resent not getting when you buy the regular model for – did we mention this? – £739.

The 5.8in S9 does gain an improved camera (replicated on the S9+) with an exceptionally bright f/1.5 aperture. This means it can capture nearly 30 per cent more light than the S8, which is very good news for shooting fast action or in badly lit conditions. The trade-off is that pictures don’t look quite as sharp at the edges as in the middle. To compensate, there’s a dual-aperture feature, so you can ‘stop down’ the lens to increase sharpness in return for a longer exposure.

In practice, this means you get great pictures in almost all conditions. For creative photographers, playing with aperture on this tiny sensor still has only a small effect on depth of field. On the S9+, a Live Focus option adds fake background blur, which works quite well, but this is missing from the S9. Well, what do you expect for £739?

Video recording is excellent, going up to 4K at a super-smooth 60 frames per second (fps), though optical image stabilisation is limited to lower settings. It also offers an incredible 960fps ultra-slowmotion, although this only works for a fifth of a second at a time at 720p resolution. Unlike Sony, which manages 960fps at a sharper 1080p on its latest Xperia XZ2 phones, Samsung lets you place a box on screen to detect movement and activate slow-motion, because your finger won’t be fast enough. The camera app is generally easier to use than before, too.

What else is new? The fingerprint reader is still on the back, but now better placed (below the camera rather than beside it, see image left), and an Intelligent Scan mode combines the alternative iris-and face-recognition systems to unlock your phone without you even thinking about it, taking you straight back into whichever app you were using before.

The eight- core processor is even faster, and the speakers are louder. The screen, with those lovely curved edges, remains astonishingly good, covering basically all of the SRGB, DCI-P3 (cinema) or Adobe RGB colour range, according to your preference, although the high maximum brightness still only materialises in Auto mode on a sunny day.

Not everything is ideal. Bixby, Samsung’s version of Apple’s Siri, is still half-finished. Despite the case (available in black, blue or purple) being slightly thicker, battery life has deteriorated, playing our test video for just 14 hours 23 minutes – 150 minutes less than the S8, and put to shame by the Oneplus 5T, which lasted nearly 21 hours and costs half as much.

All things considered, it’s impossible to deny the Galaxy S9 is a wonderful piece of kit, but at this price that’s hardly surprising. You can find an S8 now for £549 – and maybe you should.

Stunning camera and video options almost justify its eye-watering price