Sams ung Galaxy S9
From £739, samsung.com
Sometimes the smallest changes have the biggest impact, a notion Samsung is seemingly throwing its weight behind with the Galaxy S9. At first glance, it’s easy to assume that Samsung’s new flagship smartphone is little more than a refined version of last year’s S8, with an almost identical hardware suite packed into a lush slab of metal and glass. Look closer, however, and you’ll notice some pleasing tweaks and innovations.
Although the S9 has the same screen as the S8 – a 5.8-inch (6.2-inch on the S9+) QHD+ Super AMOLED display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio – Samsung has chosen to tweak the landscape mode so that the entire user interface now rotates to fit the widescreen format.
The big news with the S9 is the innovative camera system. The 12MP rear camera features dual-aperture tech for improved low-light photography, where a fixed-size aperture – which is what basically all phones use – is ditched for one that expands and contracts just like the iris of your eye; the S9’s camera lets more light into its sensor when the surrounding environment is too dark, or less when the environment is too light. Slo-mo video capture has also been improved, recording at a much higher speed for even more dramatic results, and you can now turn footage into a video or gif (with music) for sharing on social media, or into live wallpaper for your S9.
That 12MP rear camera and front-mounted 8MP camera are crucial in terms of delivering the S9’s other new features, AR Emoji and Bixby Vision. Yes, it seems that Samsung thinks Apple is onto something with Animoji – Samsung’s AR Emoji, a feature built into the S9’s camera application, enables you to take a selfie then turn it into a personalised virtual avatar. Hold the camera up to your face and AR Emoji will mirror your expression and pose, at which point you can take a picture of your AR Emoji or record a video (with sound) of your avatar mimicking your actions.
Visual aids
Bixby Vision is less fun but more practical. This image search feature works when you point the S9’s camera at an object, text or location, enabling you to identify or shop for different items, to translate foreign text and to identify locations.
Although we’ve only had some brief handson time with the Galaxy S9, by focusing on how phone communication has moved from the ear to the eye – as evidenced by the S9’s camera system, AR Emoji and Bixby Vision – Samsung seems to have made a smartphone that’s confident to tweak its core hardware, then walk away to focus on other relevant features. The S9 could well be the phone to deliver Samsung’s most fluid, interconnected user experience so far – with a bit of extra fun thrown in.