Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy S9
Great camera, but AR Emoji doesn't impress
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and larger S9+ made their debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. I had the chance to play with Samsung's flagship handsets at the event and came away (mostly) impressed.
On first glance, it looks very similar to the Galaxy S8; from the nearly bezel-free front, to the curvy sides, to screen sizes (5.8" for the S9 and 6.2" for the S9+). But there are also plenty of differences.
The fingerprint sensor is still on the back -- which means no in-screen sensor on Samsung's flagship, despite the technology appearing in other phones this year. The big change is that it's now underneath the camera instead of being to the side, like on the S8. Having the sensor lower means it's much easier for my tiny hands to reach it... and reduces the chances of getting fingerprints all over the camera lens.
Like the iPhone, the two Galaxy S9 models don't just differ in size -- they include different features, too.
The S9+ has 6GB of RAM, compared to 4GB on the S9. The bigger model also has two camera lenses. It’s true that a supplementary rear camera doesn’t always translate to better pictures, as seen on the Google Pixel 2. But since the S9 and S9+ are running the same software, the dual-lens setup here should result in better pictures for the S9+.