Samsung Galaxy S9 unveiled. 960FPS/720p, f/1.5 <-> f/2.4, SD845/E9810 and more

[D13H4RD]

Whenever Samsung reps talk about Bixby 

[XenosTech]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Ah, yah. Dual sim seems to be pretty rare on phones from what I've seen at least but I though the V30 Europe variant had a dual-sim option, or is it a "dual sim OR sim + memory card" kind of deal?

Yup that's what I saw and where I live we have 3 mobile carriers and I use 2 of them one is for personal and because where I work they are partnered with one I have a sim for that carrier too so dual sim is kinda handy for me. I just the memory card for video recordings or when I happen to take pics in raw format

[Drak3]

1 hour ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Am I the only one who thinks that phones are getting more boring every year?

For me, they got as boring as boring can get after the S4 and Note 3, and been staying the course.

[Drak3]

19 minutes ago, Lurick said:

I mean Samsung pulled the jack from the S8 but is putting it back so me thinks that hopefully companies got the message

The 3.5mm holes in my S8s disagree. They work pretty well for my wired headphones, especially the ones that come with the phone.

[LAwLz]

How can people not be excited for this? The chipset and camera have been massively improved. I can't wait test results. 

[Trixanity]

4 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

How can people not be excited for this? The chipset and camera have been massively improved. I can't wait test results. 

I think it's because phones can't do anything new. Designs are similar. There are only two things on the road ahead: new software and new form factors. Otherwise it'll be the same but somewhat better.

 

Other than that I agree. Although it's too bad the Exynos chip is held back by the Mali GPU. The Adreno 630 will be so much better. Fingers crossed that Samsung will have their first in-house GPU out next year.

 

They are absolutely killing it with the camera (except the small version getting gimped) and only need some software magic like Google has to cement their position. They supposedly have a mix of hardware and software to do it but so far Google's Pixel camera software has kept their edge. If they can deliver, I don't think anyone can match them this year. I mean even Sony's niche selling point of slow motion just got put to death by Samsung. They might even max out DXOMark scores (not that it matters).

[TheOriginalHero]

1 hour ago, The Viking said:

ahaha got me there (well... they include a dongle in the box, so does it matter that much?)

 

I still find it rather disappointing for its price though.

Cant listen to music while charging which is basically 90% of what i use my phone for. Why anyone thought removing the headphone jack was a good idea is beyond me

[Commodus]

54 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

How can people not be excited for this? The chipset and camera have been massively improved. I can't wait test results. 

It's basically an "S8s" (if Samsung were to borrow Apple's naming system).  Actually closer to the iPhone 7 in spirit, since the big hardware highlights are dual cameras on the larger model (yes, the Note 8 already had them, but we're talking core flagships here) and stereo speakers.

 

That's not a bad thing, and if you're itching to upgrade from a phone that's at least two years old, the S9 will likely be a phenomenal improvement.  But unlike last year, there's no breathtakingly obvious reason why you'd want to upgrade, especially not if you have an S8.  I dare say the iPhone X was a bolder step, even if it partly represented a catch-up -- the S9's face detection tweaks and AR Emoji are clearly attempts to riff on the iPhone's TrueDepth camera without the benefit of its technology.

[Bouzoo]

No mention of Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos? That is a huge upgrade. Been using Dolby Atmos on my G2, it makes a difference even on old phones with cheap headphones as well. Can only imagine how good it is on S9. Iirc it is JBL certified based on an old leak?

[JoeCoke]

I miss replaceable batteries... Never switching from my s5 until I HAVE to.

[RagnarokDel]

I'm probably a rare case scenario but I couldnt give any Fs about the camera. Good enough was reached in 2012. It's probably cause I dont really do social media but to me a smartphone is about what you can do with it not how well you can take a picture of yourself doing stuff.

[ravenshrike]

3 hours ago, ModuleLFS said:

Bring the flip phones back!!!

You jest but the motorola i530 is still my favorite phone that I ever owned. If they updated the thing with a micro-usb or type c port I would get another one in a heartbeat.

[Murasaki]

Just now, ravenshrike said:

You jest but the motorola i530 is still my favorite phone that I ever owned. If they updated the thing with a micro-usb or type c port I would get another one in a heartbeat.

Siemens CF62 here. Nice looks and programmable lights.

[Castdeath97]

I might finally upgrade my iPhone 6 Plus, been using it for a very long while.

[Trixanity]

2 hours ago, Bouzoo said:

No mention of Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos? That is a huge upgrade. Been using Dolby Atmos on my G2, it makes a difference even on old phones with cheap headphones as well. Can only imagine how good it is on S9. Iirc it is JBL certified based on an old leak?

AKG. Semantics I guess. Samsung owns Harman. Harman owns JBL and AKG.

[Bearded_Ed]

57 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

I might finally upgrade my iPhone 6 Plus, been using it for a very long while.

I've just picked up the Huawei Mate 10 Pro from my 6 plus.  The overall speed difference is unbelievable.  

 

Nows the time to upgrade, I picked the mate 10 because of the price. But I'd rather have had the Pixel XL but it was just too expensive £/month. 

 

Didn't want the S8/+ because of the finger print sensor location... S9 fixed that. 

[leadeater]

5 hours ago, ModuleLFS said:

Bring the flip phones back!!!

Spring loaded slide phones like in the original Matrix

[Okjoek]

Is there anything here that would make me want to upgrade from my S7?

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, Commodus said:

It's basically an "S8s" (if Samsung were to borrow Apple's naming system).  Actually closer to the iPhone 7 in spirit, since the big hardware highlights are dual cameras on the larger model (yes, the Note 8 already had them, but we're talking core flagships here) and stereo speakers.

 

That's not a bad thing, and if you're itching to upgrade from a phone that's at least two years old, the S9 will likely be a phenomenal improvement.  But unlike last year, there's no breathtakingly obvious reason why you'd want to upgrade, especially not if you have an S8.  I dare say the iPhone X was a bolder step, even if it partly represented a catch-up -- the S9's face detection tweaks and AR Emoji are clearly attempts to riff on the iPhone's TrueDepth camera without the benefit of its technology.

Well yeah, it's a "S8s" but what else did people expect? You could basically argue that the S8 was just an "S7s" too, but with a slightly more stretched out screen.

 

So here are the new things compared to the Galaxy S8:

• Slight redesign. Moved the fingerprint scanner, made it slightly smaller but kept the screen size the same, and really minor tweaks like that.
• Massive leap forward in terms of processing power (at least on the EMEA version)
• More RAM on the + version, and more storage options (S8 was 64GB only, this goes up to 256GB)
• New camera sensor. Not sure if it'll be an improvement image quality wise, but it should be better for things like a smaller rolling shutter effect (if it has any at all) and possibly even shorter capture lag. Multi-frame noise reduction might be a really big improvement too.
• Holy balls aperture blades in a smartphone!? Am I reading that right?
• Much improved slo-mo mode (4 times as slow).
• Dual camera with the secondary one having a telephoto lens. Post-processing bokeh.
• Stupid face scanning crap.
• New Bixby stuff (yawn). I mean, it is super impressive that it works at all, but I don't use personal assistants and we are at this awkward place where some assistants are better at some things, and others are better in some other areas.
• Improved screen (brightness at least, not sure if you can make the S8 screen that much better than it already is)
• Dual speakers
• New modem (cat 18)
• Improvements to DeX.

[Beskamir]

6 hours ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Am I the only one who thinks that phones are getting more boring every year?

Yeah that basically looks like my s8+ which isn't a bad thing cause I really like my s8+ but there's also no reason for me to upgrade when it's just the same phone but with slightly better specs.

[Morgan Everett]

A fairly underwhelming update. I'm pleased I didn't wait for it.

[captain_to_fire]

Will Samsung ever consider a high end Galaxy S/Note series with a physical keyboard?

[captain_to_fire]

2 hours ago, leadeater said:

Spring loaded slide phones like in the original Matrix

The Nokia 8110?

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Good that they stuck with the headphone jack, too bad about the Bixby button.  Then again that's not necessarily a problem if we can remap it.

 

Not sure if I'll get one.  The big question for me will be whether or not they locked down the bootloader on the Exynos version like they did on the S8 and S8+.  Even if it is, there's nothing really wrong with my S7 so I just may wait until the S10 is announced. 

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, hey_yo_ said:

The Nokia 8110?

Yep, funny thing is the actual phones weren't spring loaded so a lot of people went out to buy them then got all disappointed you had to manually slide the cover down lol