Here’s What Is Actually New About the Samsung Galaxy S9 [Updated]

When a delayed launch left an S8 - sized golf hole at Mobile World Congress last class , the start to the outflow smartphone time of year felt a picayune so - so . Samsung was n’t going to make the same misapprehension again , so here it is , the Modern Galaxy S9 and S9 + .

At first glimpse , the S9 ’s appearance might indicate that not a caboodle has changed . After all , while Samsung say the S9 ’s display is a scrap brighter and its bezels are a short slimmer , you ’re still getting the same extra - widescreen 18:9 AMOLED Infinity display we view on last year ’s manakin . Even its dimension are for the most part unchanged , with the S9 sporting a 5.8 - inch screen , while the S9 + is stay dab at 6.2 - inches .

Sure , in back , things see somewhat dissimilar now that Samsung has move the fingermark sensor below the camera , instead of putting it off to the right like it did before . And while the S9 + ’s new double rear cam scheme with a 2x rapid growth is nice , we saw Samsung do that on the Galaxy Note 8 back in the fall . So as far as the S9 ’s exterior move , that ’s it for change . I ’m not gon na rest , I was hoping for more , but since the S8 was already an super pretty machine , it ’s hard to be too disappointed .

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

But what ’s really exciting are all the changes going on inside . Now before we continue , please forgive me for getting supernumerary technical , but I ca n’t help oneself i ! . That ’s because aside from the S9 ’s newfangled stereo speakers ( which are a first for a Galaxy Phone ) , many of Samsung ’s novel advancement involve some sophisticated details about the S9 and its human beings - first dual aperture camera .

The aperture is literally the hole through which the brightness travels to the photographic camera sensor . The lower the number the bigger the hole and the more light that ’s appropriate in . The idea is that by letting the camera switch between f/2.4 and f/1.5 ( the widest aperture available on smartphone so far ) , the S9 should produce even unspoiled photo in both bright light and first-rate dark condition . And when you compound that with a new 12 - MP super velocity dual pixel sensing element , Samsung says the S9 can entrance about 60 pct more brightness than before . Samsung has even improved the S9 ’s multi - frame image processing , which now smashes together three sets of four photo pullulate back - to - back into one image , with more details and less stochasticity that one would theoretically get from a single motion picture .

That ’s not the only newfangled whoremaster the S9 ’s camera is sporting either . Using a new effigy sensing element with consecrated on - board memory , the S9 can now snap deadening - bit video at up to an eye - protrude 960 fps in 0.2 2d bursts . And do n’t worry about drop the moment with just a one-fifth of a irregular to forge with , because Samsung ’s wearisome - mo can mechanically detect action and trigger the camera to assure you sweep through the pellet . How well that feature actually works outdoors of the cool demo remains to be seen .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

Bixby is also taking advantage of the S9 ’s television camera upgrades with a number of new additions to its sight - base Vision skills . Now , the S9 can do things like look at a piece of intellectual nourishment and give you an estimate of how many calories it has , or allow you try on different types of war paint from Sephora by manoeuvre the selfie cam at your face and opt a color .

But perhaps the slickest new Bixby feature is its on - the - fly translation science . rather of entering characters into an app or postulate a picture of a sign , all you have to do its point the S9 ’s tv camera at some foreign words and it will technomagically exchange the stuff you do n’t understand with a language you do .

And as you would gestate , the S9 is no slouch in the specs section either . It ’s got Qualcomm ’s unexampled chip , the Snapdragon 845 , along with 4 GB of RAM ( or 6 GB on the S9 + ) , 64 GB of storage and a beneficial ‘ ole microSD one-armed bandit . And unlike Motorola , HTC , Google and Apple , which have all axe the headphone jack on their latest flagships , the S9 has hold its ready to hand 3.5 mm jack .

Photo: Sam Rutherford

If you look close at the phone, you can actually see the camera’s aperture blades shift between f/1.5 and f/2.4Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

Now comes the dizzy stuff and nonsense . After Apple launched Animoji on the iPhone X last evenfall , you knew it would n’t be long until Samsung put out its take too . But instead of just using your brass to invigorate a blurred bunny ( which the S9 can totally do too ) , Samsung has go full Bitmoji with its unexampled AR Emoji lineament .

All you have to do is snap a selfie , and in a few arcsecond , your pic is transformed into a cartoony digital avatar , gross with the power to change you skin color , hair , eye article of clothing and even your you outfit . Then you could save them to the gallery and send them anywhere you wish on social media .

AR Emoji also reply to your face , so if you want to use them to send a wink or grin over the cyberspace , you’re able to do that too . That said , I think the best part about AR Emoji is the ability to put googley eyes on everything . It ’s kinda janky , kinda gimmicky and only a fiddling fun , but I think in a post - Emoji Movie world , this is the society we ’re living in .

Graphic: Raul Marrero

Super slow-mo in action.Graphic: Raul Marrero (Gizmodo)

Goddamn , that ’s about everything , and I did n’t even get to talk about the revamp Dex Pad or the S9 ’s unexampled Intelligent Scan security department , which mimics Apple ’s FaceID by conflate the sound ’s iris sensor and face scanner into a unmarried unlock system ( that ’s another feature we ’re waiting for more details on ) . But with all this , it ’s reset the S9 represents the absolute good tech Samsung can cram in a earpiece , and from my short metre with it so far , the S9 looks like a full - leaden counter to Apple ’s iPhone X.

Samsung has not announce official pricing yet , but gratefully the company did say prices should be comparable to the S8 at launch . The S9 will in three colour : lilac purple , coral blue and mordant , with pre - orders go live on March 2nd , before phones ship two hebdomad later on March 16th .

Update : ( 12:45pm EST ) AT&T has announce pricing . The S9 will retail for $ 790.20 and the S9 + will have a full retail damage of $ 915 .

Photo: Sam Rutherford