Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

On Sunday 25th February 2018, the new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ were announced at Samsung Unpacked at the Mobile World Congress.

Design

The screen on the S9 and S9+ feature a Curved Infinity Display
Available in 4 colours: ‘Midnight Black’, ‘Titanium Grey’, ‘Coral Blue’ and ‘Lilac Purple’ – ‘Titanium Grey’ is not available in Europe
Both devices support expanding storage using a MicroSD card slot of up to 400GB
Both devices are dust proof and water resistant with a rating of IP68

Camera

Both the S9 and the S9+ will feature a 12MP wide lens rear camera
The S9+ will feature dual 12MP rear cameras, a wide lens and a telephoto lens, allowing you to create a Bokeh effect on your pictures
The second camera on the S9+ is a telephoto lens allowing you to get twice as close to the object of your picture. You can then create a ‘Live Focus’ blurring effect on those pictures
The front camera on the S9 and S9+ is 8MP with autofocus and an aperture of f/1.7
Both devices feature the first variable aperture on a smartphone; physically switching between an aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4 instantly, allowing better images in low light conditions
Light noise in pictures is reduced by taking 4 times as much image information each time an image is captured
Captured videos can be converted into GIF’s and sent through the Message app or third party apps
New camera features such as: Stickers, AR Emojis and Super Slow-Mo

Super Slow-Mo

The new Super Slow-Mo feature creates videos taken at a frame rate of 960fps, which can stretch a 0.2 second clip to 6 seconds
Music can be added to your slow motion videos
Auto capture allows you to tap any part of the screen to initiate slow motion capture
The multi take feature means you can put multiple slow motion sequences in the same video
The Super Slow-Mo videos can also be used as a lock screen

Security

Both devices feature iris scanning, fingerprint scanning and facial recognition
Intelligent Scan is the new secure method to unlock your device by combining iris scanning and facial recognition. This will allow you to unlock your device securely in different lighting environments
KNOX has been updated to be more secure to work better with businesses

Battery Life

Audio

Audio on the S9 and S9+ has been tuned by AKG
Stereo speakers have been introduced to both ends of the device
The speakers have been designed to be 40% louder than the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+
Dolby Atmos, which is primarily seen in cinemas, gives immersive sound to the stereo speakers to give the effect similar to surround sound

Bixby

Bixby can also translate languages in real time on the camera
Bixby 2.0 will be announced later in the year
Samsung has teamed up with leading makeup manufacturers to create Bixby Make-up, which uses augmented reality to try different make up styles (currently this is not available in the UK)

Health

Samsung have partnered with UCSF School of Medicine to add an optic sensor to measure blood pressure in the S9 and the S9+
Bixby Food can record what you’re eating and add the nutritional information to the Samsung Health app

AR Emojis

Augmented Reality (AR) Emojis of yourself can be created through the front and rear camera
Map your facial expressions to personalise an Emoji of yourself
These can be shared with others through the Message app and third party apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger
Once your personal Emoji has been created, the device will automatically create 18 personalised Emojis for you to use and share
You can add voice messages to your AR Emojis

Connectivity

All devices that are connected to the SmartThings cloud will automatically connect together with your Samsung login details
This allows sharing of content across different devices

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be available from 16th March 2018, but are available for pre-order now.