The Samsung S9/S9 plus is already here.. Should you buy?

Hi Guys,

Welcome to another post of mine. Samsung recently launched its much hyped mobile S9 plus/S9 in MWC 2018. Its almost 20 days since its pre-order started. So, the main question you may ask yourself "Shall I upgrade?" or "Shall I buy?" Well, read on to get the answer here.. 

Lets begin from the most marketed sepc. The "Camera". Samsung has marketed the product as the best camera in industry especially for low light photography. The main highlight of the camera is that the S9 plus has now 2 camera set ups with one telephoto lens for 2X optical zoom. The S9 has only one camera though. The primary camera has a wider aperture of f/1.5. This camera has a mechanical variable aperture to switch between i.e. f/1.5 and f/2.4. The phone adjusts the aperture as per the light condition. So, the low aperture gathers a lot of light and beats the Google pixel 2 XL. The camera has a separate processor now for ultra slow motion video. The mobile has copied Apple's Animoji now by adding an option of "Self-Avataar". In a nutshell, if you have S7, S8 or S8 plus or Note 8, the day time images will not change much. However, the night photos will be bright and will have less noise. 

Now coming to internals, the mobile is powered by Snapdragon 845 or equivalent Samsung's Exynos processor. The performance is top notch. However, even if you have a Note 8, a 835 or an equivalent Samsung Exynos processor should give you ample of power too.

We all know that the hardware market is getting saturated and now the brands focuses on display and camera. The display is very bright but what everyone is disappointed about may be the same design like last year. The S8 plus and S9 plus does not have much changes to display apart from a brighter screen.

Lets come to the security features. The Samsung S9 plus now has a very convenient positioning of the finger scanner. The face unlock has been revamped. It combines the Front facing camera and IRIS scanner to give an outstanding experience. Well for that, a huge thumps up.

So, what is left? The additional features and the software experience. The software does not change much apart from an upgraded Oreo that too not latest. Its Android 8.0. As an additional feature, you have now Blood pressure measurement option. Hope, Samsung does not bring all health tools to the smartphone next time. That was a joke if you have not got it.Anyway, It also has a stereo audio now which gives good sound output. Other than these, it has IP68 rating, a 6GB RAM (4GB for S9), 64GB On board storage, a hybrid slot etc etc. All are almost same there like Note 8.

Conclusion:

Samsung is offering a 6k cashback on Flipkart if you purchase it via Flipkart. So the effective base price will come at Rs 58,900 for the S9 plus 64GB variant. The response from people is not that great even in Samsuns's home country i.e. South Korea. Reason, well, it does not offer anything extra apart from camera and some general tweaks like stereo speaker. Literally, if you own a S8 even a S7 edge, I find no reason to upgrade to S9 plus unless your only priority is Low light photography.

If camera does not matter much, you can still go for Nokia 8, Oneplus 5T, Honor View 10 or even a LG V30 Plus at much lesser price.

If you own Note 8, definitely No. You do not get a S pen and its not a worthy upgrade at all.

If you own iphone 7 or 7 plus, yes, definitely, you can get a hands on it considering it has a infinity display, great camera etc. 

If you own pixel devices, you should not prefer this device. The software experience is much better.

Now, if you are new buyer and you want a flagship mobile, you can definitely buy S9 plus unless your priority is Stock Android or Apple logo or a S Pen. Do not buy S9 though.

Thats it for now. Let me know your views. Follow and share.

You can write to me on ashisiniter@gmail.com

Be Kind. Keep Smiling.

Love, 

Ashis