Samsung Unveils S9

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Samsung-S9

The long awaited Samsung Galaxy S9 was unveiled Sunday offering  augmented reality emoji’s (similar to the new Apple iPhone X), camera upgrades and new stereo speakers.

When Samsung’s voice assistant Bixby combines with its new cameras, the S9 and S9+, can translate a restaurant menu or allow you to try on makeup or make emojis resemble your face.  The phones can even tally up the calories in your meal.

But many reports called the S9’s improvements incremental rather than innovative. While Samsung is known to be working on a foldable screen, it skipped the feature on the new S9.

The new models come in the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch screen sizes, but have slightly slimmer bezels on the top and bottom.

The cameras takes better pictures in low light and there’s a new slow-motion video mode.

The new speakers are tuned by AKG and use Dolby Atmos surround Sound.  They are 40 percent louder.

Oh, and the phones retain a headphone jack unlike the newest iPhones.

Reuters said, “Even with a new camera, the lack of a major design revamp is notable for a company that’s known for quick style iterations. Samsung may be holding its fire: it’s working on a phone with a foldable screen. The iPhone X, with its slimmer bezels and notch, was a departure from past designs. While performance boosts and new features are important, many consumers upgrade based on the look of phones, especially near the $1,000 price point.”

The S9 phones are cheaper than the iPhone X, which has an starting price point of $999.   The S9 starts at $720 for the basic model on T-Mobile, ranging up to $930 for the S9+ on Verizon, according to Reuters quoting Bloomberg News.

The phones are available in stores March 16.  The Unlocked Galaxy S9 is $719.99 or $30/month for 24 months financing, and the larger Unlocked Galaxy S9+ is available for $839.99 or $35/month for 24 months financing, said Samsung.

See product specs and full Samsung press release here.

See Reuters’ review here.

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1 Comment

  1. For starters, iPhone’s biggest criticism is failure to innovate before anybody else in the market. Big improvements have always been on a bi-release basis and nearly always follow someone else in the market. Second, I’d say you’re comparing Apples to Oranges by comparing this to the iPhone X anyway. The price points are too far apart to make that fair. The $799 iPhone 8+ is a more fair comparison. But it’s a huge flattery for S9 to be judged against the much more expensive iPhone X (and best it in some ways).

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