Who Should Buy It?

The Samsung Galaxy S9+ is undoubtedly a proficient phone, if not a very adept phone. While not a revolutionary upgrade, Samsung focused on minor improvements and many of these have led to a ameliorate smartphone than the Milky way S8+. Notwithstanding at the same fourth dimension, several areas of the Exynos model are disappointing.

Information technology'south clear that in this generation the Snapdragon model is the one yous should get, and for those in some of the largest regions around the globe, this will be hard to achieve without importing.

The Exynos 9810'southward performance is puzzling. In many workloads it doesn't provide a significant performance uplift over the Exynos 8895, despite the new SoC packing major architectural changes. To make matters worse, in general the Exynos 9810 model performs no better than almost Snapdragon 835 devices released in the past year, and that definitely should not be the case.

Battery life is also down when comparing the Galaxy S9+ to the Galaxy S8+, by roughly ten to 15 percent across the board. Once more, this is a bit puzzling because the newer Exynos SoC is supposed to exist more efficient, and other cardinal specifications similar the bombardment capacity accept remained unchanged. The end result is relatively weak bombardment life compared to other flagship phones.

Aside from these SoC-related concerns, many other aspects to the Galaxy S9+ are very good. The largely unchanged display remains one of the best available, with both an oversaturated default setting, an authentic mode yous can use if you lot like, and excellent brightness for an AMOLED. I'm all the same non keen on the curve, but that's a small issue.

The pattern has been refined to address some of the criticisms with the Milky way S8+ while retaining key features. The fingerprint reader is now ameliorate positioned and Samsung has introduced a decent face unlock feature and swell stereo speakers. They've as well retained the headphone jack, USB-C port, microSD bill of fare slot and h2o resistance.

The fragility concerns regarding the mostly-drinking glass construction persist, but that's the cost you accept to pay for the looks unfortunately.

The photographic camera has seen some clever additions, like the dual discontinuity lens, and flick quality is very proficient in general. Information technology's non quite at a level that allows information technology to trounce the Google Pixel ii XL, simply about people will be very happy with photos captured on this phone in a broad range of weather condition. The Milky way S9+ in particular is a decent option cheers to its 2x zoom lens. However, I wish the quality of selfies was a little better every bit the Pixel two XL dominates the Galaxy S9 in this expanse.

For those that bought the Galaxy S8 or S8+, in that location is piddling reason to upgrade to the Milky way S9+ in lite of by and large minor changes, especially if you only have access to the Exynos model. For those upgrading from an older handset, the past two years' worth of improvements do make the Galaxy S9+ a solid choice, and if y'all are interested in buying i, endeavor and hunt down the Snapdragon model if possible.

Nonetheless it's non an instant recommendation. I'd be very hesitant to purchase the Exynos model considering its performance and battery life problems, particularly if you can get a good deal on the Milky way S8+ that offers a similar experience in many ways. The similarly priced Pixel 2 XL is besides highly competitive despite existence nearly half dozen months older.

Lesser line, the Galaxy S9+ is a good telephone with largely iterative updates, and specially if you get the Snapdragon version, offers a decent package to those coming from 2-year-onetime handsets.

Shopping Shortcuts:

  • Samsung Galaxy S9+ on Samsung.com, Amazon
  • Samsung Galaxy S9 on Samsung.com, Amazon
  • Samsung Galaxy S8+ on Amazon, Best Purchase
  • Google Pixel 2 Forty on Google Store, Best Buy, Amazon

Pros: Bonny, improved pattern with lots of killer features. Brandish is still excellent, despite no major upgrades. Strong camera performance.

Cons: Disappointing functioning and battery life from the Exynos model. Glass construction remains fragile. Milky way S8 owners take no reason to upgrade.