As widely expected, yesterday Samsung launched this year's flagship phone offering ahead of WMC2018 in Barcelona. The we-could-have-guessed-eve-if-we-didn't-already-know new handsets, named S9 and S9+ are evolutions of last year's S8 and S8+ - but just how much has Samsung changed this time around?

The answer is "actually, not a lot". These are very much iteration handsets, tweaking what was wrong with the S8 and S8+, but without adding anything majorly new or groundbreaking. The biggest change for both handsets is in the camera department , with the S9+ getting a dual camera setup (a first for a Galaxy model phone), while the S9 makes do with Samsung's new "dual aperture" camera design.

S9.jpg

Here's a quick look at what's "better" on the S9 / S9+

  Galaxy S8/Galaxy S8+ Galaxy S9/Galaxy S9+
Display 5.8/6.2-inch Super AMOLED, Quad HD+, 18:5:9 5.8/6.2-inch Super AMOLED, Quad HD+, 18:5:9
Processor Exynos 8895/Snapdragon 835 Octa-core, 10nm, 64-bit Exynos 9810/Snapdragon 845 Octa-core, 10nm, 64-bit
RAM 4GB LPDDR4 4GB / 6GB LPDDR4
Rear camera 12-megapixel, OIS, Dual Pixel, phase-detection autofocus, 4K video recording 12-megapixel, OIS, Dual Pixel, phase-detection autofocus, 4K video recording / 12+12MP dual camera with dual OIS
Front camera 8-megapixel autofocus, F1.7 aperture, QHD video recording 8-megapixel autofocus, F1.7 aperture, QHD video recording
Storage 64GB internal, microSD slot (up to 256GB) 64GB internal, microSD slot (up to 400GB)
Software Android 7.0 Nougat Android 8.0 Oreo
Battery 3,000/3,500 mAh, Adaptive Fast Charge and fast wireless charging 3,000/3,500 mAh, Adaptive Fast Charge and fast wireless charging
Connectivity 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
Dimensions 148.9×68.1×8.0mm/159.5×73.4 x8.1mm, 152g/173g 147.7×68.7×8.5mm/158.1×73.8x 8.5mm, 163g/189g
Other features AKG earphones, 32-bit audio, Bixby virtual assistant, Samsung Pay, IP68 water & dust resistance, fingerprint sensor, iris/face recognition, pressure sensor AKG earphones, stereo speakers, AR Emoji, 32-bit audio, Bixby, Samsung Pay, IP68 water & dust resistance, fingerprint sensor, iris/face recognition, pressure sensor

There is one other, significant change though; one which every user of the S8 / S*+ will be very happy about - the fingerprint sensor has finally been positioned *under* the camera sensors in the middle of the device. You know; exactly how everyone else did last year!

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Thought for the day...

A bird in the hand - might just file for assault, be careful out there boys!

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