Who Should Buy Information technology?

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

It'southward clear that in this generation the Snapdragon model is the one you should get, and for those in some of the largest regions around the globe, this will be difficult to achieve without importing.

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

Battery life is also down when comparison the Galaxy S9+ to the Milky way S8+, by roughly 10 to xv per centum across the board. Again, this is a bit puzzling considering the newer Exynos SoC is supposed to be more efficient, and other fundamental specifications like the battery chapters have remained unchanged. The finish result is relatively weak battery 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 manner y'all tin can use if y'all like, and first-class brightness for an AMOLED. I'k still non bang-up on the curve, but that'south a minor upshot.

The design has been refined to address some of the criticisms with the Milky way S8+ while retaining key features. The fingerprint reader is at present better positioned and Samsung has introduced a decent face unlock feature and great stereo speakers. They've besides retained the headphone jack, USB-C port, microSD carte slot and water resistance.

The fragility concerns regarding the by and large-drinking glass construction persist, but that'south the cost you have to pay for the looks unfortunately.

The camera has seen some clever additions, like the dual aperture lens, and picture quality is very good in full general. It's non quite at a level that allows it to beat the Google Pixel 2 XL, simply most people will be very happy with photos captured on this phone in a broad range of weather. The Galaxy S9+ in particular is a decent choice cheers to its 2x zoom lens. Still, I wish the quality of selfies was a fiddling better every bit the Pixel 2 Twoscore dominates the Galaxy S9 in this expanse.

For those that bought the Galaxy S8 or S8+, there is little reason to upgrade to the Galaxy S9+ in light of mostly pocket-size changes, especially if you only have admission to the Exynos model. For those upgrading from an older handset, the by ii years' worth of improvements do make the Milky way S9+ a solid option, and if you lot are interested in buying one, try and hunt down the Snapdragon model if possible.

Yet it'due south not an instant recommendation. I'd be very hesitant to buy the Exynos model considering its functioning and battery life bug, especially if you can get a good deal on the Galaxy S8+ that offers a similar experience in many means. The similarly priced Pixel two Forty is also highly competitive despite existence nearly half dozen months older.

Bottom line, the Galaxy S9+ is a good phone with largely iterative updates, and especially if you lot get the Snapdragon version, offers a decent package to those coming from two-yr-old handsets.

Shopping Shortcuts:

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

Pros: Attractive, improved design with lots of killer features. Display is still excellent, despite no major upgrades. Potent camera performance.

Cons: Disappointing operation and bombardment life from the Exynos model. Glass construction remains delicate. Galaxy S8 owners have no reason to upgrade.