Top 10 new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+

Samsung announced Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, the 9th generation of Galaxy S phones, on February 25, 2018, in Barcelona, Spain, immediately ahead of  MWC 2018. You may want to know the new features of Samsung Galaxy S9.

As in previous Galaxy S phones, Samsung staffed some new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ to lure new customers and keep existing customers.

This post details the top 10 new features of Galaxy S9 and S9+ to help you decide whether Galaxy S9 or S9+ is the right phone for you.

#1. Android Oreo

Android Oreo is the latest Android OS.

Samsung packed Galaxy S9 and S9+ with Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box.

You can enjoy many new features and improvements of Android 8.0 in Galaxy S9 and S9+, although Samsung tweaks a lot of the stock Android.

For Galaxy S9 notification dots (notification number badge, app icon badges) on Galaxy S9 and S9+, you may check this guide.

#2. Dual-aperture in the main camera: one of the most welcomed new features of Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung tried to direct your attention to one of the best new features in Galaxy S9 and S9+: the camera.

And the most prominent features of the Galaxy S9 camera is dual-aperture.

In Auto mode, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ main camera can switch between two apertures of f/2.4 (under normal lighting conditions) and f/1.5 (in low-light conditions) automatically.

In Pro mode, you can set the two apertures manually. Unfortunately, you cannot set anything in between.

Essentially, the dual-aperture camera makes it easier to capture good photos in low-light conditions.

Galaxy S9 and S9+ are the only smartphones in the market with such a feature.

You may check this guide on how to use the two apertures in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

#3.  Intelligent scan

Iris scanner and face recognition is not new in Galaxy phones.  You can enable either of them to unlock the phone in your Galaxy S8, S8+ or Note 8.

Both methods work well in contrast conditions: iris scanner does not work well under the sun ( or under intense light), and face recognition refuses to work in darkness.

In Galaxy S8 and Note 8, these two methods are mutually exclusive: you can only enable one of them.

As another one of the top new features of Galaxy S9 and S9+,  these two methods can be combined in Galaxy S9 and S9+. You can use them together to compliment each other.

Samsung touts this new feature of Galaxy S9 and S9+ as intelligent scan, which can automatically choose the most proper method depending on light sensor readings.

#4. Better positioning of the fingerprint scanner: Good, but not great new feature of Samsung Galaxy S9

The positioning of the fingerprint scanner in Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 was a joke when Samsung ditched the hardware Home button.

Almost all owners of these devices complained about the awkward positioning of the fingerprint scanner.

Now, the genesis in Samsung finally found a better place for the fingerprint scanner in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Fingerprint scanner in Galaxy S9 and S9+ is now placed under, not the side of the camera as shown in Galaxy s9 layout.

Although the Samsung fingerprint scanner is still rectangular and does not function as a button, the chance of scanning your fingerprint in the camera lens is lower.

#5. Sloooooooooow motion

Another Galaxy S9 camera improvement is the slow-motion mode.

With the new storage strategy for the image sensor, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ can save frames and pictures super fast.

One indicator of the fast processing is the 960 frames per second  (fps) in slow motion mode.

Even better, such a slow-motion mode can be automatically triggered when you are watching a game.

You may check this guide on how to use super slow-motion mode on Galaxy S9 and S9+.

#6.  Stereo speakers

Galaxy S9 and S9+ still have the 3.5mm audio jack, although a few arrogant Android vendors (HTC is an example) removed it.

In addition to keeping the audio jack, Samsung also improved Galaxy S9 speaker. The bottom speaker is used together with the earpiece to deliver real stereo audio.

So, when you play music or video through the tiny phone speaker,  you can get louder and stereo sound.

If you are using a headphone, you can also boost the sound quality with the not-new adapt sound.

#7. The fastest Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810 processor

Although most 2018 flagship smartphones will feature Snapdragon 845 processor, Galaxy S9 (and S9+) is the first smartphone equipped with this fastest mobile processor.

In the international market, Samsung's own Exynos 9810 processor, which is close to Snapdragon 845, will be used.

These are the best mobile processor money can buy in today's market. Better performance is guaranteed even though Samsung always messes up something here and there.

#8. 128gb and 256gb storage options are available

The base storage of Galaxy S9 and S9+ is 64GB, which is sufficient for most users.

But Samsung also offers 128GB or 256GB storage options of Galaxy S9 and S9+ in most markets to cater to some savvy users.

On top of the up to 256GB internal storage, you can use a micro SD card up to 400 GB.

Of course, the micro SD card shares the slot of SIM card 2 for dual-SIM versions of Galaxy S9 and S9+.  This means you have to choose by using a micro SD card or using the 2nd SIM card for that slot. You cannot use both. You may check this guide on how to use micro SD card on Galaxy S9 to free up phone storage and move apps to SD card.

#9. Improved DeX pad: one of the most practical new features of Samsung Galaxy S9

When Samsung DeX Station was first introduced for Galaxy S8 and S8+, some users were excited about it because they can use the phone as an Android PC.

With the announcement of Galaxy S9 and S9+, Samsung also announced the new DeX pad.

In addition to its smaller size, the new DeX pad got some improvements including:

1. 2K display (2560*1440) is supported. The old DeX station only supports up to 1080p if the phone is running Android Nougat firmware.
2. You can use the phone as a touchpad when it is connected to the DeX pad.
3. An external mouse/keyboard is not required.

But unfortunately, the Ethernet port was removed in the DeX pad for some possibly stupid reasons. This guide compares Samsung DeX Pad against Samsung DeX Station and DeX Cable.

This guide explains the detailed usage of Samsung DeX and answers questions you may have with Samsung DeX.

#10. AR emoji

AR emoji, incorporating your own look into some animated emojis, is one of the exciting new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+.

There are lots of options and customizations for your AR emojis. It is apparently superior to Animoji in iOS.

For phones that do not support AR emoji, these emojis will be viewed as animated GIFs.

What're your thoughts on the new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+?

Of course, some new features of Galaxy S9 and S9+ including app pair,  improved camera Pro mode, were not discussed in this post.

If you have any questions about the new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, please leave them in the comment box below.

The community will help you find the answer.

You can also share your thoughts on the new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ in the comments.

For the user guide for new features of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 new features guides page.

For using Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 how-to guides page.

For using Galaxy S9 camera, please check Galaxy S9 camera guides page.

For accessories for Galaxy S9 and S9+, please check Galaxy S9 accessories guides page.

For the official Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ user guides (in PDF format), please check Galaxy S9 user guides page.