[MWC2018] Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Announced – Dual-Aperture camera and Emoji galore starting from RM3,299

The most anticipated smartphone of the year, Samsung S9 and S9+ were just announced. This year, Samsung is taking a lead into dual-aperture camera, Augmented Reality Emoji, and stereo speakers as the key highlight of their flagship.

Let’s go through some of the key points in a bit more detail.

Dual-Aperture Camera

Forget about dual-lenses, Samsung has combined both of them into one and instead let the aperture adjust itself according to lighting conditions. It’s their first step in providing two variations of lenses into one. In darker conditions, the aperture opens wide at f/1.5 and closes in at f/2.4 under bright conditions. When switched to PRO mode, you can even adjust the apertures manually, yourself.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 has an upgraded Multi-frame Noise Reduction technology that enhances low-light image quality even further by capturing and combining 12 pictures in quick succession to eliminate up to 30% noise.

Super Slow-mo Videos

Slow motion and reversible videos are taking a special place in the social community as they sip through videos and animated GIF creating a rather spectacular way of expressing themselves. The Samsung S9 has a shutter speed of 960 frames per second so you can take a footage of 0.2 second and extend it to 6 seconds of slow-mo video or animated GIF. Now, take note that you wouldn’t be capturing 960 images. That’s just an indication of the speed of how quick it is capable of taking the images. You will only be able to take 0.2 second videos for now.

Being fast is one thing, being smart is another. Samsung has enhanced the function called Automatic Motion Detection which allows you to capture any fleeting moment. This allows you to automatically record moments that could pass by in the time it would take to manually activate the function. You can easily adjust the size of the motion-detection area on the camera screen, and have the option to capture either a ‘Single-take’ or ‘Multi-take’ Super Slow-mo video, with the latter allowing to record up to 20 slow-motion clips.

AR Emoji

Emojis are nothing new to smartphone users. In fact, over time, it is becoming more relevant to the way we communicate. Last year, Apple announced their Animoji that brought a new level of expressing yourself. This year, Samsung decided to up the ante and bring AR Emojis which is a visual expression of yourself in the form of emoji. Just snap a picture of yourself and you can have your own version of Emoji right away.

The Samsung Galaxy S9’s machine-learning algorithm analyzes more than 100 distinct facial features, including your eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks and forehead, and uses that data to generate a personalised 3D avatar, or ‘my emoji,’ that looks just like you. Each is capable of mimicking the user’s own movements, in addition to supporting 18 pre-set expressions at launch, which makes it easy to punctuate any point with a dynamic visual. In fact, it even generates a few options for you that you can use right away!

That’s pretty cool, eh?

Audio & Visual Improvised

Now, let’s talk about the display and sound. Samsung is already ahead of the infinity display game, announcing it last year while other brands will be catching up this year. That said, in the display realm, probably the one feature that I found really interesting is the fact that now the Samsung S9 can harness a full Landscape Mode, in which the applications tray and home screen automatically adjust to their orientation when it’s held at its orientation. No longer do you need to flip the phone around if the home screen or the application drawer will be involved in the process.

I think even more interesting (and what complements the above feature), is the cinematic surround. Samsung has placed powerful AKG-tunes stereo speakers at the bottom of the device as well as at the earpiece of the Samsung Galaxy S9. Combined together, the speakers pump out pretty loud and balanced audio. I think this is something that we have been waiting for a comeback since the days of HTC One M7.

Although it might sound a bit awkward having one speaker facing directly and the other one facing away, but I guess this is something we can only tell by in experience. Hey, I’m not complaining though. This is something on my wishlist long enough already. The fact that Samsung has also integrated Dolby Atmos engine for a 360° surround experience, that’s awesome!

Samsung S9/S9+ Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ Price in Malaysia

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple.

Pre-Order your Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+

To celebrate its impending arrival on Malaysian shores, Samsung Malaysia Electronics will be kicking off a limited-time pre-order promotion that will allow buyers to bring home a Harman Kardon Onyx Mini Bluetooth Speaker worth RM699 for FREE! For more information, visit here and here.