Let's focus on the screen first. With the world's best smartphone screen, verified by renowned DisplayMate, Samsung's latest S9+ makes other screens pale in comparison. Colour accuracy, crisp sharpness and deep black make the S9+ very pleasing to the eye, especially if you're crazy for YouTube and gaming.
I tested the new S9+ for a week or so, and if you (like me) are one of the many who has hopped on the ROV bandwagon -- this is Thailand's latest e-sport craze -- you'll be pleased to know that Samsung's latest phone can handle this fast-paced multiplayer online battle arena (Moba) game perfectly, with very few occasional lags (even the server lags sometimes, so there's no escape from an occasional lag every now and then) plus blasting, loud (with adequate bass) stereo speakers that enhance the gaming experience more than most phones of the past year or so.
In my gamers' circle, it's common for us to play games heavily together for 2-4 hours at a time. This phone can handle that with more than half of its battery left at the end of the day. Not bad at all. The speed is on a par with the iPhone X (which is pricier than this one).
Samsung is still one of the few manufacturers that produces phones that can be submerged in water (for 1.5m max). So you can maintain your peace of mind while using this phone in the rain or even wash it (with soap) in sinks. Washing your phone in front of others will still freak them out, which is always fun to see.
Cosmetically, the phone is nearly identical to the previous year's Samsung S8+ model, apart from the fingerprint reader having been moved to a more practical place: underneath the rear camera (previously it was on the right side of the camera). Also, keeping a headphone jack intact is such a relief for those who've invested in expensive headphones and don't want to carry dongles to listen to their favourite songs.
The dual-rear camera of this Samsung Galaxy S9+ is its strongest selling point. This phone may not have the full package of manual camera controls to tweak like LG's top phones, but its auto mode is top notch and basically picks a good setting for you automatically, producing sharp, well-lit, vibrant photos most of the time. Taking clear photos, even at night or in dark places, is easy with its adaptable camera sensor.
There are plenty of gimmicks that come with this phone. Most of them, you'll have fun playing around with a few times or they have very specific uses (like the AR emoji to create a cartoon avatar of yourself that synchronises with your movement or the Bixby AI assistant in general), but some are very neat and useful (like the always-on clock on the lock screen, the double top power button to instantly take you to the camera, and split-screen multitasking that lets you watch YouTube and chat online at the same time).
There are three types of biometric unlocking sensors that come with this phone: the usual fingerprint censor at the back, and face-recognition and iris scanner up front. All of them are fast to activate, but some may vary in accuracy (like if you wear sunglasses or wigs). This S9+ also can combine the face-recognition and iris scanner to make it even easier to accurately unlock your phone.
The best thing about this phone is that it has everything. Some of these things might not be the best or the fastest, but none of your friends will be able to brag and say: "Hey, you don't have this and that on your phone, do you?" For those of us who prefer to manually control their devices and use very little voice control, the Bixby AI assistant in general is not very useful. But if you're the kind who likes to talk to your phone and is used to Apple's Siri or Google Assistant, Bixby is like those two on steroids.
Apart from setting alarms, telling you the weather or the current time and location, it can deeply interact with most parts of the phone and can make changes to settings like the volume, brightness or Wi-Fi activation.
That extra Bixby button located right next to the volume is too easy to press accidentally. But I guess it's supposed to be easily pressed, to call up Bixby to serve you on a whim. Luckily, there's a setting to disable the button.
Value-wise, if your current phone is more than two years old, this is a good investment, because it's packed with so much cool technology that you'll feel the difference and have a better experience all around -- not to mention it's also a stunner. But if you can find a good deal on the top phones of last year, get one of those instead, because they will offer at a bargain close to 85% of what this S9+ has to offer.
