Another year, another phone release from Samsung. This March we have the chance to review the Samsung S9, and give you feedback on the latest offering from Samsung.

This year sees Samsung fall into the Apple trap – maintaining the look and feel of previous years handsets with few new and subtle enhancements to justify the release. Basically these brands are releasing a mildly modified handset, to ensure that the previous popular handset does not loose fans.

Appearance

The S9 offers no new surprises for overall design and appearance, with the S9 being basically the same as last years S8. This may sound negative, but why change a good thing? The S9 has a great look, seamless and it feels like you are holding a screen only. The curved glass on the S9s front and back allows the phone to fit comfortably in your hand, letting the phone be thinner then expected.

It is a pretty phone, it is also pretty hard to keep clean of fingerprints with its glass front and back.

Display

The display of the S9 is the best offering from any Android product currently in the market, but nothing new or exciting can be said about the display.

As expected, the screen is 5.8 inches, with a high resolution, OLED panel, vibrant colours and awesome viewing angles, with the screens now slightly brighter – a plus on a sunny day.  The display is great for all your gaming potions and if you love playing CAD casino games on your mobile, it is a winner.The Bezels on the S9 are not as minimized as those on the iPhone X, which is one of the few times iPhone does better in a handset, and is also something Samsung should be working on.

Hardware

The S9 is fast wired and has wires charging capabilities, water resistant with a 3.5mm headphone jack. This is one of the few new more upscale phones that still have a headphone jack – it is becoming a rare find in handsets these days.

Bixby assistant is still located in the same spot as the S8, but you can now disable this button (but not change it to another function – why!)

Battery and storage in the S9 remain unchanged from the S8.

Software

There have been a few upgrades to the software – but nothing to get excited about

What is new on the S9?

Fingerprint scanner – they listened to the landslide of complaints about the location of the fingerprint scanner and moved it to a better more accessible location on the back of the phone.

The S8 fingerprint scanner is small and hard to reach, with users often ending up touching the camera lens instead of the scanner.

Stereo Speakers – the new speakers are a hit, they are clearer and louder but Samsung has been behind the majority of phone manufacturers in this area, so yes this is a great upgrade but no this is not the best stereo speaker to be found in a handset today.

In summary….

The basic review in short for the Samsung S9 released in 2018 is – If you have handled or own the Samsung S8, then you basically have already handled the S9.

This is not a negative review, as the Samsung S9 is a great phone, and it is one of the best phones on offer n 2018. However it is basically the Samsung S8 with a few gimmicky modifications, so no ground breaking, earth shattering enhancements for this latest Samsung handset.