Pretty much on par with what has leaked over the past few weeks, Samsung announced its Galaxy S9 series smartphones. The new model will be available in March with prices running to the 850 and 950 Euro marker.
The phoS9 has been unveiled during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Overall, the S9 will be quite similar to the S8. Samsung has slightly thinned the screen edges of the new model. In addition, the fingerprint scanner is now placed under the camera, where should be easier to reach. The Super AMOLED displays get a thicker Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
The cameras get some upgrades, a dual camera lens comes with f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures for low light conditions, the camera automatically switches to the correct aperture to ensure optimal exposure. A prominent new feature is the much-discussed camera slow motion function with its capability to record 960 frames per second. According to Samsung, a recording of 0.2 seconds can be stretched to six seconds. A motion detector ensures that the camera only activates when there is actually something to film.
Samsung has also integrated DRAM memory into the camera sensor. This memory is used to cache several images at the same time during shooting, which are combined to create the best image.
The Galaxy S9’s new AR Emoji feature allows users to create their own realistic or cartoon-like emojis using the device‘s facial recognition technology. From a single selfie, the device analyzes a 2D image of you by mapping more than 100 distinct facial features, and then applies that image to a 3D model to generate an avatar that looks just like you and can imitate your facial expressions. AR Emoji are fully customizable, can easily be shared with others and also used as a wallpaper for the user’s home or lock screen.
The S9 has been fitted with a 64-bit octa-core processor and sees 4GB or RAM. The S9+ has 6GB of memory. Samsung also equipped the smartphone with stereo speakers made by AKG. The Galaxy S9 will be available from 16 March. The regular S9 model with a 5.8 inch screen costs 849 euros, the larger S9+ has a 6.2 inch display and is priced at 949. The phones are for sale in the colors black, blue and purple.
