Galaxy S9 & Galaxy S9 Plus Consumer Reports Verdict: Great Durability, Speakers, Security & More

The latest review of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus has been completed by Consumer Electronics and they have a lot of nice things to say about both phones. However, not everything is good about them so you ought to know what these guys have mentioned when it comes to buying these.

Galaxy S9 & Galaxy S9 Plus Consumer Reports Review: Here’s the Good Stuff

Both the Galaxy Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus might look at a lot like their predecessors but they are more durable than the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.

“To test the durability of smartphones, we submit them to 100 drops in a tumbler. This ensures that they strike the bottom of the machine at myriad angles, simulating a wide range of falls. After just 50 drops in our tumbler, the displays on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ were badly broken and not functional. The S9 phones performed much better, though. The S9 made it through 100 drops with just minor scratches. The S9+ survived the first 50 drops without a problem but cracked at some point in the next 50.”

However, you should be aware that a glass back will never be as tough as metal, so make sure that you strap on a case that is also Qi wireless compatible and something that will give your expensive phones an extra layer of protection.

Next comes the faster SoC, which would be thanks to the Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810. The resulting upgrade in performance may not be striking but their speed is still quite impressive. App opening happens in the blink of an eye and if you have a fast internet connection, that makes the experience a whole lot better. Both the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus also feature stellar audio thanks to well-designed stereo speakers and despite featuring a small percentage of bezels, the mobile phones produce clear and loud acoustics.

Additionally, the new location of the fingerprint reader has made all the difference in the world plus a multitude of security features sure makes things flexible on both smartphones.

Galaxy S9 & Galaxy S9 Plus Consumer Reports Review: Here’s the Bad Stuff

Battery life was not impressive, as both flagships have taken a step back in their test results.

“In our testing, the S9’s battery lasted 22.5 hours, down from the S8’s 26 hours. The S9+ went for 24 hours, down from the 25.5 hours of the S8+. Those aren’t huge drops—both new phones offer more than enough juice to get an average person through the day—but they did lower the phones’ Overall Scores just a bit.”

According to the review, 3D animated emoji are abysmal and they will need to put a lot of effort on this. The camera app is also difficult at times when it comes to using the extended features such as slow-motion video recording. Also, the review states that there were times when oversharpened images could have been seen.

“But our testers penalized the phones for oversharpening photos, a technique used in many smartphone models in recent years, according to Fisco, to artificially boost resolution scores. Doing this exaggerates the contrast between dark and light objects in the photos, potentially adding an unnatural-looking halo around the subject.

As a result, the S9+ placed fourth in our smartphone camera ratings—below the iPhone X, iPhone 8+, and iPhone 8. The S9 ranked 12th, four spots below the S8.”

Overall, Consumer Reports was quite pleased with Samsung’s latest flagship offerings even though they do not offer massive changes when compared to their predecessors. However, the Galaxy S10 might offer something completely fresh so here is our roundup if you want to go check it out.

News Source: Consumer Reports