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Samsung Announces the Galaxy S9 With a Dual Aperture Camera, AR Emojis (arstechnica.com)
Samsung has taken the wraps off of its latest flagship, the Galaxy S9, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The S9 features a familiar body with an upgraded camera, relocated fingerprint scanner, and newer processor. As usual, there are two versions: the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Ars Technica reports: The S9 is one of the first phones announced with the new 2.8Ghz Snapdragon 845 SoC in the US, while the international version will most likely get an Exynos 9810. Qualcomm is promising a 25-percent faster CPU and 30-percent faster graphics compared to the Snapdragon 835. The rest of the base S9 specs look a lot like last year, with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 3000mah battery, and a 5.8-inch 2960x1440 OLED display. The S9+ gets the usual bigger screen (6.2 inches @ 2960x1440) and bigger battery (3500mAh), but one improvement over last year is a RAM bump to 6GB. Neither RAM option is really outstanding for a phone this expensive, considering the much cheaper OnePlus 5T will give you 6GB and 8GB options for RAM at a much lower price. Both S9 models have headphone jacks, MicroSD slots, a new stereo speaker setup (one bottom firing, one doubles as the earpiece), IP68 dust and water resistance, wireless charging, and ship with Android 8.0 Oreo.
Both the Galaxy S9 versions are getting a main camera with two aperture settings. Just like a real camera, the Galaxy S9 has a set of (very tiny) aperture blades that can move to change the amount of incoming light. On the S9 they're limited to two different positions, resulting in f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures. In low light the aperture can open up to f/1.5 to collect as much light as possible, while in normal or bright light it can switch to f/2.4 for a wider depth of field. Samsung is also answering Apple's Animojis with "AR Emoji." They work just like Apple's Animoji: using the front sensors to perform a primitive version of motion capture, the phone syncs up a character's facial expressions to your facial expressions. The Galaxy S9 clocks in at $719.99 and the S9+ is going for $839.99. In the U.S., preorders start March 2 at all four major carriers, and the phones ship out on March 16.
Both the Galaxy S9 versions are getting a main camera with two aperture settings. Just like a real camera, the Galaxy S9 has a set of (very tiny) aperture blades that can move to change the amount of incoming light. On the S9 they're limited to two different positions, resulting in f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures. In low light the aperture can open up to f/1.5 to collect as much light as possible, while in normal or bright light it can switch to f/2.4 for a wider depth of field. Samsung is also answering Apple's Animojis with "AR Emoji." They work just like Apple's Animoji: using the front sensors to perform a primitive version of motion capture, the phone syncs up a character's facial expressions to your facial expressions. The Galaxy S9 clocks in at $719.99 and the S9+ is going for $839.99. In the U.S., preorders start March 2 at all four major carriers, and the phones ship out on March 16.
I'll have to get myself a man-purse to carry it in.
They can take their locked bootloader and stick it up their kimchee-reeking asses.
COUNTERPOINT:
Yes, emoji are for morons, and Slashdot should totally support emoji (and animated gifs). At this point, they might as well just say, "fuck it" and go balls to the wall.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Wow, that would be a real selling point if I were 6 years old.
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I've been noticing that lately smart phones such as android and iphones are terrible at their primary role which is to just make and receive calls.
Don't know why they keep putting out new models with more horse power, personally I went back to a flip phone after I purchased minutes and forgot to take the data off only to learn that within 2 minutes of placing time on the phone the data ate it. This is after my previous phones battery failed and I was forced into upgrading to a new model which only came with a more expensive plan, which made me cease using plans. That isn't even taking into account the privacy violations which seem to occur so often most people do not even think about it but personally I have been made extremely uneasy. I just couldn't take all the bullshit that seems to come with these phones.
Screw smart phones, they aren't good at their primary function and come with too much baggage from all the extra crap it is made to do. Happier with a flip phone, damned if I'll go back to one of those 'smart' monstrosities.
Anyone who pays $1000 for a phone, I don't care if they get a deal or ripped off. You're still blowing a grand on something that will become less useful than a toaster in 5 years.
I cannot fathom--for the life of me--how people can convince themselves to spend a grand on something that sends text messages and snaps selfies. You can buy a fucking 4K TV >65" for a grand. I should know, I bought a Samsung 55" for ~$800.
A thousand bucks buys you an insanely good guitar, violin, or damn near anything else. You could buy a full VR setup. But somehow, for a phone that does what everyone else's does (but it loads Facebook 25% faster! omg!) and will become trash within 5 years... how... what... is EVERYONE RICHER THAN ME? Does no one have to make careful decisions about where to spend their money? I can live in my rental _house_ for two months (1/6th of the year!) for the price of one of those phones. I could build an amazing PC for a grand. I could buy a pretty damn good laptop for a grand and it would be USEFUL for at least ten years. My wife's old i5 laptop her grandparents bought her for school 6+ years ago is still fast enough to run 4K YouTube, games, and more.
AR Emojis! And a relocated fingerprint scanner! And all for merely the price of a new laptop!
In case you wondered why people stop buying phones like crazy...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I was wondering this, too. Why build the US version with one SoC and the rest of the world version with another SoC? Moreover, why would Samsung build a version for the US with Qualcomm's chip, and for the rest of the world version with its own chip?
Android Authority has an article comparing those two with the Kirin 970. https://www.androidauthority.c...
I thought it was written in Perl, hence why it's so incredibly hard to fix.
Hmm.. right. I guess I am going to have to trade my S8 for the S9 because of this. And what about the CPU? Has anyone really cared about the CPU performance since say the 2016 Snapdragon 820. If the companies continued selling the phones with the old Snapdragon 800 from 2013, I bet most people would still feel fine with these. For goshs sake, 99 percent of the time you just use the thing for texting, email, and web browsing.
I support laws banning the import/sale of this device as the manufacturer has again chosen to glue a wear item in place, making it difficult and expensive to repair. A non-replaceable battery is extremely wasteful and we should not tolerate it.
Enough is enough.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Doesn't matter if you need 6 hands to actually use it. Size is king.
That's what she said.
Animojis from the iPhone X or AR Emojis from the S9 may not be your thing, but they are absolutely driving interest in the flagship phones from both companies.
Really? Because I've seen precisely zero people actually using them. While I understand that my personal experiences do not imply anything more general, I'm definitely not seeing any evidence of sales because of this "feature".
the fact that a cell phone can even give something close to that in real time should be something you appreciate, not tell people to get off your lawn about.
I'll appreciate it when it does something actually useful to someone besides a bored 12 year old. Turning my face into an animated smiling pile of motion captured poo is not useful even as an insult.
I've been noticing that lately smart phones such as android and iphones are terrible at their primary role which is to just make and receive calls.
That's because their primary role is not and never has been to make and receive calls. Smartphones are handheld computers that happen to be able to make calls too. Phone calls are CLEARLY not their primary role for the majority of people using them. They use them primarily for web browsing, email, texting, various apps, games, and the like. Phone calls are just a bonus feature that gets used now and then - some use it more than others. Personally I probably use 50-100 minutes for phone calls on my smartphone in a given month - sometimes less. But I use my smartphone for probably 4-8 hours every day.
Screw smart phones, they aren't good at their primary function and come with too much baggage from all the extra crap it is made to do. Happier with a flip phone, damned if I'll go back to one of those 'smart' monstrosities.
Again you seem really worked up about your incorrect notion about what smartphones are for. If you don't need/want a handheld computer then fine but I'm kind of puzzled why you are wasting your time here on slashdot if you don't give a shit about technology. You can hang out with my grandmother and the other technologically impaired folks who can't handle the modern world.
Anyone who pays $1000 for a phone, I don't care if they get a deal or ripped off. You're still blowing a grand on something that will become less useful than a toaster in 5 years.
Maybe but I'm going to use my smartphone 4-8 hours almost every day, every day for the next 1-3 years. I might use my toaster once or twice a month for about 2 minutes. I am quite confident I'm getting better value for money out of a $1000 smartphone than a $20 toaster.
A thousand bucks buys you an insanely good guitar, violin, or damn near anything else.
I don't play guitar, violin, or anything else and don't plan to start. So why do I care? None of those things have any value to me. A smartphone does.
You could buy a full VR setup.
And do what with it exactly? I have less use for a VR setup than the toaster.
Does no one have to make careful decisions about where to spend their money?
When you have sufficient amounts of it the answer is no. You seem awfully concerned about what I spend my money on. I recommend finding something more productive to get worked up over. Spend your money on what is valuable to you and I'll do the same. I promise I won't care what you buy.
I could buy a pretty damn good laptop for a grand and it would be USEFUL for at least ten years.
I already have several of those. Why do I need more?
But... does it explode like the older Samsung phones? If not, it is rather uninteresting :)
Also, the high price compared to a PC is because of the portability, not because of the capability. Same reason laptops cost more than desktops despite being less powerful.
5 years is longer than I normally keep a phone (about 3-4 years). But if you upgrade every 3-4 years like I do, the phone (at full retail price) ends up costing about the same as eating out once a month. If you can get it at a discount, the cost is even less.
The price per month of use is in fact the correct way to analyze anything which isn't an investment (goes up in value, e.g. a house). Because even durable goods (e.g. washing machine) eventually break down and need to be replaced.
Nowadays, I suspect most people spend a lot more time looking at their phones than at a 55" TV. They, unlike you, would opt for an expensive phone and a $300 1080p TV.
We can tell from your UID
$830 for... AR Emojis?!
"But it has Electrolytes!"
It's better than an S8 because it's $5 cheaper! Screwy S8 prices have stayed jacked up since before the holidays.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Is there any obvious reason I am missing why Samsung would go through the trouble of using two distinct CPUs for different markets? What's the point of that?
renting a phone is a dumb option, even though interest is low you always pay more than outright ownership + a SIM.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."