Galaxy A9 (2018) review: It's not four cameras that make it a good phone

With its smartphone sales standing on a downward spiral, Samsung has been thinking up new tricks to get consumers interested and stop them from opting for i of the many value-for-money Chinese smartphone options. The first such flim-flam was a triple-camera setup with the Galaxy A7 (2018), and the company followed that up with the Galaxy A9 (2018), which has four cameras on the back.

Given its price point, the Galaxy A9 (2018) can't get abroad with just the number of cameras. So Samsung has also put in a few other impressive specs, such every bit up to 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage on the base model, and a 3,800 mAh bombardment. Do all of these combine to offering a compelling packet, or are the cameras the only feature that brand this device worth considering for your next smartphone purchase? Let'south discover out in our Milky way A9 (2018) review.

Milky way A9 (2018) review: Design and brandish

Gradient smartphone colors are all the rage these days, and the A9 (2018) follows the tendency like other recent Galaxy devices. We used the Lemonade Blue variant, which has a low-cal shade of green at the top that becomes a deep bluish towards the bottom. It'due south immensely attractive, especially the deep bluish role, although the slope doesn't extend to the sides of the phone.

And, to exist honest, after the initial few days of ogling at the beauty, most users are probably not going to come across the back of the phone too often. The front of the device is all black, merely similar other Samsung phones with Infinity displays, so the gradient color is a squeamish-to-take feature rather than a must-have feature.

The residuum of the Galaxy A9 (2018)'due south design is standard fare. You go drinking glass on the front end and back, metallic on the sides. Ane important modify is that the Bixby push button is the sole occupant of the left side of the device, which reduces accidental presses equally it's higher up than on existing devices. Merely, if you're a long-time Galaxy user, the new placement of the volume buttons does take time to adapt. There'south a fingerprint sensor at the back, next to the iv vertically-laid camera sensors.

Before you lot complain, let'southward say the camera setup doesn't look too iPhone-ish, and that's thanks to the number of sensors and that gradient coloring. The phone is big and requires ii easily for comfortable usage, although the slim profile helps a flake. And while the camera sensors jut out of the body a picayune, the phone doesn't wobble when lying on a surface.

As for the half dozen.3-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display, I'll continue information technology curt. It's not every bit perfect equally Samsung's flagship phone displays, but information technology's got all the niceties you wait. The colors are bright, the blacks are deep, the viewing angles are wide, and brightness levels are great in harsh sunlight and depression plenty for comfy viewing in the nighttime. The bezels remain a bit big at the top and bottom, merely with Samsung'southward upcoming approach to bezels and notches, the A9's bezels could be a blessing in disguise.

Camera

Having reviewed the Galaxy A7 (2018) with its three rear cameras recently, I'one thousand going to focus on what'southward different on the Milky way A9 (2018). The A9 gets an 10MP telephoto lens for 2x zoom shots in add-on to the 24MP chief sensor, 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and 5MP depth sensor for bokeh/Live Focus shots. And, frankly, while I tin meet people complaining why Samsung couldn't but use a single telephoto lens for zoom and Live Focus pictures, it doesn't take away from the fact that having both a 2x zoom camera and one for ultra-wide shots is very useful.

Unfortunately, the 10 MP telephoto lens isn't great at preserving details as well equally the main camera unless it's really bright and sunny. The zoomed-in shots tin also mess up white balance at times, though this wasn't always an consequence. Another limitation is the F2.4 aperture of the telephoto lens. Since the principal camera has F1.7 discontinuity, the photos taken with the zoom lens come up out a bit dark. And in depression-light situations, the phone frequently uses the main camera for digital zoom, which is also something the flagship Galaxy smartphones do.

Below is a photo taken with the telephoto lens (slide left) compared with the same picture taken with the chief camera. The remainder of the normal and zoomed pictures tin exist seen in the paradigm gallery a couple of paragraphs below.

← SLIDE →

The ultra-wide camera works the aforementioned as the Galaxy A7 (2018)'southward, which is to say it can capture a lot in one picture merely is a problem in poor lighting considering of the F2.4 aperture and the lack of autofocus. You tin effort increasing the exposure of the scene at nighttime time, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference. Ultra-wide photos tin can also have some color shift compared to the main camera, although that is only going to be an upshot when you're taking photos with both lenses for a comparison.

Here's an ultra-wide photo of the aforementioned building from the photo above compared with the motion picture from the regular camera (the rest of the samples can be seen in the gallery below):

← SLIDE →

The 24-megapixel main camera does a good job outdoors in daylight, with plenty of detail, natural colors, and commonly skillful dynamic range (thank you to Automobile HDR). Well lit indoor environments are also captured nicely, just depression-light shots can be grainy and also come out blurred. Thankfully, Samsung has built in the Flaw Detection feature from the Note ix on the A9 (2018), so the camera tells yous to take another picture if the previous one came out blurry.

Below are a few samples from the primary camera. Pictures of scenes that I also shot with the ultra-wide and telephoto cameras can exist seen adjacent to the film from the principal photographic camera.

Scene Optimizer is here every bit well, simply it'due south still nearly a useless feature that doesn't really change annihilation. You as well get Super Slow-mo. The implementation here is also bones, though. There is no automatic movement-based shooting option different the Milky way S9 or Note ix. That wouldn't exist an issue if the manual choice worked great, but it doesn't. You really have to time it correct or the camera but ends up recording the wrong function of the moment in slow motion. And you tin can't edit the video to get around that, and then the regular tedious-movement feature is the i you should be using.

Coming to that 5MP depth sensor: The Milky way A9 (2018), like the A7 (2018) or the Galaxy A6+, takes good Live Focus pictures when the lighting is correct. Simply there besides tend to exist artifacts here and at that place, similar an boosted face or person in the background coming into focus and ruining the picture. The blurring around the subject is too less than perfect sometimes. One practiced affair is that the chief photographic camera is a 24MP sensor, so you practise become considerable detail in pictures. Low-light conditions tend to kill the detail and introduce noise, though.

The A9 (2018) can shoot 4K videos, and while videos usually accept enough of detail and very picayune shake, the camera tends to lose focus too often. This was particularly a problem at nighttime; in fact, focus was also sometimes an issue in still imaging when I would tap on the object I wanted to focus on. For a device that costs as much as the A9 (2018) and is all about the cameras, the autofocus problems are inexcusable, and I promise Samsung volition improve things through software updates.

And while we're talking about costs, I'll endeavor to address the elephant in the room: Are those four rear cameras worth the asking price? Well, not exactly. While all 4 cameras have a specific (and useful) purpose, they don't offer the kind of quality you would wait from a phone that'south priced at around €500 (or more than, depending on your country). Thankfully, the A9 (2018) makes upwardly for it in other departments, such as performance and battery life. But before nosotros move on, a few words nigh the front end-facing camera.

Front Camera

If a quad-camera setup at the rear wasn't enough, the A9 (2018) also comes with a 24-megapixel selfie shooter with F2.0 aperture. Its quality is similar to what yous accept on other Samsung phones with 24MP forepart cameras. Photos in daylight come out with plenty of detail, but things plow soft as soon every bit you move indoors. You as well take to concord the telephone steadier when shooting in artificial lighting to avoid blurred selfies. There'southward theSelfie focus characteristic for bokeh selfies, which works well despite being a software pull a fast one on. The background doesn't go out of focus equally much as some would like, just the terminate results are normally pleasing in both skillful and non-so-good lighting.

Hither are a few selfie samples:

The new A9 besides comes with AR Emoji, a characteristic Samsung has been bringing to more and more than devices in contempo months. Has information technology improved since its debut on the Galaxy S9? Not really. The emojis are still more than about capturing your facial expressions rather than accurately looking like you. You cannot use it in real-time, either. One must first accept a photo, which is and then turned into your digital likeness, a process that isn't quick enough. Not to mention you don't get those Disney AR Emojis, so this is as basic every bit it gets.

Operation, Audio quality

The Milky way A9 (2018) is nearly as skilful as Samsung's flagship phones when it comes to functioning. The Snapdragon 660 and 6GB of RAM ensure that in that location are inappreciably any stutters or lag in regular operation. Multitasking is quick too, and I didn't discover any slowdowns later on long bouts of usage. As a long-fourth dimension complainer of the performance on Galaxy smartphones, I came abroad impressed with the A9. It also handles gaming extremely well, whether it be something like PUBG or Temple Run. And the phone never heats upward uncomfortably, despite the thin contour.

The fingerprint reader is where the A9 faltered. For some reason, the sensor is sometimes unable to discover the finger unless you lot press it with a bit of force. I tried registering the same finger 3 times (the max number of fingerprints immune), and it still had problems, whether I tapped it for registering my finger or swiped on information technology. When it works, it'south fast, merely I didn't have the best experience. However, it may but be a problem with my unit of measurement, as my colleague Danny didn't hear the same complaints from his girlfriend, who besides used the A9 (2018) for a couple of days.

But the fact that Samsung'due south quality command doesn't extend to every unit of measurement is a letdown in itself. You do get facial recognition as an alternative, which works well enough if the lighting is right. Unlike the iris sensor, just the screen lighting upward your face up isn't enough for it to work in dark conditions. It'southward all-time used as a secondary method for unlocking a device. The fingerprint reader remains the best bet, fifty-fifty though it has some detection issues.

For sound, the Galaxy A9 (2018) gets a single loudspeaker placed next to the USB Type-C port. Information technology's non the loudest around and lacks bass at loftier volumes, but it gets the task done for viewing a quick picture trailer or two. Thankfully, Samsung is offering the same earphones it used to offering with flagships earlier shifting to AKG earphones, and they can go loud and offers sufficient thump without beingness overbearing.

Dolby Atmos further increases the volume over earphones and likewise offers better separation betwixt left and right channels. Dolby Atmos works over Bluetooth as well, although the phone would sometimes remove the Dolby Atmos effect even when information technology was enabled, requiring me to disable it through the quick toggle in the status bar and then re-enable it. This became a nuisance in my car subsequently a point, because I'd accept to pull over to re-enable Dolby Atmos. Hopefully a software update will fix this.

Phone call quality offered no surprises. The A9 latches on to networks in even areas with weak reception, pretty much as well as the flagships. Phone call book could have been a bit louder, merely it's not exactly a problem exterior of heavily crowded environments. You have two SIM slots and both support running on a 4G LTE network.

Software

The A9 (2018)'southward software is typical Samsung. Information technology runs Android eight.0 Oreo (yes, viii.0, non eight.1), and for once, Samsung hasn't stripped abroad all of the minor or major functionality that you detect on flagship Galaxies. From something as simple as Wi-Fi sharing over a hotspot through camera features such every bit Flaw Detection and Super Slow-mo to the total version of Bixby, information technology'southward all hither. E'er On Display, themes support, Dual Messenger, and Multi Window are some of the other standout features. Indian users also get Conversation over video, which lets you lot reply to letters over WhatsApp and other social networking apps without pausing or moving away from a video you lot may be watching.

You can also get rid of the software navigation buttons on the display if you lot want more screen estate. You get full screen gestures, which allow you lot to swipe up where the home, back or contempo apps primal would exist to emulate that office while the entire screen to use inside apps. This feature volition come to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Annotation 9 with Android Pie, and so the A9 (2018) and the A7 (2018) are currently a step ahead of Samsung'south flagships in this regard.

Sadly, the A9 (2018) misses out on Samsung Pay, something that'south condign a trend with the company's mid-range launches. You can utilise Samsung Pay mini if y'all're in India, but that only supports wallets and the country's nationwide payment service. And the Android Pie update is as well probable to take a few months to arrive. Samsung has started testing Pie for the A7 (2018) earlier than expected, but you tin can nevertheless expect to exist waiting till at least April or May next year.

Battery life

This is where the Milky way A9 (2018) excels. Battery life on this phone is great and tin easily last a full twenty-four hour period with heavy usage. With lighter usage, you tin continue information technology off the charger for a solar day and a half. Screen on times passed the 5-hr mark quite oftentimes, with two SIMs active in the phone at all times. The three,800 mAh battery gets fast charging back up, so topping up the phone from 0 to 100 per centum doesn't accept as well long, either. I haven't counted the time, but with the A9'due south endurance, you're non going to be worried nearly the charging times anyhow.

Conclusion

Coming to a determination on the Milky way A9 (2018) is tough. In my time with the device, I found it to be quite capable at the nuts. It'southward got a beautiful display, nearly flagship-level performance (well, at least when compared to last year flagships like the Milky way S8), swell battery life, plenty of storage out of the box, and a primary camera that can hold its own in all but the darkest atmospheric condition despite some bug (like problematic autofocus in video recording). It also looks beautiful thanks to those gradient colour options.

Just Samsung has been highlighting the quad camera setup at the dorsum of the Galaxy A9 (2018), so the question comes down to this: Are y'all in search of a telephone with a camera that takes ultra-broad pictures and zoom in on stuff? If yes, and so the A9 (2018) is the only smartphone option at the moment that can do both of those things while also getting the nuts correct. That'southward in improver to beingness able to take bokeh pictures and high-resolution selfies.

If the cameras aren't important, you tin can also opt for devices like concluding year'southward Galaxy S8+, the Galaxy A8+ (2018), or fifty-fifty the Milky way A7 (2018). Or, well, just take hold of the Galaxy A9 (2018) if the price doesn't bother you, as it'south a solid upper mid-range phone despite its shortcomings.

Pros	Cons
Excellent Super AMOLED display	Camera quality could have been improve
Gradient back looks beautiful	Autofocus bug with video recording
Good performance	Zoom and ultra-wide cameras suffer in low-lite conditions
Swell battery life	No Samsung Pay
Multipurpose rear camera setup	No water resistance
Plenty of photographic camera and software features	Finicky fingerprint sensor
128GB of onboard storage
Full Bixby support

Source: https://www.sammobile.com/2018/12/13/samsung-galaxy-a9-2018-review

Posted by: stevenscrinteme1985.blogspot.com

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