Galaxy S9 $719
New phone looks same but has useful updates
Phone companies are starting to slow down on overall design changes as features become refined and even familiar.
So if you are familiar with last year's Samsung Galaxy S8, you'll certainly recognize this year's Galaxy S9. The S9, which came out Friday, looks almost exactly like the S8, but that's hardly a bad thing.
The only real knock on the S8 was the placement of the fingerprint sensor directly next to the main camera lens. Thank you Samsung: It is now directly under the lens, which is light years better.
The S9 also has a faster processor — the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 — and is a bit wider and heavier. The button placement is the same, but the S9's buttons are a bit larger and have slightly different spacing, so S8 cases will not fit the S9.
The S9 also gets a new audio system powered by AKG. The new setup has two speakers and features surround sound with Dolby Atmos.
The biggest improvement in the S9 is in its cameras. The S9's main camera has a 12-megapixel sensor and something called a dual aperture lens.
Most lenses have a maximum lens opening of f/2.5. The S9's camera has an aperture that self-adjusts from f/2.4 to f/1.5, a wider opening that collects more light.
So it does an outstanding job with low-light scene and video capture.
