Close Menu
  • Guides
    • Televisions
    • Computers
    • Apps
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • News
    • Audio
    • Computers
    • Digital Cameras
    • Gadgets
    • BD/DVD
    • Gaming
    • Televisions
    • Mobiles
    • In-Car News
    • Internet
  • Round Ups
    • Tablets
    • testnews
    • Audio
  • Reviews
    • Mobiles
    • Apps
    • Televisions
    • In-Car
    • Gaming
    • Audio
    • Gadgets
    • Digital Cameras
    • BD/DVD
    • Computers
  • Home
Computers

Norton warns Australians to stay alert as cyber criminals launch their tax time scams

By Stephen FenechJune 18, 20250

It’s tax time and leading internet security brand Norton is warning Australians to stay alert…

Make the right move and listen to Episode 649 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast

June 17, 2025

Apple unveils new parental controls for kids and teens to ensure age-appropriate experiences

June 17, 2025

Panasonic’s new hot and cold smart blender can cut, cook and blend – and then clean itself

June 17, 2025

Tune up your EV knowledge with the latest episode of the Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast

June 16, 2025

eero Pro 7 review – transform and supercharge your home wireless network

June 16, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
Tech GuideTech Guide
  • Home
  • Latest News

    Norton warns Australians to stay alert as cyber criminals launch their tax time scams

    June 18, 2025

    Make the right move and listen to Episode 649 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast

    June 17, 2025

    Apple unveils new parental controls for kids and teens to ensure age-appropriate experiences

    June 17, 2025

    Panasonic’s new hot and cold smart blender can cut, cook and blend – and then clean itself

    June 17, 2025

    Tune up your EV knowledge with the latest episode of the Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast

    June 16, 2025
  • Reviews

    eero Pro 7 review – transform and supercharge your home wireless network

    June 16, 2025

    Tineco Carpet One Cruiser review – it’s easy to give your carpets a deep clean

    June 13, 2025

    Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone review – thin is back in with virtually no compromises

    May 26, 2025

    Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN990F TV review – the pinnacle of home entertainment quality and performance

    May 19, 2025

    Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones review – an already excellent product just got even better

    May 16, 2025
  • Blog

    Would you believe the massive global IT outage could have been far worse

    July 22, 2024

    Hey Tesla the affair is over – I’ve now gone back to my ex

    August 4, 2023

    Why we should all do our part and download the coronavirus contact tracking app

    April 20, 2020

    It’s two years since I went solar and the savings have been enormous

    October 15, 2019

    Why we need to return to one on-field referee after massive NRL Grand Final blunder

    October 7, 2019
  • Apple

    Apple unveils new parental controls for kids and teens to ensure age-appropriate experiences

    June 17, 2025

    Watch the new F1 haptic trailer so you can feel the action in your hands

    June 12, 2025

    The Top 10 features that didn’t make Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote

    June 11, 2025

    Apple’s new and more personalised Siri is still not ready a year after it was announced

    June 10, 2025

    Apple updates macOS, iPadOS and visionOS with features to enhance productivity, creativity and entertainment

    June 10, 2025
  • Samsung

    Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone review – thin is back in with virtually no compromises

    May 26, 2025

    Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN990F TV review – the pinnacle of home entertainment quality and performance

    May 19, 2025

    Samsung unveils its super thin Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone – and it’s stunning

    May 13, 2025

    Samsung to launch its super thin Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone next week

    May 8, 2025

    Samsung releases its biggest range of OLEDs ever in sizes from 42-inch all the way up to 83-inches

    April 9, 2025
Tech GuideTech Guide
Home»Latest News»Tech Guide’s hands-on look at the new Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones
Latest News

Tech Guide’s hands-on look at the new Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones

Stephen FenechBy Stephen FenechFebruary 26, 2018Updated:May 22, 2018No Comments7 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Tech Guide went hands-on with Samsung’s brand-new flagship Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones at the launch event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

While the devices don’t look too different from last year’s smash hit Galaxy S8, they still have a raft of new features under the hood including a camera that’s been beefed up considerably with a host of new abilities.

Despite the minimal changes in design, the Galaxy S9 with its 5.8-inch Infinity Display and the larger Galaxy S9+ with its 6.2-inch screen, there is still a sense of newness to the products.

The biggest changes are on the rear panel with a reconfigured camera lens and fingerprint sensor layout.

Interestingly, the S9 has a single lens 12-megapixel camera while the larger S9+ has a dual lens set-up.

What is consistent with both is that Samsung has sensibly relocated the fingerprint sensor to the centre of the panel where the user’s finger will naturally rest to unlock the device.

galaxys9nda52

What really impressed us were the new colours including Coral Blue and the bold Lilac Purple which we believe will be a massive hit with the ladies.

And of course there’s Midnight Black which would still be our favourite.

galaxys9nda53

With the naked eye the screens look the same as last year’s devices, but the Samsung Galaxy S9 has slightly thinner bezels at the top and bottom of the screen.

The quad HD Super AMOLED screen quality is, as you’d expect, absolutely dazzling.

The camera is the real star of the show with the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+.

Sure, it still takes amazing images but it’s the other capabilities which have been introduced that will quickly grab your attention.

A really impressive new improvement is with low light photography.

You’ll be surprised how many photos we take in low light inside and outside and the good news is Samsung has made some spectacular improvements in this department.

It’s due to its new dual aperture camera which operates at f2.4 and f1.5. What also helps with the heavy lifting is its new multi-frame noise reduction.

A byproduct of trying to capture pictures in low light is heavy grain on the image.

With the multi-frame noise reduction, the camera actually takes several pictures at once and combines them to eliminate that annoying grainy look.

S9 v the S8
S9 v the S8

For our hands-on demonstration, the new Galaxy S9 was positioned next to Google’s Pixel 2 smartphone and aimed inside a darkened box which had an image inside.

The Galaxy S9’s image was far brighter and more detailed than the Pixel 2 despite Google’s smartphone being judged as having the best camera in the world.

We had a lot of fun with the AR Emojis which scans the user’s face and creates an animated replica which can imitate your expressions and emotions.

galaxys9nda34

Didn’t quite get me I think….

We gave this a try and while it didn’t quite nail the likeness it was still a lot of fun.

https://youtu.be/3Hla9LsYfrg

It got the chin right, complete with my dimple, but the rest of the face just didn’t look like me.

If I have attached that to a message to my wife, I’m not sure if she would have recognised me.

galaxys9nda57
The new Super Slo Mo feature

galaxys9nda58

But I know you can refine the image with different hair colours and outfits but it was the eyes that needed adjustment and that option wasn’t there for us.

https://youtu.be/z4LXuz3Mj-0

This is going to be a feature that will be a real novelty for users and a fun new way to communicate.

A cool new addition to the camera options is Super Slow Mo which lets you capture a video at a staggering 960 frames per second.

The 0.2 seconds it captures when played back at normal speed stretches out to six seconds with some really impressive results.

The Google Pixel 2 (on the left) versus the Samsung Galaxy S9 in the low light photography test
The Google Pixel 2 (on the left) versus the Samsung Galaxy S9 in the low light photography test

We’ve seen this feature on other smartphones and it was a bit of a hit or miss proposition.

https://youtu.be/F6yq6kgOUgQ

But Samsung has nailed it with the S9.

Users can select an area of the image where the object will be the full auto motion detection kicks off the capture.

Bixby Vision takes this and turn it ......
Bixby Vision takes this and turn it ……
.... into this - in English
…. into this – in English

We tried it with a water balloon dropping onto a thumbtack and the results were amazing.

Bixby Vision has also had an upgrade with some added camera abilities.

One useful new feature is real-time translation.

Dolby Atmos is onboard the new Galaxy S9
Dolby Atmos is onboard the new Galaxy S9

In our hands on look at the S9, we aimed the camera at a menu written in a foreign language but all we could read on the screen was that same menu in English.

Another Bixby Vision feature is being able to read the amount of calories in certain types of food you can see through the camera.

We didn’t have any food on us to test this feature but in the demo, the S9 came up with a calorie figure when it was looking at some donuts.

If this is as accurate as Samsung leads us to believe, it could be a game changer for anyone who is on a diet or being careful about what they eat.

With the impressive displays on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, users are going to use that space to enjoy their content on the move.

So not only will what their viewing look great it’s also going to sound great as well thanks to the improved speakers tuned by AKG.

galaxys9nda54

Another addition is Dolby Atmos which creates an amazing 3D surround sound effect where noises appeared to be coming from around you and above you.

We watched a short video on the S9+ and was amazed at the sound quality and volume which happens to be 40 per cent greater than the S8.

But that’s okay when you want to watch something in a quiet space but how often do we do that?

galaxys9nda55

We’re hoping the Dolby Atmos surround sound experience can also be heard through headphones.

We’re assuming that’s one of the reasons why Samsung decided to stick with the headphone jack on both the S9 and the S9+.

That will be one of the first things we try when we receive our review device.

On the memory side, Samsung has decided to offer two variants for both the S9 and the S9+ – 64GB or 256GB – the same memory options for Apple’s latest iPhones.

Samsung DEX
Samsung DEX

But the big difference here is that Samsung has also included expandable memory once again with the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9.

Samsung says it can handle a memory card with an additional 400GB of storage so users can have a lot of storage for their photos, videos and apps.

galaxys9nda10

Another massive improvement is with Samsung DEX which allows the smartphone to be used as a desktop computer while still having access to the device’s screen which can be used as a trackpad or as a keyboard.

The phone now slides into the DEX unit instead of sitting inside it and putting the screen and headphone jack out of reach.

We don’t think anyone who purchased Samsung’s Galaxy S8 or S8+ is going to rush to buy the S9 or the S9+.

galaxys9nda18

They look quite similar and the S8 and S8+ still offer flagship quality almost a year after their release.

But Galaxy S7 customers coming off a two-year contract are sure to embrace Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ like a long lost relative.

Standby for Tech Guide’s complete review in early March.

* Stephen Fenech travelled to Barcelona as a guest of Samsung

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Stephen Fenech
  • Website

Stephen is the Tech Guide editor and one of Australia's most respected tech journalists. He is a regular on radio and TV talking about the latest tech news, products and trends.

Related Posts

Norton warns Australians to stay alert as cyber criminals launch their tax time scams

June 18, 2025

Make the right move and listen to Episode 649 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast

June 17, 2025

Apple unveils new parental controls for kids and teens to ensure age-appropriate experiences

June 17, 2025

Comments are closed.

100% Human
Tech Guide only publishes quality 100% Human content you can trust. AI has never and will never be used to generate any articles and reviews despite the rise of AI and the flood of AI-generated writing elsewhere. We also reject the use of our content to be used by AI in any form whatsoever.

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news from The Tech Guide.

Sign up for the weekly Tech Guide newsletter so you can stay updated and educated about the latest consumer tech news and reviews.
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Reviews
  • Blog
  • Apple
  • Samsung
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Reviews
  • Blog
  • Apple
  • Samsung

eero Pro 7 review – transform and supercharge your home wireless network

Tineco Carpet One Cruiser review – it’s easy to give your carpets a deep clean

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge smartphone review – thin is back in with virtually no compromises

Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN990F TV review – the pinnacle of home entertainment quality and performance

Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones review – an already excellent product just got even better

Belkin SoundForm headphones review – remarkable value and impressive audio quality

Make the right move and listen to Episode 649 of the top-rating Tech Guide podcast

Tune up your EV knowledge with the latest episode of the Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars podcast

The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen – Pretty Woman

© 2025 Techguide. Designed by Multimediax.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.