Following on from the S8, the Samsung Galaxy S9 seemed to be a case of Samsung playing it safe, with not enough changes for our liking to make this a truly stand-out phone. With the launch of the Galaxy S10, the S9 has to be re-evaluated, particularly as its price has dropped. Now, with many similar features to the S10, including the high-quality OLED display and fantastic camera, the S9 is now a great alternative choice for people that want flagship specs but at a lower price, making it arguably a better choice today than it was at launch.

Fantastic display; Feels great; Much improved speakers;

Average battery life; Dual-sensor only on Plus model; Some lag with Samsung’s software;

Nearly a year later, the Galaxy S9 ($500 at Walmart) is still an excellent phone that delivers some of the best hardware, performance and photography of any handset you can buy today. But it's about to meet its replacement in the Galaxy S10 ($330 at Amazon), which Samsung will launch Feb. 20 in San Francisco.

The Galaxy S9 can still hold its own among 2019's smartphones, but wait for it to go on sale after the Galaxy S10 launch.

The Galaxy S9 once again proves Samsung's formula of a gorgeous 5.8-inch screen, sexy dual-curved design and terrific camera for well-lit shots can't go wrong; Whiplash-fast speeds, wireless charging and water resistance complete the package; And it looks stunning in purple and blue.

Low-light photos often look blurry and lack the fine texture and contrast of competing phone cameras; The Galaxy S9's camera frequently, accidentally switches between modes; 3D avatar software is tragically bad, and a new face-unlock tool is inherently insecure; The Galaxy S9 costs more than 2017's Galaxy S8.

Galactic evolution. The Galaxy S9 is a great smartphone with powerful specifications and an excellent camera. Samsung unfortunately waives a dual-camera for this smartphone and reduced the RAM, but the price has nevertheless increased. We check if it makes sense to switch.

appealing design; great display; fast SoC; LTE Cat. 18; protected against water and dust; expandable storage; Dual-SIM SKU available (Duos); good sensor equipment; USB 3.1 with DP, HDMI, and OTG; great camera; wireless charging; Ultra HD videos at 60 FPS;

can overheat under load; videos at 60 FPS with a limited runtime; no Dual-VoLTE; long charging time; warranty excludes damages caused by liquids;

Refined, stylish design with gorgeous curved screen; Improved low-light camera, excellent slo-mo video; All the features you’d want in a flagship;

Improved camera still can’t quite beat the best; Hard to tell the S9 apart from the S8; Fingerprint sensor still a bit close to the camera;

Samsung's Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus were announced in late February and went on sale in the middle of March. Since that time, ZDNet's Matthew Miller reviewed the bigger Galaxy S9 Plus, proclaiming the device is "Android perfection achieved."

Fast, reliable performance, It has a headphone jack!, Reliable camera

Battery life, Super Slo-Mo is good, but not great

Yes, but only if you're in need of an upgrade. It’s hard to spend weeks with one of the best smartphones on the market and arrive at the conclusion that you feel somewhat indifferent about it, but I can’t help but feel that way at the moment.

Top-of-the-line camera, Long battery life, A breeze to use

Some unnecessary bloatware, Useless virtual assistant

Samsung is officially kicking off the year w/ the 1st flagship of 2018: the Galaxy S9. Throughout the years, the Galaxy S line has beefed up the cameras, hardware, battery life, software, & even their name (the 1st 2 versions had names based on the carrier they were on, it was a mess back in the...

If you're a Samsung Galaxy S8 user, the answer for the title above would be a Yes and No. It may seem like many functions have been implemented for the Galaxy S9 compared to the S8, but not many of them are useful practically when it comes to daily tasks.

The G7 ThinQ shares many of the S9’s features, including an expansive display, powerful processor and dual-lens camera with special low-light capturing capabilities. But we still don’t know the G7’s price and haven’t put the device through its paces on the Tom’s Guide suite of tests.

The smartphone as we know it today has been around for about a decade now and while the recent shift in form-factor did breathe some new life into it, there doesn’t seem to be much more “revolutionary firsts” left with this blueprint.