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Samsung Galaxy S9
- Thread starter jamezr
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To VZW peeps: if you feel like your S9 or S9 Plus is slow, you're not imagining things. I've been using both the unlocked and VZW versions, and the VZW version is gimped something fierce. You're also missing out on Samsung Cloud, which is as good as iOS and the Pixel's homescreen restore features. STRONG recommendation to buy unlocked Sammys if you're on VZW.
How's this for insane: I think...I THINK...the S9 Plus might maybe just be a little *more* fluid and fast than the Pixel 2.
How's this for insane: I think...I THINK...the S9 Plus might maybe just be a little *more* fluid and fast than the Pixel 2.
Now that I’ve been running it a few days and all my apps are updated and it’s finished whatever newbie stuff phones do when they’re first set up, I do think it’s insanely fast and fluid.
Is anybody else reading all of the articles about privacy and security and Facebook that are all over and feeling any concerns about Facebook arriving “hardwired” into the system files on our Samsungs? I have it disabled but I’m not sure if it can’t still cause any mischief with my information like that.
I wonder if the Note 9 will have FB preinstalled onto it. FB’s name is mud right now to a lot of people. Though I bet most people rely on FB too much for app logins to care or be able to delete it.
I would rather have FB as on optional install. If I need it I can install it myself
Samsung's customer service never ceases to amaze me with their inability to help. They owed me a $50 credit for the past 6 months and failed to give it after multiple requests to do so. Then you get bounced from rep to rep. They really make it hard to purchase the S9 or even want to deal with long-term ownership.
Can't argue with that! I dread the day I might have to deal with their CS again.. (shudders)
Interesting article on how the S8, S9, S9+, and iPhone X handle blacks. I don't experience any real world use issues on my regular S9, it looks the same to me as my iPhone X. But if you're thinking of jumping on the S9+ I would check out this comparison. Based on this and comments over at Android Central, it seems the S9+ is much worse off than the S9 in terms of black crush and pixelation / blotchy picture when viewing media on the device.
Say what you want about Apple, they really have worked their magic and optimized the iPhone X. It is still the best display on the market, imo.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12520/the-galaxy-s9-review/7
I rely on WiFi calling daily and don't want to waste time dealing with other issues that may not work because of it being an unlocked phone. I really want to go unlocked, but still will only buy Apple or Pixels unlocked. Everything else, regrettably, I buy from Verizon.
Say what you want about Apple, they really have worked their magic and optimized the iPhone X. It is still the best display on the market, imo.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12520/the-galaxy-s9-review/7
I rely on WiFi calling daily and don't want to waste time dealing with other issues that may not work because of it being an unlocked phone. I really want to go unlocked, but still will only buy Apple or Pixels unlocked. Everything else, regrettably, I buy from Verizon.
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I read there are some people experiencing "Dead spots" on their touchscreen?
Anyone experience this here?
Anyone experience this here?
Processor is better than the Pixel 2's, so expect a decent performance jump for a bit. The telltale sign is the first month after ownership as Flossy Carter says. If your device is lagging a month into ownership, then you know you have some UI or ROM issues. S9 has lag already, so that's a Samsung issue. Only a matter of time until the S9+ shows Samsung's true colors.
Sometimes, the top left screen becomes totally unresponsive..but it's random, so I can't yet be sure if my device is affected. However, it does happen intermittently.. I have it noted in my account with TMobile, so we'll see..
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If the S9+ holds up like the Note 8, there'll be no ( or very trivial ) lag going forward..
I've heard Flossy's spiel but I don't know how accurate it is anymore. I had the Note8 for 6 months or so and saw no discernable lag a few months in. Samsung has improved TW/Samsung Experience every year, year over year, since the S7. 6gb of RAM and good RAM management seems to be the sweet spot for their current skin.
Although, yeah, if I had to wager between the two devices running as close to out of the box a year in, I'd put my money on the Pixel. I do think the days of Sammys becoming unusable after a year+ are over though.
I hope you're right because I might cave in and get the S9+ since I really don't want to wait till October for a new phone.
I just wish Sammy would up it's update game. Like, the S9 should be on 8.1. And it sucks for S8/Note folks that they're just getting Oreo now.
I absolutely LOVE the audio enhancements in the S9+ over the Note 8! The Dolby Atmos (must be turned ON, it's OFF by default.. at least in my device) makes a significant difference, IMO, with headphones!
I'd think you should look into getting a new one sooner rather than later. Intermittent issues could seriously affect usage and/or increase as time goes by.
Samsung doesn’t want to unless it hits their revenue. They’re the most dominant Android OEM in the world. If updates mattered, then they would’ve changed their tune. Only way for them to change is to spend $ elsewhere and watch them cave.
I've been thinking about it for about a week.. and you re-inforced it.. Just getting out from work and will stop by TMobile for a swap.
Thanks for the push
Damning review of the exynos version of the S9.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12520/the-galaxy-s9-review
- Poor performance in systems benchmarks, despite high synthetic results.
- Poor battery life
Seems like the snapdragon version is the one to get
It is also interesting in the display comparison that the iphone X performs much better than the S9 in dark movie scenes.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12520/the-galaxy-s9-review
- Poor performance in systems benchmarks, despite high synthetic results.
- Poor battery life
Seems like the snapdragon version is the one to get
It is also interesting in the display comparison that the iphone X performs much better than the S9 in dark movie scenes.
Yet my Exynos S9+ performs on par with my previous S8+. Could have been a bad test unit.
The fact that it doesn’t perform any better than previous generation is also damning given the press release by Samsung earlier in the year that touted 2x the single core performance increase.
The new Exynos chip is a dud. It is very power hungry and not very efficient at all. My guess if they did change the scheduler to be more aggressive in ramping up the cpu frequency, battery life would plummet so they didn’t do that.
The review is very detailed on why is performs so poorly.
Like i said im getting great battery life on my unit. At least on par with my S8+ if not better and the performance increase is a nice jump up too. If there is indeed an issue its not affecting my experience. Not to mention plenty of reviews on the Snapdragon unit saying battery life is not great either.
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To their defense that x2 ST performance improvement was advertised by Samsung Semiconductors, not Samsung Mobile. Not that it makes the chip look any better, lol.
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You then have lucked out. The way the chip behaves (2.9 GHz for 1 thread, 2.3 GHz for 2 threads, 1.8 GHz for 3+ threads) clearly indicates that the chip is a power hungry one. Since these things are distributed through bell curve, there must be a few that performs outside the norm, and you are one of the lucky customers who received a phone with an exceptional chip.
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