“World’s first smartphone with quad camera.”Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Are you going to purchase a phone just based on its cameras? What if you are not a snapper and needs some serious performance? Let us find out what the new Samsung Galaxy A9 offers.
Samsung Galaxy A series is placed between its affordable J-series and flagship S-series smartphones. With better design and hardware from the J series smartphones and features from the costly S series, A series phones are always an option for the users who are looking for some best features in a comparatively low price tag.
Now, in the same series, Samsung has launched Galaxy A9 that boasts fours cameras, all stacked one below other. This is the first smartphone with such a setup. We spent some time with the phone after its global launch in Kuala Lumpur and here are our thoughts about it.
Design and build
Samsung Galaxy A9 has a resemblance to the Galaxy A7, a three camera smartphone from Samsung. Unlike the flat back A7, A9 has curves towards the edges to facilitate a firm grip. However, the curved edges are not that helpful as A9 is a big phone but still the curves gives a natural feeling.
A9 has a sturdy metal frame inside the glass finish. This is the first mid-range smartphone from Samsung that sports a dedicated Bixby button. The volume controls and power button are on the right side, so there were no accidental presses. A smartly carved fingerprint sensor is at the rear and all the four cameras almost sit inside the glass back, as Samsung really dislikes the camera bump.
USB C-type charger, speaker grills, and audio jack are at the bottom. At the top, you will see a dedicated memory card slot in the SIM tray and a secondary microphone hole. With the purchase box, you will also get a transparent protective cover for the smartphone. You would like to use the back cover instantly as the glass finish of the smartphone is a fingerprint magnet.
Available in three colors, A9 is visually attractive. Caviar Black, Bubblegum Pink, and Lemonade Blue, all the three colors are flamboyant and the last two has a gradient appearance. Caviar black is the only option for matured ones.
Display
The 6.3 inches huge AMOLED display follow the “Infinite” design, so there are rounded curves and almost no bezels on the sides. The top and bottom chin still occupy some space, which seems beneficial while operating the phone horizontally. It has a full HD+ resolution that offers pleasant viewing angles and good contrast levels. It features the Samsung “Always on” feature that adds to its value. The home button is not pressure sensitive, but responds to double taps and can be used to power on the phone if it’s resting for a long time.
Cameras
Turn the device and you will see its most hyped feature – four cameras. Another highlight of the cameras – they are built with different sensors to use in different conditions. At the top, it has an 8 megapixel 120 degree wide angled sensor with f/2.4 aperture. Then comes the 10 megapixel with telephoto lens 2X optical zoom. Next in line is the primary 24-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture. This is the brightest of the four cameras, and it is the one that you will be using most of the time. Last in the row is another 5-megapixel depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture, which comes into action when you click bokehs. Practically, only the top three camera is usable because the last one only measures depth. Samsung calls it “Live Focus” helper camera. All these cameras are supported by an LED flash.
The user interface for the camera has many options and modes. One of them is the scene optimizer mode, where primary 24 mp camera uses artificial intelligence with a capacity to differentiate between 19 scenes. Using pixel binning technology, it stores more light when you want to click images in low light conditions. It also has an option to refocus after an image is clicked and you can also set the blur level. On the front, it has a 24-megapixel selfie-taking cum face recognition camera.
For actual camera performance, we took Samsung Galaxy A9 outdoors and clicked a few pictures. The images clicked in proper light came nice with accurate details and colors, but it somewhat struggled in tricky conditions. The sensors are fun to use, but we don’t think it can be a gamechanger. Zoom and wide angle feature only work good in proper lights, otherwise not that useful.
Internals and performance
The heart of Samsung Galaxy A9 beats with Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 660 processor and Adreno 512 GPU supported by 6 GB or 8 GB RAM options. Its internal storage is 128 GB that can be expanded up to 512 GB using memory cards. The internal DPS is well capable of handling 4K resolution videos and functions of all the four cameras.
Samsung ships the phone with Oreo 8.0, but you can expect the 8.1 updates soon. The brand has customized the interface so very much that you may find considerable differences on its Android version as compared to other phones.
All the major connectivity options are included including Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and dual-band Wi-Fi. It supports Adaptive Fast Charging based on Quick Charge 2.0, which is more than enough to top up the 3,800 mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 comes pre-installed with Samsung mini-pay, few trademark apps from the brand and FM radio. It also includes an accelerometer, geomagnetic/proximity sensor, and a gyro sensor.
We tried to run some high-end games, which went well, though we felt moderate heating. It supports Dual SIM Dual VoLTE proving fine call quality. The rear fingerprint sensor is fast and reliable, but we expected the face recognition to work faster.
Price and Availability
The brand has priced A9 at 36, 990 INR for 4 GB and the top end 8 GB is available at 39, 990 INR.
Verdict
It is easy to focus on a smartphone with four cameras coming from a brand with heavy goodwill. Even if we do not talk about the quad camera, Samsung Galaxy A9 is pretty impressive in terms of performance, design, and display. A decent battery and reasonably powerful processor adds to the value. Overall, it is an asset to the Galaxy A family.
