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Introduction
"The world's first quad camera smartphone". It does have a ring to it, doesn't it? Depending on how you tally up the snappers, that statement is true and unquestionably so, if you only consider the rear camera setup. Frankly, we can't exactly say we are too surprised. It was more or less a matter of time. But, if we had to place some predictions, our money would have definitely been on a more obscure manufacturer finally polling out the quad camera card, rather than Samsung.
Still, it does make a lot of sense. Hot on the heels of the Galaxy A7 (2018) and its triple camera setup, the A9 (2018) now adds a telephoto camera to the mix, bringing the total tally up to that all-important four. Or at least, until HMD finally comes through with a new multi-camera PureView handset, likely to be dubbed the Nokia 9, if rumors are to be believed.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) specs
- Body: Glass back, metal frame; 162.5 x 77 x 7.8mm, 183g; Caviar Black, Lemonade Blue and Bubblegum Pink color schemes;
- Display: 6.3" Super AMOLED, FullHD+ 2,220x1,080px resolution Infinity display (18.5:9 aspect ratio), 392ppi pixel density.
- Rear camera: Primary 24MP, f/1.7 aperture; phase detection autofocus. Secondary 8MP, f/2.4 aperture, fixed focus, 12mm ultrawide. Third 10MP, f/2.4 aperture, autofocus, 2x optical zoom telephoto. Fourth 5MP, f/2.2 aperture, depth sensing only. LED flash. 2160p/30fps video recording.
- Front camera: 24MP, f/2.0 aperture; fixed focus; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS/Software: Android 8.0 Oreo; Samsung Experience 9.0 custom overlay.
- Chipset: Snapdragon 660: octa-core 4x2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260, Adreno 512 GPU.
- Memory: 6GB/8GB (market dependant) of RAM, 128GB of storage; dedicated microSD slot for expansion.
- Battery: 3,800 mAh Li-Po (sealed); Samsung Adaptive Fast charging.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM; LTE Cat. 9 (450Mbps download/50Mbps upload); USB 2.0 Type-C port; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/AC; GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio.
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; Samsung Pay; single speaker on the bottom; 3.5mm jack.
But, putting the number game aside, the natural question on everybody's mind is whether all this camera hardware complexity is even necessary or particularly beneficial? After all, one of the widely-regarded top cameraphones of the day, the Google Pixel 2 puts most competitors to shame with a single main camera. And Google feels confident enough in its ongoing software-assisted camera development path to only put a single camera on the new Pixel 3 duo, as well.
Naturally, there is a valid argument to be made about a purely software approach to things, as well as an increasingly hardware-backed one. And looking at the overall smartphone scene in 2018, it's hard to say which way the tides are blowing. Manufacturers are still experimenting with various approaches.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in official renders
Since that is the case, there is really no reason to instantly fault Samsung and the Galaxy A9 (2018), purely on the grounds of camera count. Instead, it might just be a great experiment, that could shed some light on the future of mobile camera hardware. After all, the Galaxy A family has, in a way, built a solid reputation for being a "playground", of sorts, for new Samsung features and ideas. Plus, even if a quad-camera setup turns out to be less than ideal, who better to deal with the consequences than the Korean smartphone titan. Few have the resources and capacity to experiment and gamble at quite this scale. And, without risks, there really can't be any progress.
So, going in with an open mindset, we had the change to spend some hands-on time with the new Galaxy A9 (2018). Before we can properly put it through its paces for a full review, join us on the following pages, for some preliminary impressions and, of course, a few camera samples.
Design
The Galaxy A9 (2018) has all the characteristic markings of a modern, near-flagship Galaxy device. Well, almost all, to be precise, since there is no ingress protection rating to be seen. Kind of odd, considering the Galaxy A8 (2018) is rated for IP68. Even so, the A9 (2018) currently sits at the top of the Galaxy A family. At least the other staples of the line are accounted for.
Most notably - a huge, 6.3-inch, in this particular case, Super AMOLED display, in the still trendy "Infinity Display" design. That means nicely rounded corners and almost no bezels. In fact, if you are not into the curvy nature of the flagship Galaxy S and Note lines, these devices are currently your best bet over at camp Samsung.
The similarities with said flagships extend on to the general build and design as well. The Galaxy A9 (2018) employs the standard sturdy metal frame, inside a glass sandwich arrangement. While the front might be flat, the back of the phone is very much curvy on all sides. The slope makes for a familiar and natural-feeling design, which Samsung has been refining for a few generations now.
The A9 (2018) is a looker, especially in its Lemonade Blue and Bubblegum Pink variants, which feature a vertical gradient and a very subtle pattern underneath the glass back. The Caviar Black is a lot less flamboyant and exciting when it comes to pure visual appeal, opting instead for a traditional mirror-like glossy finish. We guess that's the "grown-up" serious option and it's, unfortunately, the one we got for this hands-on.
By the way, in case you had any doubt, that glass finish is a real fingerprint magnet. This, alone, is a good enough reason to explore case options, in our book. There are valid ergonomic reasons to go down that road, as well. While the A9 (2018) sits very snugly in the hand, it is still rather unwieldy due to its size. Plus, the gentle slopes make it really slippery and especially difficult to pick up from a table. Subjectively, in this regard, it feels a lot more like the Galaxy S8 generation than the S9, which introduced a bit more grip. And definitely not nearly as easy to grab hold to as the Note8 or Note9. Bottom line here - get a case, so you won't have to constantly struggle with the glass finish and gravity duo.
Since we are already discussing the back of the Galaxy A9 (2018), it is clearly dominated by one feature - the four vertical cameras. These appear to be grouped in pairs of two, which is probably done since the two biggest modules are next to each other. An odd visual consequence, however, is that the extra space somehow makes the camera area seem less crowded if that makes any sense.
In fact, Samsung has managed to make the whole "hump" quite thin, in every direction. That also makes it look very unobtrusive. Plus, it doesn't really scrape real hard on flat surfaces. In fact, judging by the decision to place the single LED flash underneath the vertical camera array, rather than next to it, further proves the theory that Samsung's design department really decided to adopt the extra-tall aesthetic and work with it. We have to say - job well done! We imagine a whopping four cameras on the back of a phone can look quite a bit more off-putting.
Of course, since this is a fairly high-end device, Samsung couldn't skip on some biometric security. The rear-mounted fingerprint reader is very snappy and reliable. It is also conveniently carved out, so you won't have to feel around too much. If you have long enough fingers, that is. The placement feels just right for my huge hands, but the average user will likely prefer it a bit lower down the tall back of the Galaxy A9 (2018).
This feels like the perfect segue to the showing your around the controls and their placement. Namely, the controversial Bixby button. Yes, the Galaxy A9 (2018) definitely has one and if you love it, we have bad news for you, since, like the fingerprint reader, it sits just a bit too high on the left frame of the phone. Then again, if you're not exactly fond of Samsung's Ai, this might just be a blessing in disguise. By the way, the Bixby button can be partially turned off on the Galaxy A9 (2018). You can opt to have Bixby trigger only after holding the button for a while so that a single accidental press will do nothing. You do have to go through the lengthy Bixby setup process to get to the settings menu, though.
On the opposite side of the phone - the power button is at a much more reasonable hight. Above is - a volume rocker. All the buttons on the Galaxy A9 (2018) area a bit on the thinner side, which makes sense, seeing how the frame is not very wide either. Also, the buttons are surprisingly "mushy". Pretty out of the ordinary for a Galaxy phone, especially a high-end one. Yet another reason to get a case, we suppose.
The bottom of the handset hosts the single speaker grill, main microphone and the USB-C port. Right next to it - a good old, trusty 3.5mm audio jack. No dongles needed.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018): Bottom side • Top side and SIM tray
The top of the phone is pretty empty - only a secondary microphone hole and a SIM tray. We have some mixed feeling regarding the latter. On one hand, we love that Samsung leveraged the huge body of the Galaxy A9 (2018) and opted for a dedicated microSD card slot, alongside the duo of nanoSIM ones. No hybrid setups here. On the other hand, perhaps our nitpicking side got the better of us, but we can't fail to mention that only one of our SIM ejector pins was both thin enough and long enough to get the tray out.
Display
The huge 6.5-inch, Super AMOLED panel is pretty much the defining feature on the front of the Galaxy A9 (2018). It'scalled Infinity Display by Samsung PR, hence the rounded corners and the slimmed-down bezel, especially on the sides.
The top and bottom chins still occupy a fair bit of space. However, that has its practical benefits as well - extra grabbing room for horizontal usage and not nearly as much thumb-gymnastics for reaching the navigation bar one-handed. By the way, in case you were wondering, the A9 (2018) lacks the fancy persistent, hidden home button, under the display. Samsung's UI also lacks gesture navigation out of the box. Though, there are plenty of third-party solutions out there if you desperately need it.
We can't provide any specifics along the lines of brightness and sunlight legibility for the panel, before our full review. But, as you can probably guess, it's a typical Samsung Super AMOLED. It shines brightly when it needs to, it has infinitely deep blacks and looks perfectly sharp, despite its FullHD+ resolution. Unlike its flagship siblings, it is not certified for any kind of HDR standard, though.
Internals
Let's quickly get the hardware walkthrough out of the way, before we get to the main attraction. The Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) is built around the Snapdragon 660 chipset. It's a solid mid-range option, which offers a potent Octa-core (4x2.2 GHz Kryo 260 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260) processor setup and an equally respectable Adreno 512 GPU and a DSP well capable of 4K video capture and overall handling each one of the four main cameras.
All important connectivity bases are also covered, including Dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, for Samsung Pay, among other things and the Korean giant even threw in an FM radio. All the sensors are also accounted for, and Samsung didn't skip on Adaptive Fast Charging. It's still based around Quick Charge 2.0, but it's better than nothing for topping-off the sizeable 3,800 mAh battery pack the A9 (2018) is packing. Nearly Galaxy Note9 capacity, we might add.
Still, even in the absence of any official pricing for the Galaxy A9 (2018), as of writing this, we can't shake the feeling that a handset, unlikely to open at an MSRP below EUR 600, could have made the jump to Qualcomm's exciting new Snapdragon 710 chipset. That would have meant a more efficient 10nm process, better GPU, DSP, and a faster modem, among other things.
Still, we won't reminisce about hypothetical missed opportunities here and will instead focus on the positives. Like, the well-rounded 6GB/128GB memory setup the Galaxy A9 (2018) comes standard with. The latter is even extendible via microSD, and certain markets will get an 8GB RAM tier, as well. Although, frankly, that seems a bit excessive at this juncture in time and with this choice of chipset.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
170218 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
141011 - Nokia 7 plus
140820 - Realme 1
138524 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
136583 - Realme 2 Pro
132958 - Xiaomi Mi A2
130927 - Nokia 7.1
117175
We ran a few quick benchmarks, and this combination of hardware performs just as expected on the Galaxy A9 (2018).
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
5908 - Nokia 7 plus
5893 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
5856 - Realme 1
5741 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
5574 - Realme 2 Pro
5531 - Nokia 7.1
4975 - Xiaomi Mi A2
4625
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
1890 - Nokia 7 plus
1634 - Xiaomi Mi A2
1617 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
1595 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
1595 - Realme 1
1511 - Realme 2 Pro
1462 - Nokia 7.1
1344
No surprises in CPU nor GPU to speak of. We also threw in a few other devices, representative of popular mid-tier chipsets, like the Snapdragon 710, we mentioned earlier. Or the Kirin 710, MediaTek Helio P60 and the Snapdragon 636, just to get a better overall picture.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
33 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
23 - Nokia 7 plus
23 - Xiaomi Mi A2
22 - Realme 2 Pro
21 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
20 - Realme 1
20 - Nokia 7.1
16
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
30 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
21 - Nokia 7 plus
21 - Xiaomi Mi A2
21
20
19
18
15
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
23 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
15 - Nokia 7 plus
15 - Xiaomi Mi A2
15 - Realme 2 Pro
14 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
14 - Realme 1
12 - Nokia 7.1
10
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
22 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018)
14 - Nokia 7 plus
14 - Xiaomi Mi A2
14 - Huawei Mate 20 Lite
13 - Realme 2 Pro
12 - Realme 1
12 - Nokia 7.1
9.7
That's a pretty solid achievement, considering our unit came with a memo indicating the early nature of its software.
Camera
That early software memo turned to be rather applicable once we got around to snapping some camera samples. Most photos taken with the main 24MP camera had some issue with the white balance, but we managed to snap a few keepers. That said, we suspect it's too early to pass any judgment on the image quality.
As we said earlier, technically, the Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) has a total of four cameras on the back. Practically speaking, however, only three of these are directly usable, with the last 5MP, f/2.2 snapper only being used for depth information. In Samsung terms, it is a "Live Focus" helper camera.
The rest of the snappers are spearheaded by the main 24MP, f/1.7 unit. It's the brightest of the bunch and what you will likely end up using most of the time. Positioned on top of it is an 8MP, f/2.4, ultrawide 120-degree, fixed-focus unit. Then comes the telephoto 10MP, f/2.4 camera. It offers a 2x optical zoom factor and is closely tied to the main camera in the way of operation. What we mean by that will become a lot clearer once we take a quick tour of the camera UI and its settings. But, the gist of it comes down to some form of interpolation and cooperation between that and the main camera, which we will explore in the full review. In contrast, the ultrawide camera appears to be independent in its operation.
The camera UI is done in a very typical Samsung fashion. A lot of effort appears to have been put into organizing the plethora of options and modes as well as possible, but still, these tend to get overwhelming at times. Since we already eluded to this bit, let's start with the camera settings first and specifically resolution.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) switching between cameras
The way Samsung handles selection between the three main cameras is via a toggle, with three tree icons (nice one). The icon with a single tree means ultra wide angle cam, two trees denote the regular camera, and three trees mean the telephoto. This selector also appears to be tied to the "pinch to zoom" functionality as well, but only partially. While within the regular or telephoto modes, you can use the zoom to switch between the two. Drop below 2x, and the regular one kicks in. Above 2x, its the tele. But, do keep in mind that anything above 2x is digital zoom.
Resolution settings: Main and telephoto • Ultrawide
Oddly enough, there is no way to jump to the ultrawide camera via the zoom control. This appears to be eluding to the way the tele and main cameras are interlinked. Looking at the resolution settings in each mode, we see that the ultrawide tops out at 8MP. All the while, the settings for the tele camera go all the way to 24MP and don't even include a 10MP setting. That's no oversight either, since out of the box shots taken at 2x zoom (presumably with the tele camera) end up with a 24MP resolution, meaning that some sort of interpolation is being employed.
To go through the rest of the modes and camera options, first, we start with the Scene Optimizer. It's Samsung's Ai scene recognition (without any AI branding) and automatic settings tweaker. It has a total of 19 modes, including: Food, Portraits, Flowers, Indoor scenes, Animals, Landscapes, Greenery, Trees, Sky, Mountains, Beaches, Sunrises and sunsets, Watersides, Street scenes, Night scenes, Waterfalls, Snow, Birds, and Text.
The Ai also monitors the shot with a system called "Flaw detection". It promises to detect Eye Blink, Facial Blur, and backlight issues and warn the user while capturing photos. There is also a post-shot system that analyses shots in the background. The algorithms are very dependent on lighting conditions and the number of people in the frame, though. So, reading the manual might be necessary to better understand their potential and limitations. Other than that, it works just like the regular Auto mode.
Scene optimizer • Scene optimizer • AR EMOJI • Live focus
Of course, you can leverage the advanced Ai algorithms and face recognition and tracking for much more "important" tasks as well. AR emojis are present, accounted for and extendible, with extra ones available of free and paid download right from the camera app.
Life focus is definitely on the list of modes. It better be, seeing how it gets its own dedicated camera on the back of the A9 (2018). There is a manual mode in the Galaxy A9 (2018)'s camera app, but it is rather limited. Super slow-mo video recording is also on the list of modes, but we couldn't exactly figure out what frame rate it records at. At first glance, our best guess is that it is the same 960fps system, as seen on Samsung's recent flagship models. We'll have to confirm in the full review.
Super Slow-mo • Manual Mode
Last, but not least, here are some samples we took with the Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) and its three (well, technically, four) rear cameras. Bear in mind, it's an early pre-production unit, so don't judge the image quality too harshly.
Camera samples: Normal • Ultra wide • Telephoto
Camera samples: Normal • Ultra wide • Telephoto
Camera samples: Normal • Ultra wide • Telephoto
Camera samples: Normal • Ultra wide • Telephoto
Last, but not least, we snapped a few selfies with the 24 MP, f/2.0 unit on the front side of the Galaxy A9 (2017). We enjoyed the high resolution and the detail it provides, but our initial impressions are that the fixed-focus distance set a little bit too far, resulting in less than tack sharp shots.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) selfie samples
Last, but not least, here are a few selfie portrait shots. Naturally, done entirely through software. Although come to think of it, Samsung could have probably put a secondary camera on the front side as well, potentially going for another record.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) selfie samples: Regular • Portrait • Regular • Portrait • Regular • Portrait
Final thoughts
The Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) is one of those rare devices that has a clear angle going for it, in a sea of smartphone sameness. In its case, that's both a blessing and a curse. It's very easy to focus on the world-first camera count achievement and simply stop there, either writing off the phone as a one trick pony or basing your opinion of it solely on its camera capabilities.
But step aside from the camera topic, and the rest of the Galaxy A9 (2018) is still a capable member of the Galaxy A family. It delivers a solid overall experience, with very few cut corners or omissions.
That being the case, we'll explore it in more detail as a well-rounded daily driver in the full review and definitely keep close tabs on its achievements as an ambassador, of sorts, to the hardware-first approach to the future of mobile photography.
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