Total of 4 cameras on the back side of a smartphone can definitely make anyone turn their head back. Samsung shocked everyone when it launched Galaxy A9 few months back. Everyone asks why we need 4 cameras and this article is to answer all those questions. So we tested this phone for a week and we will discuss our experience to help everyone know better and purchase better.
Unlike DSLR, mobile phones don’t have interchangeable lens so Samsung redesigned the phone with different lenses. All those camera at back side have specific function. Lets make it clear for everyone that these sensors don’t take same photos four times. They all have different property and do different task just like different DSLR lens. Simply put, they are for major need like Zoom, Depth of field and Wide angle.
LG always made it will with wide angle camera while Samsung had it with good depth of field and 2x optical zoom. But the Galaxy A9 and A7 are the new answer to the growing need of better camera. Galaxy A9 isn’t all about camera because it also pulls down a lot from flagship phones such as S9 and Note 9. We should start by having look at specification in-order to have better idea.
Samsung Galaxy A9 Specs
These are the hardware specifications of this new special smartphone.
- 6.3″ Super AMOLED screen with 1080×2220 resolution
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset with octa core processor
- Andreno 512 GPU
- 6/8 GB RAM
- 128 GB Internal storage
- 3800 mAh Battery
- 24 MP f/1.7, 10 MP f/2.4, 8 MP f/2.4 and 5 MP f/2.2 Rear cameras
- 24 MP f/2.0 Front camera
Now lets talk about it’s every aspects in detail.
Display
Samsung has its display figured out with Super AMOLED screen. They are the best in market. Galaxy A9 has 6.3″ SAMOLED panel with 1080×2220 screen resolution. This is a very big and sharp display with gorgeous color production. There is AOD, it is great to look at and the brightness is also very good. The only down part is not having Gorilla Glass at this price bracket. For movie lovers, YouTube fan and social media loving generation, it is a a very good display. AMOLED always wins and weak points only show when they use LCD so in this case we are very good.
Build and Design
Samsung Galaxy A9 has a very big screen in a tight body. It has longer or taller form factor. The design is a bit changed now because volume rockers are now on right side which feels very different. Fingerprint scanner is placed at a very reachable place though. Camera alignment is now vertical at top corner which looks good. Gradient color models look absolutely beautiful and we are satisfied with the build. Samsung makes phones with the best build quality in industry.
Power and Performance
Galaxy A9 2018 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 which has octa core processor. There is one 2.2 GHz and another 1.8 GHz quad core set that makes 8 cores in total. Its GPU is Adreno 512 which is mid range one. There are two models of this phone, one has 6 GB RAM and next one has 8 GB RAM. We tested 6 GB RAM model with 128 GB storage. Both phones have 128 GB on-board storage. Galaxy A9 brings the support to 512 GB external memory card from Note 9.
The 512 GB SD card support is now coming to mid range phones rapidly. This is very good and we are happy to see that. The system in overall performs very good and as the processor is mid range one it works like it. It supports 4K 30 fps recording so we take this as powerful processor. We understand that Samsung isn’t going to put top chip in these phones because they have to sell flagship phones. But as other competitors are providing new chips in phone of this segment, Samsung should definitely consider some strategy changes. In Antutu we got 138878 and our Geekbench scores showed 1606 in single core and 5825 in multi core.
Camera
This is where we have interesting stuff. At he back there are for modules and each one is special. There is 24 MP f/1.7 camera which is main one for taking normal photos in day or night time. It’s f/1.7 aperture makes it great for night time and providing good depth effect. Then there is 5 MP f/2.2 module for depth sensing and making the bokeh effect in Live Focus. Finally we have two new guests in the party. One is ultra-wide lens and next is zoom lens. The ultrawide lens in also in Galaxy A7 2018.
Galaxy A9 holds 8 MP f/2.4 ultra wide camera and 10 MP f/2.4 telephoto module. The telephoto lens gives optical zoom and it is a very neat feature to have. Ultrawide lens is truly great to have for travelers to take wide nature shots, panorama and scenery. Telephoto can be useful for taking shots where reaching is a bit different or users don’t want to disturb the subject. The front camera is 24 MP f/2.0 which is plenty for good selfies.
Back side setup can record videos at 4K 30 fps and have lots of features. It brings new cool things from Note 9 as well. Some great features are Flaw detection and scene optimizer. There is also Pro Mode and AR Emoji which users can enjoy. The wide angle camera is 120° wide so it is very impressive. Samsung Galaxy A9 has very impressive optics which means it captures good width and has nice 2x optical zoom. But in our test the results we found that there is wide difference is picture quality from each camera. The main sensor with f/1.7 does very well with sharpness and details but wideangle and zoom cameras don;t deliver that quality.
Other Features
Samsung Galaxy A9 is packed with features because it is one of the best offering below flagship lineup. It has well placed fingerprint sensor and it comes with all necessary sensors inside. There is Fast Charging, H.265 decoding, USB Type C, Bluetooth 5.0 and Samsung Pay as well. It also supports Dual Nano SIM and 512 GB SD card which is pretty great.
For a mid range or lets say upper mid range Samsung phone it has good amount of features. The software is Samsung Experience over Android 8.0 and it seems pretty good. We have good hopes that new One UI from Android Pie will make things good and improve the camera.
Conclusion
Assessing the Samsung Galaxy A9, we see a good mid range phone with premium price tag. This phone brings mid range octa core processor, good amount of RAM, storage and very special camera set. We do appreciate the great display, build and huge SD card support. Battery size is also suitable considering screen size and resolution. The camera optics is very refreshing and in our view really good but it still needs more polishing. If you are guy who needs such camera optics such as zoom and ultra wide then this is a definite buy. But in our view, at this budget it would be better to buy a refined phone such as Galaxy S8 or S8+ because overall they still provide the best value for your money.
