Post pictures of your latest purchase

[Laura Knotek]

S9+ -- mini overview from my own use:
The S9+ SD 845 model G965U1 Coral Blue, no case yet. Disabled most google apps/services except play store and photos. Using bk disabler disabled many of samsung bloat software and certain features I do not use, like the Edge panel, Samsung pay, etc.

Battery life is excellent. I have a minimalist AOD always on and SOT is at about 5hrs, 2 Exchange accounts, 3 tapatalk accounts, mms/sms/handful of phone calls, web surfing, youtube usage a bit, and about 10 Groove tracks played more or less. Now with total time off the charger of 19hrs or so and I have 34% left.

The display is as we would expect. Samsung uses a proprietary driver I believe along with their display service(s) and panel, and the brightness and color modes compliment each other well. The Sunlight readability is pretty good. But I have not assesed all the panel configurations to see which is optimal for my use/needs. It has done some buggy things though, like prior to the latest OTA update night mode was funky and super orange. It would kick in a couple seconds after unlocking the phone each time I unlocked it while enabled, meaning it was turned off at unlock and turned on after the screen got settled. Another is that more than twice I have unlocked the phone during the day and Autobrightness crapped out and the display was completely dim and would not adjust to a readable brightness.

The Sound from this thing is top notch. The stereo speaker setup and dolby atmost are just great. I thought the Idol 4s was nice and the most acurate with sound reproduction (without and EQ mind you) but the way Samsung did theirs and combined Harmon speakers just works excellently. And you can crank it loud with little distortion. Off the 3.5mm wire I am still trying to get what I think sounds good to my ear but so far the quality and range are excellent.

Call quality is great and it has used Wifi calling mostly. It is fast and snappy. The UI works for me. I download a dark them called sd-Black by aire design and it reminds me alot of the Windows Phone UI now. The finger print sensor is fast and accurate. Samsung has a ton of goodies baked into the OS that I am not sure I have looked at even half of them thorougly. I kninda like the one handed mode double tapping the home button 3 times, but it is not ideal imo. I can provide more detail on that if anyone needs...

The camera is pretty good. I have not fully used it enough to know how to use it quicky and fluidly. I need a case to be able to hold it appropriately and safely when trying to snap photos. However the few that I have taken are good. In low light it is a good shooter too. I have not really used the camera though to make a complete judgement from y view but it works really well and for my average camera usage it is good. I like that it uses a motion photo feature like living images for photos you take.

The phone is a bit thicker, heavier wider and a bit shorter than the S8+. It feels easy to use and should be even better once I get a case. I ordered a spigen liquid air armor case.

The one thing that is really impressive on it so far is the battery life. I did disable a lot of stuff. But compared to the s8+ with the same battery size this is good. It should be expected from the SD 845 anyway right?. IMO the standby drain is where I think it excels the most and why the stamina is so good when it needs to be in use.

It really is a great device to use for me personally if moving from a Lumia. I just hope Microsoft has an Andromeda-like device lined up soon that can replace this hunk of glass though (sorry just had to say it). Am hoping what they want to do with their new device will be something I and others can use and need for our daily lives to replace devices like this most were forced to move to. I moved off Google entirely except gmail and was happy for several years. Now I have to embrace it a bit more unfortunately. I have not decided what I will do with all my Lumias yet. I will try to provide more about my use with this device as it progresses.

Thanks so much for your review. I'd love to hear your further thoughts on this device.

 

[fatclue_98]

Speaking of voice calls, I'm not sure this phone has VoLTE for T-Mobile or Wi-Fi calling available as Team Magenta is very snobbish about who they let into their little circle.

No VoLTE and no Wi-Fi calling confirmed. Reception (data) is still awesome but the minute you have to make a phone call and it drops off that sweet LTE coverage, it's a bear.

 

[libra89]

No VoLTE and no Wi-Fi calling confirmed. Reception (data) is still awesome but the minute you have to make a phone call and it drops off that sweet LTE coverage, it's a bear.

Yeah, that always made me sad on T-Mo with recent Sony phones. Never had the privilege of trying the XZ1 Compact that worked with those on T-Mo.

 

[nate0]

Thanks so much for your review. I'd love to hear your further thoughts on this device.

Got the case today (Spigen liquid air armor case). It's nice.
Audio: So little background. I listen to audio in my car quite a bit, one becuase I have a to and from work commute of about 80 min total and two I just love loud music.
I was very fond of my Lumia 950 XL. The EQ always responded well and the output was nice. The ability to mute the ringer and allow media playback was nice too. The S9+ has a really clean sound off the 3.5mm jack, and I can tell the signal is a lot clearer. It is nice. It has a UHQ upscaler that I belive really attributes to this and still gives little distortion at higher volumes which I am impressed by. I know I mentioned the sound on the device speakers themselves are good, but man they deserve a lot of credit. I remember the S8+ S7 edge and S6 Edge +, all had this weird tube tunnel sound during the kick coming from the bottom speaker. The sound on the S9+ device itself atleast the way I have it configured sounds very natural and the clarity is great.

 

[mark233]

Original hard drive started sputtering on my HP Envy Phoenix desktop. Went with solid state replacement.

 

[Laura Knotek]

View attachment 138871

Original hard drive started sputtering on my HP Envy Phoenix desktop. Went with solid state replacement.

Sweet! That should be really fast.

 

[mark233]

Sweet! That should be really fast.

Oh my is it ever. Boot time, app opening, etc... Glad I went this route. Total boot time (and by that I mean once I turn on the PC to when there are no more system processes loading in the background) went from 5 minutes to about 1 minute and 45 seconds.

Opening Microsoft Outlook alone went from went from around a 10 second load/sync to 3 seconds.

 

[mc_razza]

Once you go SSD you'll never go back.

 

[Shanaya Bindra]

Hi, i want to buy one for myself. Please let me know about their price and how are working right now.

 

[worldspy99]

My new wireless headphones.

 

[worldspy99]

Light blue Ringke slim case for the Panda Pixel 2 XL.

 

[Laura Knotek]

3.5mm to RCA male cable.

 

[worldspy99]

3.5mm to RCA male cable.
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iXCC makes good cables. I like all of my cables from them.

 

[Laura Knotek]

iXCC makes good cables. I like all of my cables from them.

They're inexpensive as well, which is nice.

 

[nate0]

iXCC makes good cables. I like all of my cables from them.

I am curious what makes them good? For Audio I have always used LiveWire cables if I can. I recently bought a Monster 3.5mm cable and soon went back to my Livewire one since it fits better in the socket. I see they (ixcc) also make usb type cables...

 

[worldspy99]

I am curious what makes them good? For Audio I have always used LiveWire cables if I can. I recently bought a Monster 3.5mm cable and soon went back to my Livewire one since it fits better in the socket. I see they (ixcc) also make usb type cables...

Overall cable construction is quite sturdy and made with materials that feel better. Also the plating on the metallic ends tends to not wear out as easily at least in my experience.

 

[nate0]

The only thing that is taking forever to like or adjust to is the dang keyboard on Android. It just for some reason seems like someone over thought these v-keyboards on Android. None of them really flow for me yet. G-board is pretty good, but the Samsung v-keyboard seems to hit the keys easier. And the animation style is better during key popout. Meh, anyway. Such a petty thing to worry about anyway....

So Swiftkey is awesome now. I used it on the Pixel XL last year and it was really crappy. That was my kb of choice on the S9+. However I knew this would happen...I am reluctant to call it my daily driver yet. It is tall piece. Heavy and just a beast of a phone, making it not really portable compared to my 950 XL even. But the battery is Good, screen is a killer one, and the sound/audio hw on it is really nice. Decisions decisions.

 

[Laura Knotek]

So Swiftkey is awesome now. I used it on the Pixel XL last year and it was really crappy. That was my kb of choice on the S9+. However I knew this would happen...I am reluctant to call it my daily driver yet. It is tall piece. Heavy and just a beast of a phone, making it not really portable compared to my 950 XL even. But the battery is Good, screen is a killer one, and the sound/audio hw on it is really nice. Decisions decisions.

Cool! I'll have to try SwiftKey again. I used it 3 years ago, then it went downhill and got buggy, so I switched to GBoard.

 

[fatclue_98]

Decisions decisions.

First world problems. :winktongue:

 

[nate0]

First world problems. :winktongue:

I know right? What are we doing to ourselves!