Tech advisor dell XPS 13 9370 powerful, portable and stylish windows laptop june 2018

A representative of FutureSource, the author of the report, said that the company could not provide data on the number of Windows 10 S devices, given that “few have been available until

Samsung Galaxy S9

Dell XPS 13 9370

REVIEWS

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4 Windows 10 S to evolve into a mode in 2019

7 Sets to reappear in autumn Insider builds

10 Oculus releases fix after worldwide blackout

Set up two monitors for your PC 104

Connect your phone to Windows 10 106

81

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore tweeted the news.MARK HACHMANreports

Reports that Windows 10 S will become a ‘mode’

of Windows 10 were confirmed recently by Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, who stated that the transition will occur next year

Belfiore, a corporate vice president in the Operating

System Group within Windows, tweeted his statement

in response to this author’s own comment that Microsoft

had neglected to mention 10 S in a recent blog post

touting the success of Windows devices in schools

Microsoft launched the OS in 2017 as a standalone

Windows 10 S to evolve into a mode in 2019

version of Windows, partly to provide a secure,

manageable version of Windows to those schools

Currently, Microsoft sells Windows 10 S and 10

as separate versions Windows 10 S works only with

the UWP apps Microsoft itself provides from the app

store Its users may also switch to Windows 10 Pro

via an upgrade found within the Microsoft Store

However, Windows 10 S hasn’t appeared in anything

more than the Surface Laptop and a handful of

education devices A representative of FutureSource,

the author of the report, said that the company could

not provide data on the number of Windows 10 S

devices, given that “few have been available until

recently.” Reports surfaced recently that Microsoft

would combine Windows 10 S and Windows 10,

making the former a ‘mode’ of the Windows 10 OS

Microsoft had declined to confirm the substance

of those reports until now, and hadn’t said when

the transition would take place, if ever Belfiore’s

tweet has revealed that the reports are true, and

when the transition will take place

“We use Win10S as an option for schools or

businesses that want the ‘low-hassle’/ guaranteed

performance version,” Belfiore tweeted “Next year

10S will be a ‘mode’ of existing versions, not a distinct

version SO … I think it’s totally fine/good that it’s

not mentioned,” he said of the report’s omission of

Windows 10

Whether Microsoft will offer Windows 10 S by

default is not clear One report by Thurrott.com has said

that users will be able to upgrade from an ‘S’ version of

Windows 10 Home S to full-fledged Windows 10 Home

for free, but Pro users going from the ‘S’ version to the full version will be charged $49 (around £35).While it’s not clear why the Windows 10 S

transition will take place in 2019 – development time,

or just a chance for the Windows 10 S to succeed on its own? – we do know now that Windows 10 S will

be the ‘low-hassle’ version of Windows Windows

10 Home/Pro, with its legacy Win32 support, will be the more powerful version Guess we’ll know in a year how this will change the status of Windows 10

S in the marketplace

If you’ve been pining for a tabbed File Explorer app, your wait

is almost over Sets is returning, revealsMARK HACHMAN

If you’re a fan of Windows 10’s tabbed Sets interface,

you may want to sign up for the Windows Insider

program this autumn, because Sets is back

Microsoft has announced Windows 10 Insider Build

17618, a closed beta for the ‘Skip Ahead’ portion of

the Windows Insider program Most Insiders follow the

developer team working on the current build; that team

is wrapping up the spring update (Redstone 4) that’s

due in the next few weeks The ‘Skip Ahead’ Insiders

follow another team of developers working on the next

update, due in the autumn

It’s in the autumn update, known as Redstone 5,

where Sets will reappear We tested Sets late last year,

Sets to reappear in

autumn Insider builds

which replaces the traditional ‘one app, one window’ user interface with something that looks more like a web browser Last autumn, the beta Sets interface allowed you to tack on an app as another tab, using UWP apps like Calendar, Edge, and Mail

Now, the ‘Skip Ahead’ Insiders get to play with a beefed-up version of Sets, where support for some legacy Win32 apps has been added in In a month

or so, the current Insiders will get it, too Now File Explorer, Notepad, Command Prompt, and PowerShell are also tabbed – great news for those who’ve been hoping for a tabbed File Explorer interface for years.Microsoft also announced that Sets will be

integrated once again with Timeline, Microsoft’s

replacement for the virtual-machine-like Task View Timeline sees each disparate app you’re using for a project as an ‘activity’, and it gathers all your activities into one virtual place “When restoring your projects you’ll be prompted to restore related apps and web pages,” Microsoft said in a blog post “In Timeline you’ll see when a project has multiple activities

associated with it.”

While Windows users can switch from browser tab

to browser tab using Ctrl + PgUp/PgDn, Windows users can switch from application tab to application tab using Ctrl + Win + Tab, or use Ctrl + Win + T to open a new tab (To open a Win32 app in a new tab, hold down Ctrl as you launch it; otherwise, it will launch in a new window.) Unfortunately, you can’t use drag-and-drop to reorder tabs at this time, Microsoft said

Remember, Sets is a long-term revision for Microsoft Microsoft tested Sets within the upcoming Redstone 4

version for Windows Insiders, then yanked it to polish

it behind the scenes Microsoft has said it could take

years for Sets to roll out in a final form, with support

for all of Microsoft’s own apps as well as legacy

applications from third-party developers

Previously, Sets was an optional experience that

could be toggled on and off, and that may be the case

here, too It’s very possible you’ll like Sets; it’s very

possible you won’t Microsoft’s expended a lot of effort,

though, in making Windows work for a variety of users,

from those who prefer using Windows tablets with

pens, to differently abled users, and hardcore gamers

Interested in trying out Sets as part of the

Insider program? Go to Settings > Update and

Security > Windows Insider Program to get started

Just remember that you won’t see Sets until April

sometime, when the Insider program and the current

Skip Ahead development track will merge

The good news is that it’s fixable But it probably shouldn’t havehappened in the first place, reportsHAYDEN DINGMAN

If you want a hint of how fragile our tech-reliant world

is, look no further than the Oculus Rift Rift owners the

world over recently discovered that their £399 virtual

reality headset had become a paperweight overnight

– at least temporarily

It seems as though Oculus forgot (?) to issue an

updated Windows certificate, the security feature that

Oculus releases fix after worldwide blackout

confirms that, yes, Oculus’s software is actually Oculus’s

software As Microsoft’s decade-old primer puts it,

“Digital certificates function similarly to identification

cards such as passports and drivers’ licenses.” That’s

a pretty good analogy

When the certificate expired, Windows stopped

recognizing Oculus Runtime Service and thus stopped

allowing it to run – for good reason, I might add As

the end user though, this manifests as a pretty opaque

‘Can’t reach Oculus Runtime Service’ error

On the plus side, it’s a relatively easy fix According

to Oculus: ”To patch your Oculus software, you’ll

need to download ‘OculusPatchMarch2018.exe’ at

fave.co/2HwSMxN Run the executable, and select

‘Repair’ When the update is finished, launch the Oculus

desktop app to continue the update process Once the

update is complete, you’ll be able to use your Rift.”

On the other hand, this should not have happened

Windows certificates are a basic part of modern

software, and it’s embarrassing for a company as

big as Oculus – with the backing of Facebook – to

let this happen It’s understandable, and as Reddit

user TrefoilHat pointed out, Oculus’s certificate was

generated in 2015 prior to the Rift’s actual public

release, when the company was a lot more rough

and tumble than it is now But it’s still embarrassing

Dell XPS 13 9370 (2018)

Dell‘s XPS line has always been good, but this

year it is now certainly great The 2018 XPS 13

is the best laptop Dell has ever made, and boy has it made a few Comparing it to the MacBook is

lazy – the XPS 13 is more powerful by some distance

than Apple’s MacBook, the 12in rival of a similar price

In fact, the Core i7 XPS 13 we tested is the smoothest,

fastest XPS ever and worthy of your consideration if

you have the money to spend on a high-end laptop

Design

Barely had the press release been flung to every corner

of the earth before the XPS 13 was bestowed with

£1,249 inc VAT from fave.co/2HuFrpL

a CES Innovation Award Just like last year It seems

Dell has cut a niche for building a high-end Windows

laptop that looks good on an executive’s desk as well

as performing well in all conditions

And to be fair it does look the part Whether or

not you like the rose gold and white model is a matter

of taste, but at least it stands out from the crowd

compared to the uniform black version that is by now

very familiar with its carbon fibre finish on the inside

and slick silver exterior

The casing is now 23 percent smaller, which is always

good so long as it doesn’t affect performance, and

the XPS 13 still feels as close to the premium build of

MacBooks that a Windows machine has come, albeit

with a more practical, less space-age design

With simple lines, that just-about-subtle-enough

carbon fibre effect on the inside and a sleek,

completely flush 4mm bezel round the screen, it’s

a good-looking piece of kit The white model has a

UV coating on it too, and Dell claims you can wipe

permanent marker off either one should you have a

frantic boardroom accident

The bottom of the laptop (yes it matters) look much

nicer than previous years, with Dell getting rid of all the

legal text and other odd stickers to give a sleeker feel

to the machine When you’re spending this much, that

stuff matters, so well done Dell, for leaving just the fan

grates and the XPS logo

The keyboard has a superb clacky yet springy feel

to it, while maintaining the slimmer profile of the

base – there are no low travel butterfly keys you might

find on a new MacBook or MacBook Pro Add to that

a fingerprint sensor in the power key and you have

a mighty fine design, refined for 2018 needs

Less fun is the webcam placement, now under the Dell logo on the bottom of the screen Even if it

is a space saver, it’s still annoying but Dell told us it’s working to fitting one into the top bezel on future models Although it’s easier to stick a piece of tape over it where it is now, and you probably should And at 1.21kg with those slim bezels, the laptop

is as compact and portable as you could hope for.This is an excellently made ultrabook, niggles aside Most of the Tech Advisor staff when asked would select this as their preferred Windows

laptop So how do the specs hold up?

Hardware

8th-generation Intel chips are making their way into many high-end laptops in 2018 and the XPS line is no

exception We tested how they run day to day and

against the current crop of competing products

Processor, RAM and storage

Dell has added these 8th-gen Intel Core i5-8250U and

i7-8550U processors to the XPS 13, depending on your

needs and budget, while all models have the Intel UHD

Graphics 620 GPU Note that Coffee Lake chips are

reserved for desktop only – here the silicon is 8th-gen,

but is technically a refreshed Kaby Lake architecture

Other options for you are a minimum of 128GB

and a maximum of 1TB storage and 4/8/16GB

RAM Our high end 16GB RAM model performed

outstandingly, but you can expect slower

multitasking speeds in the 4/8GB versions

Display

You can choose between a non-touch 1920x1080 FHD

or a touchscreen 3840x2160 4K Ultra HD Again, we

were given the high-end touchscreen version and it

looks incredible The insanely high resolution looks

amazing on a 13in panel and colour reproduction is

a pleasant level of saturated

Brightness is also outstanding, and there’s very

little occasion you’ll want to have it on 100 percent

Under halfway is usually fine

Touchscreen input is still odd on Windows 10, but

here the experience is the best it can be Unlike on

cheaper laptops with the same feature you don’t have

to prod the screen really hard, and it’s a good thing

seeing as the XPS’s lid is so thin With minimum wobble

from interaction, we found ourselves using it more, as

much down to the quality of the hardware build as the software interaction.

While the 4K touchscreen looks truly phenomenal, it’s not necessary for many Touchscreen on full

Windows 10 is still a hindrance to productivity in some cases where using the trackpad or a mouse is simply easier, and the non-touchscreen version is still HD and fully adequate for all work and play uses and still bears

a great resolution

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is brilliant, with a great level of physical resistance for longer typing sessions Keys are well spaced with a textured finish and a two-level backlight.The trackpad is smaller than we are used to on a MacBook but aside from Apple’s masterful control input, it’s the best Windows trackpad we’ve ever used – responsive, smooth and accurate

Its central position is preferable as the carbon fibre

texture either side proves a comfortable palm rest The

cursor doesn’t randomly shake or fire off in the wrong

direction in problems that plague other laptops

Connectivity

For connectivity needs are 2x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C

ports and a further USB-C 3.1 All share responsibilities

for PowerShare, DC-In and DisplayPort

Dell has removed the SD card slot and all USB-A

slots We are going to all have to get used to USB-C

as it turns up on the phones in our pockets and the

laptops on our desks One day it will hopefully be

standardized well enough that we’ll all only need one

charger for all our gadgets

Unlike Apple, Dell puts a USB-A adapter in the

box, acknowledging the annoying transition

There is a microSD card reader built in though,

so if you have an Android phone with expandable

storage or digital camera this might come in useful

to transfer media Otherwise it’s a new standard to

adjust to in 2018

Performance

The 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8550U CPU is overkill for most

people, as most likely is the 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz

RAM 8GB RAM should be enough for you even if you

stick with the i7 model

If you’re looking for the most powerful Dell

ultrabook, note that the U-series processor used here

is potentially less powerful than the quad-core HQ

CPU used in the last generation of XPS 15 That said,

speed increases thanks to 8th-gen are decent and reflected in our benchmarking.

The below results are encouraging for the new XPS

13 Its score in Geekbench 4, which measures raw processing power (CPU, GPU and RAM) was only just shy of the 2017 15in MacBook Pro

The XPS notably outperformed the HP Spectre x360’s i7 set up, though aside from the lower Surface Pro results, all these scores are comparable The

performance between the Dell XPS 13 and the latest 8th-gen Lenovo Yoga 920 is also very similar

The PC Mark 10 score for the XPS is also decent, with good results for Cinebench against the Surface Book 2, but considerably lower in 3D Mark, meaning the XPS 13 is still not quite the machine you want to opt for if you want to indulge in very high-end graphical

3DMark Sky Diver

Cinebench R15

Geekbench 4

PC gaming But for most gaming needs it’s not far off the competition.

Battery life

Dell claims the 52Wh battery can run in some

conditions for up to 19 hours Bear in mind that Dell has cut this down from 60Wh from the previous generation This is to save on weight and component space, while the next-gen processors should make the smaller capacity more efficient

It certainly excels in battery life and charges remarkably fast with the supplied charger, but in our standard video test it didn’t hit 19 hours

With a 720p video looping and with screen

brightness at 120cd/m2 (40 percent in this case) the

PCMark 10

XPS 13 managed 10 hours and 51 minutes This is

highly respectable, but less than the 12 hours 30

minutes the previous generation model did

The latest HP Spectre x360 13 lasted 10 hours 32

minutes with a 60Wh battery, so the latest XPS 13

wins in this regard with a lower capacity battery

By far the best performing laptop we’ve tested for

battery life is the Lenovo Yoga 920 It lasted 16 hours

45 minutes in the same test, which is utterly amazing

It also costs less pound for pound when you compare

similarly specified models to the XPS It’ll come down

to which design you prefer and if battery life matters

that much to you (and it generally should)

Part of the reason for the difference is the Dell’s

52Wh battery in comparison to 70Wh, and its 4K

resolution display We are still at the stage where most

mainstream streamed content is not 4K, but the XPS

will have used more power even when playing 720p

video Unless you need 4K< you can spend less on

the lower end XPS 13, though we haven’t received this

model to see the presumed improvement in battery life

A laptop that can go a full nine-hour work day

away from the plug is a luxury, but Dell is still near

the top of the pack, despite the XPS 13’s drop in

battery longevity here

Audio

With a headphone jack present, you’re able to plug in

whenever But the speakers are pretty decent too, with

Waves MaxxAudio improving the clarity of streamed

and downloaded video content Paired with the 4K

screen of our review unit, it makes for a very enjoyable

Netflix experience Like practically any laptop speaker though it has its downsides, and we haven’t yet reached the point where a laptop speaker should keep the party going But there’s little to no distortion here at all, so even the highest volumes are acceptable if needed.

Software

In our time with the XPS 13 2018, there’s not a lot

to report other than you, of course, get Windows 10 Home Business purchasers can opt for Windows 10 Pro Having said this, Windows 10 has never looked – or performed – better on a Dell XPS The combination

of 4K display, fluid processing power and best-in-class keyboard and trackpad interaction mean this is the best compact laptop Windows 10 experience going Even if you buy the entry level Core i5 model, you’re getting the benefits, minus the 4K

As mentioned before, touchscreen interaction is

a surprisingly good one here, but it’s not necessary It’s down to the clean feel afforded by the trackpad and the excellent use of RAM to mean the XPS 13’s software feels truly part of the machine in a way only the truly best laptops do It’s as good as you’ll find on a Microsoft Surface product

Verdict

If you need a compact, high performance Windows laptop, the 2018 Dell XPS 13 is the best laptop you can buy alongside the 8th-gen Lenovo Yoga 920

It is competitively priced, and even the high-end

touchscreen Core i7 model at £1,649 is at least £300 cheaper than the same spec 13in MacBook Pro

In fact, for value for money, it is a better purchase

than the Microsoft Surface Laptop as you get

Windows 10 Home rather than Windows 10S, as

well as saving at least £500

For all but the most hardcore gamers (for whom

this laptop is not the target audience) and those who

really do want USB-A connectivity, there is not a better

Windows laptop on the market Henry Burrell

Specifications

• 13.3in UltraSharp 4K Ultra HD (3840x2160)

InfinityEdge touch display or 13.3in FHD (1920x1080)

InfinityEdge display

• Windows 10 Home or Pro

• 8th Generation Intel Quad Core i5-8250U processor

or Intel Quad Core i7-8550U processor

• Intel UHD Graphics 620

• LPDDR3 4- to 8GB Dual Channel SDRAM at 1866MHz

or 16GB Dual Channel SDRAM at 2133MHz

• 128GB SATA, 256GB PCIe, 512GB PCIe, 1TB

PCIe SSD

• 52WHr battery (built in)

• 2x Thunderbolt 3 with PowerShare, DC-In &

DisplayPort

• 1x USB-C 3.1 with PowerShareDC-In and DisplayPort

• microSD card reader

• 4 Digital Array Microphones

• Full size, backlit chiclet keyboard 1.3mm travel

• Optional Windows Hello compliant fingerprint reader

Samsung Galaxy S9

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is the first flagship to hit

the market in 2018 The S8 was almost a perfect phone so can Samsung really make it even better?

Read on to find out

Design

It’s immediately clear that the Galaxy S9 is very much

a new version of the S8, rather than a radically new

device Like a point upgrade in software terms if

£739 inc VAT from fave.co/2sXJKXV

you like, so this is essentially the Galaxy S8.1 With an almost identical design to its predecessor you’d be hard pressed to notice the difference, especially from the front – the bezels above and below the screen are

a fraction smaller The device is also a little shorter than the S8 and it’s a bit thicker and heavier at 8.5mm and 163g, but none of these are things you’ll really notice

At the rear, the change is more obvious with the fingerprint scanner moving to below the camera Samsung clearly listened to feedback on this, so not only does it look nicer, it’s also much easier to reach and use You might still smudge the camera

up occasionally but it’s bound to happen far less.Initially there will be three colours to choose from: Midnight Black, Coral Blue and a new Lilac Purple We’ve also spotted what looks like Samsung’s Orchid Grey (see below) colour in some images, so perhaps this will arrive at a later date

As we’ve touched upon, the Galaxy S9’s design isn’t

very different in design from its predecessor, so is it a

big jump in specs and new technology? Well not really,

but Samsung has made improvement to what was

already a very impressive smartphone

Display

The screen is one area that hasn’t changed since

the Galaxy S8, so it’s still 5.8in on the regular model

and jumps to 6.2in if you get the S9+ (page 21)

Both phones have the curved Infinity Display, so you

only need to choose which size you want

Samsung is sticking to its 18.5:9 aspect ratio, Quad

HD+ resolution and Super AMOLED technology It’s still

one of the best screens on the market and compared to

our S8, looks a little brighter

As previously, you can take advantage of features

such as the Edge screen, where you can swipe in from

the side and flick through various panels of things like

popular contacts, apps and more There’s also the

always on feature which displays important information

on the lock screen when the phone is off

There are plenty more smaller features, many of

which have been around a long time, hidden away in

the settings menu, so it’s worth exploring what the S9

can do, especially if this is your first Galaxy device

Processor, memory and storage

With a new flagship comes a new processor and

Samsung has fitted the Galaxy S9 with a new Exynos

8910 processor It’s still an octa-core chip with four

1.7GHz efficiency cores, but the faster four have

It’s important to note that performance isn’t an issue here and the S9 is clearly capable of handling all you can throw at it

Like the Galaxy S8, you get 4GB of RAM and 64GB

of internal storage, and although you can find more elsewhere (even in cheaper phones like the OnePlus 5T)

it should be enough for most people If it’s not enough storage, then there’s a 256GB option and a microSD

Geekbench 4

GFXBench Manhattan

GFXBench T-Rex

card slot that can now take up to 400GB If you are more of a power user, then the S9+ has 6GB of RAM with the same storage options.

Connectivity and Audio

There’s not much Samsung or other manufacturers can do to improve connectivity on a 2018 flagship smartphone Like the S8, the S9 has all the things you’d expect including 11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, USB-C and a headphone port

Unlike most, Samsung continues to offer heart rate monitor The S9 can reach 4G speeds of 1.2Gb/s, which

is impressive, but in real life you’re not going to see that kind of grunt There’s no Quad DAC for better headphone audio like the LG V30, but Samsung has

JetStream

improved the speakers on the S9 There are now stereo

speakers with the usual down firing one on the bottom

and now one where the earpiece is above the screen

It’s the same setup Apple uses for recent iPhones,

and also one Sony has adopted with the XZ2

It might sound a little odd with both firing in

different directions, but we’ll take it over a mono

speaker any day There’s still tuning from AKG and this

time Samsung has also added Dolby Atmos, which you

can toggle for a bigger, more spacious soundscape

There’s a noticeable improvement compared to the

S8, particularly in the on-board speakers They’ve got

a lot more power but aren’t flawless with the audio

quality getting a bit rough at higher volumes We do

like the optional Dolby Atmos mode, which can make

content a lot more immersive, especially video

It’s worth noting that the supplied AKG headphones

are very good, so most users won’t be rushing out to

find a replacement pair

Samsung’s upgrades in the audio department are

welcome, but the S9 isn’t the best phone around for

audio – that’s still the LG V30

Fingerprint and Iris scanners

The fingerprint scanner has been moved to a more

convenient location below the camera It’s also easier

to register each new finger according to Samsung

with only three swipes rather than many more

touches needed previously We actually managed

to register two fingers in just two swipes each The

fingerprint scanner is quick (not the fastest around,

but plenty fast enough) and accurate and can now

be used to pull the notification panel down – just switch it on in the settings

We’d rather the Galaxy S9 had the fingerprint scanner embedded in the screen as the tech is out there but it seems we’ll have to wait

Samsung hasn’t explicitly said the iris scanner is better than before, which is a shame, but the firm is keen to point out that it’s embedded in the front of the phone without a notch like the iPhone X There’s also a new Intelligent Scan option, which combines iris and facial scanning

One thing is for sure, there’s a dramatic

improvement over previous iterations Generally it works quite well, but it’s not as consistent compared to rival phones just doing face unlock Even switching to

Facial

recognition

just facial scanning it’s not as good as phones like the

iPhone X and OnePlus 5T

Cameras

The biggest change on the S9 comes in the camera

tech, as teased by Samsung before the launch with

its ‘The Camera Reimagined’ campaign

Sadly, it’s the S9 that’s not as impressive as you’ll

have to get the S9+ to get a dual-camera setup We’d

like to see dual-cameras as standard on both phones,

but it’s understandable that Samsung wants more

than just size to differentiate the two

Still, the S9’s camera is improved from before even

though it remains at 12Mp with 1.4μm pixels and OIS

The main upgrade is an adjustable aperture that can go

down to f/1.5 – the best of any phone on the market

Huawei temporarily had the fastest lenses (on the

Mate 10 Pro) at f/1.6, but the S9’s lens now lets in 28

percent more light than on the S8

The iris is mechanical like a DSLR camera and should

mean better results in both daylight and low light What

Samsung calls the ‘Super Speed Dual Pixel’ package

now has DRAM, so it can do things faster and more

intelligently The camera now takes 12 shots together

instead of 3 to improve noise by 30 percent

DxO has awarded the Galaxy S9+ a score of 99

for the camera, the highest of a phone to date The

regular model might not have the telephoto lens but

it’s still excellent on its own

You can see a landscape image and a photo taken

in low light overleaf The Galaxy S9 might not be

doing the same level of clever software processing

Low lightMacro shot

that makes images look great on the Pixel 2 phones,

but it’s still very impressive

Overall, the S9 has a camera that can achieve

excellent results in all conditions partly thanks to that

dual aperture You get crisp shots in decent light –

although some can be a little washed out like our shot

of St Pancras – stunning detail in macro and most

noteworthy is how well it copes in low light, without

excessive levels of noise

We’re still not totally convinced by Bixby, but the

camera part, Bixby Vision, has been improved and

can now do live translation, better place recognition

and more food features, such as calories and recipes

The latter will be market dependant

Super slow motion

Furthermore, the S9 can now match Sony’s flagship

Xperia phones and shoot super slow motion video

at a whopping 960fps That means 0.2 seconds in

real life becomes six seconds of video and Samsung

has some clever tech to make it easier to make great

slow motion videos

With Sony’s phones we found it hard to press the

super slow-mo button at the right time while recording

a video of something that happens very quickly such as

a balloon popping Since 960fps can only be switched

on in a short burst, it’s easy to miss the moment

The S9 has an auto detect function, so you can

tell the phone where within the shot to watch for

movement As soon as it does, it will kick into the super

slow motion You can then share as a gif, do things

like reverse the video and even set it as a moving

lock screen wallpaper You can also shoot in manual mode, selecting when you want to do the slow motion shooting which is easier for some situations In either mode, you can shoot 20 different slow-mo sections within one video.

Sony’s new Xperia XZ2 phones might be able to do 960fps in 1080p, but we’d rather have the functionality offered by the S9 to make better content in 720p

AR Emoji

There’s more to talk about with the front camera, which remains at 8Mp with an f/1.7 aperture, but on the software side Samsung has created AR Emoji to provide users with something similar to Apple’s Animoji feature.Instead of the phone tracking your face to animate various animals and the like (although there are some to

AR Emoji

choose from), you take a photo of yourself and the S9

will create an emoji that looks like you

It’s quick and easy, though we’re not exactly blown

away with the likeness (and it cannot handle beards at

all) – the three men we got to try it were all given very

similar characters You can edit them a bit to help and

choose from one that incorporates the selfie you took

or a more cartoon option

Once you’re done 18 animated gifs are automatically

generated and you can send them to anyone, not just

those who also happen to have an S9 They’re pretty

cool and easy to access via the default keyboard

However, one of the ideas is that you can animate

the character yourself, but doing this is extremely

glitchy and the emoji of you spends most of the time

flinching The tracking on the iPhone X is leagues

ahead It might be fun but let’s face it, this is another

gimmick feature just like Animoji

Battery life

It’s a shame the battery remains at 3,000mAh and

Samsung has not made any claims on the subject The

Galaxy S9 will offer fast charging via the USB-C port

and with wireless charging, though With the supplied

charger, we managed to charge the S9 from 0- to 36

percent in 30 minutes That’s pretty good, although the

HTC U11+ beats it slightly at 38 percent

With no change in battery capacity, it’s no surprise

that the phone isn’t going to last you any longer than

before The S9 will last a day of average usage and

perhaps a little bit longer for light users Fast wired

and wireless charging will help you keep it topped up

As you would expect, the Galaxy S9 phones come with Android 8 Oreo and Samsung’s own user interface There’s not a huge change in the way things work compared to before, but that’s to be expected

There are still preloaded apps from Google and Microsoft, but Samsung has made a few tweaks here and there to tighten up the experience

For those using various different Samsung apps for other devices, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s now one app to rule them all SmartThings is now the one place where you can manage all your devices and it will also do useful things like provide your new Samsung TV, for example, with the Wi-Fi details and logins to all your services

There are improvements to Bixby – you can, for example, use the phone in landscape mode, whether you’re browsing the home screen panels or your apps When you are, notifications will pop up at the top, but in an unintrusive way

There’s also a new DeX dock (pictured opposite),

so you can connect the phone to a monitor and use

it like a PC This time it’s flat, so you can use the screen as a trackpad or even keyboard

Verdict

We’re going to have to wait for big jumps in

technology, but although the Galaxy S9 only brings a disappointingly small bunch of minor improvements it’s still an amazing smartphone that will be hard to beat in 2018 Samsung has expertly combined design, hardware and software to make a phone that will

appeal to all kinds of users The incremental updates

will mean S8 users might struggle to justify upgrading

However, those on an S7 or earlier Galaxy will notice a

huge difference But might want to simply grab the S8

at a lower price Chris Martin

Specifications

• 5.8in (2960x1440, 570ppi) Super AMOLED

capacitive display

• Android 8.0 Oreo

• Exynos 9810 Octa processor

• Octa-core 4x 2.8GHz Mongoose M3 and 4x 1.7GHz

• 12Mp rear-facing camera: f/1.5-2.4, 26mm, 1/2.5in, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash

• 8Mp front-facing camera: f/1.7, autofocus, 1440p, dual video call, Auto HDR