Samsung launches Galaxy S9, S9+ smartphones in India

New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Samsung on Tuesday launched the much-awaited Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones in India for Rs 57,900 and Rs 64,900 respectively for their 64GB variants.

The 256GB variants are priced at Rs 65,900 for S9 and Rs 72,900 for S9+.

"Wirh Galaxy S9 and S9+, we have reimagined the smartphone for today's and tomorrow's India which is the one of the biggest 4G data markets and one of the fastest growing cashless economies in the world," HC Hong, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia, told reporters here.

The devices, announced a week ago at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 in Barcelona, Spain, have cameras with capabilities to shoot "Super Slow-mo" videos and a new "Dual Aperture" lens system with innovative low-light photography efficiency.

They are loaded with "AR Emoji" feature for creating personalised experiences -- similar to the one in Apple's iPhone X and stereo speakers tuned by AKG with Dolby Atmos.

The products will be available from March 16 on select retail stores, and online store Samsung Shop and Flipkart in midnight black, titanium grey, coral blue and lilac purple.

The 256GB variant of Galaxy S9+ will be sold on Samsung exclusive stores, Reliance Digital Stores and on Samsung Shop, the company said.

Both Galaxy S9 and S9+ are powered with Snapdragon 845 processor. The S9 houses 4GB RAM whereas the S9+ has 6GB RAM. The S9 comes with 3,000mAh battery whereas the S9+ houses a 3,500mAh battery.

The super AMOLED "Infinity Display" screen comes with 18.5:9 aspect ratio and a QHD+ resolution.

Samsung S9 has a 5.8-inch display size and S9+ comes with 6.2-inch size.

The Galaxy S9 and S9+ cameras have a "Super Speed Dual Pixel" sensor with dedicated processing power and memory to take high-quality pictures.

While S9 has a 12MP back sensor and 8MP front shooter, S9+ boasts of two rear cameras with 12MP wide and 12MP telephoto sensors and 8MP front shooter.

Samsung's "Dual Aperture" (F1.5 / F2.4) in S9+ -- the world's first such feature in any smartphone -- automatically lets in more light when it is dark and less light when it is too bright, taking photos that are crisp and clear.

The aperture adjusts itself depending upon the light which is falling on the sensor. The company claims that F1.5 is the lowest aperture available in a smarphone till now. 

The "Super Slow-mo" video captures 960 frames per second. The "Slow-mo" videos can also be turned into GIFs.

After capturing the "Super Slow-mo" video, users can select background music from 35 different options or add a tune from their favourite playlist.

The Galaxy S9 and S9+ also offer automatic "Motion Detection", a feature that detects movement in the frame and automatically begins to record -- all users have to do is set up the shot.

Taking on Apple Animojis, with "AR Emoji", Samsung lets users create an emoji that looks, sounds and acts like them.

"AR Emoji" uses a machine learning algorithm, which analyses a 2D image of the user and maps out more than 100 facial features to create a 3D model that reflects and imitates expressions, like winks and nods.

Meanwhile, Samsung's artificial intelligence (AI) platform "Bixby" uses Augmented Reality (AR) and deep learning technologies to provide information about a user's surroundings.

With real-time object detection and recognition, "Bixby" instantly generates information directly on top of the image that the camera is pointing at, the company said.