Main Difference – Samsung Galaxy A8 vs A9
The main difference between Samsung Galaxy A8 and A9 is that Samsung Galaxy A9 has a bigger display which is the size of a tablet and is considered a high-end phone. The battery capacity of the Galaxy A9 is also higher which may extend its battery life.
Galaxy A9, the latest addition to the Samsung Galaxy A series family, can be considered the first high-end phone with the largest display up-to-date. The Samsung Galaxy A9 comes with many impressive features and can even suit and satisfy the consumer who is looking for a comparatively less expensive tablet.
Samsung Galaxy A9 Review – Features and Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy A9 was announced recently in China. The special feature of the phone is its large quality screen. Although Samsung Galaxy A8 was a mid-range phone, Samsung Galaxy A9 is referred to as a high-end device which comes with many great features. The device may struggle to fit in the jeans pocket and that may turn out to be a concern for some. This phone can also be considered the first high-end phone, and the largest of them all, to represent the Samsung Galaxy A series family.
Design
As with many of the A series models like Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5, which were released in 2015, this device also comes with a glass metal design to give the phone an elegant and premium look.
Display
The display of the device stands at 6 inches and is powered by Super AMOLED display technology. Viewing tiny text is easy on the display due to its larger size. The resolution of the display stands at 1920×1080. The display also has a 2.5D curved glass to shield the display. The pixel density of the device is 367 ppi which will produce detailed and sharp images.
Dimensions
The dimension of the device is 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.4 mm. This, though being a relatively thin phone, holds a battery of high capacity at 4000 mAh.
Battery Capacity
The battery capacity of the device is an impressive 4000 mAh which may be able to last throughout the day without any issues. Due to the absence of QHD display and the presence of an efficient processor, the battery can be expected to last for two days.
Performance
The device is powered with the help of the Snapdragon 652 processor which has an octa-core processor designed according to 64-bit architecture. It is also assisted by a 32 GB RAM. The home button will also double as a fingerprint scanner for additional security.
Camera
The rear camera of the device comes with a 13 MP resolution whereas the front facing camera comes with a resolution of 8MP. The aperture of the camera stands at f/1.9. The camera is also rumored to support Optical image stabilization which will be a great feature to have in your pocket.
OS
As mentioned above, the hardware on the Samsung Galaxy A9 is great but, the operating system to make use of this hardware is only Android 5.1.1 Lollipop; this is not the latest version.
Storage
The built-in storage of the device stands at 32 GB, which can be further expanded to 128 GB with the use of a micro SD card.
Release
The devices is scheduled to be released in China next month. Other countries will have the opportunity to buy this device at a later time. The device is expected to support Samsung Pay as well.
Samsung Galaxy A8 Review – Features and Specifications
Before the advent of the metal glass Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung was testing this design change on its medium range phones. Samsung Galaxy Alpha, which was later renamed as Samsung Galaxy A series phones, was the first phone to come with the metal glass design by Samsung. These mid-range phones offer a very competitive market.
Design
As with the Samsung Galaxy A Series phones, the Samsung Galaxy A8 comes with a full metallic unibody design. The downside of this type of design is that the battery is not a removable one. The corners of the phone have been rounded, including the back and the edges have somewhat prominent angles. When this phone was released, it was the thinnest Samsung phone ever produced; it came with a thickness of 5.9mm. Although the device uses metal on its outer casing, the device is very light compared with its rivals at 151 grams.
The side bezels of the phone are very thin making it easy to be operated with the use of one hand. It is also a very tall phone. The screen of the phone is big, and the metallic back of the phone sometimes feels a bit slippery in the hand.
All Galaxy A series devices come with buttons in the same location. The power button has been placed on the right corner of the phone which is comfortable to reach. The micro USB and the 3.5mm headphone port have been placed on the bottom of the phone. The volume control button has been placed on the left of the phone, and the speaker is placed beside the rear camera on the back. The volume control buttons have been placed on the left top corner making it a bit uncomfortable. As with many mid-range phones produced by Samsung, the dual SIM card slot also doubles as a micro SD card slot. The device also comes with a home button with is a signature button of Samsung and capacitive keys on the front of the device.
Display
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy A8 is powered with the help of a Super AMOLED display which supports full HD. The pixel density of the device stands at an impressive 386 ppi which is more than average for a midrange device. The display is ideal for many of the activities that are accomplished using a smartphone. The display is also well known for producing great viewing angles, vibrant and saturated colors, good visibility in outdoor conditions and brightness. This display can be considered one of the best displays in the smartphone world of today. The sharpness of the display can also be commended for reading text and content.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy A8 comes with an octa-core processor which is able to clock a speed of 1.5 GHz. The graphics are powered by Adreno 405 GPU and the memory available on the device is 2GB. The architecture that has been used to design the processor is 64 bits. The processor is able to power tasks like multitasking, web browsing, and gaming in an efficient manner. Although there may be an occasional stutter due to software issues, overall, the performance of the device is on par with similar spec rivals in the market.
Hardware
The build in storage on the device is available in two variant of 16 GB and 32 GB. The second SIM card slot can be utilized as an expandable memory slot which can be used to increase the storage of the device by 128 GB.
The home button doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which is great in securing the device further. This also provides a quick and easy way to unlock the device. The fingerprint scanner captures the fingerprints, as with other Samsung device. The fingerprint scanner is able to store a maximum of four fingerprints on the device.
Connectivity
Connectivity between electronic devices can be achieved with the help of 4G LTE and HSPA+.
Speaker
The rear speaker is not able to produce loud sounds and struggles in noisier environments. From an audio point of view, it is not up to the mark and struggles to perform well. When the device is left flat on the floor, the sound gets even more muffled.
Battery
The battery life of the device is really good due to the larger capacity battery of the device which stands at 3050mAh. Another special feature of the device is when the device is idle or left idle overnight the battery capacity only decreases by 2 to 3 percent. Even if the phone is used heavily, it is able to last for 4 hours which is an impressive feat. On average, the device will be able to last for 6 hours and will be able to last throughout the day when needed.
Camera
The rear camera has a resolution of 16MP which also comes with an aperture of f/1.9 which is great for wide angle shots. The sensor is powered by ISOCELL technology, but there is no optical image stabilization which is a disappointment. With the double tap on the home button, the camera will be launched with the camera app in whatever state the device may be in.
The front camera comes with a 5MP resolution camera which supports wide angle shots for some decent selfies. The camera interface is simple and only comes with a few pre-loaded shooting modes. The images taken using the camera are crisp, detailed and vibrant. The images are saturated and colorful as with many Samsung smartphones.
The camera is able to perform well even in low light conditions even with the lack of an optical image stabilization mechanism. The real reason behind the quality of the image is due to the aperture value of f/1.9 which increases the sharpness, color and detail with the image while capturing it with less noise.
OS
The Samsung Galaxy A8 came with the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with the interface being the TouchWiz.
Difference Between Samsung Galaxy A8 and A9
Design
Samsung Galaxy A8: The dimension of the device is 158 x 76.8 x 5.9 mm and the weight of the device stands at 151g.
Samsung Galaxy A9: The dimension of the device is 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.4 mm and the weight of the device stands at 200g.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 is a larger and heavier device, which can be considered as an inexpensive tablet due to its large screen size. The Samsung Galaxy A8, on the other hand, is a smaller and compact device, which is portable.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A8: The size of the display stands at 5.7 inches, and the pixel density stands at 386ppi.
Samsung Galaxy A9: The size of the display stands at 6.0 inches, and the pixel density stands at 367ppi.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 has a large display which is a key feature of the phone. The Samsung Galaxy A8 has a relatively sharper display due to its smaller size.
Camera
Samsung Galaxy A8: The rear camera on the device comes with a resolution of 16 MP, and comes with an LED flash. The aperture of the camera is f/1.9. Videos can be captured at full HD, and the front facing camera supports a resolution of 5MP.
Samsung Galaxy A9: The rear camera on the device comes with a resolution of 13 MP, and comes with a Dual LED flash. Videos can be captured at 4K resolution. The front facing camera supports a resolution of 8MP.
From a resolution point of view, the rear camera on Samsung Galaxy A8 is better than the Samsung Galaxy A9, but the front facing camera is better on the Samsung Galaxy A9 . However, the Samsung Galaxy A9 boasts of high-quality 4K videography, which is not there in the Samsung Galaxy A8.
Hardware
Samsung Galaxy A8: The processor which powers the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon, which clocks a speed of 1.5 GHz. The graphics are powered by Adreno 405 and the memory on the device stands at 2GB.
Samsung Galaxy A9: The processor which powers the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon, which clocks a speed of 1.8 GHz. The graphics are powered by Adreno 510 and the memory on the device stands at 3GB.
The hardware on the Samsung Galaxy A9 is superior to the Samsung Galaxy A8 which means it will perform faster and efficient than the other.
Battery Capacity
Samsung Galaxy A8: The battery capacity of the device is 3050mAh.
Samsung Galaxy A9: The battery capacity of the device is 4000mAh.
Samsung Galaxy A8 vs A9 – Summary
Samsung has been able to produce a phone which has most of the features that are expected by the user on the Samsung Galaxy A8. Few of the key features include split screen multitasking, multi window, and screenshot capture by swiping palm and flipping the device to mute alarms and calls. The Touch Wiz interface can be also customized according to the taste of the user.
The Samsung Galaxy A9, which is a high-end device, is an impressive edition of the Samsung Galaxy A series. Its display is special due to its size and hardware capabilities. The battery also comes with a high capacity, but it will also need to support the extra pixels on the display which means it may not cause the battery to extend further than the Samsung Galaxy A8. The Samsung Galaxy A9 is almost the size of a tablet, which may be an option for the budget user who is looking for such a one.
