Samsung Galaxy S9 (Exynos) Review

Last update : 18/11/2024 (OneUI-only kernels)

Introduction

As I thought I'd never purchase (let alone use, if the A50S review indicated anything) a Samsung, Sir Ed (one of Lukas' rivals in Mobile Legends) came in asking me to debloat it (after yet another one of Lukas' utter defeat, though this time it cost him less) - with Lukas paying in both free Hippo battery for Ed's Poco F1 & my "debloating fees" (which amounts to one mild coercion & one nice bourgeois lunch; all out of Lukas' pockets.). Unfortunately for my sanity, he's daily driving Evo-X - a ROM that I wouldn't voluntarily touch. He also uses OrangeFox, something I had no thought about until then (I hated its clunkier file manager & wouldn't daily drive that). And here's the my textfile documenting whatever I cut out.

Long story short, me, Bob, & Lukas (mostly this guy, with the rest of us "voluntarily" dragged in) demanded a rematch (with me & Bob borrowing Lukas' spare devices & Goolag accounts as neither of us had one), believing my rather fucked skills on shooting in ML (and Bob being a former pro player in some dota clone) to at least match Ed's skills. It... mostly ended how Lukas predicted it (in the last 2 matches where I play ranged), with me "accidentally" wiping Ed's team out in a manner almost considered cheating, if nobody knew I was just too overspecialized as ranged to the point I SUCK at using melee characters (something the boys figured out in one of the matches where I had to play Fighter for rotation's sake - it was a set of 3 matches & Bob towed my weak ass in that one). For all that fuckery, Bob claimed an AKG K371 after sending the S9 he's supposed to get as the MVP to me, I received a Samsung S9 with an already unlocked bootloader & pre-installed TWRP off Ed (which I couldn't exactly refuse since Lukas & I wagered our X3P for this one & Bob sent the S9 to me instead), & Lukas got paid for the 6 batteries Ed "owed" him despite him sucking in all 3 matches compared to his "reinforcements" (at least he didn't lose anything else).

But anyway, enough of this little tomfoolery (which I would rather not touch anymore) & back to the S9. I mean, this isn't a yet-another-dota-clone-for-goolag review. My first impressions of the device were less than stellar thanks to its curved display & rather questionable battery life (my OP6 has battery that lasts for days, yet the S9 survives for 16 hours on my usual 80-20 basis).

Physical features

The S9 is one small glass sandwich.

• On the top section, there's the secondary mic & hybrid dual SIM tray.
• USB-C charging port, bottom speaker, headphone jack, & primary mic on the bottom corner, with the headphone jack at bottom-left corner. The jack's position isn't the best, but at least it's there. And if you're into industrial designs (or something in that regard), you won't be glad to see the USB-C not fully vertically centered with the headphone jack.
• Left section contains the volume rocker & Bixby button (or menu button in AOSP-based custom ROMs, but let's continue calling this button Bixby from here on out). Personally, I've set Bixby to turn on/off the display like a pseudo-power button (minus the power menu).
• Right section only contains the power button. Not much can be said for them - they're as clicky as they should be.
• Front side is reserved for the 5.8' 60hz AMOLED, earpiece, a front camera, & various sensors including an iris scanner. There is 3D touch for the area meant to be home button (somewhere on the bottom-center part of the display), but I presume that to be software-based since it doesn't seem to rely on any hardware within the display itself (and it works in AOSP-based custom ROMs but can't be disabled).
• The back holds the rear camera, flash diffuser, & fingerprint scanner. There's also a heart rate scanner below the flash diffuser.
• For materials, Gorilla glass 5 for the front & back while the frame is matte aluminium. The fingerprint scanner's not made out of whatever scratch-resistant material OnePlus employed until the OP6.
• For haptics, the S9 is quite nice & strong (not as much as the F1, where I don't mind the ≥A13-enforced "System default"). I felt comfortable on 29ms in Simple Keyboard (rkkr) on AOSP-based ROMs.
• As for the fingerprint scanner, it's not exactly on par with Xiaomi's accuracy & speed (kinda makes sense considering the size & shape, though future Xiaomi devices (like the X3N/P) are somewhat more accurate despite its size), but it's mostly fine for me (except when my fingers & hands sweat, which they do easily; then accuracy goes all over the place unlike all of those aforementioned Xiaomi devices) after I register my right index 4 times (which is also unfortunately the most amount of fingerprint the S9 would accept on custom ROMs).
• JerryRigEverything durability test video

No screen protector observations for this one - the S9's display has curved sides, so either use hydrogel or UV tempered glasses (like those Whitestone ones - I heard some Asian brands like Maxfeel or Mocolo produces them but I've yet to test them out).

Audio Quality

The S9 has a headphone jack & dual speaker setup (earpiece as second speaker).

The speakers are decent, though the earpiece has a tendency to somewhat vanish into the background provided by the bottom speaker. They also tend to be a bit shriek-y when listened to from an arm's length distance.

The headphone jack quality is decent. Loudness wise, it rises somewhat above the "average" territory. Unfortunately, it's also subject to the arbitrary volume limiter issue (50% on iodéOS A12L/v3.5 & LineageOS), though it can drive the M50X loud enough at exactly 50% (and +3 of every bar on AudioFX) so I can tolerate that.

Display

The 5.8' 60hz AMOLED is quite nice, as far as OLEDs of that time are. Granted, the left & right edges are distorted from its own curved design, it's OLED (with its drawbacks), and the area where the home button would be (at least when the screen is off) constantly waits for anything to press it & wake the device (without any option to disable it in custom ROMs that I use); but I appreciate it nonetheless.

One more thing I must mention - the S9 comes with 1440p by default without any option to downscale on custom ROMs.

Bootloader unlocking

For the S9's bootloader unlocking, here's how it's supposed to be, at least for Exynos-toting ones :

• Enabled OEM unlocking in developer settings (after enabling it via Settings > About phone > Software information > rapid-tapping Build number). Also backup everything that you need to back up here.
• Boot to download mode : power off, connect to computer while holding bixby, power, & vol-down buttons.
• Hold volume up for God-knows-how-long until the screen changes to a warning (or anything indicating bootloader unlocking).
• Accept all prompts for bootloader unlocking. This'll also wipe the phone's data.
• Reboot & set-up the device, and connect it to the internet while doing so.
• Get to developer settings & check if OEM unlocking options exists & are greyed out.

This time however, my S9's bootloader is already unlocked when I obtained it, so I don't have to try my luck on this.

Repairability

In terms of repairability, the S9 is commonly in line with most glass-backed devices, except it comes with tougher adhesives (at least when brand-new) & a rather challenging daughterboard arrangement.

• Back panel demands heat (or isopropyl alcohol), suction cup, & adhesive-cutting pry to remove and glue to re-attach. The fingerprint scanner is normally adhered to the camera bump, with a cable so short you're better off gluing the scanner to the top plastic module just to remove any clearance issues that cable's giving you. Maybe add a 0.3mm sheet between the scanner & module if you're going to adhere them together, to ensure the fingerprint scanner's position matches its previous arrangement of being glued to the back panel as much as possible.
• The 3 board covers are held on by clips & a total of 15 Philips screws; with 8 for the top cover (plus NFC & Qi charging pad), 2 for the middle cover, and 5 for the bottom cover & bottom speaker. All of the cover screws are equal in size & length, so you can kinda get away with not sorting them out, for now.
• The top cover also contains a temperature sensor niblet which will prevent the device from being charged if it wasn't attached.
• microSD / SIM reader's soldered on the motherboard, though that's common for every phone nowadays except for ASUS ZS630KL / Zenfone 6 2019 / 6z (AFAIK). It's mounted on the back side of the motherboard & the tray doesn't need to be removed for the back panel and/or board cover to go, so you'll have to be really sure you've removed the microSD / SIM tray before trying to detach the motherboard.
• For first-time battery removals, the battery is heavily glued to the midframe, making removals a challenge especially without intense heat and/or isopropyl alcohol. Seriously, prepare a backup battery, because the first time you try to detach battery from midframe there's a decent chance of you ruining the battery - more than most devices.
• As expected of glass sandwiches, the buttons are on their own slots, held by adhesive for the flex cables & clips into its own place. The power button's on its own slot ' flex cable, while Bixby shares a flex cable with the volume rocker.
• Every removable component except for antenna cables (1 inbuilt in the daughterboard as some kind of flex cable, & 2 regular cables, 1 blue & 1 white), buttons, NFC + Qi pad + battery temperature sensor, proximity sensor, speakers, & vibration motor (which uses contact pins) connects using Lego-like BTBs. The motherboard's mainly held to the midframe by one screw next to the vibration motor. The daughterboard (which houses the USB-C port & bottom microphone) connects under the motherboard (as in the BTB connecting the MB to DB is on the MB's underside) & is held by 5 Philips screws (4 for daughterboard + 1 for the headphone jack). The screws holding in the boards are slightly shorter than the ones holding the board covers, so you'll need to sort them out separately from the cover screws.
• Attaching daughterboard to motherboard (and it to midframe) can be a bit of a challenge as you need to ensure 3 coaxial cables (one of them integrated to the daughterboard) & 2 Lego-like BTB cables (3 if you didn't remove the battery) don't get buried under, all the while having to make sure the boards are actually connected to each other; and testing them requires almost completely assembling the device since battery temperature sensor (which is usually coupled with NFC & Qi pad) has to be attached just so the device would start charging.
• Headphone jack connects to the daughterboard, and also tightly holds itself to its slot even after its screw is removed.
• Display is very much glued in place, so say goodbye to it if you ever wanted to try harvesting the earpiece grille and/or replace the entire thing for the 1st time (if sticking to same display frame). Then again, your display's probably beyond any helping in that scenario, so good luck.

Repair references:

• iFixit's teardown video
• iFixit's teardown page
• iFixit page
• JerryRigEverything's teardown
• Wit Rigs' teardown

Custom Development Availability (as of 18/11/2024)

In terms of custom ROMs, the S9's a bit pitiful. A10 is rather lonely with an unofficial Resurrection Remix (from March 2023); there's nothing for A11 (at least on official ROMs not counting /e/); A12L (which also comes with inbuilt vendor instead of reusing Samsung vendor partition, therefore OSV) gets iodéOS (which I had no choice but to use if I were to use this for FGO), /e/wwwww! (now I'm counting /e/ in, but only because there's little choice), & some unofficial LineageOS builds (currently using one from pakaoraki); A13 gets official crDroid & LineageOS in addition to the aforementioned /e/ & iodéOS; and there's nothing on the A14 side yet, for better or worse. And I'm only talking about AOSP/OSV custom ROMs here since I'm not going into the "stock-based" custom ROMs, which is horrible (bloated to high hell, enforces encryption disablers).

There's only 1 custom recovery (that is not the various forms of Lineage recovery) for the S9 I'm aware of, and that's official TWRP. However, that thing doesn't decrypt internal storage so you will need external storage (or adb) to flash anything.

As for custom kernels... there's none, at least for the maintained ones. Maybe you can patch boot.img for APatch / Magisk, but forget about KernelSU unless you're compiling your own custom kernel.

And yes, I'm aware of Apollo & xxTR kernels (with the former offering KSU by default but also offers non-KSU builds), but they are made for OneUI-based ROMs & do not work on AOSP/OSV ROMs.

• xxTR refuses to boot on AOSP/OSV (A12L LineageOS by pakaoraki) with encryption enabled (I didn't bother using encryption disablers, so I am stopped at this point). With ext4 mode from its AROMA installer, it boots to TWRP claiming some cryptfile error, while EROFS mode ends up causing the S9 to boot to Download mode instead of booting to system at all.
• Apollo... I was stuck on the Samsung bootlogo, and the display doesn't work even though it seems like it booted to system.

Other issues

For the horrifying (or major) issues :

• The original display costs more than the device itself. Granted, the display's price would somewhat make sense on brand-new S9s, but since it&##9;s mostly sold as secondhand nowadays the display's prices stopped making any sense, especially since second-hand S9s usually cost just as much as the brand-new display.
• The display's side curves isn't that nice to look at.
• Immutable 3D touch "button" somewhere on the lower side of the display that can't be disabled at all in AOSP/OSV custom ROMs. There, it works only when the screen's turned off (in A13 AOSP/OSV it works even when screen is on, but still no way to disable) & it only serves to turn on the screen (or unlock the device, at least before any screen-locking mechanism is applied). Its immutability makes it a major issue for me despite it being useful in some edge cases. Name any reason other than enforcing unwanted options & battery drain. Allegedly it's kernel-side, but battery stats in Settings claim "WAKELOCK" in full caps for the unknown battery drain.
18/11/2024 Update : xxTR kernel manager does not display any options to disable the "3D touch button" in AOSP/OSV (A12L LineageOS by pakaoraki).

• Speaking of battery drains, the display is 1440p by default, with no option to downscale it in AOSP/OSV. More unnecessary batery drain for unnoticeable increase in display resolution yaaaay.
• Exynos being generally less efficient ((onsumes more power for more heat & less performance) than Snapdragon, except we're forced into Exynos to have any custom development whatsoever (yes, there is some at Snapdragon but they're rarer AFAIK) and Snapdragon's highly dependent on where they're from (for example, good luck unlocking bootloader on Snapdragon-powered Samsung phones from USA).
• Speaking of multiple variants, Samsung produces dedicated hardware for various variants of S9s (carrier locked ones, Snapdragon, Exynos, etc.). This unfortunately translates to random levels of reliability for internal spare parts like the daughterboard.
• The daughterboard (which handles wired charging & audio) connects to the motherboard in an unusual way, and not in a good way.
• Temperature sensor (which is also bundled with the wireless charging through its contact-pin connector) prevents charging when not attached. Remember what I said about charging testing requiring almost complete assembly of the device?
• Samsung's IMS implementation has never been ported to AOSP, as it seems to be impossible. Not a major issue for me, who has no SIM cards now, but for anyone who needs VoLTE / voWiFi (or whatever IMS-dependent stuff) they're not going to enjoy this.

For the minor ones :

• Heartrate sensor & iris scanner not identified in AOSP-based custom ROMs. I consider this issue a minor one since those are gimmicks IMO.

And some good ones :

• 1st-gen Qi wireless charging for those who really needs it & could use it. Granted, it's less efficient & you can't move your device away from the charging pad, but I guess you don't have to break your charging port over daily charging?

Conclusion

First off, device comparisons since I can't properly draw any conclusions without it for this one.

• First match : OnePlus 6. Sure, that thing's definitely bigger than the S9, charging is overall shittier (lacks Qi wireless pads & demands proprietary adapter for fast charging), there's no microSD support unless it's plugged into an OTG adapter that's connected to OP6's USB-C port, and the speaker's mono with an earpiece that doesn't really deserve to be a second speaker. But, the SD845 (default on all OP6 compared to limited to certain markets for the S9) makes more use out of the slightly bigger 3300mAh battery, and the lack of "Edge" side curves on the OP6's OLED is immediately more comfortable to look at (and attach a tempered glass to, if you found a good one). As fellow glass-backed devices, I have an easier time fixing up the OP6's ports despite those fucking coaxial cables; probably since I don't have to detach the motherboard while I'm at it (or attach it in an awkward spot). And unlike everyone else there's Jaguar ROM which provides a decent & reliable but mis-advertised A11 platform that I can rely on.
• Next up, the Poco F1; which also serves as the final round because comparing the S9 to the X3P is like having an early production Zudah fight a Gundam Mark II (I previously said Re-GZ but the Mk.II felt more appropriate IMO - speaking of Gundam-related comparisons, maybe the F1 can be treated as a Gelgoog & OP6 a Gyan?). In addition to the OP6's flaws minus the earpiece (which is barely any better than the OP6 but is a second speaker by default), the build quality is bulkier & cheaper than OP6, its headphone jack is soldered to motherboard, & its LCD is easily outclassed by both devices' OLEDs. However, it's even easier to fix up than the OP6, which is also easier than the S9 (and I must also mention both F1 & OP6 doesn't have dedicated hardware for regional variants). And don't get me talking about the 4000mAh battery, which is also paired with the same SD845 the OP6 has.
• Conclusion? Sorry, but as much as I wanted to like the S9, I can't. The others pack more to justify themselves. Therefore the win I eked out up there in the intro was a pyrrhic one & Bob dodged a bullet from Ed, only to receive another from yours truly.

However, if I am somehow picking a Samsung device (ignoring all of my nitpicks with Samsung - damned 3d home button included), I'd pick the Note 8 with Exynos (since Snapdragon Samsungs & custom development doesn't really mix). Sure, I'm sacrificing some performance, a more comfortable fingerprint scanner, & a proper second speaker; but at least I get more decent options on custom ROMs (Ivan_Meler's LineageOS builds comes to mind as there's a well-maintained A11-A14 for the Note 8 & S8s) other than just abandoned builds of A12L iodéOS / LineageOS.

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