A Mixed Bag

Of late, Samsung has been launching some interesting products across price points. The latest from its stable is Galaxy A9 with a quad camera system at the rear. My review unit in lemonade blue looked stunning while the rear sported dual shades - the colour smoothly shifting from green to blue at the top merging with the blue at the bottom. And the slightly longish design makes it easy to hold.

The front boasts a 6.3-inch full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display. Samsung has cleverly utilised all the panels. The SIM slot is on the top; the left houses a dedicated Bixby button (Samsung's voice assistant); the right one features volume control and power buttons, and the bottom has a Type C charging port along with a 3.5 mm jack and a speaker grill. Finally, the rear looks impressive with the vertical quad camera system and a 3D glass cover curving at the edges, but here is more on the four-camera set-up.

Going from top to bottom, the first one is an ultra-wide 8 MP camera with a 120? view, similar to what our eyes can see. It did an excellent job when I clicked a few panorama shots of monuments and a large group of people. Plus, it flawlessly captures natural colours and details when used in bright light. Next comes the 10 MP telephoto lens that can be used for 2x optical zoom.

The third one is a 24 MP primary camera, which does a decent job in bright daylight, but low-light photography is the weak point as it captures a lot of noise. The fourth lens at the bottom is a 5 MP depth sensor for capturing bokeh images. I was able to adjust the background blur while capturing an image and could also do it later while editing.

The camera app's user interface is neat and simple. Within the auto mode (and Scene Optimizer), you will find the mode switch options. The three-tree icon is for the ultra-wide lens, two trees for switching to the main camera and one tree is for the telephoto lens. The Scene Optimizer automatically detects the subject and chooses from 19 different scenes.

Galaxy A9 is still running on Android 8.0 Oreo although Android 9 Pie has been available for months. Plus, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor while competitors (in this price range) like OnePlus 6T are powered by the flagship Snapdragon 845 processor. As for performance, it can handle basic tasks with ease, is quick to access the gallery and swiftly switches between camera modes or apps. But it might struggle when you play graphics-heavy games. The 3,800 mAh battery supports fast charging that easily lasts a day even with excessive usage.

@nidhisingal