SAMSUNG GALAXY A9 REVIEW:SAMSUNG'S BIG WIN IN AVERAGE PHONES

The A9.What comes to your mind when that name strikes your eardrum?  Class and quality, I know. But what have I come to go now? I've come to tell you that if you don't have an A9 but want one, rush and get it now or you'll regret it. At N118000 it's a steal.  I'll be generous enough today to give you the specs in detail all in one place
DIMENSIONS :161.7*80.9*7.9mm
SCREEN SIZE:6.0"FHD(1080*1920)~367ppi
PROCESSOR :QUALLCOMM SNAPDRAGON 625 SoC ,4GB RAM, 32GB ROM
CAMERA:16MP f/1.9 arpeture size, OIS, auto focus, HDR, LED Flash
8.0MP front Camera(not even close to that of the S6 edge plus
BATTERY:5000MAh
Now to the review proper...
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
The Samsung Galaxy A9 is not slim,neither is it sleek. It is meant for work and work it does. But to be sincere,I would have loved this phone to be lighter and shed off some weight.But seriously,Samsung has got(read had got) this phone going for them until they fed it "phone fat" thereby adding to its overall weight.

I personally like the overall design of the A9 but,even though this review is a lot late and there have been NO reports of such an event,I can't help but wonder whether it will follow in the Note 7's footsteps. I just can't drown the feeling that one day,I'll be charging my A9,then I'll just look away and in a few seconds find a pile of ash resting behind me.Phewwww. I hope it doesn't happen.

Anyway,design wise,I'm scoring the A9 7/10

The camera is in the middle of the back,while the flash and speaker rest on opposite sides of the phone.Overall,the design,though not perfect,is manageable. As you can see above,I got mine in a case to protect its beautiful metal body which is prone to a scratch or two. Or ten. I can't tell.

Power button to the right

Regular micro USB ,a 3.5mm jack and more gold coloured metal grace the bottom end.

The trademarked physical button which also houses a 360° fingerprint sensor and which other brands copy a lot.

Front facing camera,speaker for calls,sensors and SAMSUNG branding adorn the front face of this elegant device.

The mic on top which definitely improves calls  and video recording

DISPLAY

The phone comes with a large 6.0" FHD screen on a super AMOLED(Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) panel which means blacks are as black as can be,and all colours stand out,all this with reduced battery consumption.

Big and bright is the exact definition of this phone's screen. It may be FHD only and have like 386ppi but it's beautiful. The screen doesn't come with quick gestures or even glass protection(though regular protection is present although it provides almost no protection against deadly drops) but is a very bright screen. Its capable of direct sunlight viewing without distortions or the like. I can say that this display is perfect for its price.

CAMERA

I'm jumping straight here because I did not like the way the cameras (both front and back) performed. For a Samsung phone,it was quite bad.

The main purpose of a camera flash(be it xenon or LED,true tone or not)is to add more light to a picture taken in dark conditions,or just to brighten up a photo. But frankly,this one just sits there. Take for example this photo of Dom Perignon champagne taken at around 9.00pm in a dark closet (I took the same picture with the galaxy s6 edge plus. See it here)

 This one was taken in the night around 9.00pm without a flash. Even my eyes could have done better,and I use glasses.

This one looks a little better once I activated its single tone-single flash. It looks improved. But not up to the S6 edges standards.

The selfie camera lacks anything called 'Samsung' about it,even though it's 5MP. Iwont post any photos of me using it,cause you won't want to see them,anyway.

PROCESSOR AND SPEED

It comes with a Quallcomm Snapdragon SoC 625 with 4GB of RAM and 32GB internal memory. It's quite fast enough to perform basic activities,like switching between heavy apps and multitasking(though it got hot if used while charging,and the metal crafted frame further worsens this,since metal is a conductor). I would say a big YES to gamers out there who would love a phone to play with(and also want to get their hands burnt while playing and charging:) )

BATTERY LIFE

The phone has a large and suitable 5000MAh battery which lasts forever,but equally takes eons to fill up from ground zero. As I mentioned earlier,gamers will love this battery as it has several power saving features including the near military ultra power saver app,which limits you to basic apps like phone,notepad,calculator and the like. The battery filled up from 13% to 100% in exactly 2 hours 15minutes. In other words:no fast charging available. The battery is impressive though,as it can last and last and last even under heavy usage. Like for instance,on a day during my holiday, I picked up the phone,used the maosbto get to a  friend's house(not that I don't know the way ,I'm streetwise too!) and even though I left the house with 100%, I got to his house with 93%(about an hour long journey with the screen constantly on.) The battery is awesome,no kidding.

SPEAKERS, AUDIO QUALITY AND CALL QUALITY

It has only one speaker behind it which produces 'okay' sounds. Okay as in low punchy stabby bass and a weak tenure. 

All in all,the speaker isn't perfect,but its almost there. Anyway,if you listen to music through earphones,this shouldn't rally be a problem to you. Calls sound clear and excellent and I'm not surprised because come on guys its a SAMSUNG for God's sake.

FLAWS

As always,wise quote from me:"there's no such thing as a perfect phone. Take good and run with it". This phone has major flaws and I'll be pointing them out:

-the fingerprint sensor,although very fast has problems at times. One time,I tried to unlock the phone like 5 times and it kept saying"sensor dirty. Clean and try again" Dirt doesn't have a fingerprint,does it?

-Some S apps kept shutting down on their own. An update should fix this.

CONCLUSION

I know. You want me to recommend the phone. Well,if you have the money,buy it. But if you can add a little note money,I would suggest the iPhone SE(I have that here with me,and,truly,its a masterpiece)

Apart from its front camera and its bad speakers(just saying),this is a very nice phone for its price,though its AnTuTu score of 72000+ doesn't really help matters. Once again,I rest my case.