IP68? Ergonomics, How To Setup, Available Memory + Storage
Contents
No IP68 Water Resistance
Last year’s Galaxy A7 2017 was the first Samsung Galaxy A series smartphone to boast IP68 dust- and water-resistance.
That means it was capable of withstanding complete immersion in water up to 1.5 m in depth, for up to 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, Samsung dropped this capability in the Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 (MY | US | UK). This is a real shame, because the IP68 dust- and water-resistance is a major KSP (key selling point) for Samsung. It is one of the ways they are able to differentiate their A series smartphones from the competition.
Ergonomics
The Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 (MY | US | UK) has a very large 6.3-inch AMOLED display. But because it’s an Infinity Display – basically it has thin bezels, it is still comfortable to hold. It is about the same size as a 5.7-inch smartphone like the Samsung Galaxy Note FE (Price Check).
Of course, this is still a two-handed device, because of its height. If you prefer to use only one hand, you can turn on the One-handed mode option.
The Super AMOLED display is beautiful as always. However, the Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2220 pixels results in a non-standard 18.5:9 display ratio. Watching movies will result in some pillarboxing – a black bar on each side of the movie.
The gradated colour scheme at the back is beautiful, and surprisingly smudge-resistant. And from what we understand, the front and back are protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Even so, we recommend using the bundled clear TPU bumper case – it protects the glass panels, while still showcasing the beautiful back.
Setting Up The Samsung Galaxy A9 2018
The Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 (MY | US | UK) runs on Android 8.0 Oreo, with Samsung Experience 9.0. It is very easy to set-up, and should take only about 5-7 minutes to complete.
In fact, it should take less time than usual, because the fingerprint swipe sensor is very fast and accurate. You only need about three swipes to register a fingerprint!
Available Memory & Storage
The Samsung Galaxy A9 2018 (MY | US | UK) comes with 6 GB of LPDDR4 memory. There is relatively little bloat, with 3.9 GB (65%) of memory available for use. This is plenty enough to run several apps simultaneously, even memory-guzzling games.
It comes with 128 GB of internal flash storage, of which just under 109 GB is freeto use. That is enough space to store about 15,500 photos, 14 hours of 1080p videos, or 5 hours of 4K videos. If that’s not enough for you, you can top it up with a microSD card of up to 512 GB in capacity!
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