Let’s face it, if all we needed smartphones for was to make calls, send texts or access social media, we’d only upgrade every five or six years. It is all the fancy extras which sell new phones, so photography, or more accurately, smartphone camera features, have become an increasingly important selling point in the insanely competitive phone market. Samsung has upped the ante again this week by announcing the Galaxy A9 – it features five cameras, 128GB storage and 6GB RAM and even if you get the phone without a contract deal, it will only set you back a pretty palatable £549.
The main camera is based on a 24-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture lens. Below that sits a depth-sensing 5-megapixel camera, and here comes the clever bit. It has one job, to focus on gathering depth information for the Live Focus bokeh feature for attractive depth of field effects. Then there is an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor, which Samsung claims improves the image quality when zooming right in. Next up is an “ultra-wide” 10-megapixel sensor, which provides a 120-degree view so you can squeeze as much as possible into the scene. Around the front is another camera, this time a 24Mp device with a f/2.0 aperture.
As well as all these shooting options, you get 128GB storage alongside a microSD slot, so you won’t run out of photo storage quickly. Samsung is also trumpeting the new camera’s unique looks and ‘glass like’ feel. The exact release date is yet to be confirmed, but it will be out in November. We’ll run a full review in AP as soon as we get a sample, but learn more about the phone here.
