- [Michael] As of today, you can officially buy
the Samsung Galaxy S9.
It's an excellent smartphone,
but it's so similar to its predecessor in appearance
that you might miss options, both new and old,
if you go into it blind.
So join me for a look at my favorite less-talked-about
Galaxy S9 features.
Brought to you by, iOttie.
Let's kick things off with everyone's favorite whipping boy,
Bixbiy.
Look, I'm not a big fan of Samsung's virtual assistant.
I'd much prefer to replace it with Google Now
using apps like this one.
But it's kinda hack-y and it can impact performance
and battery life.
So if you decide to just live within Bixby,
well, first of all, it's no longer as painful
as it once was, and also there are a couple things
you can do to make it even better.
The first is to disable Bixby's button
in the Bixby setting screen so you're not always bringing
up the side panel when you accidentally press it.
What's smart about this is that it only disables
the single press function.
You can still push and hold the key
to talk to Bixby voice, and that's actually pretty useful
for quick actions like asking for the forecast,
and setting reminders, or alarms.
Oh, and if you do use your phone for alarms,
and you have a harder time getting up in the morning
like I do, Bixby can actually help here.
Go to the alarm clock settings, and enable Bixby briefing.
When your alarm goes off,
your phone will read you the time,
tell you the forecast, and fill you in on all
the horrible stuff that's happened since you went to sleep.
- [Bixby] It's going to be a windy day.
Here's a roundup of today's news provided by Google.
Danielle's lawyer says some alleged incidents took place...
- [Michael] My final Bixby tip can be summed up
in three words: use quick commands.
You can build an if, then sequence
for so many phone functions that it's just nuts.
This example from Samsung Health is a great illustration
of why people don't like Bixby.
It's a recommended command that lets you say
the word, coffee, to automatically add a cup of coffee
to your daily food tracking.
But, when I do it, I get this.
Now, I'm sure this guy's a fine musician,
but this isn't what I was going for.
Where this flips to something good is in correction.
If Bixby gets something wrong, you can teach it
by tapping here.
And when it works as intended,
you've got a pretty handy shortcut
for controlling the S9 by voice.
Use it to go to YouTube and subscribe to theMrMobile.
The second feature I want to hit is frequently missed
for a reason, it just launched on the same day
this video did.
See, Samsung has had these optical sensors
on the back of its phones since about 2014,
and until now, they've measured things like
your heart rate, and blood-oxygen level,
well the S9 takes it a step further
with blood pressure monitoring as well.
You need to download an app, which only works in the States,
called My BP Lab, and agree to opt-in to a study
being run by the University of California
on the health effects of stress.
Once you share some basic info,
and you agree to share your anonymized data
with the University of California,
you just put your finger on the sensor
and follow the instructions.
Now, optical blood pressure sensors are nowhere near
as accurate as the cuff you'll find at your doctor's office,
so this is the very definition of early days
for a feature like this,
and I'm sure we'll see more apps take advantage of it
in the coming months.
Next up, a feature that's only new
because I've basically been ignoring it
for the past four years.
See, here's how much I typically use the edge screen
during a Samsung review: raise the phone into frame,
swipe through a bunch of the auto box options,
say something like...
Oh, I don't know, you might find it handy
for single-handed situations.
Boom.
Done for another year.
Well this time around,
I forced myself to use the edge screen
for about two weeks, and I sorta get it now.
Some really specific features are very handy to have
just a swipe away.
Like, for example, the calculator panel.
But the thing that I found myself really appreciating
was the most basic one: Apps Edge.
It's kinda like having a mini home screen
that you can summon so you can hop to another app
without ever having to take the intermediate step
of actually going to the home screen.
Download some other panels, and set 'em up the way you want,
and you can put all of your most commonly used stuff
into the edge screen.
Pretty much, anyway.
That leaves room on your home screen
for larger widgets,
or you could just go super minimal
and appreciate your wallpaper.
I'll save you the question in the comments,
this one and most of mine come from an app called, Backdrops
Oh, and pro tip, once you get used to the flow of it,
you don't need that tab disrupting the clean lines
of the glass, so hop into the settings,
max out the transparency, and presto,
a gesture accessible interface that's invisible
when you're not using it.
On the subject of gestures,
one thing I was about to complain about
is that there's no shortcut to drop the notification shade
besides the fingerprint scanner, track pad trick,
but then I watched a video from the Tech Chap,
who pointed out an option that I not only missed on the S9,
but on the updated S8 as well.
Go into your home screen settings and toggle
quick open notification panel, and just like that,
you can swipe down anywhere on the home screen to deploy it.
Welcome to the party, Samsung, it's great to have ya.
A few short feature shout outs as we close things out.
My custom logo on the always-on display?
Easy.
Settings, lock screen and security, clock and face widgets.
Also, a lot of folks have been asking
about this lock screen trim.
Well, it's an animated wallpaper
from the Samsung theme store called,
S8 exclusive colorful marquee,
but be warned, it only works on the lock screen.
You can get a touch of that edge lighting every time
you get a notification, though, just go to display,
edge screen, edge lighting, and you can choose
from a whole bunch of color, transparency,
and animation options.
Giving users this much choice has been a staple
of Samsung's for a long time,
and if you wanna relive some of the old ones,
they're still here.
Hop into settings, advanced features,
multi-window, and you can turn on pop up view,
which lets you shrink apps to smaller, re-sizable
windows that you can keep visible when working
in other apps.
And finally, how could I forget AR Emoji.
(record scratches)
Oh, right, we hate that.
Yeah, no, let's not do that, okay?
And if you do?
Hey, I'm not here to yuck your yum,
I'll link you to a good video covering it
from a buddy of mine down in the comments.
Another Galaxy S9 perk is wireless charging.
And while that's not exactly new, this charger is.
This is the Ion Wireless Plus fast charging pad
from today's sponsor, iOttie.
It charges quickly with up to 10 watt output,
keept things cool with an air gap around back,
and lets you charge another device
with an additional USB port.
It's also covered in fabric, which is a sweet
and soft change of pace.
It's available for presale today.
Hit the link in the description
and use discount code: IOTTIE15 to get 15% off,
but you've gotta do it before March 30 to hit
that discount, so hit it now,
and tell 'em Mr. Mobile sent ya.
Folks, if you got your S9 today,
or you're running updated software on an S8,
or Note8, tell me your favorite feature
new or old in the comments,
and if you enjoyed this video, please share it
with your fellow Samsung owners
and encourage them to subscribe to theMrMobile
on YouTube and Instagram.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile my friends.