Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro preview: Big screen entertainment

Camera

The Galaxy C9 Pro has a 16 megapixel camera on the back with f1.9 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and two-tone dual LED flash. The camera can also record 1080p 30fps video.

Camera app

The camera software on Samsung phones has been refined over the years and remains one of the best out there. However, the app on the C9 Pro is a bit too simplified, as is often the case with non-flagship phones.

There is a Pro mode but it's simplified and it doesn't offer shutter speed control or manual focus adjustment.

Fortunately, there aren't too many compromises in image quality and photos taken with the C9 Pro generally come out looking good.

Photos taken by the Galaxy C9 Pro

Daylight images have good level of detail and accurate colors. Closer inspection reveals some smearing of finer details and occasional patchiness but it does help keep the noise level down and isn't too distracting.

The dynamic range isn't great and the center-weighted average metering often blows highlights to keep the center of the frame well lit.

Fortunately, the HDR mode works really well most of the time, dialing just the right amount control for the shadows and highlights depending upon the scene. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer live preview or auto mode.

HDR Mode: Off • On • Off • On

In low light, the image processing gets a bit more aggressive and we see more of the smearing and patchiness in finer detail but again it's not particularly problematic. The phone does come with a very capable Night mode, which takes multiple shots and combines them, much like the HDR mode, to clean out the noise and restore some of the lost detail.

The video capturing doesn't come with Slow motion mode, 60fps option or electronic stabilization (EIS), with the latter being its biggest drawback.

The video quality is also quite good. The dynamic range isn't great but the level of detail, colors, and the focusing are perfectly fine. The lack of stabilization does make the video quite shaky, though.

Battery Life

The Galaxy C9 Pro has a massive 4000mAh internal battery. The battery is not replaceable but that's fine because it does last a really long time.

The average Screen-On times we got are generally between 6-7 hours even with heavy use. The overall standby times are generally over 24 hours, which means the phone can easily get you through an entire day and still have some power left towards the end.

Battery life times

If that's not good enough, you also get Quick Charge 2.0 support, which means the phone does a full charge in just over an hour and a half. The downside to this is that the phone gets ridiculously hot while charging, which is a common problem with Quick Charge devices.

If you are someone who charges the phone overnight, it would make sense to use a standard 5V 2A charger and use the bundled fast charger only for when you are in a hurry.

Verdict

Samsung played a huge part in carving the phablet niche out of nothing with its Note series. Of course, up until recently, having a 6+inch phone seemed like an outlandish idea. But now that users are finally warming to the idea of having the biggest possible screen in their pocket, there is no better time for Samsung to have another go at this segment. And so we have the Galaxy C9 Pro.

In our time with it, the C9 Pro proved itself as a really good smartphone. It is well designed and very well made. It has an excellent display, an excellent battery life, good performance, good camera, and a full bag of proprietary software features, which add positively to the user experience.

It may not be as good value as something like the Xiaomi Mi Mix or the OnePlus 3T but if you want the peace of mind that comes with a big brand like Samsung and are also looking for a big screen phone then you can't go wrong with the C9 Pro.