After waiting patiently on an eBay order that never made it on time, I finally got hands on a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus through another eBay seller. And no, this year I am not getting any U.S. Snapdragon models as they have locked bootloaders.(See Which Model is Best for Galaxy S9/S9+ for Root? if you want to root your S9 or S9+) But I was able to finally get hands on a Coral Blue color which was rather surprising since previous Galaxy phones were literally impossible to get a blue version.
I should have a full review of the Galaxy S9 Plus but for right now, I am mostly interested in the faster performance of Exynos 9810(over last year’s 8890) and the better F1.5 dual camera setup. The fingerprint sensor has finally moved to the center but again, it seems very awkward to use as the position is much lower than other phones that have it higher such as the Pixel 2 XL. Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus is definitely a great upgrade for anyone coming from Galaxy S7/S7 Edge or older. For those of you on Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus, you might be better off waiting another year for major upgrade with Galaxy S9/S9 Plus next year.
In my initial testing of the camera, F1.5 definitely outperforms the Pixel 2 camera with slightly more bokeh and better low-light performance. I should have a full camera comparison but for right now, I will fall in love with my new phone.