2. You will become an instant wine connoisseur.

Bixby, Samsung’s integrated virtual assistant, has more exciting capabilities than ever before, one of which is a wine label reader which brings up information and ratings based on the bottle of wine you are drinking. Simply hover the S9 over the wine label, and Bixby will link it to the Vivino app, whereupon you can then impress your friends (or your date) with details of the vineyard, tasting notes and recommended food pairings as well as user ratings and the wine’s world ranking. Being a wine guru has never been so easy.

3. If you’re one of those people who always drop their phone, this one is pretty damn tough.

There are two types of people in this world: those who drop their phone on the daily and those who don’t. If you’re one of the former, you’ll be pleased to know that the Galaxy S9 is made to withstand a fair few more knocks that its predecessors. The S9 has glass that is 20% thicker than the S8, and in combination with the upgraded aluminium body, will transfer 20% less shock to the precious glass display when dropped. This thicker glass means it is also less prone to that age old problem of cracked screen display (we’ve all been there, don’t worry).

4. You can create your own augmented reality version of yourself.

Forget your stock-standard emojis, the new school of emoji is the augmented reality version of yourself, which in the S9’s case, is a scarily accurate depiction. Definitely one of the more fun features of the phone, the S9 uses a 2D mapping tool that analyses more than 100 of your facial features to create a 3D model of yourself that looks and sounds exactly like you and even mimics your expressions. Raise your eyebrows and augmented reality you will also raise your eyebrows; wink, and AR you winks back. If you thought Bitmoji was mindblowing (and a pretty good time), then this feature will be a whole new level of amusement. AR emojis appear in 18 pre-set GIFs attached to your keyboard and if a cartoon version of yourself is not really your thing, don’t worry—you’ll be able to turn yourself into a dog or cat, too. If you thought the fun was only confined to those on the S9 and S9+, you thought wrong: AR emojis are sent via a standard AGIF file, so anyone using any device can receive and watch them.

5. You’ll be able to read signs, books and menus in other languages – without the need to take any classes.

Bixby is not only useful for reading wine labels, it can also help you decipher menus, signs, or books… in different languages! Yes, that’s right – you will never get lost in a foreign city again with this handy built-in tool. Samsung uses a combination of real-time object detection and augmented reality so you’re not seeing subtitles sit over the top… It actually overlays the sign or object, deleting the original text and replacing it directly on top of the image the camera is pointing at with the translated text in your native language. A total travel game-changer.

6. No more phone-in-a-glass at a party. These speakers are the real deal.

You can stream movies, music and YouTube on your phone, but getting good quality (and crowd-friendly) sound has always been a bit challenging. Hence the age old trick of popping your phone in a glass or vase to amplify the speaker which we’ve always had to do… until now. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ has powerful stereo speakers tuned by AKG and supported by Dolby Atmos, giving the effect of 360-degree sound. According to Samsung, you can crank your tunes 40 percent louder than with the S8 through its speakers.

7. It’s super secure, Mission Impossible-style, so you know the secrets that lie within are safely protected.

Not content with just using one authentication method to unlock your phone, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ supports three different biometric authentication options—iris, fingerprint, and facial recognition—so you know your phone and its contents are locked away safely.