**The Verdict: Samsung S9 Plus is the Superior Choice**

As I sit here with my Samsung S9 Plus, I'm reminded of the numerous reasons why this device stands out from its competitor, the Google Pixel 2 XL. Clarity-wise, the S9 Plus offers a slight edge in terms of sound quality, but the Pixel 2 XL's display is still a close second - albeit not quite on par with the OLED panels found on Samsung devices.

The build quality of both phones is impressive, but the S9 Plus takes it to the next level. The entire frame is made of metal, giving it a premium feel that's hard to match. In terms of features, however, there are some notable differences between the two phones. The Pixel 2 XL lacks expandable storage, which may be a deal-breaker for those who need more space. On the other hand, the S9 Plus offers this feature, as well as a dual lens camera setup with optical zoom.

One area where the Pixel 2 XL shines is in its software. Google's expertise in Android has resulted in a seamless user experience that's hard to beat. However, when it comes to versatility, the S9 Plus takes the cake. The phone features a headphone jack and wireless charging capabilities, making it a more practical choice for everyday use.

In terms of display, I have to give the edge to the S9 Plus. The OLED panel is simply better than anything else on offer, with stunning blacks and a vibrant color gamut. This is a critical component that sets Samsung apart from its competitors.

Ultimately, my decision comes down to value. While both phones are excellent in their own right, I believe that the S9 Plus offers more bang for your buck at the current price point. The Pixel 2 XL is still a great phone, but it's not quite as comprehensive a package as the Samsung device.

**A Quick Recap: What Makes the S9 Plus Special**

If you're considering purchasing either of these phones, here are a few things to keep in mind. Both devices feature USB Type-C ports, which are fast and convenient to use. The Pixel 2 XL, however, lacks expandable storage, while the S9 Plus offers this feature as well as a dual lens camera setup with optical zoom.

One area where the Pixel 2 XL excels is in its software. Google's expertise in Android has resulted in a seamless user experience that's hard to beat. However, when it comes to versatility, the S9 Plus takes the cake. The phone features a headphone jack and wireless charging capabilities, making it a more practical choice for everyday use.

**Charging: A Quick Note on Wireless Charging**

One feature that sets the S9 Plus apart from its competitor is wireless charging. This convenience is a game-changer for those who want to quickly top up their battery without having to deal with cords and cables. Unfortunately, the Pixel 2 XL does not offer this feature.

**Display: The Verdict**

In terms of display, I have to give the edge to the S9 Plus. The OLED panel is simply better than anything else on offer, with stunning blacks and a vibrant color gamut. This is a critical component that sets Samsung apart from its competitors.

While both phones are excellent in their own right, I believe that the S9 Plus offers more bang for your buck at the current price point. The Pixel 2 XL is still a great phone, but it's not quite as comprehensive a package as the Samsung device.

**The Verdict: Why You Should Choose an S9 Plus**

If you're making a decision between these two devices right now, I'm going to have to give my recommendation to the Samsung S9 Plus. The phone is just so well-rounded, with features like expandable storage and wireless charging that make it a more practical choice for everyday use.

**Sax Underwear: A Game-Changing Fashion Statement**

But enough about phones - let's talk about Sax Underwear, a brand that's been making waves in the fashion world. I recently converted my inventory to Sax Underwear, and I'm obsessed with the results. The underwear features a unique "ballpark pouch" that holds you in place, keeping you comfortable all day long.

The best part? Sax Underwear is more than just a great product - it's also backed by an excellent customer service team. And right now, Unbox Therapy viewers can take advantage of a special deal: use the code UNBOX at checkout to get 5% off and free shipping. Trust me, your underwear drawer will never be the same again.

**A Final Note on Versatility**

In terms of versatility, I think the Samsung S9 Plus has the edge over its competitor. The phone features a headphone jack and wireless charging capabilities, making it a more practical choice for everyday use. While both phones are excellent in their own right, I believe that the S9 Plus offers more bang for your buck at the current price point.

So there you have it - my final verdict on the Samsung S9 Plus vs Google Pixel 2 XL. If you're looking for a phone that's both feature-packed and versatile, look no further than this device.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI know you guys have been watching me now I'm watching you see here's the thing all right I told you a little while back I switched over to the s9 plus and I thought it was gonna be a painful experience because I was so into the pixel to excel but then a few of you guys who saw some follow-up videos in your leg I saw he's using the pixel in that video so he did that video was shot beforehand all right I have legitimately been using this s9 with my sim card in it as my exclusive device I didn't reach for this guy on the right at all it's like Lou you told us you would switch how does it break down how do I spend my dollars I worked so hard for those dollars what should I do I have some thoughts but I want to talk about a few differences few things that I've noticed two things that matter few things you should think about the entire tech community is sorta in love with this pixel device because of that beautiful little camera up there pixel to XL single lens can do some of the dual lens effects that you've seen just through software and one really nice camera module on the s9 plus you get the dual lens setup the variable aperture on one of the two lenses bit of a gimmick if I'm honest but it's still a two lens setup so there is an actual two times optical zoom straight up no zoom image for image my eyeballs still like the pixels to excell camera a little bit alright I don't know why there's something going on with the software processing it just it creates a really nice image that said you throw in the little bit of optical zoom on the s9 plus and all of a sudden there's a little extra versatility there I was using it the other night I was at the Raptors game rest in peace Toronto Raptors I hit the 2x zoom all sudden I'm at it's like I'm standing at center court for the tip-off just a little bit of extra optical zoom don't need to induce the digital version the pixel nightmare the scrambled eggs that are induced by that you don't have to do it you got optical zoom because of that I kind of like level the two out little extra versatility over here slightly better software over here nonetheless you're making nice photos with either of these I promise you that since we're looking at the backs of the devices here I might as well talk about that to design functionality first off the glass back situation not really my thing all right that's why I'm always talking about putting like a case a leather case or some kind of texture on the back of it a glass is a bit dainty little fragile little fancy might work for Jack Jack's a fancy boy you already knew that but there are advantages that come along with it like one of my favorite features in the world that many people will argue until the end of time wireless charging check the record books I've been talking about wireless charging for a decade it's a nice thing to have I got the fast charger sitting beside the bed I get home it's late I slap it down no fiddling I never want to be a fiddler I guess it's an instrument a fiddle so that guy wants to be a fiddler but that's he's the only one anyhow you plop it down and now with the new fast charging stuff over wireless you're actually not giving up very much in terms of speed either pixel to excel no wireless charge that kind of got used to not having it but then going back to the s9 plus it was like you know I gotta have it what are we doing this day and age granted it means you get this glass design you get this fingerprint magnet speaking of finger prints these two things they have much different fingerprint layouts all right the pixel to excel in my opinion here far superior and the reason is the shape and the location no competition with the camera you know exactly where it is they look at the shape of my finger is that more rounded or more square this is what they should be a nice little circle like that capacitive fast every time nail is now on the s9 plus they did improve it over the previous version I was really critical of the location on the previous version because it could quite easily be misconstrued for the the camera lens like you could mix the two up less so here because you know it's the first thing you touch and if you put a case on like I did and would then you just look for the ridge and bam but Samsung is still worried about it because when you launch the camera out it still tells you hey make sure you got a clean lens because a lot of people I hand this to a friend actually like what are you using these days Lou that's what the real conversations happen what's the phone in your pocket should I buy one should I get it s9 plus I took it out of the case I handed it to him immediately he reached up he put his fingerprints all over the camera lens all right no granted he would get used to it but I get it from a design perspective but you just can't compete with the layout over here for capacitive finger prints now you have other options on your iris scan facial recognition but for me the only face unlock that I really like is on the 1 + 5 t fast kablammo that said security disadvantage over the capacitive fingerprint I'll still use the fingerprint scanner over the face unlock and that remains true with these two devices right here you probably noticed an extra port there that's a headphone jack useful I've used it many times already it's much like I was talking about in the apex video it maintains a headphone jack alongside the USB type-c connector we have a traditional 3.5 millimeter headphone jack it's not doing anything to the form factor it's not making the phone bigger or harder to hold there's a really no downside if they can fit a headphone jack in that device with like no bezel anywhere I'm not satisfied with this situation anymore I got a headphone jack you don't go take a nap I do prefer this texture though if I was gonna go caseless the pixel 2 XL has a little grit to it this has a little confidence to it when you hold it if you choose to go caseless this is probably the better option from a texture standpoint but it's not all rosy over here on the s9 plus side this Bigsby button is still here hmm it's still there obviously I would choose Google assistant 999,999 times out of a million a million times out of a million seemed like why do you want to battle with a system are you insane you won't go head to head you won't go toe to toe with assistant why don't you go ask Siri how that's going I'm dying I don't even need to feel bad about it because you all know that already if you've seen any comparison man everyone is trailing so far behind and it's hard to do hold the whole machine learning AI scenario you can't just snap your fingers or some guy and be like yo so I try to minimise Bixby's interference with my day to day and the first step in doing so was putting a different launcher on the phone you're looking at Nova Launcher right there even though you can disable the bixby button now in the bixby settings a left swipe will still bring you there but if you replace the launcher which you know in my opinion you might want to do any ways to get around TouchWiz then you eliminate the left swipe to bixby that you might not want so in this scenario Bigsby's never coming up I got the button disabled no big be there on the button and then the left swipe is gone as well and the push and hold down here on the home button is bringing up assistant so I kind of pixelized my s9 plus and it's the beauty of Android you know turn the interface into something that works for you of course you can go in here and modify even further the size of icons and so on but nonetheless I made this look essentially like my pixel and completely obliterated the Bigsby button here okay let's let's talk about overall usability because I am such a fan of stock Android it's like what is the downside of going away from a pixel device onto a Samsung device to a lot of bleeps and and Boop's a lot of Samsung sounds and appearances that come with it but they're negated in a big way by just installing your own launcher like I've done here in the case of Nova all of a sudden I was like man launchers are pretty cool this stuff you can do the level of control that you get over the appearance and functionality of your device I know most users aren't gonna dive into that alright well maybe you guys will but maybe the people that you advise they're not putting launchers on are they I mean if they are I kind of want to meet them I want to see the the granny with Nova Launcher she's out there somewhere I guess they're gonna use the phone the way that it is and in that case I give the software edge to the pixel you're gonna get the fresh software first on the pixel devices you have to figure out how valuable that is to you to have the latest features immediately super slow-mo is another advantage I will give to this device on the on the camera mode even though it's not super high res 960 fps is cool I've never met a person that didn't think it was cool so it might not have the most day-to-day usability but you pull that out and you're gonna catch some attention it's it's really super slow-mo Jack's gonna sub in the clip right now with the lighter and in it I mean you can tell that's that's actual slow-mo and then ain't some fake slow-mo speakers this one is actually probably a tiny bit louder but it's not firing at you to the same degree you get a little high end out of the earpiece region but on the pixel and get two large grilles on the front clarity is probably a little better watching video on here from a sound perspective but I actually think the s9 might go a bit louder so that's a wash as well there's some plastic components here whereas this one build quality wise like the entire frame is metal they both got USB type-c the s9 plus gives you expandable storage whereas the pixel choo XL doesn't I'm starting to paint a picture here I'm starting to feel a story here last thing is the display but it's not even worth comparing because obviously the OLED on Samsung phones including the s9 plus the latest and greatest that's top tier everybody's buying these displays from them to put them into their devices like Apple because they're the best in the biz look at the blacks on there that's the absence of light you can't beat it we know about the screen issues on pixel to excel you will get used to either display but out of the box there's no doubt in my mind that this is the superior one you guys see where I'm going here see I sat down I didn't know necessarily what I was gonna say I was just gonna try to put my thoughts out there and come to this conclusion live I'm pushing myself to make the best recommendation through my usage and exposure to all be smart but I mean that's really the job to be done here that's really what I have to do for you if you're making a decision between these two devices right now at this moment I'm gonna say get the s9 plus you heard this whole story you heard the whole thing I did that video with all those other tech youtubers which phone is in your pocket right now this phone was everywhere so where I phones it was like a split I mean that's a lot of people just being dead on it like look this phone is in my pocket and this phone is in my pocket right now all right that really happened and it's gonna stay there I'm not gonna switch back I'm not sure the s9 plus represents the best overall value in the entire smartphone marketplace but I do think it represents a better value at the current price point then the picks will chew Excel for what you get but let's just do a quick recap on the versatility offered up by this device right here headphone jack check not on the pixel 2 XL wireless charging it's on the s9 plus it's not on a pixel 2 XL the camera maybe not quite so good but again more versatile dual lens setup for optical zoom it's over here it's not over here expandable storage it's over here it's not over here display I'm giving the edge to the s9 plus the beautiful oullette I'm just gonna give you the advice put your own launcher on pixelize your s9 + get the best of both worlds and cherish the versatility when you plug a set of headphones in or when you slap it on the wireless charger that's my pick I can only pick one I'm forcing myself to make the pick and it's hard for me to do like I said I really did enjoy using this phone it's still really nice it's a great device but I'm supposed to tell you you know the truth on the matter that's my job here taking it very seriously recently the truth on the matter for your dollars she works so hard for go out get yourself an s9 plus if you in this price category go out get yourself an s9 + call it a day today's episode of unbox the P has been brought to you by sax underwear oh my goodness I converted my inventory of underwear to sax a little while ago before they reached out to me I was like I gotta be done with this wearing these underwear even from my it's in the drawer how long have I had this thing the reason this underwear is so important to me is because it's a new take on underwear it all comes down to this ballpark pouch inside the underwear it holds you all right it keeps you where you want to be they make a few different models each one with different attributes all of them so far that I've tried great and a welcome change in a space where it's like where is the tech in the underwear the ballpark couch antimicrobial quick drying the modern fit the viscose fabric oh look at that stylish holy smokes breathing you can pick the pattern to suit your personality it's time to step your game up you got to get rid of that garbage that's sitting in the drawer this is the new wave right here here's the best part there's a deal for you for unbox therapy viewers if you head over to the link in the description right now you type in offer code unbox you're gonna get five dollars off and free shipping what are you doing with those nasty underwear step your game up kids you heard it here sax underwearI know you guys have been watching me now I'm watching you see here's the thing all right I told you a little while back I switched over to the s9 plus and I thought it was gonna be a painful experience because I was so into the pixel to excel but then a few of you guys who saw some follow-up videos in your leg I saw he's using the pixel in that video so he did that video was shot beforehand all right I have legitimately been using this s9 with my sim card in it as my exclusive device I didn't reach for this guy on the right at all it's like Lou you told us you would switch how does it break down how do I spend my dollars I worked so hard for those dollars what should I do I have some thoughts but I want to talk about a few differences few things that I've noticed two things that matter few things you should think about the entire tech community is sorta in love with this pixel device because of that beautiful little camera up there pixel to XL single lens can do some of the dual lens effects that you've seen just through software and one really nice camera module on the s9 plus you get the dual lens setup the variable aperture on one of the two lenses bit of a gimmick if I'm honest but it's still a two lens setup so there is an actual two times optical zoom straight up no zoom image for image my eyeballs still like the pixels to excell camera a little bit alright I don't know why there's something going on with the software processing it just it creates a really nice image that said you throw in the little bit of optical zoom on the s9 plus and all of a sudden there's a little extra versatility there I was using it the other night I was at the Raptors game rest in peace Toronto Raptors I hit the 2x zoom all sudden I'm at it's like I'm standing at center court for the tip-off just a little bit of extra optical zoom don't need to induce the digital version the pixel nightmare the scrambled eggs that are induced by that you don't have to do it you got optical zoom because of that I kind of like level the two out little extra versatility over here slightly better software over here nonetheless you're making nice photos with either of these I promise you that since we're looking at the backs of the devices here I might as well talk about that to design functionality first off the glass back situation not really my thing all right that's why I'm always talking about putting like a case a leather case or some kind of texture on the back of it a glass is a bit dainty little fragile little fancy might work for Jack Jack's a fancy boy you already knew that but there are advantages that come along with it like one of my favorite features in the world that many people will argue until the end of time wireless charging check the record books I've been talking about wireless charging for a decade it's a nice thing to have I got the fast charger sitting beside the bed I get home it's late I slap it down no fiddling I never want to be a fiddler I guess it's an instrument a fiddle so that guy wants to be a fiddler but that's he's the only one anyhow you plop it down and now with the new fast charging stuff over wireless you're actually not giving up very much in terms of speed either pixel to excel no wireless charge that kind of got used to not having it but then going back to the s9 plus it was like you know I gotta have it what are we doing this day and age granted it means you get this glass design you get this fingerprint magnet speaking of finger prints these two things they have much different fingerprint layouts all right the pixel to excel in my opinion here far superior and the reason is the shape and the location no competition with the camera you know exactly where it is they look at the shape of my finger is that more rounded or more square this is what they should be a nice little circle like that capacitive fast every time nail is now on the s9 plus they did improve it over the previous version I was really critical of the location on the previous version because it could quite easily be misconstrued for the the camera lens like you could mix the two up less so here because you know it's the first thing you touch and if you put a case on like I did and would then you just look for the ridge and bam but Samsung is still worried about it because when you launch the camera out it still tells you hey make sure you got a clean lens because a lot of people I hand this to a friend actually like what are you using these days Lou that's what the real conversations happen what's the phone in your pocket should I buy one should I get it s9 plus I took it out of the case I handed it to him immediately he reached up he put his fingerprints all over the camera lens all right no granted he would get used to it but I get it from a design perspective but you just can't compete with the layout over here for capacitive finger prints now you have other options on your iris scan facial recognition but for me the only face unlock that I really like is on the 1 + 5 t fast kablammo that said security disadvantage over the capacitive fingerprint I'll still use the fingerprint scanner over the face unlock and that remains true with these two devices right here you probably noticed an extra port there that's a headphone jack useful I've used it many times already it's much like I was talking about in the apex video it maintains a headphone jack alongside the USB type-c connector we have a traditional 3.5 millimeter headphone jack it's not doing anything to the form factor it's not making the phone bigger or harder to hold there's a really no downside if they can fit a headphone jack in that device with like no bezel anywhere I'm not satisfied with this situation anymore I got a headphone jack you don't go take a nap I do prefer this texture though if I was gonna go caseless the pixel 2 XL has a little grit to it this has a little confidence to it when you hold it if you choose to go caseless this is probably the better option from a texture standpoint but it's not all rosy over here on the s9 plus side this Bigsby button is still here hmm it's still there obviously I would choose Google assistant 999,999 times out of a million a million times out of a million seemed like why do you want to battle with a system are you insane you won't go head to head you won't go toe to toe with assistant why don't you go ask Siri how that's going I'm dying I don't even need to feel bad about it because you all know that already if you've seen any comparison man everyone is trailing so far behind and it's hard to do hold the whole machine learning AI scenario you can't just snap your fingers or some guy and be like yo so I try to minimise Bixby's interference with my day to day and the first step in doing so was putting a different launcher on the phone you're looking at Nova Launcher right there even though you can disable the bixby button now in the bixby settings a left swipe will still bring you there but if you replace the launcher which you know in my opinion you might want to do any ways to get around TouchWiz then you eliminate the left swipe to bixby that you might not want so in this scenario Bigsby's never coming up I got the button disabled no big be there on the button and then the left swipe is gone as well and the push and hold down here on the home button is bringing up assistant so I kind of pixelized my s9 plus and it's the beauty of Android you know turn the interface into something that works for you of course you can go in here and modify even further the size of icons and so on but nonetheless I made this look essentially like my pixel and completely obliterated the Bigsby button here okay let's let's talk about overall usability because I am such a fan of stock Android it's like what is the downside of going away from a pixel device onto a Samsung device to a lot of bleeps and and Boop's a lot of Samsung sounds and appearances that come with it but they're negated in a big way by just installing your own launcher like I've done here in the case of Nova all of a sudden I was like man launchers are pretty cool this stuff you can do the level of control that you get over the appearance and functionality of your device I know most users aren't gonna dive into that alright well maybe you guys will but maybe the people that you advise they're not putting launchers on are they I mean if they are I kind of want to meet them I want to see the the granny with Nova Launcher she's out there somewhere I guess they're gonna use the phone the way that it is and in that case I give the software edge to the pixel you're gonna get the fresh software first on the pixel devices you have to figure out how valuable that is to you to have the latest features immediately super slow-mo is another advantage I will give to this device on the on the camera mode even though it's not super high res 960 fps is cool I've never met a person that didn't think it was cool so it might not have the most day-to-day usability but you pull that out and you're gonna catch some attention it's it's really super slow-mo Jack's gonna sub in the clip right now with the lighter and in it I mean you can tell that's that's actual slow-mo and then ain't some fake slow-mo speakers this one is actually probably a tiny bit louder but it's not firing at you to the same degree you get a little high end out of the earpiece region but on the pixel and get two large grilles on the front clarity is probably a little better watching video on here from a sound perspective but I actually think the s9 might go a bit louder so that's a wash as well there's some plastic components here whereas this one build quality wise like the entire frame is metal they both got USB type-c the s9 plus gives you expandable storage whereas the pixel choo XL doesn't I'm starting to paint a picture here I'm starting to feel a story here last thing is the display but it's not even worth comparing because obviously the OLED on Samsung phones including the s9 plus the latest and greatest that's top tier everybody's buying these displays from them to put them into their devices like Apple because they're the best in the biz look at the blacks on there that's the absence of light you can't beat it we know about the screen issues on pixel to excel you will get used to either display but out of the box there's no doubt in my mind that this is the superior one you guys see where I'm going here see I sat down I didn't know necessarily what I was gonna say I was just gonna try to put my thoughts out there and come to this conclusion live I'm pushing myself to make the best recommendation through my usage and exposure to all be smart but I mean that's really the job to be done here that's really what I have to do for you if you're making a decision between these two devices right now at this moment I'm gonna say get the s9 plus you heard this whole story you heard the whole thing I did that video with all those other tech youtubers which phone is in your pocket right now this phone was everywhere so where I phones it was like a split I mean that's a lot of people just being dead on it like look this phone is in my pocket and this phone is in my pocket right now all right that really happened and it's gonna stay there I'm not gonna switch back I'm not sure the s9 plus represents the best overall value in the entire smartphone marketplace but I do think it represents a better value at the current price point then the picks will chew Excel for what you get but let's just do a quick recap on the versatility offered up by this device right here headphone jack check not on the pixel 2 XL wireless charging it's on the s9 plus it's not on a pixel 2 XL the camera maybe not quite so good but again more versatile dual lens setup for optical zoom it's over here it's not over here expandable storage it's over here it's not over here display I'm giving the edge to the s9 plus the beautiful oullette I'm just gonna give you the advice put your own launcher on pixelize your s9 + get the best of both worlds and cherish the versatility when you plug a set of headphones in or when you slap it on the wireless charger that's my pick I can only pick one I'm forcing myself to make the pick and it's hard for me to do like I said I really did enjoy using this phone it's still really nice it's a great device but I'm supposed to tell you you know the truth on the matter that's my job here taking it very seriously recently the truth on the matter for your dollars she works so hard for go out get yourself an s9 plus if you in this price category go out get yourself an s9 + call it a day today's episode of unbox the P has been brought to you by sax underwear oh my goodness I converted my inventory of underwear to sax a little while ago before they reached out to me I was like I gotta be done with this wearing these underwear even from my it's in the drawer how long have I had this thing the reason this underwear is so important to me is because it's a new take on underwear it all comes down to this ballpark pouch inside the underwear it holds you all right it keeps you where you want to be they make a few different models each one with different attributes all of them so far that I've tried great and a welcome change in a space where it's like where is the tech in the underwear the ballpark couch antimicrobial quick drying the modern fit the viscose fabric oh look at that stylish holy smokes breathing you can pick the pattern to suit your personality it's time to step your game up you got to get rid of that garbage that's sitting in the drawer this is the new wave right here here's the best part there's a deal for you for unbox therapy viewers if you head over to the link in the description right now you type in offer code unbox you're gonna get five dollars off and free shipping what are you doing with those nasty underwear step your game up kids you heard it here sax underwear\n"