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While we've already gotten a good look at the Galaxy S9, all eyes will still be on Samsung's Day Zero press conference for Mobile World Congress 2018 on 25 February. With its predecessor, the Galaxy S8 proving to be the best flagship phone of last year in our books, expectation is high on the South Korean manufacturer to deliver the goods for yet another iteration of Galaxy S smartphone. 

There is little to improve upon for the well rounded Galaxy S8, but here are five things we want from Samsung when it comes to the Galaxy S9.

1. Better handling

When it comes to design, we're fairly certain that Samsung will be talking up the curved edges and Infinity Display of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. While this yields a 'bezel-less' form factor, it also means the device can be a little unwieldy at times. Add to this a glass and aluminium construction, and the phone will likely be a magnet for smudges too.

As such, we'd like to see Samsung find a way to make the S9 and S9 Plus easier to cradle for one handed use, as well as feature larger bezels to ensure it can picked up and gripped better. We're not entirely sure if Samsung can indeed achieve this feat, or feel a need to, but having the beautiful design of the phone marred by unwieldy handling would be a shame.    

2. Make Bixby good

One of the other sticking points on the Galaxy S8 was Bixby, the Google Assistant and Siri rivalling system that Samsung developed for its mobile platform. Slow to reach devices, and lacking much of the functionality touted at launch, Bixby proved that Samsung had quite a bit of work to do when it comes to digital assistants.

For this iteration of Bixby, it would be helpful if it's available and full fleshed out for consumers straight out of the box. Bixby also needs to start delivering on some of the promise that Samsung has outlined for it, such as deep object detection and voice-aided assistance. 

3. Focus on DeX

Yes, the phones will be the main focus, but it would be shortsighted of Samsung not to expand on the DeX computing platform it rolled out with the Galaxy S8, for this new device. It was one of the more interesting elements of last year's launch, and if Samsung is indeed aiming to make Galaxy S devices better at productivity, adding more features to DeX is a must.

One thing we'd like to see is the devices working sans the DeX dock. It's something that Huawei has shown to work with only the correct cable on the Mate 10 Pro, so giving Samsung users access to it without having to buy an additional accessory would go a long way. More applications is something Samsung must consider too, with the DeX ecosystem surely benefitting from a larger ecosystem.  

4. Move the fingerprint sensor

The Galaxy S8's design was pretty much spot on, with the notable exception being the placement of the fingerprint sensor next to the rear camera. It's a position that did not make much sense, with directly below the camera seeming a better option.

With a scanner embedded underneath the display unlikely for this Galaxy S flagship, it's time for Samsung to do the right thing and put the fingerprint sensor where it should be. 

5. Keep it cool

Much has been made of fast charging, especially when it comes to raising the temperature of devices once they've been fully charged. The Galaxy S8 was not exempt from this, getting quite hot under the collar once it hit 100%.

As such, we think just a touch of fine tuning is needed to ensure that the Galaxy S9 does not reach a too hot to handle state once it is unplugged from the fast charging mode. 

Coming soon

All will be revealed on 25 February at 19:00 (SAST), where the Galaxy S9, S9 Plus and hopefully a couple surprises will be on show. We'll be covering the press conference on @TechSmartZA, but you can also watch the live stream on the Samsung Mobile YouTube channel.