Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus Hands-on, Quick Review: Something To Prove

Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus Hands-on, Quick Review: Something To Prove

We go hands-on with the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m old enough to vividly remember the day when Samsung unveiled the first generation of their S-series of flagships. The first ever Galaxy S was one of the best smartphones at the time and set the stage for Samsung’s meteoric rise to the top of the smartphone heap.

It’s fitting then, that Samsung’s latest Galaxies come at a time when the company’s place at the top of the food chain is being threatened by Chinese rivals. With the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus, Samsung held nothing back, stuffing both of its top-tier phones with every possible flagship feature that’s available short of its flexible OLED tech, and the results are stunning, to say the least.

Brand-new tech in a familiar shell

Just like last year, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are encased in a familiar design that’s been tweaked incessantly for the best results. Both phones feature metal chassis, glass backs and curved displays that are impervious to casual dips in the water, though the changes from last year’s models aren’t hard to see. And oh yeah, both phones still have 3.5mm jacks, a feature that’s fast disappearing on flagship smartphones nowadays.

Both phones feature the new hole punch display, fancy marketing talk for holes in the corner of the display for the selfie camera. With all the smack talk Samsung’s done against Apple’s notch, they had to come up with a way to integrate the front camera on their flagship phones without looking like hypocrites, and the hole punch was a way to do that.

Is it ugly? A little – while the Galaxy S10’s front camera sort of disappears into the periphery when you’re using it, the Galaxy S10 Plus’ dual selfie cam sticks out like a sore thumb. You’ll probably get used to it, but it’s one of those rare design missteps that’ll leave you scratching your head.

The best display around, period

The Galaxy S10 has a 6.1-inch display while the Galaxy S10 Plus has a larger, 6.4-inch display. No matter what variant you pick though, you’re getting a Dynamic Super AMOLED panel that’s brighter than any other display on the market today at 800 nits. Samsung says that the displays on both phones are HDR 10+ out of the box, delivering the best dynamic range possible on a phone’s screen.

Aside from the beautiful display, Samsung’s new flagship also has an on-screen fingerprint scanner. While that’s not a new feature on a flagship smartphone, Samsung says the ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on the S10 and S10 Plus is faster, accurate and more secure than the optical units used by other phones.

After using the scanners on both phones, we don’t doubt that claim at all. The in-display scanner was quick, and even Lea, someone who is not a fan of in-display fingerprint scanners, was impressed enough to use it as her authentication method.

Samsung achieved all of this while reducing the bezel size on their new phones. Both phones are only marginally taller than last year’s models but have bigger screens overall, thanks to the reduced bezels on both models.

Triple cameras

The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are the first flagship phones by Samsung that has three camera modules integrated into them. And unlike last year, the regular S10 model gets the same camera treatment as the bigger plus model: a 45 degree, 12-megapixel 2x optical zoom lens, a 12-megapixel 77-degree wide lens and a 16-megapixel 123-degree ultra-wide lens.

The 12-megapixel 77-degree wide angle lens uses the same variable aperture tech that’s in the S9 and S9 Plus, meaning you can switch from f/1.5 to f/2.4 depending on the situation. Meanwhile, the 123-degree ultra-wide angle lens was specially made to mimic the field of view of the human eye.

The three cameras are paired with AI tech, and Samsung promises a more robust scene recognition using AI. The phone’s cameras recognize around 30 scenes total and does it 10x faster than before. Samsung’s also made a point to make your life as easy as possible when shooting photos, and has included tech that helps you shoot super straight photos depending on the scenery.

As for shooting video, the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus have that part down pat. The phones can shoot 4K video up to 60 FPS and can take 4K HDR 10+ video at 30 FPS. It can even take 4K videos using the front camera as well.

The fastest processors in the planet

Just like before, the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus will have two processor options when it goes to stores: Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 855 flagship chipset and Samsung’s Exynos 9820. If you’re in Asia, it’s more than likely you’ll be getting the Exynos 9820 variant of either phone in stores. This new chipset is built on an 8nm process, which means it consumes even less power than ever before. It has its own dedicated neural processing unit for faster AI processing and a Mali-G76 MP12 GPU.

With the cutting edge processor comes 8GB of RAM as standard, and 128GB of expandable storage. Now if you’re really Mr. Moneybags you can opt to get the top tier Galaxy S10 Plus version with 12GB of RAM and 1TB of expandable storage, but that obviously will cost you a pretty penny.

One UI is a HUGE step up from TouchWiz

Samsung’s always been the butt of jokes when it came to UIs, thanks to their big, bloated TouchWiz. Simply put, their new One UI is the best redemption arc I’ve ever seen since Professor Snape.

One UI is the successor to TouchWiz and is built on top of Android Pie. Samsung recognized that it’s fairly difficult to reach up to the top of the screen one-handed with how large phones are nowadays and made the headers occupy half of the screen you’ll be able to reach content beneath them with your thumb without re-adjusting your grip. As you scroll up, the headers shrink.

Aside from that clever design trick, Samsung has also finally realized that less is more when it comes to designing UI. There’s considerably less bright fonts/colors on the UI, and everything now feels extremely minimalist and clean. You can even hide the on-screen navigation bars for simple, cleaner lines at the bottom of the display that you can swipe to when needed, freeing up even more real-estate on your screen.

Big batteries in sexy bodies

Both flagships have bigger batteries this time around, Note 7 be damned: the Galaxy S10 has a 3400mAh battery, while the S10 Plus has an even bigger 4100mAh. It’s the biggest batteries in the series’ history, which means both phones will be able to run all day without any issues. Both phones have reverse wireless charging, a necessary trick to keep the wireless Galaxy Buds charged up.

Price and wrap-up

Samsung’s new pair of Galaxies are the best they’ve ever put out, with every conceivable new smartphone feature packed into their sexy, glass bodies. Will it be enough to drive sales back? It depends – people who want the best features in a flagship will probably gravitate to these two, while people who just want the essentials and a taste of Samsung’s top-end features will naturally gravitate to the more affordable S10e.

The limited edition Galaxy S10 Plus with 1TB of storage is priced at Php 89,990. The regular Galaxy S10 Plus with 128GB of storage is priced at Php 55,990. The Galaxy S10 is priced at Php 49,990.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Specs

  • Samsung Exynos 9820 octa-core processor
  • Mali-G76 MP12 GPU
  • 8GB/12GB RAM
  • 6.4-inch WQHD Dynamic Super AMOLED Infinity-O display, 3040 x 1440 resolution, dual curved edge, HDR10+
  • 128GB/1TB expandable storage, via microSD
  • Triple rear cameras: 12-megapixel primary camera with f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture; 12-megapixel telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture and 2x optical zoom; 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera; with Dual Pixel, Dual OIS, 960FPS Super Slo-Mo video, 4K HDR10+ shooting at 30FPS/4K shooting at 60FPS
  • Dual front cameras: 10-megapixel f/1.9 main camera; 8-megapixel f/2.2 wide-angle camera; dual-pixel autofocus, 4K video recording
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE, WiFi 6
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
  • Ultrasonic Fingerprint scanner, facial recognition, heartbeat sensor, IP68 certification, USB Type-C port, Bixby AI, 3D Emojis
  • 4100mAh battery with fast charging and wireless charging
  • Android 9.0 Pie (One UI)

 

Samsung Galaxy S10 Specs

  • Samsung Exynos 9820 octa-core processor
  • Mali-G76 MP12 GPU
  • 8GB RAM
  • 6.1-inch WQHD Dynamic Super AMOLED Infinity-O display, 3040 x 1440 resolution, dual curved edge, HDR10+
  • 128GB expandable storage, via microSD
  • Triple rear cameras: 12-megapixel primary camera with f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture; 12-megapixel telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture and 2x optical zoom; 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera; with Dual Pixel, Dual OIS, 960FPS Super Slo-Mo video, 4K HDR10+ shooting at 30FPS/4K shooting at 60FPS
  • 10-megapixel f/1.9 front camera with dual-pixel autofocus, 4K video recording
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE, WiFi 6
  • GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
  • Ultrasonic Fingerprint scanner, facial recognition, heartbeat sensor, IP68 certification, USB Type-C port, Bixby AI, 3D Emojis
  • 3400mAh battery with fast charging and wireless charging
  • Android 9.0 Pie (One UI)

 

 

 

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