Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Review - The Anti-iPhone
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus review - The Anti-iPhone
It's hard to believe that it been almost 10 years since Samsung released the first Galaxy S smartphone, but here we are with the Galaxy S10, and its easily the best Galaxy S
yet. But if the first few Galaxy phones were close copies of the iPhone, enough so much that Apple actually sued Samsung and won, the Galaxy S10 shows that Samsung has evolved its flagship
offer almost everything the iPhone doesn't. Its got a headphone jack, expandable storage, fingerprint scanner, and almost no notch. You could practically call it the anti-iPhone.But it does share some things with the
Starting Price:
iPhone, like the fact that it's expensive. The S10 starts at $899, the S10 Plus that I have here starts at $999 and goes all the way up to 1600 bucks. That's like three
basic model OnePlus 6Ts.This may be the best Galaxy S phone ever, but its also far and away from the most expensive Galaxy S phone ever.
The S10s hardware is very nice. It's exactly what you'd expect for a phone that costs this much. Its an evolution of what Samsung started four years ago with the Galaxy S6.Has aluminum
sides with a polished finish, and front and rear glass. Now, on the S10 and the S10 Plus, the glass curves into the frame, which makes it feel great in your hand and more comfortable
to hold, even though these are really big phones. Now, on that point, the S10 Plus is definitely not one handphone, not for me at least. If I were to purchase it,
Id probably put a case, and maybe even one of those PopSockets on the back to make it easier to hold and use. If you do want something smaller, Samsung has a regular S10.
Now, like I said before, there's a headphone jack down at the bottom, Samsung actually includes some pretty nice wired headphones that plug right into it. Plus, loud stereo speakers for when your
not wearing headphones. Like the last few Galaxy S models, the S10 is water-resistant, has fast wired and wireless charging, and you can expand the storage with a microSD card, though I think most
people will probably be pretty happy with the 128 gigs it comes within the base model. You can even use the S10 to wirelessly charge another device like Samsungs new Galaxy Bud
headphones or Galaxy Watch Active smartwatch, but I really have found much use for that beyond just showing it off. The big annoying thing with the S10s hardware is the same as it has been
for the last few Samsung phones. There's a hardware button dedicated to launching Bixby. Now, fortunately, Samsung is going to let you finally reprogram it to something more useful, like say maybe launching the
camera. But sadly, you cant use to launch the Google Assistant. And this is all I'm going to say about Bixby, because it's still bad, and you should still avoid it if possible. Inside, the
S10 is the first phone I've used with the Snapdragon 855 processor, and performance is really fast. It's smooth and responsive, and there's no real lag anywhere. I don't think its as blisteringly fast as
a OnePlus phone,but I've got no real performance complaints here. I also don't have any complaints about the battery life. I don't think the S10 Plus is breaking any records, but it's reliable
enough that I just don't have to worry about it.I've been able to get two days between charges with light usage, and have no real trouble making it a full day with heavy
usage. But it is a big phone, with a big battery, so this is the kind of battery life that I kind of expect at this point. (upbeat music)The S10 Pluss display does not disappoint.
Display Quality:
Its a 6.4 inch HDR10 OLED screen, that gets super bright, and has rich, vibrant colors and great viewing angles. The screen stretches all the way to the top and bottom of the phone, with
just the tiniest of borders around it. Now, Samsung seems to have toned down its super aggressive saturation this year, so the normal video mode, which is what I use this screen in, looks
really pleasing, and not eye-searing, like it used to. But, that isn't particularly new or exciting. What is exciting is what's embedded in this display. As you probably already noticed, the S10 doesn't
have a notch cut out for its front-facing camera.Instead, it has this weird hole punch shape off to the right side. On the S10 Plus, that houses two
cameras, the main camera, and second one for depth effects and portrait mode. Is this any better than a notch that would just be in the middle of the screen instead of off to the side?
I don't really think so.In fact, I would rather have a notch since at least that has some symmetry.This hole punch design pushes the battery and network indicators off to the left,and
it just looks weird when I'm looking at it all day long. You can choose to hide the front cameras entirely with a uniform black bar across the top,but that's just like
adding a giant bezel to the top,and looks even worse. Sometimes, that black bar shows up depending on which app you're using. Heres what it looks like when I read an article in Pocket,
for example. None of this is the end of the world,the S10s display still looks really nice,and its probably one of the best actual panels you can get on a phone. Id just
rather have a notch in the middle, but I'm sure you'll let me know in the comments if you disagree. The other thing that's embedded in the screen is the new fingerprint scanner which
has been moved from the back of the phone up to the front. The scanners ultrasonic, which is a little different from the optical ones we've seen on OnePlus and other phones. That's supposed to
make it a bit more reliable and harder to spoof. It can be hard to find, but it's about half an inch up from the bottom, and if you're using a lock screenitll
actually show you where to place your finger. But its, not a big area, and if you're is not deliberate with your finger placement, it can be easy to miss. And this scanner is
definitely not as fast as traditional capacitive ones, and I often have to try a couple of times before it will unlock. I'd just rather have a Face ID system that requires less work
to use, or at the very least, and an old school fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. Now, the S10 does have a face unlocking feature, but you should know that it's just using
the camera to look for your image.There's no 3D mapping or advanced scanning.So it's not as secure as the fingerprint scanner, or Apple Face ID. I was actually able to unlock it
with a video of my face played on another phone, so there you go. Heres the main takeaway you should know about the S10s camera. It is perhaps the most versatile of any
of mainstream phones. That's because the S10 has three cameras on the back,which give you different perspectives on the click of a button. There's a standard camera, a telephoto camera,and then a
brand new ultra-wide camera.It's like having a whole camera bag full of lenses built right into the back of your phone, and it lets you capture perspectives, especially that super-wide one that
you just can't get with an iPhone or a Pixel.One weird thing to note about this, though?
The S10s portrait mode uses the main camera instead of the telephoto, so your portrait shots are going to come out pretty wide, maybe wider than you expect. It's kind of like how the
iPhone XR works, as opposed to the XS. Now, aside from the new lens, the camera performance really hasn't changed much from last year's S9 Plus. The S10s camera is still very good, with fast focusing,
fast launching, and generally great performance in most lighting situations. But if you didn't like the way the photos from the S9 looked, you probably aren't going to be swayed by the S10. Personally, I
find it overexposes more than I prefer, which does make for a brighter image, but it sometimes causes things like skin tones to look unnatural. It also has a warmer look than the iPhone, and
especially the Pixel, which can make images look a bit more yellow than I like. Now, for HDR, Samsung basically splits the difference between the iPhone and the Pixel.It's not as moody as
Google's phone, but it doesn't pull up shadows as much as Apple does. And that's partly because it doesn't really need to, because its already overexposing the shot more than Apple would. Samsung has added
some new software tricks to the camera. It has a feature that will help you compose your shots better,which is kinda cool because it can help you avoid crooked lines in your photos. But,
I didn't end up using it all that much. It also does have a night mode,but unlike the Pixel, you cant just turn it on whenever you want. You need to be in
a really dark area, less than one lux of light,and be using the scene optimizer mode for it to trigger, and even if you do all that, it still doesn't work as well
asGoogles Night Sight anywaysOver on the video side though, the S10 is way more impressive than the Pixel and even gives the iPhone a run for its money. You can shoot in up
to 4K, 60 frames per second with the main camera, or 4K, 30 FPSwith the ultra-wide, or the telephoto. There's a new super steady stabilization feature that makes really smooth footage, but just know that will lock you to 1080pand the main camera when you turn it on. Finally, the stereo sound that's recorded by the dual mics on the S10
is actually quite good, and better than what I'm used to hearing from most other Android phones. For the front camera, the new 10-megapixel sensor with autofocus produces really sharp images and their
even a software button to get a little bit wider of a view if you're shooting a group selfie. Now, Samsung does do some pretty aggressive noise reduction and skin smoothing, especially in low
light,but thankfully, the beauty modes are all turned off by default. Then there's the portrait mode on the S10 Plus, it's pretty decent, but it's not perfect, just like any other portrait mode you
can get on any other phone, and there's a couple of new effects that you'll probably use once, and then never touch again, kinda like apple portrait lighting stuff. For many years, Samsung phones
have always had super tempting hardware that was let down by lousy software. I'm happy to say that's not the case with the S10.Its software isn't perfect, and I definitely have some complaints,but overall,
it looks nice, makes sense, and is mostly easy to use. Samsungs calling this software One UI, and its also now available on last years S9 phones, which my colleague Dieter just did a
video about, so you should go check that out, but the gist is Samsung has finally built software that works with its big phones. It has designed much of the user experience to make it
easier to use this giant screened phones by putting a lot of the important stuff down by your thumb, so you don't have to reach to the top to get it. But Id
still like to see more improvements. I ended up using the default three-button navbar instead of Samsungs gestures, because they're just kind of confusing.There are also still a bunch of duplicate apps, like
two email apps, two app stores, two browsers, et cetera, and so on. I wish Samsung would just let me choose which ones to install when I'm setting up the phone. Plus, I've been
using an unlocked model, so you can expect carriers to make this even worse with their own apps. Is anyone ready for VZ Messenger?
And the main nagging question with Samsung software is how long is it going to take to get updates?
Googles going to release Android Qsometime later this year. And you'll probably have to wait for another half a year or more before it arrives on the S10 if last years schedule is anything
to go by. It's easy to dismiss the S10 as just another Galaxy phone without anything really new or groundbreaking, and you'd really not be that wrong. After all, Samsung itself is going
to release a crazy folding phone in like, two months, and the S10 is just another slab smartphone-like we've had for years. But this is the Android phone that more people will buy than
any other, and it provides as strong an alternative to the iPhone as you can find. It really comes down to personal preference. Are you so married to iOS and iMessage that you'll never
Or are you looking for something that has features that you just can't get on the iPhone?
If those things aren't very high on your list, the S10 is better than a Pixel in virtually every other respect, and finally, if you're wondering whether or not the S10 Plus is
worth nearly double the cost of an OnePlus 6T, your money will go towards a better display, better speakers, waterproofing, wireless charging, and a much better camera. That might be enough stuff to make it
worth it, provided you actually care about all of those things. Its been 10 years since the first Galaxy S phone, and it's clear that Samsung has come a long way. Now, I'm curious
to see, wheres it gonna goin the next 10 years? if
you really wanna dive into these. Let me know what you think about the S10 Plus.
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