Samsung Galaxy S10 Review: Samsung Finest
Hard to believe that we’re seeing 10 years of Samsung’s Galaxy S-line of smartphones. They had a rocky start w/ plenty of smartphone innovations along the road to today’s smartphone. The 1st Galaxy S was an Android-powered iPhone knockoff but they have grown throughout the years w/ a lot of 1st in the industry.
Fast forward through all of the bad software, clunky designs, and such. We now enter the Galaxy S10 which offers a culmination of lessons, innovation, & technology. We got the standard S10 w/ a larger screen, more RAM, bigger battery, much better software, and more cameras. We been rocking w/ it for about 3 weeks and we’re ready to talk about it. So low and behold, this is our S10 review.
Is the hole punch better than a notch?
So other than the Honor View 20, the S10 is most people’s 1st real experience w/ the hole-punch display. So Samsung laser cut a custom-sized hole on the right side of the panel for a notch-less selfie camera experience. Like the notch, the hole punch isn’t obtrusive after a while – even less than the notch was.
Outside of that, the S10’s display continues to set raise the bar on the quality of smartphone displays. Bright, vivid color, and deep Blacks – great for Dark Mode as well as the Blue Light Filter. At a whopping 550ppi w/ resolution & aspect ratio on a Samsung OLED panel, this might be one of the best displays on a smartphone.
So how is it using an in-display fingerprint reader?
OnePlus put it in their 6T flagship device and now Samsung has one in theirs. The S10 touts an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader on board. it is placed about where the bottom row of icons would be on your homescreen. It’s a bit too exact as it if you’re off a hair it or don’t press down hard enough, it won’t read your finger properly. It’s fast but not as fast as the designated fingerprint readers on the rear/front from last few years though. However, it might work better for some w/o the pre-installed screen protector by Samsung though.
Other than that, it’s the same glass & metal waterproof body that picks up fingerprints and can be slippery. It does look amazing but will require a case. More or less the same design from the S9 but on a slightly bigger footprint as it went from a 5.8inch to a 6.1inch size. The bottom-firing speaker has gone back to the grill look from previous as opposed to different look from the S9.
The S10 is kicking the year off as the 1st device to be powered by the Snapdragon 855 CPU – at least here in the US anyways. It is coupled w/ more RAM than any other Galaxy device as it has a whopping 8GB of RAM. Which is the same amount in the base model MateBook 13 and 13inch MacBook Pro. Animations move w/o a hitch, multitasking, image processing, and more move w/o any hesitation.
The 3400 mAh battery inside is slightly bigger than what was in last year’s S9 by 400 mAh. It will easily last you all day w/ heavy usage. Heavy usage equates to around 13 hours while on the lighter side grants you close to 24 hours. Samsung brings the ability to use your S10 as a wireless charger called Wireless PowerShare. So you can share the 3400 mAh battery to charge other devices and other smartphones. It’s not a fast means to charge but it’s fine as it can help in a pinch if your S10 has the juice to share.
- 6.1inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display w/ 3040 x 1440 resolution
- Snapdragon 550 CPU
- 8GB of RAM + 128GB of storage expandable via expandable up to 512GB via microSD
- Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint reader
- Rear-facing triple camera setup: f/2.4 12MP Telephoto sensor, f/1.5 + f/2.4 Dual Aperture 12MP Wide-Angle sensor, & f/2.2 16MP Ultra Wide Angle sensor w/ Dual OIS/HDR10+ video support, tracking AF, & 2x optical zoom
- Front-facing f/1.9 10MP selfie camera
- Dual speakers tuned by AKG + Dolby Atmos audio support + w/ headphone jack
- IP68 dust/water-resistant body
- Android 9 Pie w/ Samsung’s One UI
- 3400 mAh battery w/ fast wired/wireless charging + Wireless PowerShare
The new shooters on the S10 is a culmination from the S9 Plus and the Note 9. You 3 sensors on the rear w/ a f/1.5 12MP standard wide-angle + dual aperture lens, f/2.4 12MP telephoto, & f/2.2 16MP ultra-wide setup. So Samsung is looking to combat LG in versatility in regards to their cameras. Now w/ more cameras than previously, let’s see if they’re good enough to compete.
S10 Photos: Good but not Pixel 3 good.
The new standard lens is a wide angle one & the 16MP ultra wide-angle shooters offer great photos. The photos from both come out a bit on the overexposed & warm side – depending on the shot it can make or break a shot for my tastes. The same goes for the photos from the f/1.9 10MP selfie camera as well. But this is after 3 years of using the Pixel though so consider me spoiled. The telephoto lens is great for landscapes, building, and such as it is similar to on the LG cameras where you have a slightly lower quality photo. Only the regular wide-angle & telephoto lens offer OIS while you’re on your own w/ the telephoto.
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The AI-based Scene Optimizer carries over from the Samsung flagships from last year but adds 10 more scenes to bring the total up to 30. It has Night scene mode but can’t hold a candle to the Pixel’s NightSight. Another new addition to the Optimizer is Shot Suggestion but this is a pretty good add-on. This helps frame your photo for you to get the best shot before hitting that shutter button. Also new & noteworthy are the Instagram mode that captures photos/videos in the appropriate dimensions ready to share to your IG feed or story. And a Color Pop filter (Portrait Mode) that leaves you/subject in color and the blurred background in Black & White.
S10 Videos: Probably one of the best on Android.
Moving onto the video side of things is where Samsung truly excels at. You can get really great footage up to 4K @60fps on the main shooter & up to 4K @30fps on the other 2 shooters. Like great enough to rig up to start vlogging or a YouTube channel with. Yes, It’s that good. Samsung made sure to pay attention to detail by beefing up the stereo sound on the S10 video footage to make it top-notch on damn-near any smartphone. And lastly, along w/ OIS, they added a Super Steady stabilization feature that gets you closer to not needing a gimbal for video. However, you can only record in 1080p when using this feature though.
Not only is One UI great but it also takes the good stuff from Android 9 Pie.
From TouchWiz to the Samsung Experience to now One UI, Samsung has come a long way and landed something actually pretty good in regards to software. It’s not perfect as nothing is but it definitely offers a cleaner look and is more useful than just being present.
The core UX offers larger buttons/icons as well as most of the content sits on the middle of the display. As you scroll, it shifts towards the bottom of it. Making this ideal for one-handed use, system-wide. Then you have a decent amount of customizations present – perhaps more than previous Samsung software iterations. Where you can make the S10 your own natively before grabbing launchers & custom icons and such. One UI also brings over some of the native Android Pie features over like Digital Wellbeing, Adaptive Brightness, & Screen Rotate in the nav bar.
It took a while but Samsung finally has not good or decent, but great software on their Android devices. However, I’m sure everyone won’t appreciate it and still will want to throw a 3rd-party launcher on it still.
The Galaxy S10 covers damn-near all bases and might make it hard for LG, OnePlus, & Google this year.
Samsung made a top of the line smartphone for any & everyone w/ their S10 line. From the S10e to the S10 and the S10+. Hard to believe the Galaxy S started off as a bad iPhone knockoff running Android to what we see before us today. You can see throughout the years, Samsung has gotten bolder and took more chances than Apple. It’s to the point where it can easily stand on its own in just about every category.
The design is bar none. The display is probably the best on a smartphone. The cameras are the best but still good and now more versatile than ever. One UI is a welcome addition to Samsung software. And equipped w/ enough battery/RAM/processor to last a few years. I’m sold on it even w/ its weaknesses. Easily a top-tier phone to beat for 2019 but it’s only March and there’s still time to be overthrown.
Thanks to T-Mobile for sponsoring the S10.
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