The Samsung Galaxy S10s are finally official, and we not only have three, but we have four, new Samsung Galaxy S10s to talk about.
Let us take a closer look at the S10, the S10 Plus, as well as the S10e, and comparing them. There’s also the S10 5G, which comes later.
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Right, there’s a lot to cover, so let’s initially start off with display sizes. The S10 and S10 Plus are successors to last year’s S9 and S9 Plus. The S10 has a inch display, whereas the S10 Plus has a inch display. Now, the display sizes do sound pretty large, but in terms of the physical dimensions, they’re very similar to what we had last year with the S9s, and that’s because we’ve got even smaller bezels compared to last year, with a punch out for the front-facing cameras. Now Samsung is saying that we’ve got roughly about a 93.1% screen-to-window ratio, which is pretty insane. And then we have the Samsung Galaxy S10e, which is the new addition this time, and that has a inch display. The biggest difference being not only the size but also the fact that it’s got a flat display compared to the curved displays of the S10 and S10 Plus.
So if you are somebody who prefers a flat display, then the S10e might be a good option for you. Another key difference is in the resolution. The S10 and S10 Plus have the Quad HD+ resolution, whereas the S10E has the full HD+ resolution, so you are going to get higher pixel densities on the S10 and S10 Plus, but realistically speaking, all of these displays look absolutely beautiful and that’s because they have Dynamic AMOLED technology.
They’re also the world’s first HDI 10 plus mobile displays, and Samsung is the leader in display technology, and this really shows on the S10s, they look absolutely stunning. You’ve got vibrant colors, deep blacks, great viewing angles, and you also have up to 1,200 nits of brightness, so these displays are also super bright and super sharp. I don’t think you’re going to have any problems with the displays. Of course, there is that punch out, the Infinity-O punch out on all of these. I personally don’t mind it, currently, and Samsung has cleverly shaded out the wallpaper towards the punch out area, so at first glance it might look like they don’t have a punch out at all, and we’ve got pretty much bezel-less display, so, quite clever there from Samsung, but when you are within options and menus and things, you will see the punch out quite clearly.
Now this is, of course, going to come down to personal preference, I, in my initial testing, don’t mind the punch out too much compared to a notch. What do you guys think so far? Definitely drop me a comment down below and let me know. And because of the differences in display sizes, we do have differences in terms of the physical dimensions of all three devices. The S10e, coming in with the smaller size, and it’s definitely the most compact, but you do get the advantage of the larger displays on the S10 and S10 Plus, so it’s going to come down to your personal preference. For build and design, things are very premium. We’ve got a metal frame with glass panels on the front and back, with IP68 water and dust resistance across the board, and we’ve got plenty of color options as well. All devices are available in either Prism White, Prism Black, Prism Blue, as well as a Prism Green. But the S10e is going to come in a special, unique edition, which is the Canary Yellow.
Very bright color, I’m not too sure about this color personally, it is a bit too bright for my liking, but definitely let me know in the comments below what you think of it. The S10 Plus is also going to come in ceramic versions, so we’ve got a Ceramic Black, as well as the Ceramic White. So this is where the back panel, instead of glass, is going to be ceramic. So, more premium, and does definitely feel really, really nice in the hand. Now let’s talk about the internals. All devices are going to be powered by either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor or the Samsung Exynos 9820. Some of the fastest processors out there right now, so no doubt these are going to be super speedy devices, and we’ve got lots of different versions when it comes to RAM and storage.
The S10e is going to start at six gigabytes of RAM, with 128 gigabytes of storage. There is also going to be an eight gigabyte of RAM version, with 256 gigabytes of storage, and with the S10 starting with eight gigabytes of RAM, and 128 gigabytes of storage. But then you have an eight gigabyte of RAM version, with 512 gigabytes of storage. The S10 Plus takes things even further with the base, starting with eight gigabytes of RAM, and 128 gigabytes of storage, but if you do go for the ceramic options, they come with eight gigabytes of RAM, and 512 gigabytes of storage, or, the top of the line comes with 12 gigabytes of RAM, and one terabyte of storage. Let that sink in for a second. One terabyte of storage with 12 gigabytes of RAM on a smartphone.
That is absolutely insane. Now, I’m not sure how many people will be going for this top of the line version, but it definitely seems like one of those show off versions and it’s going to be coming in a lot more expensive compared to the base models. The good thing is that all of these devices come with expandable storage, so you can use a micro SD card to expand your storage by up to 512 gigabytes. That’s on top of what you already have, and that’s really impressive that Samsung has still held onto expandable storage. This is something that we don’t really see on many smartphones these days. And in terms of the operation systems, all devices come with Android Pie out of the box, with Samsung’s One UI. I’m quite liking One UI, it’s very clean and very, very smooth. It comes with lots of optimizations for faster app launch times, as well as battery optimizations, so it’s going to learn your behaviors, and it’s going to try to save you battery when you’re not going to be using the phone.
Definitely looking forward to checking this out more in my hands-on usage. Now, let’s look at the cameras. So there’s lots to talk about here for the cameras, the S10 and S10 Plus have the same camera setup on the back, and that is a triple camera setup, with the primary having 12 megapixels with a variable aperture, so this is something that we saw last year with the S9s and the Note 9.
This is where it’s going to switch between Fand F2.4, depending on the light in your scene. Then you have a telephoto camera, which is going to give you two times optical zoom. Once again, this is something that we did see last year from Samsung. Something new that we didn’t see last year from Samsung on the Galaxy S series, is an ultra-wide camera, and this time we have a 16 megapixel ultra-wide camera. This is going to give you a 123 degree field of view, super wide, getting everything into your scene. I’m a huge fan of ultra-wide cameras. I’m so glad that Samsung are now including this on their flagship devices.
The S10e has a dual camera setup, so you’ve got the same primary camera, and you’ve got the ultra-wide. This is quite interesting, because traditionally for their dual camera setup, Samsung usually goes for a regular as well as a telephoto, but for the first time we’re announcing a regular as well as an ultra-wide here on the 10e, and I’m definitely glad about this. I always prefer an ultra-wide compared to a telephoto. Now, there’s lots of software improvements that come with the cameras as well. So we’ve got a scene optimizer, this is going to use AI to improve your shots. We’ve got best composition, which is going to kind of suggest how to get the best composition of your shots, and make sure your camera is straight, et cetera.
Now, I really want to test this out and put it up against some other cameras to see how well the cameras of the S10s perform. Definitely let me know in the comments below, which super-sassed out camera comparison you’d like to see first, and I’ll try to get cracking with that as soon as possible. For video you’ve got 4K at 60 frames a second, unfortunately we don’t have 4K at 120 frames a second this year. Maybe we’ll see it next year, but you do have super steady shots.
Now, this is where your video’s going to be super stable. From the demos that Samsung have shown, it looks very impressive, of course I’m going to have to spend some more time with it, but it’s nice to see these improvements in video as well. And for the front-facing cameras, that punch out, we do have a 10 megapixel primary camera, with dual pixel autofocus this time, and this has an Faperture. Why 10 megapixels? Well, that’s because you now have 4K UHD video recording from the front-facing cameras of the S10s. That’s awesome, I believe this is one of the first times we’re seeing, if not the first time we’re seeing, 4K UHD video from the front-facing camera of a smartphone. Absolutely awesome, if you’re somebody who vlogs a lot, this is going to be really, really useful. Now, the S10 Plus does come with a set front-facing camera, this is eight megapixels, and it’s mainly used for depth sensing, so this is to give you a better portrait mode shot from the front-facing camera.
Although we do have a portrait mode from the front-facing cameras of the S10, as well as the S10e. How these will work, I’m going to have to spend some more time with them, and you also do have an option of a regular angle of view, as well as a wide angle of view for the front-facing cameras. Now, this happens on all devices, so I’m not sure exactly how it’s doing it, if it’s through software or something else, but you do have that option here, it’s not super, super wide, but if you do have a group shot or something, then this should be useful.
Now moving onto security. The S10 and the S10 Plus come with an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner. Now, this seems to work really well and it is 3D sensing, not 2D like with traditional scene. First impressions are positive, I’ve never been a huge fan of the 2D optical senses that we’ve seen on other devices. They’re usually quite slow, this does not seem to be the case with the S10s, but of course I’m going to be spending some more time with them, and I’ll let you know I get on in my full review. The S10e does not have an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner in the display, however, it is actually side mounted, and it is pretty high for my liking.
I would’ve liked it if it was a little bit lower so it’s a little bit more accessible with your thumb. This seems to work pretty well as well, but it’s not going to be as convenient as the S10 and S10 Plus. You do have 2D facial recognition on all devices, and that’s not going to be as secure, but if you do want to use that facial recognition, it is going to be there.
However, we no longer have iris scanners on any of these devices. This is something that we’ve had on previous Samsung devices, so if you are somebody who liked the iris scanner, unfortunately it is not here, and that seems to be because of the minimal bezels that we have. Now the positive is, even though we’ve got minimal bezels, we do have stereo speakers, so we’ve got one in the ear piece and one bottom-firing, they sounded pretty good to me, and we’ve also got a mm headphone jack on all devices. This is something that we’re not seeing on pretty much all flagships these days, but Samsung has still held onto this. Whether they’re going to hold onto it next year, is a bit of a question mark. But at least this year for all of the S10s, we have a mm jack.
Great news. Now moving onto the batteries, we have decent sized batteries on all devices. 3,100 mAh on the S10e, 3,400 mAh on the S10, and 4,100 mAh on the S10 Plus, so the S10 Plus coming in with the largest battery, but it also has the largest display to power. All devices come with fast charging, so you are going to be getting a fast charger out of the box, and you also get Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, so this is faster compared to what we had last year. I’m not sure of the exact speed in watts, but I have been told that it’s almost as fast as wide charging, so that’s very positive, of course, you’re going to have to have a compatible fast wireless charger to get that full speed.
And the new feature that we’ve got this year is Wireless PowerShare. So this is reverse wireless charging, it’s something that we initially saw on the Huawei Mate 20 X. This is where you can use your device to charge another device or accessory. Now, I wasn’t a huge fan of this feature on the Huawei Mate 20 X, and that’s because it was super slow. This, thankfully, does not seem to be the case on the S10s, we have decent speeds coming from Wireless PowerShare. Now, I’m not sure of the exact speed in watts for the Wireless PowerShare as yet, but I have been told that it’s around 50% of the fast wireless charging, so that is still pretty fast. As Samsung have also shown off their new Galaxy earbuds, which you’ll be able to charge using your Samsung Galaxy S10 wirelessly, so this is really impressive, you should also be able to charge your Samsung Galaxy Watch, so it’s something that I’m definitely really looking forward to.
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Now, finally, let’s talk about pricing and availability. The S10e, of course, coming in the cheapest, quite an affordable option for a lot of people if you want those flagship features. The S10 and S10 Plus coming in at the higher prices, and, of course, if you want to go for the top of the line, S10 Plus with the 12 gigabytes of RAM and the one terabyte of storage in ceramic, then you are going to be paying a decent amount. Pre-orders actually begin right now, so you can go ahead and pre-order your S10s right away, and the release is going to be around the 8th of March.
If you pre-order the S10 or S10 Plus, right now, I believe, in most regions, you will be getting free Galaxy earbuds, the new Galaxy earbuds, so that’s going to be pretty good as well, because they’re worth a decent amount too. And that is the Samsung Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, as well as S10e.
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