“The next generation of Galaxy has arrived”

Mar 7, 2019 18:00 GMT  ·  By

If you’re committed to the Android ecosystem and keeping an eye on flagships, I'm pretty sure you wanted to buy a Samsung Galaxy S model at least once.

Upgraded every year, Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphones are not only the best of the South Koreans, but among the best of the industry too, as many consider the company the only true rival to Apple.

On February 20, Samsung took the wraps off the new Galaxy S10, a lineup which as compared to its predecessor comes not with two different models, but with three of them, each targeting a different customer profile. And more importantly, they are aimed at various budget levels, so there’s basically a Galaxy S phone for everyone.

The one we review today is the Galaxy S10, which as weird as it may sound, is the middle configuration. The base model is the Galaxy S10e, which comes with a 5.8-inch display, while the top-of-the-range is the Galaxy S10+ featuring a 6.4-inch screen.

The standard Galaxy S10, on the other hand, is equipped with a 6.1-inch display, and although it’s more affordable than the plus model, it gets pretty close in terms of technical specs. And to be honest, I really don’t feel like I’m losing anything after using the Galaxy S10 for more than a week.

The phone certainly looks exquisite, and this is by no means surprising. Samsung pays a lot of attention to this kind of things, and the Galaxy S10 surely doesn’t disappoint.

Samsung Galaxy S10

But for those who have previously used a Galaxy S8 or S9, the visual upgrade may not be obvious at first. The same design with the curved edges is retained, and with the display turned off, it’s nearly impossible to tell apart a Galaxy S9 and a Galaxy S10.

At 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8 mm (5.90 x 2.77 x 0.31 inches) and 157 grams, the Galaxy S10 has just the perfect dimensions to hold in hand. I always believed that the iPhone X has the best mix of size and functionality, but I’ve changed my mind after trying out the Galaxy S10. Samsung has clearly done a terrific job when it comes to reducing the bezel size and increasing the available screen estate.

But despite this approach that deserves all the praises, what leaves a lot to be desired is the glass body. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S10 is as slippery as a watermelon seed, and there’s basically no chance you can use this phone without a case. This isn’t something that’s only specific to Samsung’s flagships, but to most high-end devices in general, as the iPhone XS has pretty much the same problem.

Samsung appears to have tried to tackle this issue with a slightly redesigned frame, which isn’t as curved as before to make it easier to hold in hand and type with both hands. Accidental touches have been reduced to the minimum because of this, though I still recommend buying a case.

The 6.1-inch screen seems to be very prone to scratches and physical damage, and Samsung apparently is well aware of this thing. So what the company did was install a screen protector from the very beginning, so technically when you get an S10, it comes with such an accessory out of the box.

Samsung Galaxy S10

However, I don’t expect this to last forever, so you may still want to buy your own third-party screen protector. What I’m most worried about is the fingerprint sensor that’s now embedded into the display, and which due to heavy scratches could stop working correctly at some point. This is probably one of the reasons Samsung installed a screen protector in the first place, so it’ll be really interesting to see how the Galaxy S10 lasts over time.

Protected by Gorilla Glass 6, the 6.1-inch display has a resolution of 1440x3040 pixels and a 19:9 ratio with 550 ppi screen density. The screen-to-body ratio has increased from 83.6% on the Galaxy S9 to 88.3% on the Galaxy S10, and this is mostly the result of the Infinity O display that comes with a punch hole camera design, meaning that Samsung drilled a hole in the panel and placed the camera under the glass.

In other words, Samsung avoided using a notch, but instead, now you have a hole in the top right corner of the screen. The Galaxy S10+ comes with two such holes because it features a dual-front-facing camera.

While the cutout is most noticeable on white and gray backgrounds, you forget it exists on black screens. This is the reason Samsung used mostly wallpapers with black areas here and there, especially in the region where the camera hole resides.

As I said several times before, I’m not a big fan of notches, and now I’m not a big fan of camera cutouts either. However, I can live with both, but I can’t say I like one more than the other. Samsung’s approach could be the more innovative one, but overall, I believe the camera cutout is just a different kind of notch.

Samsung Galaxy S10

One small gimmick that Samsung implemented on the Galaxy S10 is a tiny notification ring that shows up around the camera cutout when opening the front-facing camera. This made many believe that Samsung reinvented the notification LED because, you know, there’s no such feature on the Galaxy S10, pretty much because there was no room left for an LED.

However, while the circular notification would have been a great notification system, Samsung locked it completely, and not only that you can’t customize it, but you can’t actually use it for anything else than the camera. Its purpose is to show you where the front-facing camera is so you know where to look when taking selfies. This makes total sense for some, but it’d make much more sense for me to use that area for app notifications.

In addition to the front-facing camera, the display is also the home of the fingerprint sensor. Embedded into the glass, the reader now allows you to unlock the device by simply touching the screen. This is a feature that has been rumored to come on Samsung models for a long time, and the Galaxy S10 is the first device to sport it.

Now here’s the thing. When purchasing a Galaxy S10, make sure that you install all the available updates. With the original software, the fingerprint sensor is slow, inaccurate, and often fails to scan your finger. After the first update, however, the experience is substantially refined, and everything works much faster now. Nevertheless, I noticed a somewhat inconsistency when using the fingerprint sensor, and while the phone sometimes unlocks almost instantly, there are times when it takes a couple of seconds to do it.

Samsung Galaxy S10

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy S10 is offered in two different CPU configurations, with a Snapdragon chip or Samsung’s own Exynos.

This year, the device is fitted with the Snapdragon 855 in the United States and China and with the Exynos 9820 in European markets. The Galaxy S10 comes with 8GB RAM (this is the only version available for buyers), and a choice of two storage versions, namely 128GB and 512GB. The GPU chip has also been refined, and if you get the Snapdragon, the Galaxy S10 is equipped with the Adreno 640, while the Exynos version comes with a Mali-G76 MP12 unit.

When it comes to cameras, there are three of them on the back and one on the front (the Galaxy S10+ features two different selfie cameras, therefore the punch hole in the screen is larger too).

The sensors are nearly unchanged from the Galaxy Note 9, and the bigger upgrade this year is the addition of an ultra-wide unit. The sensors on the Galaxy S10 have the following specs:

12 MP, f/1.5-2.4, 26mm (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.6", 1.0µm, AF, OIS, 2x optical zoom 16 MP, f/2.2, 12mm (ultrawide), 1.0µm

In real life scenarios, the camera continues to provide flagship performance, and given the hardware is nearly the same as on the Note 9, Samsung relies a lot on software tweaks this time.

However, this isn’t enough to match the performance of the Google Pixel 3, for instance, and photos taken with the Galaxy S10 continue to feature increased saturation and distorted colors every now and then. This is something that Samsung has been doing for a while, and I recommend you to switch the display mode to “Natural” to see more accurate colors on the screen.

Google Pixel 3 camera sample
Samsung Galaxy S10 camera sample
Google Pixel 3 camera sample
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Regardless of these mishaps, this is the best camera on a Samsung phone, though an untrained eye might really have a hard time noticing any difference between the Galaxy S10 and Note 9.

The front-facing sensor has also been upgraded from 8 megapixels to 10 megapixels. Selfie quality is generally good, but once again, there’s something that’s truly specific to Samsung: the beautify filter that makes the skin look softer than it actually is, sometimes reducing sharpness and lowering the level of details in photos.

Samsung Galaxy S10 comes with a 3,400 mAh battery, and most of the time it’s more than enough to get you through the day quite easily. What’s worth knowing is that the device is fitted with faster battery charging and fast wireless charging with 15W support. New for this generation is reverse wireless charging which supports up to 9W, though I find it rather slow.

This feature allows you to recharge other devices wirelessly, as the Galaxy S10 can play the role of a charging mat. This means you’re obviously losing battery power from the phone, but for those moments when you want to recharge your headphones or watch, this feature certainly comes in handy.

Charging takes place via the same USB Type-C port as on the previous generation, though this year Samsung has decided to solder it to the motherboard. This is an awkward decision that makes it much harder to replace just the connector at a reduced cost, and Samsung service centers would most likely recommend a full motherboard replacement even when experiencing issues with the USB-C connector.

Samsung Galaxy S10

In terms of software, there are both pros and cons. The Galaxy S10 comes with Android Pie and One UI out of the box, so you also get a dark mode and other improvements that are part of this update.

But on the other hand, there are also refinements that I think are needed before you can actually consider One UI a finished product. One of them is the lack of symmetry that is generated by the punch-hole camera.

Because it’s integrated into the screen, the front-facing camera is part of the UI as well, so icons like the battery have now been pushed to the left. Because there’s no limited space at the top, Samsung has also removed some indicators, including the battery percentage level, which you can only see by swiping down from the top of the screen. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it works exactly the same on the iPhone X, where the battery level indicator was removed due to the notch.

In Android, there are parts of the UI where the punch hole camera isn’t aligned with the rest of the UI, and its lower part covers the separators of the interface. It happens in Gmail and the Google Play Store if you want to try it out.

The hole in the screen overall is something that you’ll eventually get used to, and it’s more striking when using apps with a light background. Switching to the dark mode in Android could more or less ease the transition to this new design.

Because of the hardware changes that it made to the device, Samsung has completely removed the LED notifications section, and the company hopes you would rely more on the Always-On Display. I actually don’t due to the battery impact this feature has, and I still hope the firm would at some point have a change of mind and release an option to allow us to use the camera ring for notifications.

A somewhat lack of symmetry affects the fingerprint sensor as well. When looking at the phone from certain angles, you can actually see the sensor embedded into the screen, and what’s pretty odd is that it’s off-center and aligned to the left. The indicator on the screen that teaches you where to put the finger to unlock the device it’s perfectly centered, however.

Samsung Galaxy S10

The Good

Samsung Galaxy S10 is a beast, and there’s no doubt about it. It comes with latest-generation hardware and very exquisite design, and the final mix is a truly compelling package that makes it one of the best alternatives to the iPhone.

Just as expected, Samsung is more or less an innovator, and the adoption of the fingerprint sensor embedded into the glass shows that the South Korean company doesn’t just want to be a follower of Apple.

Sure, this technology isn’t new, and others have used it before, like Huawei, but not going for 3D sensing facial recognition and sticking with the fingerprint sensor shows that Samsung cares about what customers want and need.

The 6.1-inch version of the Galaxy S10 is the perfect cocktail of just the right dimensions and insane hardware. I wouldn’t go for the Galaxy S10+ unless I really need the increased screen, otherwise, the S10 with its current specs is the right purchase.

The Bad

While the S10 is a flagship in all regards, I think there are areas that Samsung must refine, and it needs to do it fast.

The fingerprint sensor, for example, provided mediocre performance with the original software version, and even after the update, there’s still some sort of inconsistency when using it every day. I believe the correct approach is to use the facial recognition system as long you the appropriate light conditions, and then rely on the fingerprint scanner during the night.

The performance of the camera, despite being top-notch, still needs some refinements here and there, but in some regards, it would force Samsung to give up on an idea that it’s been a fan of for a long period of time. For example, the over-saturation that happens on the screen is something that Samsung is known for, and this makes the photos look better on the phone display than on a laptop, for instance.

And last but not least, I really wish Samsung hears all the feedback and decides to let us use the camera cutout as a notification light. This can already be used as an indicator for the front-facing camera, and it would be a shame not be able to customize it with support for third-party apps.

I think this is something that can be done, and if Samsung eventually decided to let us customize the Bixby button, there’s a chance we can convince them to do this too.

Conclusion

The Galaxy S10 is right now the best smartphone ever released by Samsung, and nobody can say it isn't. This new release allows the South Korean company not only to beat Apple to features like the fingerprint sensor embedded into the screen, which Cupertino might never offer, but also to stay close to the rapidly-growing Huawei.

As a side note, Huawei hopes to become the leading smartphone manufacturer by 2020, so such an approach is critical for Samsung in the long term.

But at the end of the day, I think that Samsung could eventually face the same struggle as Apple. The Galaxy S10 is by no means affordable, and with the Galaxy S10+ starting at $999, it’s pretty clear that the days when we could buy a high-end phone for a few hundred dollars are long gone.

Customers, however, aren’t willing to pay a thousand bucks on a phone, be it a flagship or not, and the crisis that Apple is going through right now is living proof that not even an iPhone can convince them to do it.

Samsung’s goal thus sounds like mission impossible when looking at the price of the Galaxy S10. So what the company must do right now isn’t to entice buyers to get the Galaxy S10, but to convince them it’s worth that much.

Our Rating

looks 5
build 5
speed 5
battery 4
calls 5
camera 4
video 5
apps 5
screen 5
signal5

final rating 5

Photo Gallery (40 Images)

Samsung Galaxy S10
Samsung Galaxy S10Samsung Galaxy S10
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