For quite some time, Galaxy smartphones have been accused of being iPhone rip-offs. Apple even went so far as to wage war on Samsung in court in 2011 that culminated only in 2018 with the court siding with Apple. Recently, however, Samsung has done quite a remarkable job at distinguishing itself from Apple and their bestselling smartphone.
The recently launched Galaxy S10 and all its variants are perhaps the company’s most blatant deviation from the Apple mould. It bucks the trends that Apple had started by keeping the headphone jack, avoiding the polarizing notch, and sticking with the fingerprint scanner. As a result, some pundits are calling it the anti-iPhone. It’s an accurate description but is it enough to dethrone the iPhone as the most desirable piece of smartphone tech hardware? That’s a question that only time will tell.
What’s for sure is that the Galaxy S10, S10+, and the S10e, are all worthy of the flagship title in 2019. They’re all the most powerful phones built extremely well with all the bells and whistles that are necessary for the modern smartphone and more. It’s safe to say that the entire package of the S10 devices looks to be the future of Android.
Build: Aesthetics and Durability
Samsung’s hardware design language has been consistent in the last few iterations of their Galaxy devices. The S10 follows in this suit. It's still a Gorilla Glass sandwich. Between these, as they’ve been on past Galaxy S devices, is a thin but solid aluminium frame that makes the phone easy to hold.
It feels durable, significant, and most certainly premium. However, don’t let that feeling fool you. Applying a little science with a simple drop test might crack one or both the glasses that sandwich the aluminium frame. It’s still nothing much more than a sturdy piece of china that will crack if it falls from your pocket.
The curved screen that looks like it disappears into thin air as you look at it can be more than worth the sacrifice in durability. It’s just so, for a lack of a better word, stunning. This is true even with the screen off. When you turn the screen on, it's even more immersive.
The back, on the other hand, is missing something that has been a mainstay in the Galaxy S phones since 2017 – the fingerprint scanner. That contraption has moved to inside the front glass. More on this development later. Meanwhile, the back looks much cleaner and more minimalist than ever before with only the cameras, company logo, and some texts adorning the stunning glass.
Best Screen in the Business
Like the Galaxy S devices of the past, the S10 has the most advanced screen. Most experts and reviewers can easily claim it to be the best they’ve seen so far. But that’s no surprise as Samsung’s massive manufacturing advantage allows them to do that.
With some handsets, the latest iPhones included, you’d have to squint a little bit just to see what’s on your screen. This won’t be necessary with the S10. Being an AMOLED panel has a lot to do with this. This tech allows for a high dynamic range display.
To take things further, Samsung looks like they listened to their customers because now there’s a natural mode that has a dynamic range that’s a bit more toned down compared to their flagships of the past. People who don’t like the eye-searing default of the Galaxy devices of the past, therefore, have a lot to like in this version.
Samsung also packs as many pixels as they can in this handset. You won't be seeing individual pixels with your naked eye on this display no matter how hard you try.
Speaking of packing the screen, Samsung packs more technology in the screen, at least in the 6.1-inch S10 and 6.4-inch S10+, than any other smartphone. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is a bold step towards innovation. The 5.8-inch S10e, on the other hand, settles for a side mounted fingerprint scanner. In all variants, there’s also the Infinity-O display that is something of an engineering marvel.
Powerful Flagship Internals for a Fluid UI
These days, a flagship wouldn’t be a flagship if it didn’t have the latest from Qualcomm. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy S10 trio of smartphones have the Snapdragon 855. Only if you’re buying in the US, China, Japan, and a few other countries, that is. The rest of the world, Europe included, will get an Exynos 9820. Both are well optimized to make the UI buttery smooth though so this shouldn’t be an issue.
The power processor wouldn’t be much use if there’s no data to crunch. That’s why all variants of the Galaxy S10 devices, the budget S10e included, come equipped with at least 128GB of data storage. What’s even more exciting is that all of them are still expandable with a microSD card.
It’s only in the RAM department where Samsung delineates the difference between the S10e and its more expensive brothers. It has just 6GB while the S10 and S10+ have 8GB minimum. The S10+ has a variant that goes up to 12GB of RAM which should be a bit of overkill even for power users.
Top Dog UX
It’s not a headlining new feature such as the Infinity-O display or the fingerprint sensor but the connectivity on the S10 handsets are also improved in a big way.
It has a Wi-Fi 6 connectivity that would theoretically allow it to reach up to 2.0GBps. This is a welcome addition because the quicker you can get your data, the quicker you can react to it. For people in a fast-paced world, this can be a make or break feature.
The new One UI skin that Samsung is implementing over Android is also something that makes it easier to navigate through the system. For vanilla Android fans, this is still a compromise but at least it’s a bit less clunky than Touchwiz.
As for the battery, you can expect a full day's use because even the base S10e has a great 3100mAh battery. The S10, on the other hand, has 3,400 mAh of juice while the S10+ is sporting a massive 4100mAh.
Great but Not Remarkable Imaging Ability
There's a lack of innovation except the addition of a third telephoto camera. And even that’s limited to the S10 and S10+. They’re flagship grade shooters but they’re no Google Pixel 3 or iPhone XS which are currently running this category.
The primary cameras which are present in all variants are SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP sensors that come equipped with OIS. Another camera that all the variants have are the Ultrawide 16MP snappers. The Telephoto cameras, that are S10 and S10+ exclusives, both have OIS.
The recently launched Galaxy S10 and all its variants are perhaps the company’s most blatant deviation from the Apple mould. It bucks the trends that Apple had started by keeping the headphone jack, avoiding the polarizing notch, and sticking with the fingerprint scanner. As a result, some pundits are calling it the anti-iPhone. It’s an accurate description but is it enough to dethrone the iPhone as the most desirable piece of smartphone tech hardware? That’s a question that only time will tell.
What’s for sure is that the Galaxy S10, S10+, and the S10e, are all worthy of the flagship title in 2019. They’re all the most powerful phones built extremely well with all the bells and whistles that are necessary for the modern smartphone and more. It’s safe to say that the entire package of the S10 devices looks to be the future of Android.
Build: Aesthetics and Durability
Samsung’s hardware design language has been consistent in the last few iterations of their Galaxy devices. The S10 follows in this suit. It's still a Gorilla Glass sandwich. Between these, as they’ve been on past Galaxy S devices, is a thin but solid aluminium frame that makes the phone easy to hold.
It feels durable, significant, and most certainly premium. However, don’t let that feeling fool you. Applying a little science with a simple drop test might crack one or both the glasses that sandwich the aluminium frame. It’s still nothing much more than a sturdy piece of china that will crack if it falls from your pocket.
The curved screen that looks like it disappears into thin air as you look at it can be more than worth the sacrifice in durability. It’s just so, for a lack of a better word, stunning. This is true even with the screen off. When you turn the screen on, it's even more immersive.
The back, on the other hand, is missing something that has been a mainstay in the Galaxy S phones since 2017 – the fingerprint scanner. That contraption has moved to inside the front glass. More on this development later. Meanwhile, the back looks much cleaner and more minimalist than ever before with only the cameras, company logo, and some texts adorning the stunning glass.
Best Screen in the Business
Like the Galaxy S devices of the past, the S10 has the most advanced screen. Most experts and reviewers can easily claim it to be the best they’ve seen so far. But that’s no surprise as Samsung’s massive manufacturing advantage allows them to do that.
With some handsets, the latest iPhones included, you’d have to squint a little bit just to see what’s on your screen. This won’t be necessary with the S10. Being an AMOLED panel has a lot to do with this. This tech allows for a high dynamic range display.
To take things further, Samsung looks like they listened to their customers because now there’s a natural mode that has a dynamic range that’s a bit more toned down compared to their flagships of the past. People who don’t like the eye-searing default of the Galaxy devices of the past, therefore, have a lot to like in this version.
Samsung also packs as many pixels as they can in this handset. You won't be seeing individual pixels with your naked eye on this display no matter how hard you try.
Speaking of packing the screen, Samsung packs more technology in the screen, at least in the 6.1-inch S10 and 6.4-inch S10+, than any other smartphone. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is a bold step towards innovation. The 5.8-inch S10e, on the other hand, settles for a side mounted fingerprint scanner. In all variants, there’s also the Infinity-O display that is something of an engineering marvel.
Powerful Flagship Internals for a Fluid UI
These days, a flagship wouldn’t be a flagship if it didn’t have the latest from Qualcomm. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy S10 trio of smartphones have the Snapdragon 855. Only if you’re buying in the US, China, Japan, and a few other countries, that is. The rest of the world, Europe included, will get an Exynos 9820. Both are well optimized to make the UI buttery smooth though so this shouldn’t be an issue.
The power processor wouldn’t be much use if there’s no data to crunch. That’s why all variants of the Galaxy S10 devices, the budget S10e included, come equipped with at least 128GB of data storage. What’s even more exciting is that all of them are still expandable with a microSD card.
It’s only in the RAM department where Samsung delineates the difference between the S10e and its more expensive brothers. It has just 6GB while the S10 and S10+ have 8GB minimum. The S10+ has a variant that goes up to 12GB of RAM which should be a bit of overkill even for power users.
Top Dog UX
It’s not a headlining new feature such as the Infinity-O display or the fingerprint sensor but the connectivity on the S10 handsets are also improved in a big way.
It has a Wi-Fi 6 connectivity that would theoretically allow it to reach up to 2.0GBps. This is a welcome addition because the quicker you can get your data, the quicker you can react to it. For people in a fast-paced world, this can be a make or break feature.
The new One UI skin that Samsung is implementing over Android is also something that makes it easier to navigate through the system. For vanilla Android fans, this is still a compromise but at least it’s a bit less clunky than Touchwiz.
As for the battery, you can expect a full day's use because even the base S10e has a great 3100mAh battery. The S10, on the other hand, has 3,400 mAh of juice while the S10+ is sporting a massive 4100mAh.
Great but Not Remarkable Imaging Ability
There's a lack of innovation except the addition of a third telephoto camera. And even that’s limited to the S10 and S10+. They’re flagship grade shooters but they’re no Google Pixel 3 or iPhone XS which are currently running this category.
The primary cameras which are present in all variants are SuperSpeed Dual Pixel 12MP sensors that come equipped with OIS. Another camera that all the variants have are the Ultrawide 16MP snappers. The Telephoto cameras, that are S10 and S10+ exclusives, both have OIS.