The Galaxy S10+ is Samsung’s excess flagship as it gets the most display, the most RAM and storage, and the most cameras among the three Galaxy S10 phones. And it might just be Samsung’s best flagship yet.
Every year, Samsung comes out with a couple of flagship smartphones in the Galaxy S line that offer incremental updates over their predecessors. The upgrades may not look dramatically different on the face of it, but you can bet good money that the experience gets consistently better year after year. The Galaxy S10+ is an incremental update over last year’s Galaxy S9+, so it looks and feels familiar from a distance. But using the Galaxy S10+ offers a whole new experience and that’s because the flagship is all about the little details.
The Galaxy S10+ is Samsung’s excess flagship, by which I mean it brings the most of everything. It gets the most display, the most RAM and storage, the most cameras and the largest battery among the three Galaxy S10 phones. The Galaxy S10+ brings the best that Samsung has to offer for the first half of 2019. It is probably Samsung’s best flagship as well. But just to be sure, we decided to review the Galaxy S10+ after using it for over a week.
The Galaxy S10+ is a gorgeous phone. The design hasn’t changed much from last year, but Samsung doesn’t need to change what works. The Galaxy S10+ continues the traditional dual curved edges and a glass and metal sandwich. On first glance, the Galaxy S10+ looks no different than the Galaxy S9+. But you can feel the difference when you hold it. The Galaxy S10+ is incredibly lightweight for a phone that is loaded with hardware and features.
At just 175 grams, the Galaxy S10+ is easy to hold and offers a great in-hand feel thanks to its curved design. The phone feels sturdy and offers a slim form factor. The Galaxy S10+ is still pretty tall, which makes it difficult to reach the top of the display with one hand, but that’s exactly why we have One UI. But more on that later. The power button is also placed higher up on the right side of the frame, which requires some readjustment to reach. I feel the Bixby button on the left side has the best position and it would have been great if Samsung allowed us to swap the two functions.
While the front of the Galaxy S10+ gets a stronger Gorilla Glass 6 protection, the back is protected by a Gorilla Glass 5. The phone is offered in Prism Black. Prism White, Prism Blue colours. There is a Ceramic Black colour as well that is reserved for the 512GB variant while the Porcelain White option is available for the 1TB storage variant. I received the Prism Blue colour for review, which is subtle and a personal favorite, although many have been loving the Prism White for its gradient effect.
Theoretically, the rear panel is weaker and more susceptible to scratches compared to the front panel, but I did not notice any major scratches or scuffs during the two weeks I used it without a cover. Fingerprints and smudges are prominently visible on the Blue variant, which is where I feel the White option really helps.
As I mentioned, the Galaxy S10+ is all about the little details. I appreciate Samsung sticking to its guns and retaining the headphone jack this year. The bezels have reduced even further than before. The Bixby button can be (kind of) remapped. You also get stereo speakers (bottom grille and earpiece), and a Type-C port. But there are still some annoyances to the design.
There are two big changes to the design of the S10+ compared to its predecessor. One is the camera setup on the back. The S10+ gets three cameras now horizontally placed near the center. The other is the position of the fingerprint sensor, which has moved from the back to under the display on the front.
But S10+ is a new phone, and with that you get a new Samsung Infinity-O display, where the O stands for the O-shaped cutout on the display to house the selfie camera. But the S10+ comes with a slightly wide, pill-shaped hole on the top right corner because it gets dual selfie cameras.
The Galaxy S10+ sports a large, gorgeous 6.4-inch QHD+ (3040×1440) Dynamic AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio, 522ppi and HDR10+ support. And just on first look, you will be hard-pressed to fault the display panel used by Samsung. The Galaxy S10+ offers a stunning OLED display, which comes as no surprise.
It might sound repetitive but Samsung really does make some of the best display panels on a smartphone. It is possible that the Galaxy S10+ offers the best screen on a smartphone right now. The new Dynamic AMOLED display offers deeper contrast, better dynamic range and excellent viewing angles. You can switch to a Natural mode in the display settings if you want the colours to look less saturated and more natural to the eyes. The display can offer up to 1500 nits peak brightness which is more than enough to make the display legible even under the harshest sunlight.
