Another year, another super powerful and totally impressive Samsung Galaxy device. This year’s Galaxy S10+ didn’t make me want to give up my iPhone, though, it did give me some serious camera envy.
The S10+ is actually the first phone I’ve used that’s had five cameras. Which may seem like overkill but I loved how well the cameras allowed the phone to easily adjust to different shooting situations.
The good stuff | The Samsung Galaxy S10+ has a gorgeous display, great cameras and a battery that seems to last forever. Bonus: There’s a headphone jack.
The bad stuff | Super slick body and overly sensitive edges.
Samsung says its Galaxy S10+ is the first phone with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor built into the phone screen. It’s a wonderful improvement for the Galaxy phone family that in the past had sported a fingerprint reader next to their camera lens on the back of the phones. I guess Samsung finally realized that was very poor placement.
Every other smartphone manufacturer out there would be wise to copy Samsung and build their fingerprint sensors into the screens, too.
Note: The Samsung Galaxy S10+ used for this review was loaned to me by Verizon.
Specs and Design
The Samsung Galaxy S10+ runs Android 9 Pie with Samsung’s One UI (user interface). This big phone’s display measures 6.4 inches diagonally and looks stunning thanks to its Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED screen. Though it doesn’t have a notch, like the Pixel 3 XL or iPhone XS, the S10+ does have its own little cosmetic ding on the front: its punch holes.
Those punch holes are where the front-facing cameras live. One is a 10MP Selfie camera while the other is an 8MP RGB Depth camera, which is supposed to help capture better depth data and should also help AR effects and filters look more realistic. Honestly, the punch holes didn’t bug me as much as the Pixel’s notch during my testing.
The back of the S10+ is magical. Its where the three main shooting cameras hang out. They are a 12MP Telephoto camera, a 12MP Wide-angle camera and a 16MP Ultra Wide camera. And the back is where this phone really shows off with its PowerShare feature. This will let you wirelessly charge other phones and gadgets.
No need to worry about running out of battery either. The S10+ has a 4100mAh battery that can last up to 12.5 hours on a full charge. Most days full of texting, Instagramming, calls, emails and GPS activities, I still had about 70% battery life left.
The S10+’s left side houses the volume and Bixby button. The left side has the phone’s power button. Along the top, there’s a tray for a micro SD card and SIM card. There’s a headphone jack (yay!) at the base of the phone, which is where you can also plug in for power if you don’t have a wireless charge pad.
The Galaxy S10+ is water resistant. Its IP68 rating means that it should be able to last up to 30 minutes under three meters of water. Samsung notes that “water or dust damage not covered by warranty.”
Due to the display being curved from edge to edge, not to mention that the phone is slick on front and back, I would highly encourage getting a good case with some shock protection. Owners of this phone will end up dropping it.
Performance
With the help of Qualcomm’s 7-nanometer Snapdragon 855 processor (in the U.S.), the Samsung Galaxy S10+ is the fastest Android phone I’ve ever tested. And while I’d like to say that speed made a big difference in my overall user experience, I really can’t. Someone who pushes their phone more, to do something like gaming, might notice more of a difference.
The S10+ that I tested had 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage. For those looking for more power and more space, you can buy the ceramic versions of the phone which have 8GB RAM with 512GB internal storage or 12GB RAM with 1TB internal storage.
Here are the AnTuTu benchmarks for the Samsung Galaxy S10+ next to other comparable devices.
Note: Buying the ceramic version of the S10+ adds at least $250 more to the cost. The $999 base model, the version I tested, is only available with a glass back. Besides more RAM and storage, spending more on a ceramic S10+ should get you a more durable phone. Samsung claims that the ceramic models have added strength, durability and scratch resistance compared to their glass counterparts.
Will ceramic make a difference when it comes to actually dropping your phone? CNET, did a drop test in which — spoiler — both phones don’t survive but you should still watch for yourself.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S10+ has the same main camera setup as its smaller S10 counterpart: a 12MP Telephoto camera with an f/2.4 aperture, a 12MP Wide-angle camera with dual aperture modes of f/1.5 and f/2.4, and a 16MP Ultra Wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Toggling between these three cameras can be done quickly so you can adjust your shot with (really) no effort at all.
Here’s a quick sample of that effortlessness using each of the cameras and without actually moving the phone closer, or farther away, from the subject. The order is Ulta-Wide, Wide-angle and Telephoto.
On the S10+’s front, to help you take the best selfies possible, there’s a 10MP camera with an f/1.9 aperture and an 8MP RGB depth camera with an f/2.2 aperture. The smaller Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone only has the 10MP selfie camera.
I really enjoyed shooting photos with the main camera on the S10+. There was one problem area though: Panoramas were extremely distorted. Low-light photography was also not as great as other phones I’ve tested this year.
Here are some samples.
Macro
Pano
Low-light
Selfie
Problems
For whatever reason, the edge-to-edge screen on the S10+ was far more of an issue for me than on Samsung devices I’ve tested in the past. And by issue I mean, the phone often registered touches and taps when I least expected. The result was tweets being sent before I intended to send them, letters being typed that I didn’t mean to hit and other unintended consequences. All these unwanted interactions with the device could be partly due to the phone’s massive size, my hands being smaller or just that the phone’s sensitivity is too high on the edges of the screen.
I feel the need to point out that Samsung still has a Bixby button. Why? I don’t know. Its placement has been a major annoyance on previous Samsung phones. While I don’t believe the button is useful or necessary, I actually didn’t hit it on accident as often on this device as I have with other Samsung smartphones.
I love the S10+ camera setup, but I do not love the way panoramic photos look when shot with this phone. If you didn’t notice the distortion in the camera section, look again:
Lastly, you will drop this phone. Even if you’re not one of those people who is accident prone, don’t go without a case. The slippery exterior plus the largeness of the phone will inevitably lead to you dropping it.
Recommend to a friend?
I loved shooting photos with the triple-camera setup on the Samsung Galaxy S10+ but for $1,000, that’s not enough to call this the “best phone ever” or recommend you buy it.
On the other hand, this phone might be a great option for a power user who really needs ridiculously good battery life and non-stop performance. Any entertainment seekers out there might also want to look into owning the Galaxy S10+ thanks to its big, crisp screen and headphone jack.
Budget shoppers, people who don’t like gigantic phones and any accident prone folks out there should look at some other options — like maybe the Samsung Galaxy S10e.
The Samsung Galaxy S10+ starts at $999.
You know what…I just wonder about the pixel 4 I have a cracked oh but won’t give up my first gen pix. Possibly I paid for it.