Samsung Galaxy S10 Review

November 25, 2019 at 2:23am
By Jason Stettner

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is the latest flagship mobile phone from the company, bringing premium elements at a higher tier pricing point. It carries all of the premium modern features you would expect, while providing some special additions as well. It comes in a series of colors including Prism Black, White or Blue and Ceramic Black or White. Not the greatest range, but an alright selection for at least having something different. I say it’s alright as they all somewhat basically look the same visually. This is a fine casing, it feels nice to hold. It is somewhat light, was expecting a device of this level to have a bit more of a quality weighting to it.

It comes in at 157 grams with a 6.1” dynamic AMOLED main display. The resolution there is Quad HD 3040x1440 with a 16M color depth. The video playback resolution maxes out at 8k UHD (7680 x 4320) 30fps. While this is a future proofing feature, 60fps should always be a target despite the high tier resolution. The screen has HDR support which is expected, it doesn’t however have Dolby Vision which is starting to become more popular in screens. This is one of those screens that does have the curved sides which was different for me, I didn’t mind it however and I know many that enjoy that aspect.

This also features a small camera hole at the front top right which was weird, it’s supposed to be better than a notch but it’s somewhat awkward looking. It didn’t seem to really be an issue with most applications, at the same time it looked weird when the screen was fully used. I suppose with the technology limitations of today it’s a way to deal with getting that front camera which is certainly an important necessity. You have to be able to selfie. There’s also a slight bezel, though very minimal in nature.

This phone certainly sounds great being loud and perfectly clear. You get Dolby Atmos support which is appreciated, it’s worth noting that you do need to turn it on in order to use it from the top drag down menu. This device also does have a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack which is something you don’t really see these days in premium phones. Something I’m sure many will enjoy using, I’ve sort of gotten over having one.

If you’re into voice based commands, Bixby is integrated into this with options to connect to other Galaxy devices which is assumed with this growing ecosystem. I played a number of games on this including Minecraft, Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG Mobile to get an idea of what it could provide for gaming. Another somewhat important part of a phone these days, being able to play some top notch games through Google Play or other means. They ran at high resolution options with no performance problems that I noticed. That’s expected as this is peak premium when it comes to their line-up. This is backed by a 2.8GHZ, 1.7GHz octa-core processor. The ram size is 8GB, with hard drive space of 128GB or 512GB depending on your choice there. You can expand the 128GB to 512GB via MicroSD with no option of upgrade for the standard 512GB model.

There’s Wifi 802.11 with 4G LTE and Bluetooth 5.0 support. For plugging it in you get a USB Type-C interface. The battery capacity is 3400 mAh which is generally fine, I was still hoping for a bit more out of it. It’s similar to slightly older phones capacity wise, always hoping to see more battery added as the phone technology continues to develop. Fast wireless charging is present, and you can also share your power with others that have the feature. Now onto one of the more fun elements, that being the camera which is really quite a step up.

That’s right, the legendary triple lens is now available and it’s an awesome thing to use. On the rear you get 12MP, 16 MP and 12MP resolution options. The aperture options are F1.5/F2.4 (Dual), F2.2 and F2.4 for the rear. The recording resolution is 4k 60fps which is expected for the rear, but you only get a standard lens with that selection. On the front you get F1.9 with 10MP and a disappointing limit of 4k 30fps for recording there. It’s really unacceptable not to have the high frame rate on the front at this point. I should mention special feature wise there’s Bixby Vision within the camera and a dedicated food option for whatever reason. Other special tweaking effects are available too, lots of photo adjustments can be made. The night shooting is alright, it does a decent job of capturing darker scenes in your life.

I was truly impressed by the triple lens option, they give you a great amount of choice in how you capture the majestic places you visit. The regular option is traditional and fine. I absolutely adore the wide shot that gives you a whole room of viewing which is impressive and even the more zoomed choice is sharp. It’s about choice, and giving you so many ways to capture the world around you, if you’re into taking photos. It’s really something that will hopefully continue to be a standard going forward.

When it comes to sensors you get an Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, HR Sensor, RGB Light Sensor and Proximity Sensor.

The Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a great premium phone option featuring many desired perks that are expected of high end devices while having some extra surprises. I absolutely loved the triple lens feature, a huge advancement for how you take photos. The night shots are improved greatly here and it’s nice to have a 4k 60fps recording selection on the back. That being said, it’s limited to the single lens and at the front you get a 30fps cap which is dreadful. The front position of the camera is also weird, but I get that it’s an attempt to not have a notch yet that aspect is still so odd to see.

This definitely does run very well, it’s a snappy usage of the Android operating system. Games play perfectly well on here, running at high end settings and with that, they also sound great. The audio quality is excellent, with the inclusion of the headphone jack being a rather surprising yet appreciated addition. It’s something I haven’t seen in awhile, but honestly I don’t necessarily miss it either at this point.

The screen does look great, I wish they would have pushed the battery capacity further though it is more than fine for what we get here. If you’re in this family of phones, it’s certainly a step up with some key features. Bixby continues to get further integration and boosts, if you’re into that feature which I assume many passively use. It was a great device to use, it hits many of the expected marks that I have yet I still feel there are areas of improvement. The biggest change here will likely be with the camera, with other things being minor iteration changes.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 Review product loaned by Samsung.

Rating Overall: 8.3