Samsung Galaxy S10 is made to urge people to upgrade their phones. Let’s see if can do what Samsung expects it to.

Display

The 6.1-inch display of the Galaxy S10 really makes it stands out from the crowd. The phone features an almost edge-to-edge display with the panel spilling over the edges of the handset.

The phone shares the Infinity-O screen with the more budget-friendly Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 Plus.

Under the glass is a new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Samsung has forfeited the idea of a fingerprint pad on the back of the phone and put the sensor under the display, where it remains hidden most of the time.

While it was the Honor View 20 that introduced the idea of a punch-hole design to the market, it wasn’t until Samsung Galaxy S10 launched with this feature that the design became a trend.

The phone also contributes to the popularity of an in-display fingerprint sensor after it makes its way to OnePlus 6T, some Vivo phones, and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Samsung has done everything to make the whopping 93.1% screen-to-body ratio possible.

Processor

Depend on where you live and buy the phone, Samsung Galaxy S10 will come with either a Snapdragon or an Exynos chipset.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor delivers an impressive Benchmark score, for Android only though. iPhone XS is faster but the gap isn’t very wide.

The Galaxy S10 line was unveiled during the Unpacked event in 2019 and according to the smartphone maker, the devices belonging to the lineup will support gaming like no others have done.

From the cooling system to better Unity support, the Samsung Galaxy S10 might be the versatile smartphone many gamers are looking for.

Samsung also makes a promise that the Dolby and Infinity-O display in-game mode will offer an immersive experience with video and audio quality users can hardly find on any other handsets.

All the three modes have HDR10+ so you can be sure that colors will definitely pop, black become backer and white becomes whiter.

The Galaxy S10 and S10e have what Samsung calls an advanced heatpipe for cooling while the S10 Plus benefits from a vapor chamber cooling system, the latter is also more expensive.

This kind of system can be found on the Xbox One X, which allows the device to stay at an appropriate temperature without losing much space for a traditional cooling system making up of fans.

The phone also comes with 8GB of RAM, a real leap from last year’s 4GB on the S9. Users have the choice to acquire the phone in either 128GB or 512GB of inbuilt storage.

Another highlight is the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6, which supports a seamless transition from one router to another with a promise of 20% more speed.

The phone sounds like a decent package for an average user but if you are a gamer, you might want to make an upgrade to the Note 9 or the S10 Plus for their vapor-chamber cooling and bigger screen.

RAM

With 8GB of RAM, users can be sure that the device can handle anything they throw at it, from day-to-day tasks to gaming.

In terms of onboard storage, the choice between 128GB and 512GB is more than enough for an average user.

Battery

Samsung Galaxy S10 draws power from a 3,400mAh battery, a real upgrade over last year’s 3,000mAh on the Galaxy S9.

The increase in size might be one of the reasons why Samsung doesn’t go bigger with its claim about battery life. According to the South Korean tech giant, the S10 can go all day on a single charge as it did for the S9.

After some tests, we found the claim to be true.

Most users will end a regular day with around 20% of battery left, after a few hours of Spotify, videos, messaging, and gaming.

With moderate use, the phone can last for a day and a half before you need a charger to top it up.

Galaxy S10 supports wireless charging and also a new feature called Wireless PowerShare, which turns the phone into a mat to charge other gadgets.

Camera

Samsung wants to make a phone that enables users to take photos from any angles, this is why it adds a triple-camera setup to the back of the handset, consisting of a 12MP lens, a 12MP telephoto lens with optical zoom, and a 16MP ultra-wide camera.

The Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus share the same camera setup, at least on the rear.

Placing photos taken by the S10’s ultra-wide camera and that of Pixel 3, the former comes very close to what the latter can offer but Google’s post-processing ability is still superior.

While iPhones usually produce muted photos, the Galaxy S10 has the edge in delivering punchy and vibrant shots. However, in low light, the phone may over-smooth the shots to reduce grain.

The 123-degree field of view allows users to get everything in one shot with having to back up, something we can’t do with the Pixel 3.

One problem you might want to watch out for is the fisheye effect at the edges of the shots. To minimize this issue, use the camera to shoot scenes where the main subjects are at the center of the picture

The most-used feature is arguably the Live Focus feature. The Color Point filter will make the subject pops by keeping their colors while turning the background black and white.

While it may take you a few attempts for the camera to get the foreground correctly, the effect looks nice for social media.

Samsung has upgraded the software to offer Digital Video Stabilization. The company said this feature can make your Ultra HF video look smooth like they were recorded by an action camera.

The phone also comes with HDR+ video recording, which the S9 doesn’t have. However, the feature seems half baked as the phone still shows some hiccups when we use it. And expect to have a large file size when the feature is turned on.