Samsung Galaxy S10 Review

Against my better judgement, I got a Galaxy S10. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don’t think it is completely necessary these days to get a flagship smartphone. But as always, I couldn’t resist. The allure of an ultrasonic, in-screen fingerprint scanner and the hole-punch display got the better of me, as I knew it would. But is the lemon worth the squeeze? After a couple of months of use, here is my review of the Samsung Galaxy S10.

The unboxing

The phone has all the basics one would expect from Samsung. Opening the box, you get the phone, a charger, a USB Type-C cable, a USB Type-C converter, earphones and an ejector pin. The box also includes a case for the phone. Although not the best case in the world, it would suffice for basic protection. Also to my surprise, the phone already had a screen protector on. Well done Samsung!

I have to be honest, I have so many chargers and cables that I rarely use the ones that come with a new phone. But the earphones are a big deal for me, and the ones included aren’t shabby at all.

Along with this, Samsung also ran a promotion where you get a R500 Samsung Accessory voucher and a set of Samsung Galaxy Buds. Good on you Samsung!

Initial impressions

This round I opted for the S10 and not the Plus model as I usually do. The S10 has a 6.1″ screen and is a very comfortable size. It sits well in your hand, and isn’t to clunky in your pocket. The phone has a glass back in an aluminium frame. I’m not the biggest fan of the shiny aluminium frame, but as the phone is in a cover most of time, it wont bother me to much.

The phone feels responsive and smooth. The S10 is running Android Pie out of the box with Samsung’s One UI. The UI is smooth and a lot less clunky than Samsung’s previous UI. The hole-punch display is absolutely beautiful. The earpiece at the top of the phone is so small you hardly notice it. Overall the phone looks great and performs even better.

Display

The S10 sports Samsung’s first Dynamic AMOLED display that is HDR10+ capable. For those that don’t know what HDR10+ is, don’t worry, I didn’t either. From what I can gather HDR attempts to enhance picture quality to make is closer to reality. It achieves this by displaying a much wider range of colors, better contrast and enhanced brightness. This sounds great, but without HDR10+ content, we wont really get enjoy this perk. For now at least.

The display has a 19:9 aspect, with a 1440 x 3040 resolution. This equates to a extremely crisp 550ppi.

The display has the slightly curved edges we have come to expect from a Samsung flagship. It feels comfortable is your hands, and is overall well rounded (see what I did there?).

Camera

This time around the Samsung included 3 lenses. A 16-MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 12-MP dual-pixel wide (f/1.5, f/2.4), 12-MP telephoto (f/2.4).

What does all of this mean? It means you have a standard lens, a lens with a 2x optical zoom and a wide angle lens.

Overall this is a massive improvement to what I was used to. The images are crisp and clear, and the fact that you can select which lens you want to use on the fly is amazing. I find that I use the wide angle lens more than the telephoto lens, but actually having a choice is great.

With that being said, I still get the feeling that Samsung is lagging a bit behind in terms of cameras. The S10 takes good pictures, but they are not great. Reading other reviews also confirms this.

Sound

The sound on the phone is the best I have seen yet. The earpiece doubles as a loud speaker, providing fantastic stereo sound. It supports Dolby Atmos, and, for what it is worth, its speakers are tuned by AKG.

If you are not overly impressed with the built in sound, the S10 still has a headphone jack, so you can always use wired earphones. As mentioned above, the included earphones aren’t to bad, but if you are a music fanatic, you may want to opt for a better set.

Performance

Here is where the phone really shines. I have been using the phone now for a couple of months, and the phone performs exceptionally well. I have never noticed any lag, and I have really put it through its paces. It chews up anything I throw at it.

I can easily use office apps, with a large PDF drawing open whilst listening to music with no issues.

Gaming on the phone is a dream. It handles Hearthstone, Call of Duty: Mobile and Dota Underlords with ease. There is absolutely no lag, the phone is always responsive and performance overall is incredible. With my S8+ I use to have some temperature issues when I have extended gaming sessions, but these have all but disappeared on the S10.

Day-to-day Use

As I mentioned I have had the phone for a couple of months now. On a day-to-day basis the phone outshines the S8+ by a large margin. The battery lasts longer, it can handle more tasks simultaneously and is great for streaming media.

Something that I also need to add is the fact that I received a dual-SIM device. Having both a personal and a business phone, I have always had to carry 2 phones with me. Having a dual-SIM phone is so much easier. I know this has nothing to to with the S10 itself, but this small feature makes me love the phone even more. For anyone who carries around two phones. Just stop. Get a dual-SIM phone. You won’t regret it.

Overall I can’t really find fault with the S10.

Conclusion

This really is a great phone. For heavy users, the phone will definitely blow you away. Battery life is good, display and performance is great, and the camera is good as well. Pair this with all the great freebies that Samsung included such as the Galaxy Buds and the R500 accessory voucher, it really makes it an overall sweet deal.

With that being said, the phone is quite expensive. At the time of writing this the phone sold for R13 999 on Takealot, and no freebies included.

So, is the lemon worth the squeeze. For me, yes. My phone is one of my primary tools of the trade. I spend hours a day working, talking or playing on my phone. So I deeply enjoy the S10.

But for casual users, there are much cheaper alternatives that would still be sufficient. The new Galaxy A series phones are very well priced and should satisfy the needs of the average consumer.