Hi, this is going to be a long-detailed review…So make yourself comfortable, relax and Let’s begin.
I got this device on 6th March, pre booked on 21st Feb itself. Probably one of the early recipients of this device. Then why did I take such long to post this review?
Because I didn’t want to post an incomplete review for the sake of likes and views. I want my review to help average consumer to make his decision as this is an expensive device.
I’ll start with Pro’s of device, because why not? Everyone likes to hear good thing first, right? I’ll spare your time with specs as you have already seen the specs sheet anyways. This is going to be real life review.
1. Dynamic AMOLED Screen: Sure, the dynamic term is marketing strategy, but you know that Samsung is the best display manufacturer and this device is no exception. I am amazed with the quality of the screen, the colour reproduction, the lowest and maximum brightness. Everything is top notch.
Oh, and speaking of notches, I’ll always prefer the punch hole cut out over the hideous long notches. It’s simply less intrusive in my opinion.
2. Cameras: Yup, u read it right the Camera with the ‘s’. Well u know there are 3 camera lenses but why?
The main shooter is dual aperture lens meaning you’ll get crisp shots in bright daylight and brighter shots in darker night time. All this achieved due to dual f stops of 1.5 and 2.4.
For an average consumer, the auto mode works like a charm and you’ll not be disappointed by any picture you click without any prior knowledge of photography.
The ultra-wide shooter adds perspective to your photography. It is a must have lens and it click picture with the same width as you see with your eyes. One of the best additions to the galaxy devices in my opinion.
The Telephoto lens is good to have feature for future proofing, but I hardly see using it for myself. Maybe someday I’ll be using it often than I think right now.
The other modes like Super Slo Mo, Cool Live focus effects, Wide Panorama shots…All these are great to have features and fun to use.
PS: Posted some clicks from night time as I know daylight shots are generally better in every phone. It’s evening or night shots where major phones struggles.
3. Dual Speakers: Not the loudest but one of the best mobile speakers I ever heard. It is such a great experience to binge watch videos on any streaming service due to it’s amazing display and ever so loud dual speakers. There is no distortion at max volume and most of the times 50-70% is ideal volume for a great experience.
4. Ultrasonic On Display Fingerprint: Let’s get this straight, It’s not fast as capacitive one. But it’s not about the speed after all. It’s about the future of devices. Capacitive sensors are past now and we are constantly evolving with technologies. This ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is result of cutting-edge technology which unlocks your phone with the help of sound waves. And It freaking needs your blood flow in order to work…pretty darn cool I say. In my experience, It’s fast enough for everyday use and pretty reliable too. It gets better with each passing day learning your pattern. Sure, there is a lot of room to improve here but the current gen no way is unpolished or un ready product. Also as opposed to optical sensor it works with screen off and avoids burn in issues.
Pro Tip: Register your most used thumb or finger twice for best results.
5. Essentials: Headphone Jack, USB C, Heart Sensor and all other varieties of sensor. Everything is present here. And the proximity and ambient light sensor is hidden under the display right next to camera cutout in front. Again freaking cool stuff. To see the sensor for yourself, call someone and check the left space next to camera cutout, you’ll see a blinking light which your proximity sensor is. And yeah Headphone Jack in 2019. That’s one hell of a deal. I’m amazed that Samsung didn’t follow the trend and listened to their customers. Great Job Samsung!
6. Premium Build: And with all these extra ports, Samsung still managed to build a beautiful glass metal sandwiched design with sleek looks and a great weight distribution. No complaints here whatsoever. Great for one hand usage.
7. Cool additional features: Wireless charging, reverse wireless charging, Samsung pay, Dark mode in one ui…All these are pretty useful depending on time and place. It’s good to have it than nothing.
Now as no device is perfect, so is the case here. Coming to the Cons now:
1. Battery: I feel the battery at the moment is just okayish. Snapdragon variants are showing great results and here in india, the exynos chip is not optimised fully which is leading to battery drain. Hopefully it would be fixed in future updates.
2. Higher Power Button placement: Idk why but power button is placed above the normal position making it hard to reach for small to medium size hands. Good thing is that device supports lift to wake and double tap to wake gestures eliminating the dependency of the button completely.
3. Charging Speed: Samsung restricted this device with QC 2.0 which is pretty outdated now. I wish they had matched the industry standard and included QC 4.0 support in their most premium offering. One thing I’m not happy with this device is that it takes almost 100 mins to completely charge with provided charger. Still better though than Apple I suppose 😉.
4. Bixby Button: Extra button is always a good thing, but restricting it is not so useful. I am using Bxactions app from play store and have remapped my bixby button to perform 8 different actions. Hence, my button is a great addition to my device after remapping it.
5. One UI icons: I feel the icons on the one ui is cartoonish and I liked the S9 icons more. But that’s my preference but overall one ui is fluid, snappy and great for one hand usage.
6. Night Shots: I feel Samsung optimisation in camera software department is still behind pixel. They have great hardware but not so good software resulting in okay night shots instead of amazing pixel like quality. Maybe software update will fix it. But make no mistake, the cameras on this device is still better than the competition in most situations.
I have gone great lengths now to review the device. As you see the cons are very minor as compared to pros. And most of them can be fixed with future updates.
If you have the budget and thinking of buying a flagship, make no mistake that Galaxy S10 is the best one out there. Period!! Samsung put everything they had at present in this device making it near to perfect. It’s a No compromise, No nonsense phone.
