South Korean electronics giant Samsung unveiled the tenth edition of its top-of-the-line smartphone Galaxy S10 in San Francisco on Wednesday night – and on that occasion sprinkled new information about its first folding mobile, which is expected to hit the market in May. Here you will find all the information about the big Samsung show, the technical details and our first impression of the Galaxy S10 with Android 9.
Huawei is likely to feel flattered, after all, many of the new features of the Galaxy S10 family are already familiar from the fall models of the Chinese. Triple camera with wide-angle lens and zoom lens, a back that loads devices wirelessly, a camera app with scene recognition and BildManipulationssspielereien: Apparently here trends were set, which now begins to orientate a growing number of smartphone manufacturers.
The most expensive S10 costs 1600, the cheapest 750 euros
Another for the customer not exactly enjoyable commonality of the new cell phone upper class: The Apple-tripped trend for a healthy price is followed by Samsung – and calls for the most expensive model of the S10 series a price recommendation of 1600 euros. The cheaper entry-level model is available from 750, the regular S10 from 900 and the Plus model from 1000 euros. A 5G model with even larger display than the S10 + was announced and will be submitted later.
Hole instead of notch, 3.5 mm audio jack instead of nothing But
there are some differences – for example, that Samsung reserves a notch, but a hole in the almost borderless display for the front camera. Or that the Koreans thankfully continue to offer a jack for wired headphones. Or that they support normal microSD cards instead of cooking their own memory card supperl.
The hard technical facts about the Samsung Galaxy S10 – or the three models that Samsung has announced – can be found here:
| Galaxy S10E | Galaxy S10 | Galaxy S10+ | |
| display | 5.8 inches AMOLED: Full HD + 522 ppi | 6.1 inches AMOLED: QHD + 550 ppi | 6.4 inches AMOLED: QHD + 438 ppi |
| cameras | Dual camera: 12 MP (F / 1.5-2.4), 77 degrees, OIS 16 MP (F / 2.2) 123-degree wide-angle | Triple Camera: 12 MP (F / 2.4) 45 Degree, Zoom, OIS 12 MP (F / 1.5-2.4), 77 Degree, OIS 16 MP (F / 2.2) 123 Degree Wide Angle | Triple Camera: 12 MP (F / 2.4) 45 Degree, Zoom, OIS 12 MP (F / 1.5-2.4), 77 Degree, OIS 16 MP (F / 2.2) 123 Degree Wide Angle |
| front camera | 10 MP (F / 1.9) | 10 MP (F / 1.9) | 10 MP (F / 1.9) |
| processor | 8 cores, up to 2.8 GHz | 8 cores, up to 2.8 GHz | 8 cores, up to 2.8 GHz |
| R.A.M. | 6 / 8GB (depending on the market) | 8GB | 8GB |
| Dimensions | 69.9 x 142.2 x 7.9 mm; 150 grams | 70.4 x 149.9 x 7.8 mm; 157 grams | 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8 mm; 175 grams (ceramic: 198 grams) |
| storage options | 128/256 GB | 128/512 GB | 128/512/1024 GB |
| microSD slot | up to 512 GB | up to 512 GB | up to 512 GB |
| radio communications | LTE, ax-WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou | LTE, ax-WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou | LTE, ax-WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou |
| battery pack | 3100 mAh | 3400 mAh | 4100 mAh |
| sensors | Finger scanner (page) Barometer acceleration and position sensors | Finger scanner (integrated into the display) Barometer Acceleration and position sensors Heart rate monitor | Finger scanner (integrated into the display) Barometer Acceleration and position sensors Heart rate monitor |
| Audio | AKG-In-Ears stereo speakers Dolby Atmos support | AKG-In-Ears stereo speakers Dolby Atmos support | AKG-In-Ears stereo speakers Dolby Atmos support |
| price | from 750 Euro (128 GB) | from 900 Euro (128 GB) | from 1000 Euro (128 GB) |
The table shows it already: Samsung’s new noble smartphones offer pretty much everything you can nowadays in a smartphone to modern technology. These include extras such as the standard HDR10 + for the display, which should deliver particularly high-contrast images, a maximum brightness of 1200 nits for optimum readability outdoors or the finger scanner directly in the display. Gamer wants to lure with a special “Vapor Chamber” cooling system for the processor, which should guarantee a cool chip and smooth frame rates even for longer sessions.
Some are more of a gimmick
Some feature like the wireless charging function for other devices will probably not need any user, in the technological upgrades in the smartphone upper class, but you can stand out a bit from the competition.
On the software side, Samsung has also announced some new features, such as a scene recognition with automatic optimization of image settings for the camera, as it Huawei also advertises as effective KI camera, or also numerous manipulation games for photos and videos. Also new on the software side: The interface has been redesigned so that it is well suited for single-handed operation as far as possible.
Pretty, but fragile The
case is based on a similar design language as in its predecessors: a metal frame gives stability and is paired with plenty of glass on the back, the edges of the device are a little rounded. The non-reprogrammable Bixby button on the left side of the case, which already existed on the predecessor, has remained.
The waterproof (IP68) case looks nice in the available colors green, white, black, blue and yellow (S10E only), but is also fragile and prone to fingerprints. Something better should look at the most expensive S10 + version, which will give it with a black or white ceramic case.
Galaxy S10 family will be released on March 8
Samsung will now accept pre-orders for the Galaxy S10 and bring the device already on March 8 in the trade. Pre-orderer be enticed with the bonus of the Bluetooth In-Ears Galaxy Buds, which will later be sold regularly for 150 euros.
Our first impression, whereby we primarily took a closer look at the Plus model: The device looks classy and of high quality and convinces with high housing rigidity, but the high-gloss appearance and the material-related fragility are treacherous. The non-reprogrammable Bixby key will certainly scare off some customers, while the 3.5 mm audio jack will attract many. Even the excellent display – always Samsung’s strength – clearly speaks for the S10.
S10 makes compact cameras almost superfluous
The camera does an excellent job and convinced in the short test with very fast focusing, good noise performance indoors, a very good image stabilization, rich colors and a generally high level of detail. The three different optics give her a lot of flexibility. Even if not every gimmick in the camera app is useful in everyday life: a compact camera is thus largely unnecessary, basically only has advantages where there is a lot of zoom.
Conclusion: Good device, but Samsung is under pressure
Great camera, strong hardware, great display: Samsung delivers with the Galaxy S10 and his siblings promising new top smartphones, fighting for the tenth anniversary, however, also on several fronts for its dwindling dominance.
There is the strengthened, technically quite equal and price less attractive Huawei on the one hand, and the reluctance of many smartphone buyers to put huge sums in a luxury class device, instead of buying a rock-solid midrange device, on the other hand. And then there are still the folding smartphones, which are preparing in the next few months, a saturated market with mature devices finally turn around properly again.