Samsung has just announced its Galaxy S10 line of smartphones, and the S10+ model is
looking really impressive.
Let’s talk about the 5 features that are a step ahead of Apple’s iPhone XS.
For starters, the new Infinity O display is a game-changer.
It’s very color accurate and incredibly bright.
DisplayMate measured a peak brightness of up to 1200 nits compared to 725 on the iPhone
XS Max.
That’s actually a pretty massive difference, making the S10’s display the brightest in
the industry.
This also helps it achieve HDR10+ support, which is more widely supported than the iPhone
XS’s Dolby Vision support since HDR10+ is royalty-free HDR10+ is royalty-free for video
production companies.
The S10’s display is also the most color accurate display in any smartphone, with slightly
better DCI-P3 color accuracy than Apple’s iPhone XS Max.
We haven’t yet seen the display in person, but we’ll be comparing it to the XS Max
as soon as we get our hands on it.
From the looks of it, Apple’s gonna have to add ProMotion technology to their 2019
iPhones if they want to top Samsung’s Infinity O display.
For the second feature, it’s the design.
There were a few things that bugged me about the older Samsung smartphone designs that
kept the iPhones on a step above Samsung, but all of those things seem to finally be
perfected with the S10.
First of all, the display is notchless, with a hole punch camera cutout that’s cut using
a laser so the surrounding pixels aren’t damaged.
I’ve got to admit that the cutout looks great and it allows for a truly edge-to-edge
display that’s incredibly immersive.
To make it even better, the fingerprint sensor is finally gone from the back of the phone,
making it look incredibly clean, and the addition of another lens makes the camera bump longer
and more aesthetically pleasing.
Also, Samsung has finally removed the FCC labeling near the bottom, and there’s no
Galaxy S10 label either, so the back now looks very clean.
Even better, the S10+ gets two new ceramic finishes that you can get if you pay for at
least 512GB of storage.
Ceramic is harder, tougher and more scratch-resistant than glass.
Although it’s harder, it can still crack like grass, but maybe not as easily.
The ceramic model is also a bit heavier, so it should make for a more premium feel.
Fingerprints are harder to notice on Ceramic, so that’s another bonus.
Nonetheless, I still prefer the look of my iPhone XS Max.
The design changes to the S10 just make it look futuristic and modern compared to their
older Galaxy flagships.
Now let’s talk about that fingerprint sensor.
It’s under the display so it’s completely hidden.
And the location is just perfect and so convenient compared to having it on the back.
The best part about it is that it’s an ultrasonic sensor instead of an optical sensor, which
means that it actually uses bursts of sound to map the fingerprint, which is similar to
the sonar waves that submarines use to map objects underwater.
Optical sensors require the phone to blast light onto your finger in order to read it.
The ultrasonic sensor doesn’t, so you can actually unlock the S10 before you wake the
display, which is honestly my favorite part about it.
And it should also be more accurate, reliable and faster than optical sensors.
Apple is banking on Face ID, which works great, but it does have it’s limitations, like
when it’s laying flat on a table.
The 2019 iPhone lineup is rumored to be getting faster Face ID, but we’re not likely to
see an in-display fingerprint sensor until least next year.
For the 4th feature, we’ve got the cameras.
Inside of the hole punch cutouts, we have a 10-megapixel shooter in the S10 capable
of shooting 4K video and a wide-angle 8MP camera for depth sensing.
The iPhone XS and XS Max feature a 7MP shooter limited to 1080P 60.
This should ultimately make for much better selfie photos and video than with the iPhone
XS, and exceptional depth sensing as well.
On the rear, the S10+ adds a 16MP ultra-wide lens which makes for some pretty awesome-looking
photos with wide-lens distortion correction.
If you shoot 1080P video with the ultra wide camera, you get some incredible video stabilization,
but it probably crops in a good amount.
The best part about the camera is that it shoots in the same HDR10+ format that the
display supports, which is pretty unique since even though the iPhone XS can shoot great
HDR video, it still saves the file in standard dynamic range.
We’ll have to see just how good the camera is when we get our hands on it.
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Finally, there’s the new Wireless PowerShare feature.
It basically allows your S10 to wirelessly charge another Qi-compatible device, including
even their oldest wireless charging smartphones and their new Galaxy Buds.
In terms of charging your friend’s smartphone, it doesn’t seem very practical since it
renders your phone unusable while charging, and you probably don’t want your own battery
to drain down to 30% just to charge their phone.
Where it really makes sense is when you want to charge your own wearable devices like any
of the Galaxy smartwatches, bands or most likely, the new Galaxy Buds carrying case.
Since the batteries in those devices aren’t very large, you don’t risk draining your
whole battery.
Now the most practical use-case for me is that you can actually plug the S10 into the
wall, and wirelessly charge another device on top of it.
Fast Charging 2.0 won’t work through the wall due to heat concerns, but it’s still
perfect for fully charging another device and your S10 at the same time with only one
charger.
You can’t do this yet with any iPhone, but there are rumors of Apple adding a similar
feature to their 2019 iPhone lineup.
We’ll be getting our hands on the Galaxy S10 as soon as it gets released, so make sure
to subscribe now so you don’t miss out on those videos!