The best big Android phone of 2019



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Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

When a phone costs $ 1,100, it can not be just good, it must be superb. It must offer features you do not have on other phones, maintain excellence in all standard metrics, and be able to handle just about any situation, whether it's work, play, or simply to watch movies. And, although Samsung wants its latest flagship product on the big screen to be included, the Galaxy Note 10+ is nearly perfect.

Design: the note shined

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

One of the most impressive aspects of the Note 10+ is that although it is almost the same size (6.39 x 3.04 x 0.31 inches) as the Galaxy Note 9 of last year ( 6.37 x 3.01 x 0.35 inches), Samsung has managed to streamline its for a big jump in screen size from 6.4 inches to 6.8 inches. It's an amazing feat.

However, for those who fear being swamped by such a big phone, for the first time in Note's history, Samsung has created a smaller version of its flagship Note 10 standard phone that has a screen 6.3 inches with a lower maximum resolution. 2280 x 1080 (against 3040 x 1440 for the note 10+). We are waiting for a revision of the standard note 10 in a short time, so come back soon if the new, smaller model interests you.

Drive

What is it?

A huge 6.8-inch Android phone with a stylus

Price

$ 1,100 (before discounts or rework)

As

Excellent battery life, superb screen, superb design, handwriting conversion: a big plus for the job

Do not like it

No headphone jack nor display with a high refresh rate, expensive, 45 Watt wired charged is a $ 50 accessory

For 2019, almost everywhere you look, you can see small thoughtful design changes that elevate the Note 10+ above other competitors on the big screen. On the top edge of the phone, Samsung has added some small holes so the Note 10's stereo speakers have more space to breathe, allowing for a more balanced sound. At the same time, in the back, Samsung has created an almost imperceptible slot at the base of the Note 10 +'s camera module, which allows the phone's Zoom-in Audio feature (more information more far). And like any good flagship phone nowadays, Note 10 has an IP68 protection rating for water and dust resistance.

Samsung even streamlined the Note 10's buttons by removing the dedicated Bixby button that Samsung had included on Galaxy phones over the last two years. By default, the lock button (now called "side key") calls Bixby by pressing twice, but it can be customized to be a standard power button or set to call an application of your choice. And by moving the lock button on the left side of the phone, the right side is more than a strip of glass and clean aluminum. That said, long-time fans will have to get used to the lock button on the left, which is shocking at first but easy to overcome.

If you look closely, you can see a tiny microphone hole at the base of the camera module, next to the lowest camera.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

And although I do not normally do this, I have to pay close attention to the Aura Glow color scheme in Note 10. By adopting a process used in the manufacture of its processors, Samsung has created an absolutely enchanting finish. Depending on your environment, the note 10 can be of any color from the rainbow, passing from the neutral silver finish to blue, red, green, etc., as a chameleon paint job from the beginning of the 2000s with steroids. It's really striking, but maybe not everyone's style.

Display: Same phone size, a lot more screen

As for the screen of Note 10 +, I can not get enough of it. Everything you put on it is fantastic. With very little surprise, According to DisplayMate, its display has "manual and performance calibration accuracy that is not visually distinguishable from perfection". One of my few complaints about Note 10+ is that Samsung does not have any support for higher refresh rates. We already know he can do this kind of technology, since Samsung designed the 90Hz OnePlus 7 Pro. After seeing the fluidity and fluidity that high refresh rate screens can offer, I think this is something that all high-end phones should offer. to have in the future. Again, if the refresh rate from 60Hz to 90Hz has increased to the detriment of color saturation or accuracy, it's a hard choice to make, so I'm not so upset. There is always next year.

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

In addition, to provide a more balanced and zen appearance, Samsung has moved the hole punched selfie camera from the Note 10 in the middle of the screen. At first, I thought it might be more annoying than the angle placement that Samsung was using on the Galaxy S10, but by reducing the size of the camera's hole, Samsung was able to reduce the total height of the notification bar , which prevents it from becoming a nuisance. If literally the only thing that matters to you is to have a big, uninterrupted screen, the OnePlus 7 Pro might be a better option, but for everyone, the Note 10+ goes with it.

The difference is not huge, but by reducing the size of the camera to selfie the Note 10, Samsung has been able to reduce the height of the notification bar of the phone.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

And while Samsung's built-in fingerprint sensor does not affect the quality of the display, one of the most pleasant surprises with the Note 10+ is the speed with which its fingerprint recognition is compared to that of the Galaxy S10. The S10's built-in fingerprint reader was a good fit for the rear-mounted options, but everything Samsung did with the Note 10 sensor made it much better.

Performance: an abundance of speed

When Samsung announced for the first time that Note 10 was going to have a Snapdragon 855 chip instead of the Snapdragon 855 Plus, I was a little disappointed. But since one of the few phones to offer the 855 Plus – the Asus ROG Phone 2 – is still out, it's hard to be that crazy. In addition, everywhere else, the Note 10+ is absolutely superimposed, with 12 GB of RAM (which is particularly convenient for those who plan to use the Samsung DeX desktop mode), with a storage doubling from 128 GB to 256 GB for 2019. If that's not enough for you, the 512GB Storage Option plus a microSD card slot (which is one of the key features of Note 10 as standard).

Samsung drilled two small holes in the top edge of the Note 10 to further enhance the phone's stereo speakers.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

In short, Note 10+ simply flies. During all the time I spent on the phone, I did not notice any hiccups or discrepancies, while the Note 10+ had the highest scores of WebXPRT (measurement of web browsing speed) that I had already seen. Note 10+ also had similar graphical scores as the OnePlus 7 Pro, with the Score 10+ reaching 7,751 on the Mark Slingshot Unlimited 3D graphical test, compared to the 7,697 score displayed by OP7 Pro.

S-Pen: Taking notes has become much more useful

As always, the most iconic feature of the Note line remains a unicorn, even among the most sophisticated phones. However, I admit that in today's world, where virtually all phones have a touch screen, many people may not see the need for a stylus. But for those who do, the S-Pen represents a significant advantage for productivity, the conversion of handwriting into text from Samsung is undoubtedly the last most important addition to this year's note. If you're like me and prefer to write notes or reminders by hand rather than grabbing them on a computer, you can convert handwritten information from an entire meeting to plain text that can be exported to a Word document , a PDF or an e-mail. A great time saver. And even with my horrible writing, the 10+ rating was still accurate.

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

This feature is not perfect because during the conversion process, Note 10+ adds many unnecessary line breaks, which means that you may need to reformat and reformat the final text. This is a minor inconvenience compared to the transcription of all your notes. again. In fact, now that the new S-Pen text conversion exists, I want to be able to better integrate with other applications, so that I can more easily respond to texts and messages with the help of the S-Pen. , instead of relying on a little less adept recognition of handwriting on the Samsung keypad by default.

The other new capabilities of the S-Pen include Air Actions, which lets you switch between camera modes and settings by waving the S-Pen like a magic wand, and AR Doodle. From my experience, Air Actions has worked as expected, but as these gestures can currently only be used in the Camera application, I do not find them very useful. Of course, you can take a picture by clicking on the S-Pen button, but you can also do it with the note 9 of last year.

Samsung's dedicated Bixby button is gone, sort of.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

It's kind of the same situation for AR Doodle, which lets you draw shapes and creations in 3D space, like a more mobile version of Google's Tilt Brush. I'm not the kind of person who finds a lot of fun drawing fake mustaches on people's faces. Therefore, while it may be fun for a moment, I largely forgot about it after a few uses.

Cameras: now with ultra-wide and flight time

One of the most popular additions to Note 10 is a third 16 MP ultra wide angle camera, next to the 12 MP main camera and the 12 MP 2x MP telephoto camera. This gives the note more than 10 tons of flexibility that the current leading brands of Apple and Google can not match, at least not yet.

In the back, the Note 10+ has four cameras: a main camera, a 2x telephoto camera, an ultra wide angle camera and a specialized camera for measuring the flight time on the side.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

The overall quality of the image is excellent in all areas. Thanks to Night Sight, Google still has an advantage in low light, but the Note 10+ excels in bright light, often exceeding its main competitors. The best example of this is a photo that I took of some clouds at sunset. While the colors of the iPhone XS picture seemed muted and the picture of Pixel 3 was underexposed, the picture of Note 10 + was vivid and appealing.

In addition to all this, the Note 10+ also has a flight time sensor that can be used to enhance the effects of camera depth, although any improvement over what you get with the Galaxy S10 is difficult to identify. I appreciate that the time-of-flight camera can also be used with Samsung's Quick Measure app to measure nearby objects.

Samsung's Live Focus video makes the most of the Note 10 +'s flight time sensor because it allows you to adjust the bokeh and depth of field being recorded, which is nice, but what It's not something that most people will want. use daily.

This makes Samsung's Zoom-in Audio feature the most interesting new feature of the Note 10 camera, in part because it works without the need to turn on special mode or play with settings, so you can highlight and isolate the sounds of everything you are pointing to the camera. at.

Battery life and charge:

The new S-Pen looks identical on the outside, but the addition of accelerators inside has allowed the creation of Samsung's Air Actions.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

With a battery of 4,300 mAh, the Note 10+ has the largest battery of all notes to date. This is a welcome improvement as it allows the Note 10+ to last all day, even for advanced users who prefer super premium phones. In typical use, I often ended a day with 40% remaining battery. In our discharged battery test, the Note 10+ lasted 15 hours and 5 minutes at its default resolution of 2280 x 1080 (or 13:25 when the phone is set to its maximum resolution of 3040 x 1440), with a prime position for the elite next phones like the Galaxy S10 + (15:09) and the Huawei P30 Pro (3:24).

In terms of charging, Note 10 has been enhanced with support for wired charging up to 45 watts and Qi wireless charging at 15 watts. Unfortunately, the accessories you need to enjoy the maximum charging speeds of Note 10 are not included because the wired AC adapter supplied with a phone is a 25-watt charger only.

Thanks to the power of AR Doodle, I present you Mustachichu.
Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

I would like Samsung to have at least included the 45-watt charger, because people who buy such a pricey phone should not have to buy more for a second charger. That said, the 25-watt standard is actually quite fast, as it allows you to move the 10-point rating from 5% to 40% in just 15 minutes. Not bad.

Officially, Samsung claims that the Note 10 works best with Samsung charging accessories. However, as the Note 10+ uses industry standards such as USB-PD and Qi wireless charging to achieve these peak speeds, you can use third-party compatible high-watt chargers if you do not want to shell out more. And you should do this because when I connected the Note 10+ to a 60-watt Apple AC adapter, I could go from 5% to just under 55% in space 15 minutes.

Other features

A little annoying, some of the advanced features of Note 10, such as its 3D scanning application and the Play Galaxy Link app, are not yet available. I have contacted Samsung to find out when they will be available, so come back soon for other updates.

Conclusion

Photo: Sam Rutherford (Gizmodo)

In the end, although no phone is absolutely spotless, the Note 10+ is incredibly close. It has great power, great specs and the biggest, most glorious screen you can get right now. Of course, the lack of 90Hz screen and headphone jack could make this phone useless, for some, the aerial actions of the S-Pen are a solution looking for a problem, and the low light mode of Samsung n is not as good as Google Night Sight.

But these small problems are just small blows against what is also the most flexible and equipped phone on the market. Between its built-in stylus and productivity potential, the Note 10+ does not really have a competitor that offers an experience close to the same experience. This makes Note 10 + the main obstacle to its high price. But if you can access it (or find a deal), Note 10+ is the closest thing to the real phone.

READ ME

  • Note 10 supports charging 45-watt cable (via USB PD), but you only have a 25-watt charger in the box, which is still pretty fast.
  • Samsung's text-to-text conversion feature is a significant productivity advantage because handwritten notes can be exported to a number of file types, including MS Word documents.
  • The 6.8-inch screen of the Note 10 + is downright fascinating, although I would have liked Samsung to support a refresh rate of 90Hz.
  • 3D Scanning, the DeX App, and the Play Galaxy Link app of Note 10 + will only be available later this fall.
  • The Note 10 + flight time camera is used in Samsung's Quick Measure app and to enhance the phone's depth effects, but it's not a must-have feature.

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