The 5 best and worst things about the Samsung Galaxy Note10

You know what you get with each new version of Galaxy Note: a big screen, excellent construction, outstanding performance and of course, the S Pen. These things are still valid for Note10 and 10+ – but frankly, it gets a little predictable at this point. Here are the five best and worst things about Samsung's latest note (s).

The best

Display

Samsung sets the standard in mobile screens. The Galaxy S10 and the 10+ already had fantastic screens, and the Note10 is largely the same. Unlike the S10, the smallest is only 1080p, but both phones have OLED displays with HDR10 + and their look is absolutely fantastic with rich colors and lots of detail. And while the centered cutout of the front camera divides – it's basically just a notch – I love it more than the asymmetrical cuts of the S10.

Performance

With a 855 Snapdragon and eight or 12 gigabytes of RAM, the Note10 and 10+ can do anything you want from a phone. As David says in his comprehensive review of the Note10 +, the phone is "not as manic and responsive as the OnePlus 7 Pro", but no one could call it right. slow. In addition, the new Notes are currently the only Samsung phones that allow you to use Dex with a Windows or Mac computer, which is a rather interesting tip.

Charge speed

Note10 and Note10 + come with 25-watt chargers in the box. It's really fast: the very large 4,300 milliamp-hour cell in the Note10 + goes from empty to full in just over an hour with the supplied charger. Plus, the 10+ is capable of charging at an absolutely ridiculous power of 45 watts with an extra charger. This is the charge at the level of a laptop.

Battery life

Given the power of Note10 and 10+, it would not be surprising if they quickly deplete their power cells, but this is not the case. Although Note10's battery life is simply average, Note10 +'s battery life is excellent: when testing on a larger phone, David had no trouble reaching seven hours of screen time with a single charge.

S-Pen

That's what makes a note a note. The new gesture is a very glaring gadget, but overall, the Note Pen's Pen S Pen is as good as previous versions. Of course, you can use it to navigate your phone, but you can also use other useful features, such as taking notes without even turning on the screen of the device. Once you get used to it, it's hard to use a phone that does not have it.

The worst

Price

Although the two notes have already been discounted several times, the fact remains that the MSRP of the Note10 departures at $ 950. If we consider other big phones equipped in the same way, even Samsung's own Galaxy S10, cost hundreds of dollars less, this pricing is a bitter pill to swallow.

Update perspectives

We can not predict the future, but judging by the track record of Samsung, it is likely that the Note10 will lag behind the other flagship products of the Android version update. Android 9 Pie arrived for the first time on Google phones in August of last year, but the unlocked Note9 did not see the update until March, seven months later. By extrapolating from there, the Note10 might not see Android 10 before next spring. Not ideal.

T-Mobile indicates that the update of Android 10 is under development, but we have no idea how long it will take.

No headphone jack

The Note range is traditionally Samsung's feature-rich option: its phones with kitchen sink. Whereas Galaxy S10 phones implicitly inferior make 3.5mm headphone jack, it's really a pity that the Note10 and Note10 + have dropped the legacy connector. The USB-C earbuds in the box are very pretty, but it's not a consolation for those who are still attached to the old-school plug.

Fingerprint scanner

The Samsung fingerprint scanners in display are ultrasound: they emit inaudible sound waves and read the reverberations to determine if a digit is allowed to access the device. It's super cool, but it's also noticeably slower than the optical solutions from manufacturers like OnePlus. They are certainly not bad, but is "pretty good" really good enough in expensive phones?

Disparity between 10 and 10 years

The Galaxy Note10, smaller, should be a really interesting option for those who want to enjoy the life of S Pen without having to put a surfboard in their pocket.

But by choosing the nomore Note that you give up a bit: the Note10 has a 1080p screen while the larger 10+ sports a 1440p panel; it has eight GB of RAM instead of 12; 256GB of storage without the biggest option of 512GB or a microSD slot; no flight time sensor for better detection of depth in photography; and no 45-watt load compatibility. It's still an excellent phone, but at these prices there should be no compromise.